throughout the period, with more or less violence: to these causes must be added many deaths from bronchitis and pneumonia. The registrar of the Hulme district, with reference to the great mortality there in the March quarter of 1858, remarks that "the operative classes have been compelled to economise their resources in every possible way. This has led to an excessive overcrowding of the dwellinghouses amongst the poorer classes; for where in some streets most part of the houses are uninhabited, in others there are as many as two and often three families in one house, badly ventilated and deficient in most sanitary requirements. To this I mainly attribute the increased mortality." It will be remembered, in connexion with the existing distress, that the deaths in the Macclesfield union are below the average. The registrar for the east district states that "very extensive sanitary improvements have been made in sewering and in paving streets and courts in the worst parts of the borough; and the cottages have been also much improved. Where these measures have been carried out the deaths have decreased." registrar of Wigan remarks, in regard to the June quarter, that "the deaths are very much below the average for the last five years." He observes that "distress prevails greatly, and is on the increase;" but that, to some extent, it has been mitigated by liberal subscriptions. The registrar of Walton-le-dale district, in the Preston union, states that there the "deaths are much below the average, which I think is accounted for by the almost total stoppage of the cotton-mills, the inhabitants of the Walton district being chiefly factory operatives. It may

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seem in some degree to account for the improvement in health amidst such distress if I add that the able-bodied poor in my district are employed in out-door labour." The registrar of Preston remarks that "There are now upwards of 22,000 people out of employment, and entirely dependent on charity of the boards of guardians for support. But it is gratifying to know that, notwithstanding so much poverty, the rate of mortality has not increased, but decreased." The RegistrarGeneral has made the following remark as to the sanitary condition of the northwestern district, which comprises the union counties of Lancaster and Chester, during the quarter ended at June last :-" It was noticed above that the depression of trade in the manufacturing district had sensibly affected the marriage returns; but happily it does not appear that the same cause acting in the opposite direction has tended materially to raise the rate of mortality, and it cannot positively be asserted that it has produced that effect in any degree. England, as has already been mentioned, was generally rather healthier last quarter than in the same season of 1861; but the rate of mortality in Cheshire and Lancashire was, though in an inconsiderable degree, higher last quarter than it had been in the spring of the previous year. The difference was only between 2.408 and 2.417;" that is to say, an increase of nine in every 10,000 deaths. With respect to the increased mortality in Lancashire and Cheshire which the returns for the March quarter of the present year reveal, the Registrar-General had previously observed that "The registrars in certain districts refer the increased mortality, which these figures too plainly reveal, to scarlatina, measles, bronchitis, and pneumonia, which had been prevalent; and by some of them an opinion, which there is reason to fear may be too well founded, appears to be entertained that those complaints had found an active ally in the poverty and want which many of the unemployed thousands now suffer in the great seats of manufacture. Facts have been adduced to prove that in instances of great depression of trade, like that which recently occurred in Coventry, the mortality of children is reduced in consequence of the due amount of maternal care being bestowed on them which in more prosperous times is withdrawn by the important requisition of factory labour. This is within limits. Nursing, in straitened circumstances, may be better for children than fulness of good cheer without it; but when hard times are prolonged, and the small store that had been gathered in the day of full work is exhausted, the greatest amount of parental attention will not expel physical decline, sickness, or death itself from the dwelling."

15. To whatever causes those marked diversities which the paper has shown to exist in the Lancashire and Cheshire unions between the pauperism and the deathrate during the present distress may be ultimately traced, it will be conceded that the mortality tables of that district are matters of the deepest import to boards of

guardians and relief committees. It appears obvious to the writer that if the deathrate in the distressed unions does not permanently exceed, or positively falls below, that of prosperous times, the relief granted to the unemployed operatives and their families is sufficient to maintain them in health. A greatly increased death-rate, on the other hand, must, though it be neither directly nor indirectly the result of insufficient aid, be a source of no little anxiety to those who are now officially or voluntarily engaged in alleviating the wants of the poor. Rochdale, for example, can give little concern to its guardians just now on the score of mortality. But Bury and Salford would in the same matter justify a considerable amount.

Statistics showing the Increased Circulation of a Pure and Instructive Literature adapted to the Capacities and the Means of the Labouring Population. By HENRY ROBERTS, F.S.A.

The author of this paper, alluding to the progress of sanitary amelioration, and to his "Notes on various Efforts to Improve the Domiciliary Condition of the Labouring Classes," given in extenso in the Transactions for 1860, assumed that, in an enlightened seat of learning, the efforts made to promote a healthy state of the mind, and of the immortal part of man, would be deemed equally worthy of attention.

