"The man who dines for £6, and clothes himself during the year for £5, is probably as healthily fed, and as healthily clad, as if his dinner cost two guineas a day, and his dress £200 a year. But this is not the case with respect to habitation. Every increase of accommodation, from the corner of a cellar to a mansion, renders the dwelling more healthy, and, to a considerable extent, the size and goodness of the dwelling, tends to render its inmates more civilized."

The Sanitory Report tells us, that "the annual slaughter in England and Wales from preventible causes of Typhus, which attacks persons in the vigour of life, appears to be double the amount of what was suffered by the allied armies in the battle of Waterloo." The Hand-loom Weavers' Report of 1841, states, in the year 1838, a variation of the annual mortality in different districts of the metropolis, amounting to one hundred per cent. The comparative mortality of the unhealthy districts was traced to the presence of impurities, the want of ventilation, and the bad construction of the houses.

"It appears," says Dr. Southwood Smith, that in many parts of Bethnal Green and Whitechapel, fever of a malignant and fatal character is always more or less prevalent. In some streets it has recently prevailed in almost every house; in some courts, in every house; and in some few instances, in every room in every house. Cases are recorded in which every member of a family has been attacked in succession, of whom in every such case several have died; some whole families have been swept away. Instances are detailed in which there have been found in one small room six persons lying ill of fever together; I have myself seen this, four in one bed,

and two in another.

The room of a fever patient in a small and heated apartment in London, with no perflation of fresh air, is perfectly analogous to a standing pool in Ethiopia full of bodies of dead locusts. The poison generated in both cases is the same; the difference is merely in the degree of its potency. Nature with her burning sun, her stilled and pent-up wind, her stagnant and teeming marsh, manufactures plague on a fearful and large scale. Poverty in her hut, covered with her rags, surrounded with her filth, striving with all her might to keep out the pure air, and to increase the heat, imitates

From Mr. Chadwick's report, the state of Edinburgh and Glasgow was even worse. From the Sanitory Report, the condition of large classes of tenements in the manufacturing towns of Lancashire is described. Mr. Pearson, the medical officer of the Wigan Union, tells of the prevalence of fever, which he ascribes to the filthy condition of the town. Many of the streets are unpaved, and almost covered with stagnant water, which lodges in holes, into which the inhabitants throw the refuse of all kinds of animal and vegetable matters, which, as they undergo decay, become prolific sources of malaria, rendering the atmosphere an active poison. Of the town of Staf ford, there are parts without any drainage; the houses are built without any regard to ventilation, or to any thing whatever it would seem, but ensuring the greatest possible return, for the smallest outlay. The houses consist of two small rooms. The family work, in the day-time, in the room in which they sleep by night. There is no provision made for refuse dirt. It is thrown down in the front of the

houses, to putrify. A part of the town of Stockport is described as consisting of forty-four houses, in two rows, and twenty-two cellars, all of the same size. The cellars, dark, damp, low, six feet between the ceiling and floor, are let out as separate dwellings. The street, between the two rows, is seven yards wide, in the centre of which is the common gutter, or, more properly, sink-into which all refuse is thrown. It is a foot in depth. Thus, there is always a quantity of putrifying matter contaminating the air. At the end of the rows is a pool of shallow, stagnant water,

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and a few yards farther, part of the town's gas works. In many of these dwellings, there are four persons in one bed. The accounts of country districts is not more favourable. cannot go into details; but the total absence of drainage round cottages was found to be the most general cause of the malaria prevalent in these districts at all seasons, and that often makes itself felt in malignant diseases of a contagious character, calling on the fears, for their own safety, of those who cannot be awakened in any other way to attention to these removable evils.

In 1842, there were eight thousand inhabited cellars in Liverpool-the Occupants were estimated at from 35,000 to 40,000. In Great Britain, in each year, there is required an increase of 59,000 new tenements, "a number equal to that of two new towns, such as Manchester proper, which has 32,310 houses; and Birmingham, which has 27,268 houses."† Shall there be no care, on the part of the legislature, as to the building of these houses? Shall it be left altogether to the accident of individual prudence?

