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1606 to that body the relations of the Council to the question of examina- tions in subjects of general education. No official intimation has yet been received as to the conclusions arrived at by the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education on the important suggestion that a system of school leaving examinations for England and Wales should be established. Dr. NORMAN MOORE seconded the motion which was agreed to. Students’ Registration Committee. Sir HUGH BEEVOR proposed that the report of the Students’ Registration Committee be raceived, entered upon the minutes, and adopted. This was agreed to. The Cjuncil then adj )urned till Tuesday. TUESDAY, MAY 31sT. The reports of the Education Committee and Finance Committee were received and adopted, the latter report showing a deficit on the year’s working of the Council of Z2165 ls. 8d. Mr. Tomes was elected joint treasurer of the Council and the Finance, Executive, and Penal Cases Committees were chosen. The Pharmacopoeia report was received, when on the motion of Mr. JACKSON a resolution was passed in favour of the Weights and Measures (Metric System) Bill now before Parliament. After debates upon the registration of j)int stock companies as dentists and upon the systematic canvassing on behalf of medical men for subscribers to sick clubs, which will be reported in our next issue, the session came to a close. ______________ THE CENSUS OF INDIA OF 1901.1 VERY few people in this country realise all that is comprehended in the word India, its extent of territory and varieties of climate, its huge population and the diversities among its peoples, races, and tribes, in language, caste, religious beliefs, habits and customs. But these voluminous reports, which are a very mine of information on these subjects, will give some idea of how stupendous was the task of numbering nearly 300,000,000 of people under the conditions that obtain in that country. The census of 1901 was the third general census of India and is the most complete yet taken, only a few disturbed tracts in Burma and part of Baluchistan being omitted. Of the total of India, 1,766,597 square miles, 61-5 per cent. is under direct British administration, as is also 78-8 per cent. of the total population, 294,361,056. The Native States comprise over a third of the area with less than one quarter of the population. The largest British province is Burma but by far the most populous is Bengal, which also embraces the most varied physical conditions and the most heterogeneous races. Among the Natives States, Haidarabad, with its 11,000,000 people, stands first. Having, started, however, with this brief statement illustrative of the comprehensive character of the work we may say at once that it is not our purpose to deal so much with the statistical portion of it, with its colossal figures and tables, as to pick out here and there some few points which have struck us in going through Part I. of the report as of medical and general interest. These will serve at the same time to afford some indication of the nature and scope of the inquiries instituted and of the great learning and thoroughness with which Mr. Risley, C.I.E., and Mr. Gait, I.C.S., and others have set about and fulfilled their very laborious and absorbing undertaking. The maps, diagrams, and tables are all excellent in their way, clear and pertinent to the subjects in hand. When we think, indeed, of all the labour involved in drawing up these records it is not without a feeling of regret that, despite their intrinsic value and scien- tific interest, they should not command a wider sphere of 1 Census of India, 1901. Two vols. By H. H. Risley, I C.S., C.I.E., Officer of the French Academy, Corresponding Member of the Berlin Anthropological Society, and E. A. Gait, I.C.S., Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, Anthropological Secretary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. 1903. Vol. I., 7s. 6d., pp. xxv.-582; Vol. IA., 6s., pp. 592. consideration and influence than so commonly falls to the lot of official reports to do., Those who are concerned with the study of demography, ethnology, anthropology, linguistic lore, or the subject of caste will find a large amount of interesting, curious, and instructive material the value of which they cannot fail to appreciate. But for such of our readers as with a limited time at their disposal nevertheless desire to make themselves fairly acquainted with this report we would suggest that they should first of all peruse the introduction and then turn to those chapters in which they are most likely to be interested specially, such as the chapters on sex, infirmities, language, marriage, age, and caste. The third general census of India dealt with in these volumes was taken on the night of March lst, 1901, and the system and methods employed in the census operations are detailed by Mr, Gait and Mr. Risley in their intlOductory remarks. Speaking generally, the census returns show a steady increase of population from 1872 to 1901, but the true rate of progress has been far smaller than would appear from the figures and the reasons for arriving at that con- clusion are fully and satisfactorily set forth in the report. Confining ourselves to the period from 1891 to 1901 the true rate of increase of the population is estimated to have been only about 1 5 per cent. There was a gain of 3 9 per cent. in the British provinces but it was accompanied with a decline of 6’6 in the Native States. With regard to the distribution of the population of India, the most important factor affecting the rural distribution is, as may be easily understood from its connexion with grain and food crops, the water-supply. Tracts of country with heavy and regular rainfall are more densely peopled, while relatively rainless regions have the scantiest population, although this again is modified by such influences as the presence of canals, irrigation, and forests. Taking India as a whole, we find that only one-tenth of the people live in towns. While the growth and population of many old Indian towns and cities are stationary or decadent, Calcutta with its suburbs ranks among the 12 chief cities of the world, and Bombay despite all its troubles is a flourishing and stately city. India, taken as a whole, is not over- populated; for two-thirds of the people live on one-fourth of the area. Burma and Assam have made great progress in the decade, but Bombay and the Central and other Provinces of India have been very gravely affected by famines, plague (which alone probably claimed 1,000,000 victims), and other epidemic diseases. Chapter III. deals with Sex and we are told that while, with few exceptions, the females outnumber the males in all European countries, in India it is the reverse and in the whole country taken together there are only 963 females to 1000 males. The subject is very exhaustively treated and from various points of view, some of which are pretty well known, while others are relatively new. The chapter abounds with much curious information of various kinds and of more or less interest to the medical statistician and anthropologist. Chapter IV. treats of Infirmities. It is satisfactory to learn that there has been a decided and continued decline in the number of certain classes of afflicted persons-insane, deaf-mutes, blind and lepers-in the last twenty years. This decline is ascribed to better sanitation and medical relief, improved system of food-supply in times of famine, and largely perhaps in the more careful and exact methods of numbering the people. In Travancore statistics were also collected regarding elephantiasis. There is little insanity in India ; Eurasians and Parsees are most affected by it. The mental wear and tear and the strain on the nervous system incidental to the severe competition which obtains in Europe have comparatively no place in the East. The evidence as to the effect of the native consumption of ganja in this respect is somewhat con- flicting, but that there is a connexion is no doubt trne. As regards social practices the theory that consanguineous marriages have a tendency to produce mental unsoundness receives but little support from the census figures. The influence of race and other conditions in connexion with insanity is discussed and is followed by a consideration of deaf-mutism and leprosy. The latter disease has a very localised prevalence in India. The results of Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson’s investigations into the causation of leprosy together with those of the Indian Leprosy Commission and of the Berlin International Conference are passed in review. Chapter V II. is devoted to "Language" and the subject of Indian languages is handled in expert style. It is