With the progress of popular education in this country, and the unrestricted liberty of circulating works of every description, excepting such as openly outrage morality, the desire of gain led to the production of a large amount of low literature, most objectionable in its character, tending to foster the worst passions of human nature, and stimulating to the commission of crime, as well as to the contempt of all laws, human and divine. In order to counteract an evil so insidious, and one productive of so poisonous a state of the moral atmosphere, it was found worse than useless to have recourse to the law, excepting in a very few instances of its notorious violation. But much greater success has resulted from the various efforts made to supplant and drive out of the field the most injurious of the publications in question, by the introduction of such as are calculated to create a healthy moral atmosphere, to cultivate the mind, inform the judgment, to improve and elevate the taste.

A notice of the efforts made for promoting this object must, on the present occasion, be necessarily restricted to those of leading societies, some of which, as their titles indicate, were formed originally for the exclusive circulation of strictly religious publications, but now combine with that object a more extensive range of pure and instructive literature. These societies will be referred to in the order of their establishment; and afterwards some statistics will be given to show the extent of the circulation of works of the same class by private publishers, which are only illustrative of what is now done for this object, though perhaps on a less extended scale, by many other publishers in the United Kingdom.

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was founded in 1698, by members of the Established Church. It has three distinct objects, one of them being the preparation and circulation of books and tracts, including the Sacred Scriptures and Prayer-books, in various languages; and from this source our army and navy have been largely supplied. The supply of emigrants and the system of lendinglibraries has been long a valuable branch of the society's operations, and, with a special view to the latter object, its publications now embrace works on history, biography, philosophy, political economy, natural history, topography, &c., prepared in an attractive form, and written in a Christian spirit. The outlay on the society's publications has averaged, for the last twenty-five years, about £16,000 per annum. Its issues in the year 1860 to 1861 were, of Bibles and New Testaments, 235,592; Common Prayer Books, 339,997; bound books, 1,952,873; tracts, &c., 4,105,611; total of publications in the year, 6,634,073: and from the year 1733, when its issues were first reported, it has circulated 148,902,287 copies of various publications.

The Book Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor was established in 1750. Its objects are the gratuitous distribution and the sale of Bibles, Testaments, and books of established excellence, not exclusively religious, as well

as the publication of original and standard works adapted to promote religious and moral instruction. It is a rule of this society that no books of a controversial character shall be distributed; and any profits made from the sale of its publications are appropriated to the making grants of books to destitute Sunday and Ragged Schools, &c. The receipts and expenditure of the society for the last nearly £5000.

year were

The Religious Tract and Book Society of Scotland, instituted in 1793, sells none but religious books. It was the first society in Great Britain to employ colporteurs in the distribution of approved publications, and it has now from 110 to 120 agents thus employed. Its sale of periodicals in the past year has been above 700,000 copies, and of Bibles and Testaments 20,000 copies.

The Religious Tract Society was founded in 1799, at which period it has been estimated that there were 20,000 hawkers engaged in selling indecent songs and polluting penny papers throughout all parts of the country. The publication of tracts and books for children, with attractive illustrations, was commenced by this society at an early period of its history; and they were followed by cheap editions of old authors, or original works, written in a plain and popular style, to which were subsequently added educational works; and lastly, it was deemed advisable to engage in the production of periodical literature, mostly illustrated, and suited to various ages and classes. Its circulation has increased since 1851 at the rate of nearly two millions per annum, it having amounted in 1851 to 20,887,064, in 1856 to 31,529,185, and in 1861 to 41,883,921. The agency for distributing this mass of good literature is all voluntary, excepting that employed on board of emigrant ships and the sales made through the ordinary channels of trade. The annual receipts and expenditure of the society now exceed £100,000; and the total distribution of its publications has been about 950,000,000 copies.