The extent of legislative interference is a question of considerable difficulty. Suppose the expense of building cottages materially increased by new regulations, the labouring classes may, by the increased rent of cottages, be driven to the occupation of rooms-a change, in every respect, for the worse. In an old country, already densely covered with houses, the regulations most desirable may be attended with inconvenience, such as to render it almost impossible to carry them into execution. These difficulties are felt and stated by our author; still he thinks much good may be done by some simple building regulations of a sanitory nature. Much may be done indirectly, all of which is nearly sure to be good. He suggests lowering the taxation on building materials-a proposition hardly to be disposed of without something more of information on the subject than the book gives us. other suggestion we feel less difficulty in adopting, that of modifying the

*Mr. Rayner's Report.

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window tax with a view to benefit the dwellings of the poor.

Mr. Biers, a witness examined before the select committee of 1842 on building regulations, says that he was in the habit of putting in each building, as erected, what are called lancetlights, for ventilating cellars and larders. These being for parts of the house not occupied as dwelling apartments, were not charged for; but a more stringent survey included all such lights, and charged them as windows. The consequence was, that in the houses already built, these necessary openings for ventilation were stopped up, and none placed in the houses built after it was proved they were taxable. Here is a case in which it is probable that the tax was one never in the contemplation of the legislature. rect injury was done to the health; and even considered as a matter of finance, the expense in all probability fell upon the state in some other form.

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We feel more pleasure in the parts of the book before us, that press their duties on individuals than those which suggest plans of legislation. When the first is strongly felt, the other is sure to become unnecessary, or, where necessary, soon to follow. The dif ference of building a small row of cottages back to back, which it will be hard to ventilate, and which must be without the most obvious household requisites, and that of building a row of cottages, each of which will have a yard at the back, will be about twentytwo per cent on the outlay. This dif ference, or rather the want of thinking on the matter, has, in thousands of cases, determined the health and morality of the inmates. The greater outlay necessary for building superior cottages would be more than compensated by increased rent, or, which is the same thing, rent more regularly and securely paid. This consideration is urged by our author, who, however, gives full credit to the proprietors of the land on which cottages are built, and to the owners of the capital expended in building, for views of benevolence which might interfere with their seeking to make, in all cases, the most of their property, in the hope that build

Sanitory Report.

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ing a better class of houses for the poor may not end in an isolated act of benevolence, but may indicate a mode of employing capital likely to be followed by others. Then follow a few words on the allotment system. It has been tried at Leeds by Mr. Marshall and Mr. Gott. It has, too, been recently tried in the manufacturing districts to ascertain its results. author anticipates from it, to the working man himself, an additional means of support. It would tend to endear home to the working man-it would provide a pleasing change of employment for him in good times-it would not render him so listless when out of work—and it would give him an additional topic of conversation, and an interest in various things which he might never otherwise have felt the least concern for.

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'Moreover, it amuses and occupies the little ones in a family, and it leaves less temptation for parents to employ children too early in factories or workshops, when they can find something else for them to do which may be profitable. In this respect, indeed, any improvement in domestic comfort, or any additional domestic pursuit, is likely to be beneficial, as it enlarges the sphere of house. hold duties, and creates more reasons for the wife and children being left home.

"Again, as there is hard labour to be done in a garden, this allotment system might occasionally prevent the sense of an almost unnatural dependence being

so much exhibited, or felt, when the children are employed in some factory and the grown-up people are not. This is one of the greatest evils that at present attend the state of manufactures. Some of the advantages which I have reckoned above, as likely to be connected with the allotment system, are trifling things; but small impulses, all tending one way, may lead to great results. The main objection which, I suppose, will be taken, is that to make allotments in crowded districts is scarcely practicable. Some beginning, however, has been made at a place so crowded as Leeds, and at any rate, in any future building arrangements, room might be left for allotments of land, which would also secure many advantages with respect to the sanitory condition of the people. It may be remarked, too, that any manufacturer, who possessed cottages with allotments to them, would have an easy mode of rewarding good behaviour. Such cottages would be eagerly sought after by the men, and might be

given, in preference, to those of good character.

