464
��[Vol. v., So. I
��half of llie uur\ e is Uigher than tlic first, in the ' S exftggeralioti ' tUe two halves (except in the cose of the (.■olored people) are about equal. The ' 10 exaggoi-ation ' is tliiis rather a char- at^tcristic ol' olil ago, while the ' 5 exaggeration ' is used by old and young.
There remains another peculiar irri^ularity of the census figures which deacrves Bpccial treatment. It is the excess of the number of persons at 2t over those at 20 years. This excess is not of the same nature as the ' 10 ' or ' 5 ' exaggeration, and is due, of course, to political reasons; 21 being the voting-age, and 1880 the year of a hot presidential cam- paign: accordingly this exaggeration ought to occur in males alone. This is really the case. In estimating the size of this excess, we encoun- ter a. difSculty. To compare the number at 21 with the number at 20, would probably be comparing one exaggerated number with an- other; and, kuowing that the number at ID is too small, we canuot make a fair comparison with it. It is Bufflcient to notice, however, that there are always more males (and fewer females) at 21 than at 19, and, when the ' 10 exaggeration ' at '20 is not large, more than at 20. Taking into consideration the excess at
20, we have to dedare the native male whites ( the most reliable class in the foi-mer exagger- ations) as the class that exaggerates most at
21, — a conclusion quite natural, because they are most apt to be benefiteil by such falsity of returns. With regard to states, the inhabit- ants of the extreme west ( Dakota, Wyoming, etc.) would rank as the worst, the Mew-Eng- land states as the best, under this head.
Whether this exaggeration is increasing or decreasing, is a <iuestioa which unfortunately can be only very partiuUj- answeied. Previous to ISSO, the returns ou age were given mainly In groups of five years. In 1870, however, all persons above 80 years of agcwcrcenumeraled by single years. This makes possible a com- parison between the excess of the number at 90 over thai at 89 in 1870 and in 1880. This comparison is cutirely in favor of the census of 1880. In this decade the exaggeration at this particiilarnge ( ilO over 89 ) has fallen, for the total population, from 104.6% to 65.7%. As to sex, the male excess has fallen, from 87.1% to ac.7%: the female, from 118.7% to 90.3%, The colored people, too, have decreased their excess very greatly, — from 12G7% to 647%. Two other peculiarities in the returns of 1870 may benot«d: first, the dif- ference between exaggerations of the sexes is less, disappearing entirely in the colored race; second, the excess in the native whites is
��exceptionally high, being 155.3^, while: 1880 there is no exct'ss at all, but a deliciei of -1.8%.
The observation of such facts as have i here noticed, it is hoped, will shed light oii ' the characteristics of the natural bias in favor of round numbers, as well as be a tueans of suggesting modifications in the method of ques- tioning which would obviate these misropi** sentations. It is just such irregularities 1* detract from the value of the census figm _ withregaitl to the calculation of the tife-period,~I and expectation of life, in the United Stales. A more thorough comprehension of the ques- tions treated above will doubtless be attaina- ble from the census reports of 1890.
Joseph .Ia^trow
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1
��CHOLERA INOCULATION.
��ALGTTERfrouiDr. J. Pemuiof Tortosa(CataloDla) to the Frencli acaiieiiiy [Comptes mdoB. No. IS, 1B8S) conlains aome inlereatlng assertions in regard to cUolera and the cholera bacillnB. He finds that cultures In bouillon at 37° C, carried on long enough to just visibly change the fluid, will, in doses of from two to fuur cubic centimetres, Itlll a gulnert-pig.
At the point ot inoculation appears a hot and painful tumor, which dries np and becomes detached, leaving an ulcer behind, which heals without pne formalion or palu. The general sympEonis are a rapid rise of lemperature, bringing on a lowering of the pliysiulogical beat as taken in the rectum.
If a drop of blood be taken from an animal thus inoculated, and during life, and this drop be inocn- laled in houliion. kept at STOC, In from twenty* four to forty-«ight hours a pure culture of Kpirlllk will be obtained.
Microscopic examinntioii ot the scroui coming after a blow upoji the inoculated ilde, ^nawtt^ the following r — ~ iB
1". Extraordinary number of globules, so mncb Ik-I as to make one doubt ilie nature of what la b observed. Many of lbs red-blood globules have p jectiona. and possess a real movement due to Mrlking of the microbes against these points. Spirilla and commaa, almost Invisible by reason • Uielr rapid movements. 3°. Spherical calls full fl graimlations, some of them containing a granulat* resembling a degencraied blood-cell. 4°, LenUeii elements, varying from five to twenty millimetrM'l size, and differing from the others described abort
A series of cultures in gelatine preserves Its V lenco, whilst a, series in bouillon becomes a after a certain time. If a series of guinea-pigs-^ Inoculaled with a r|uantity of the culture leas t" sufficient to kill them, Ihoy become capable of roi ing doses which would before faave been fatal, ' result which the writer claims he has obtiUned.
EffeHi ifthe microbe upon tnaii. — The injectloi
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