The British and Foreign Bible Society was established in 1804, for the supply and circulation of the Sacred Scriptures without note or comment. In Great Britain voluntary agency is thus largely employed through the medium of its auxiliaries and branches; and in foreign countries it promotes the same object, often where the Scriptures were before unknown, and even amongst savages, where no written language previously existed. The translating, printing, and distributing of the Sacred Scriptures, in whole or in part, has been promoted by this society, directly or indirectly, in 160 languages or dialects; and the number of versions, wholly or partially completed, is 190, of which 140 are translations never before printed. The issues by the society last year were upwards of 1,500,000 copies, and its total issues of the Scriptures, or portions of them, now amount to 40,910,474 copies. The total receipts of this society were for the past year £168,443 15s, 5d., including £76,760 17s. 8d. for the sale of the Scriptures; and the total expendi ture of the society, from its establishment in 1804, has been £5,250,546 13s. 6d. The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (now dormant) was established in 1826. Amongst its earliest publications was the Penny Magazine,' which had at one time a circulation of 200,000 copies. In 1828 it commenced the British Almanac,' a publication which has greatly conduced to the very marked improvement in the general character of our almanacs. The first number of the 'Penny Cyclopædia' was issued by this society in 1833, and of its first volume 55,000 copies were sold.

The Working Men's Educational Union was founded in 1852, for the purpose of "assisting all persons desirous of imparting interesting and popular literary and scientific information imbued with a sound Christian spirit," whether by the delivery of lectures, the formation of libraries, or the promotion of mutual-instruction or other classes for adults. The agency of this society is to a very considerable extent gratuitous, and the lectures are mostly delivered in such suitable places as are obtainable free of cost.

From the Dublin Tract Repository there have been issued within the past eight years 34,000,000 of publications, including pamphlets and small books.

The Pure Literature Society was established in 1855, for promoting the extensive circulation of all such books, maps, prints, diagrams, and other publications as may be deemed good and useful by the managing committee; but the society itself abstains from publishing. Grants of well-selected books are made at half-price in

aid of parochial and other libraries, to mechanics' institutions, working-men's societies, and for distribution to sailors, soldiers, emigrants, miners, and navvies.

Hawking or Colportage of carefully selected books and prints was systematically commenced in England in 1851, and within the last ten years much has been done in this way to promote the circulation of pure literature in the rural districts. Sixty-two local associations have been organized, and are united with the "Church of England Book-hawking Union," which employs about eighty book-hawkers, whose aggregate sale is now about £16,000 per annum.

Another society, designated the British Colportage Association, was established in 1860, with a view of carrying out the same object by agents not restricted to the sale of books and educational appliances, but who are expected to act also in a certain sense as missionaries.

The numerous publications specially used for instruction in the Schools of the Poor are mostly issued by one or other of the school societies, and no accurate estimate as to their numbers can be given.

A class of publications intended to impart a general knowledge of Sanitary Science, in its application to every-day life, has been lately introduced, and now forms an important branch of the instruction conveyed to the labouring-classes through the various agencies under review. The production and circulation of such publications is a main object of the Ladies' Sanitary Association, which has, since its establishment in 1857, distributed 468,500 copies of small works, sold mostly at from 1d. to 2d. each. The issue of sanitary publications was commenced by Messrs. Jarrold & Sons about ten years since, under the designation of "Household Tracts," which are sold at 2d. each, and of these the number issued up to June last was 1,345,000. Of another class, entitled "Science for the Household," 125,000 copies have been circulated.

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Publications promotive of temperance are circulated very extensively from the establishment of Mr. Tweedie, 337 Strand, and many other booksellers. journal devoted to this cause has a circulation of 25,000 copies weekly. The British Workman,' issued at 1d., and the Band of Hope Review,' atd. have now a circulation of about 250,000 copies each, with a well-merited increase.

From Mr. Peter Drummond's Tract and Book Depôt, at Stirling, N. B., have been issued since 1848, gratuitously and by sale, 33,600,000 tracts of 1 to 12 pages each.

Another publishing firm, that of Mr. John Cassell, issues from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 annually of well-written penny publications, besides the Popular Educator, the 'Illustrated History of England,' and the 'Illustrated Family Bible,' in weekly penny numbers, of which, up to the present time, 21,000,000 numbers have been printed.

To this greatly increased circulation of a pure and instructive cheap literature, and particularly to the extensive distribution of the Sacred Scriptures, the author feels justified in attributing, in no small degree, the striking change in the conduct of our manufacturing operatives, at the present time of severe privation and suffering, as compared with their riotous proceedings in days not very remote from the present; and he would trust that their conduct may prove instructive to some in other countries, who, exalted in authority, and knowing not the value of moral influence in governing a people, fetter the human mind, and incarcerate those who, having themselves experienced that the ways of true wisdom are pleasant, and her paths peace, would lead others to walk therein.

A Statistical Inquiry into the Prevalence of numerous Conditions affecting the Constitution in 1000 Consumptive Persons. By EDWARD SMITH, M.D.,LL.B., F.R.S., Assistant Physician to the Hospital for Consumption at Brompton, &c. The inquiry was made upon 600 male and 400 female patients at the Hospital for Consumption, Brompton, and was intended to show the influence of all the causes which are believed to modify the health.

