Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 80.djvu/623

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THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE
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fected, and this irrespective of whether it is the male or the female that has been given alcohol. If these experiments are confirmed, it appears that the paternal germ cells may be affected so as to be incapable of producing normal offspring. Dr. Rouse gave an account of his successful attempts to isolate the active agent which produces sarcoma in chickens, which may prove a step forward in the explanation of the cause of cancer. Dr. Vaughan explained how he had split up the protein molecule and obtained a highly poisonous body, Dr. Russell the methods he had used to produce immunity to typhoid fever, and Dr. Carrel the experiments by which he had kept the heart muscle alive outside the body. Papers on botany were presented by Professor Farlow and Dr. Trelease; on paleontology, by Professor Scott and Dr. Walcott; on exploration and discovery by Professor Bingham and General Greely.

The papers in the exact sciences were as important as those in the natural sciences, and were fully as interesting, in spite of the greater difficulty of presenting such subjects before a general audience. Professor Wood gave the evening lecture before the reception, his subject being "The study of nature by invisible light." The lecture was elaborately illustrated and included his curious and beautiful photographs taken with ultra-red light. In a more technical paper. Professor Wood showed the selective reflection of gas molecules, which he has photographed. Professor Webster described his method of measuring the sound transmitted through walls; Professor Magie, the thermal relations of solutions; Dr. Day, the measurement of temperatures up to 750 degrees C, and Dr. Bauer, the results of the magnetic observations made on the yacht Carnegie. In astronomy, there was a symposium on stellar spectroscopy. Dr. Campbell explained the work which has been done, largely at the Lick Observatory, on radial velocity; Dr. Pickering, the important work of the Harvard Observatory on photographing the spectra of the stars. Papers of equal importance in chemistry and in other sciences were presented. Altogether they represent a group of contributions to science which will compare favorably with any that could at the present time be presented before any society in any country.

THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY

The Census Bureau has given out a preliminary statement of the distribution of the foreign-born population of New York in 1910. The numbers are about 2,700,000 in the state and about 1,900,000 in the city of New York, approaching in the latter case one half of the total population, and far exceeding this, if the native children born to foreign parents are included. In both New England and the middle states considerably more than half the population is of foreign parentage and the proportion is increasing with great rapidity. The distribution of the foreign-born population is of special interest. It is well known that the Russians, Italians and Austrians have been increasing far more rapidly than the Germans and Irish, but the actual figures are truly surprising. In 1850 forty-three per cent, of the foreign-born population of the United States was Irish, fourteen per cent. English, three per cent. Scotch, twenty-six per cent. German, seven per cent. Canadian, leaving only seven per cent, from all other nations. In 1900 the percentage of Germans had remained about the same, the percentage of Irish had decreased by about sixteen, and the influx from Russia, Italy and Austria Hungary had become noticeable. In the figures now given out for New York City, we find that there are 45,000 fewer Germans and 22,500 fewer Irish than there were ten years ago. On the other hand, the Italian population shows an increase of nearly 200,000, being now 340,000. New York City is now an Italian city nearly as