July 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



127 



years 1903 was 355, and the number injured 

 8,231. In the previoxis year 345 passengers 

 were killed and 6,683 injured. There were 

 173 passengers killed and 4,584 injured be- 

 cause of collisions and derailments. The total 

 number of persons, other than employees and 

 passengers, killed was 5,879; injured, 7,841. 

 These figures include the casualties to persons 

 classed as trespassing, of whom 5,000 were 

 killed and 5,079 were injured. The total num- 

 ber of casualties to persons other than em- 

 ployees from being struck by trains, locomo- 

 tives or cars, were 4,534 killed and 4,029 in- 

 jured. The casualties of this class were as 

 follows: At highway crossings, passengers 

 killed, 3 ; injured, 7 ; other persons killed, 895 ; 

 injiired, 1,474; at stations, passengers killed, 

 24; injured, 108; other persons killed,' 390; 

 injured, 501; at other points along track, pas- 

 sengers killed, 8; injured, 14; other persons 

 killed, 3,214; injured, 1,925. The ratios of 

 casualties indicate that 1 employee in every 

 364 was killed, and 1 employee in every 22 was 

 injured. With regard to trainmen — that is, 

 enginemen, firemen, conductors and other 

 trainmen — it appears that 1 trainman was 

 killed for every 123 employed, and 1 was in- 

 jured for every 10 employed. One passenger 

 was killed for every 1,957,441 carried, and 1 

 injured for every 84,424 carried. With respect 

 to the number of miles traveled, however, the 

 figures show that 58,917,645 passenger-miles 

 were accomplished for each passenger killed, 

 and 2,541,096 passenger-miles for each pas- 

 senger injured. 



The council and ofiicers of the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers gave a dinner on June 19 

 at the Grand Hotel to the president. Sir 

 William H. White. Among those present 

 were Sir Guilford L. Molesworth (in the 

 chair). Lord Kelvin, Sir Benjamin Baker, 

 Professor Sir James Dewar and Sir William 

 H. Preece. 



The Paris papers of June 22 publish ac- 

 counts of the ' le fete du soleil ' — a sort of 

 modern sun-worship function held in the Eiffel 

 tower in Paris on the night of June 21. Le 

 Matin of June 22 says that M. Janssen was 

 the high priest of the occasion, and that an 



address ' d'une eSrayante erudition ' was de- 

 livered by M. Flammarion. At half past 

 twelve the assemblage mounted to the summit 

 of the tower to ' assist ' at the rising of the 

 sun. The paper remarks that " the cere- 

 mony was a calm and dignified one which the 

 moon lit up without jealousy. For though 

 it be stoutly and most learnedly afiirmed that 

 there was no night, it is none the less true 

 that if one could see clearly it was on account 

 of the moon, not to mention electricity." 



It is stated in Nature that the twenty- 

 second congress of the Sanitary Institute will 

 be held in Glasgow from July 25-30, under 

 the presidency of Lord Blythswood. Sir 

 Richard Douglas Powell, Bart., K.C.V.O., will 

 deliver the lecture to the congress on ' The 

 Prevention of Consumption.' It appears from 

 the program that 250 authorities, including 

 several county councils and county boroughs, 

 have already appointed delegates to the con- 

 gress, and as there are more than 3,300 mem- 

 bers and associates in the institute, there will 

 probably be a large attendance in addition to 

 the local members. In cormection with the 

 congress, a health exhibition of apparatus and 

 appliances relating to health and domestic use 

 will be held as practical illustration of the 

 application and carrying out of the prin- 

 ciples and methods discussed at the meetings. 

 Popular lectures will be given in the ex- 

 hibition on physical development, by Dr. 

 P. Boobbyer; care of eyesight, by Dr. 

 James Kerr; care of the teeth, by Mr. 

 G. Cunningham; feeding and digestion, by 

 Professor A. Bostock Hill ; and healthy houses, 

 by Professor H. E. Kenwood. The sections 

 and their presidents are : (1) Sanitary science 

 and preventive medicine. Professor J. Glaister ; 

 (2) engineering and architecture. Professor 

 H. Eobinson; (3) physics, chemistry and biol- 

 ogy. Professor Frank Slowes. There will be 

 eight special conferences, the subjects and 

 presidents of which will be as follows: Mu- 

 nicipal representatives, Mr. W. F. Anderson; 

 industrial hygiene, Mr. J. Steele; medical 

 officers of health. Sir C. A. Cameron, C.B.; 

 engineers and surveyors to county and other 

 sanitary authorities, Mr. W. Weaver; veterin- 