The average age of the patients was 28.8 years. London, 36 per cent. had lived chiefly in London,

30 per cent. had been born in and 53 per cent. had lived in

London during the preceding 3 years. 8.8 per cent. could not read or write; and only 14.3 per cent. had been insufficiently nourished.

1. Parental conditions.-54 per cent. had lost the father, 46 per cent. the mother, and 28 per cent. both parents; in 25 per cent. only were both parents living. The average age of the parents at death was 50-8 years, with an increased duration of 4.7 years on the part of the fathers. The most frequent age at death was 35 to 55 years, whilst only 11 per cent. died under the age of 35, and some lived upwards of 95 years. 18 per cent. had experienced feeble health before the birth of the patient, and 34 per cent. throughout life; in 22.7 per cent. one or both parents had led unsteady lives. 21.1 per cent. of the parents had died of consumption, whilst in 2.8 per cent. the grand-parents, 23.3 per cent. the brothers or sisters, and 9.1 per cent. the uncles or aunts had died of the same disease. They had suffered from rheumatism in 22 per cent., from asthma in 94 per cent., from liver-disease and gout in 9 and 7.2 per cent., and from fevers, ague, insanity, and diabetes in 4 to 5 per cent. Presumed scrofulous affections were extremely rare. In only 6 cases was there consanguinity of the parents.

The age of the parents at the birth of the patients was, in half of the cases, from 25 years to 35 years, and in only 2 per cent. was it less than 20 years. The number of the children was very large, viz. an average of 7.5 to a family, and in some families there were 23 children. The patient was the first child in 20 per cent., and the first, second, and third child in half of all the cases. 40 per cent. of the parents' children had died.

2. Personal Conditions.-In only 23 per cent. were the patients under æt. 20, and a few were æt. 60. 24 per cent. had been feeble at birth, whilst 22 per cent. had suffered from feeble general health, and 17 per cent. from generally defective appetite. In 12.6 per cent. the lungs had been always delicate; 2.5 per cent. had been dry-nursed; 25.4 per cent. had perspired with unusual freedom; 25 per cent. had never worn flannel next the skin, and 55 per cent. had suffered from coldness of the extremities; 72.5 per cent. had an excitable temperament; 62.1 per cent. had medium brown or light-coloured hair, 74 per cent. had grey or blue eyes, 60 per cent. had florid complexion, and 46.7 per cent. had a fleshy habit.

16, 654, 60, and 41 per cent. had not had measles, scarlet fever, small pox, and hooping-cough in their order, and the frequency of any long-continued ill-effects from these diseases was insignificant; 12.8 per cent. had suffered from enlarged glands, and 4.5 per cent. from long-continued affection of the eyes, but otherwise the ordinary scrofulous disease scarcely existed. 16.7 per cent. had suffered from inflammation of the lungs, and 14.8 per cent. from rheumatism, whilst typhus fever and frequent diarrhoea had occurred in 8 per cent., ague in 5.6 per cent., and liverdisease in 4.3 per cent. of the cases.

The menses appeared at æt. 14 and 15 years in 36.4 per cent., and in 11 per cent. only was it before æt. 13. 43.5 per cent. were married, and of these 13 per cent. had not borne children. Their average age at the birth of the first child was æt. 20 to 25, and in only 9 per cent. were they under æt. 20. The number of children per family was 1 and 2 in 44 per cent., and 1, 2, and 3 in 55 per cent.; 38 per cent. of the children had died, and in 43 per cent. the general state of the health of the children was bad; abortions had occurred in 46-2 per cent. of the child-bearing married women.

29.6 per cent. of the males had led a bad life at some period, 24.5 per cent. had smoked tobacco, 19.3 per cent. of both sexes had submitted to late hours, and 22-2 per cent. had suffered much anxiety. In 70 per cent. some complaint was made as to the injurious influence of their occupations, as exposure, long hours, close and hot rooms, bending posture, dust, or fumes, &c.

The author then entered into a consideration of the question of hereditary transmission, and showed the relation of such an inquiry to the purposes of life assur→ ance; but was of opinion, that as consumptives are a very mixed class of persons, and the causes of the disease most various, the only safeguard to life-offices was the careful examination of the chest of applicants by competent physicians.

On the Income Tax. By W. T. THORNTON.

The object of this paper was to show, first, that every income-tax whatsoever must