"Is all this romantic? Is it inevitable that the suburbs of a manufacturing town must consist of dense masses of squalid habitations, unblest by a proper supply of air, light, or water; undrained, uncleansed, and unswept; enjoying only that portion of civilization which the presence of the police declares, and presenting a scene which the better orders hurry by with disgust? Or, on the contrary, may we not, without giving ourselves up to Utopian dreams, imagine that we might enter the busy resorts of traffic through extensive suburbs consisting of cottages with their bits of land; and see, as we come along, symptoms every where around of housewifely occupations, and of homes which their humble owners might often think of with pleasure during their day's labour, looking forward to their return at evening with delight? The richer classes, even those low down in the scale of wealth, mostly struggle to secure some portion of country air for themselves: surely they might do their best to provide for the working man something like a change from the atmosphere of the factory, or workshop, in which he must pass the greatest part of his day throughout the whole year.

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Against what I have said above, it may be urged that it would prevent the workman from living near his work. In many cases this may be an inconvenience; but I do not imagine that, in general, it can be proved to be an insurmountable, or even a very serious, objection."-pp. 119-122.

The effort to abridge this volume is doing it great injustice; and in no part do we feel this so much as in what he says of the town where great manufac tures are carried on. To improve and embellish it ought to be one of the objects of the great manufacturer. The place where he resides, and where his business is carried on, is surely to be regarded as a part of his house, and should be contemplated with a home affection. The feeling, against which our author would contend, is that which makes the employer of labour think of some scene distinct from that in which his works are, as more properly his home than the town in which they are carried on. Did he think of the town as a part of his home, he would feel interest in the erection of churches, hospitals, buildings for the display of works of art, and all that tended to elevate the sentiments or improve the

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It is hard to pass to details; but among evils easily removed he regards smoke as one. Mr. Cubitt's, the great builder's, evidence on the subject, before the sanitory committee, is quoted. Competition drives the manufactories to work as cheaply as they can. man gets up a steam-engine, and sends out an immense quantity of smoke ;– perhaps he creates a great deal of foul and bad gas: that is all let loose. Where his returns are one thousand pounds a month, if he would spend five pounds more, he would make that He works as completely harmless. cheaply as he can, and the public suffer beyond all calculation. Here, surely, supposing the manufacturer's calculation perfectly just, and that such a saving can be effected by poisoning a neighbourhood, the interference of the legislature, to save the public a charge which falls upon them many thousand fold, is absolutely called for; but the calculation of the manufacturer is founded in mistake, and he is a loser by his mismanagement. The evidence of Mr. Ewart, admiralty inspector of machinery at Woolwich, who was examined by the same committee, is, that if the fire be properly managed, there will be a saving of fuel. The extent of smoke denotes the extent to which combustion is incomplete. The West Middlesex Water Company, by diminishing the smoke of their furnaces, save one thousand pounds a-year.

The state of sewerage, the imperfect supply of water, and other circumstances connected with ventilation, are next examined. In reply to the argument that many or most of these evils are referrible to this being an old country, the necessary consequences of our dense and over-crowded population, and the circumstances of property in such a country as England, evidence is given of things being just as bad in New York. The inference is, that these

are matters which cannot safely be left to people themselves. The legislature ought to take care of matters so essential to the health of all. The fact that ill health is connected with imperfect drainage and want of ventilation, well established as it is, and almost obvious as it appears when pointed out, is an inference of scientific research. The structural arrangements which would guard against such evils cannot be safely left to the people themselves.

