84 



SCIEN'CE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 208 



in silt may last for thousands of years. Only 

 when brought into the open air again does the 

 process of decay go on with ordinary rapidity. 



It is no light thing for any observer to feel 

 obliged to differ from Dr. Newberry concerning 

 the interpretation of facts in the field. It has 

 been my fortune during the last three years to 

 traverse regions previously trodden by him in 

 New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Oregon, 

 and I have left them with a profound admiration 

 for the sagacity and the wonderful accuracy, 

 rapidity, and penetration with which he mastered 

 the facts. This, I believe, is the only instance in 

 which I have been led to a conclusion differing 

 in any important respect from his, 



C. E. Button. 



THE HEALTH OF NEW YORK DURING 

 DECEMBER. 



The department of health of the city of New 

 Tork estimated that the population of the city 

 on Dec. 1 was 1,457,356, or nearly one and one- 

 half millions of inhabitants. Of this number, 

 3,502 died during the month. This latter state- 

 naent is not strictly accurate, as in it no account 

 is taken of the natural increase in the population, 

 which, over and above those who die during the 

 month, is not far from 3,300, or more than 100 

 each day. As compared with November, there 

 were 426 more deaths in December. The greatest 

 mortality on any one day was on the 6th, when 

 144 persons died. The deaths due to diarrhoeal 

 disease were but 65, the smallest number since 

 the month of April. Of children under five 

 years of age, there were 1,531 deaths, 241 more than 

 in the preceding month. Consumption caused 

 478 deaths, a slight increase over November ; diph- 

 theria, 218 deaths, 30 more than in the previous 

 month ; and scarlet-fever, 23 deaths, the identical 

 number of deaths which the November records 

 charge to that diseflse. As will be seen by a 

 glance at the chart, measles figured very promi- 

 nently among the mortality factors, causing 271 

 deaths, or more than scarlet-fever and diphtheria 

 together. During the month of November there 

 were 166 deaths due to measles. 



The highest temperature of the month was 55*^ 

 F,, on the 24th at 10 P.M. This is not so high by 

 five degrees as the corresponding month m 1878, 

 which was the lowest maximum for the decade ; 

 the average for the ten years being 66.2° F. The 

 minimum reached by the mercury was 13° F., on 

 the 5th at 6 a.m., and again on the 17th at 8 A.M. 

 During no December since 1877 has the ther- 

 mometer been so low, while the average for the 

 decade is 80.8° F. It will thus be seen that De- 



cember, 1886, was an unusually cold month as 

 compared with the corresponding month for ten 

 years past. The amount of rainfall was 2.79 

 inches, including lOJ inches of snow, 5J of which 

 fell in one day, the 5th. During December of 



1885, snow fell on but one day, and then in such 

 small quantity as to make its measurement im- 

 possible. In the previous year, 10| inches of 

 snow fell in December, and in 1884 the amount 

 was 22i inches. The average December rainfall 

 for the ten years commencing 1877 was 3.87 

 inches. 



The following tables are of interest as showing 

 the total mortality during the year ending Dec. 81, 



1886, as compared with 1885 : — 



Deaths in New Ygrh for 1885 and 1886. 



Under 5 



Zymotic 



Scarlatina 



Measles 



Diphtheria 



Typhoid 



Diarrhoeal 



Phthisis pulmonalls 



Total 



18S5. 



35,682 



1886. 



37,351 



Scarlet-fever caused fewer deaths in the former 

 than in the latter, while diphtheria and tjphoid- 

 fever have been more fatal. Measles has of late 

 excited a good deal of public alarm, and justly 

 so, as shown by the table. While in January it 

 caused but 5 deaths, decreasing to 2 in Feb- 

 ruary, and not notably increasing until the sum- 

 mer, when November set in, the mortality suddenly 

 rose to 166, and continued its upward course in 

 December, carrying off 271 persons. The total 

 mortality of the year was less than in 1885, but 

 more than one-third of it took place in the month 

 of December, and more than two-thirds in the 

 two months of November and December. Con- 

 sumption (phthisis pulmonalis) is, as usual, at the 

 head of the column of the causes of death. The 

 researches of Koch and others, which have 