Social intercourse between different classes of society is dwelt upon as among the best means of improving the humbler classes. To what the author says, we would only add, what perhaps is implied, that the improvements will probably be reciprocal. The education of females for domestic life is forcibly suggested by the evidence of a sensible man, examined by one of the parliamentary committees:

"Children during their childhood toil throughout the day, acquiring not the least domestic instruction to fit them for wives and mothers. I will name one instance, and this applies to the general condition of females doomed to, and brought up amongst, shop-work. My mother worked in a manufactory from a very early age. She was clever and industrious; and, moreover, she had the reputation of being virtuous. She was regarded as an excellent match for a working man. She was married early. She became the mother of eleven children; I am the eldest. To the best of her ability she performed the important duties of a wife and mother. She was

lamentably deficient in domestic knowledge. In that most important of all human instruction, how to make the home and the fireside to possess a charm for her husband and children, she had never received one single lesson. She had children apace. As she recovered from her lying-in, so she went to work, the babe being brought to her at stated times to receive nourishment. As the family increased, so any thing like comfort disappeared altogether. The power

to make home cheerful and comfortable was never given to her. She knew not the value of cherishing in my father's mind a love of domestic objects. Not one moment's happiness did I ever see under my father's roof. All this dismal state of things I can distinctly trace to the entire and perfect absence of all training and instruction to my mother. He became intemperate, and his intemperance made her necessitous. She made made many efforts to abstain from shop

work; but her pecuniary necessities forced her back into the shop. The family was large, and every moment was required at home. I have known her, after the close of a hard day's work, sit up nearly all night for several nights to. gether washing and mending of clothes. My father could have no comfort here. These domestic obligations, which in a well-regulated house (even in that of a working man, where there are prudence and good management) would be done so as not to annoy the husband, to my father were a source of annoyance; and he, from an ignorant and mistaken notion, sought comfort in an alehouse.

My mother's ignorance of household duties; my father's consequent irritability and intemperance; the frightful poverty; the constant quarrelling; the pernicious example to my brothers and sisters; the bad effect upon the future conduct of my brothers; one and all of us being forced out to work so young that our feeble earnings would produce only one shilling a week; cold and hunger, and the innumerable sufferings of my childhood, crowd upon my mind and overpower me. They keep alive a deep anxiety for the emancipation of the thousands of families, in this great town and neighbourhood, who are in a similar state of horrible misery. My own experience tells me that the instruction of the females in the work of a house, in teaching them to produce cheerfulness and comfort at the fireside, would prevent a great amount of misery and crime. There would be fewer drunken husbands and disobedient children. As a working man, within my own observation, female education is disgracefully neglected. I attach more importance to it than to any thing else."-pp. 144, 145.

Education is enforced, by exhibiting from Dr. Cooke Taylor's "Tour in the Manufacturing Districts" statistical tables, showing the degree of instruction, age, and sex of the persons tried and convicted in Manchester, in the year 1841. They show that a very small degree of instruction leads to the prevention of crime; but this is so obvious, that we own we feel distrust of sustaining it by evidence of the kind, and think that the tables might have been better omitted.

We have now done what we proposed. What we have said, and the extracts which we have given, will, we

trust, do something to introduce this volume to some, into whose hands it has not yet come. It is impossible that any one can read it without learning much of the good which it is so easy to do-which, alas! it is also so easy to leave undone. In the world, perhaps, there is not a spot where more can be done by any one individual than in this Ireland of ours. We do not mean to discourage far-reaching speculation, or to think lightly of any one movement for either the physical or the moral amelioration of our people-but is there one of our readers who may not himself, at once, and without delaying for the doubtful participation of others, add almost infinitely to the happiness of those around him, by acting in the feeling that he and they are the children of the same parent? This first great truth, which, stated in words, seems to be but a truism, is, in act, all but universally denied. The most fearful sign of the times in which we live is the increasing alienation of the classes of society. This can alone be removed by the belief, which will not be slow of growth, where it ought to grow at all, that the feeling of friendly brotherhood does in reality exist that masters think not of themselves, compared with their workmen, as an exclusive and privileged order of beings, but as man and man. Confidence will

soon grow up. It will be felt by the labouring man, when he sees the employer of labour occupied in providing for his workmen's comforts, as his duty and his delight, that such employer is his friend, and the prosperity of such a man will form a part of the pride and happiness of every person in his establishment. Books, such as we have been reading, may or may not be adequate expressions of the feeling in which they originate, but they are evidence to all of the existence of such feelings; and we cannot despair of true kindliness of feeling arising among the different classes of society, when such works prove to the persons employed in operative labour how deeply the consideration of their comforts interests their employers.

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