such thing as a serious strike. He and his firm had to deal now with an intelligent body of men: and when any little disagreement as to wages arose, they found that they were able to settle all difficulties in the course of a short interview with their leading workmen. As the result of the superior intelligence on the part of their workmen-an intelligence that was the offspring of the Factory Act-a much better feeling had prevailed between employers and employed in their works.

REFORMATORY SCHOOLS.

The Rev. I. FISH read a paper entitled "The Curriculum of a Reformatory," showing the method of education in a reformatory school. The material on which the teacher operated was probably the most unpromising to be found in the land. It consisted of children whose simple qualification was crime. The first requisite, therefore, was provision for safe custody. School instruction formed, as might be supposed, a primary element in reformatory training. Of the last 100 boys admitted to the Castle Howard Reformatory only 30 were able to read, and of these only 12 could read well, The instruction given there did not go much beyond the three R's, but a great deal was learnt in the course of learning these; religious training was made a special subject. The next great division of discipline was labour, and whether considered in its relation to health and the proper development of bodily powers, or in its influence on the mental and moral life of criminals, it was invaluable. After referring to other matters of detail respecting reformatories, the paper stated that the result up to this time was most gratifying, as 70 per cent. of those who passed through reformatories became industrious and honest, instead of remaining a pest to society.

SCHOOLS OF ART.

Mr J. C. SWALLOW, in a paper on the "Relation of Schools of Art to the Government," after tracing the history of Schools of Design from their first establishment in 1837, the establishment of the Department of Science and Art in 1852, the minutes of 1862-3, and the Government inquiry in 1864, pointing out the manner in which the provincial schools had been starved in order to benefit South Kensington Museum, said he considered schools of art had not paid, and in all probability never would; therefore it was the duty of the State to contribute to their maintenance. That was done by the Government, who had voted upwards of £100,000 for the purpose, but only about £10,000 of this sum reached the London district and provincial schools. The combined association of masters and committees were about to ask Parliament for a direct grant of £20,000. It was of the partial manner in which the grant had hitherto been distributed that the provincial schools of art complained. Mr. Swallow proposed that elementary art should be taught in every school; that there should be a more extended system for grammar

and all middle-class schools; a professorship of art at the colleges; a visiting artist at all the public galleries where students are admitted to copy; that the provincial schools should be schools of painting, sculpture, and ornament, with picture galleries and museums attached to them, and the staff of teachers should be thoroughly efficient. There should be no training school for masters, but a central board of examiners, the same in constitution as the College of Surgeons, to grant diplomas and travelling lectureships. The South Kensington Museum should only be the depository for feeding the local museums, and not the exhibition for the whole country. To the carrying out of such a system, three things would be necessarylocal subscriptions, a liberal scale of fees, and a liberal assistance from the Government. By these means such a development of natural taste in art would be produced as would raise this country to the highest pinnacle of artistic fame.

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HEALTH.

Report of the Standing Committee of the Department.

ACTS OF PARLIAMENT.

Tdirection of extending protection to various classes of workers,

HE Sanitary Legislation of the session has been chiefly in the

especially women and children, against overwork and unwholesome conditions of employment.

An Act has been passed extending the Factory Acts to a number of employments in which women and children are extensively engaged. The Act contains provisions for the ventilation of the premises, and for securing personal cleanliness to the workpeople— 27 & 28 Vict. c. 48.

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The Bleaching and Dyeing Works Acts Extension Act has the same object in view, protecting women, young persons, and children employed for hire in any building or premises whatever in finishing, hooking, or lapping, making up and packing any yarn or cloth of cotton, wool, silk or flax, any of them, or any mixture or any yarn or cloth of any other material or materials or any such processes -27 & 28 Vict. c. 98.

An Act to extend the protection afforded to the children and young people employed by chimney sweepers has been passed. It makes it unlawful for chimney sweepers to employ children under ten for any purpose whatever out of their own houses or places of business-27 & 28 Vict. c. 37.

The Public and Refreshment Houses Act orders the closing of such houses in London and its liberties between the hours of one and four, and makes the Act permissive as regards all corporate boroughs-27 & 28 Vict. c. 64.

Contagious Diseases Act. An Act for the prevention of contagious diseases at certain naval and military stations providing for the inspection of military and naval hospitals, &c.-27 & 28 Vict. c. 85.

REPORTS OF COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES, &c.

The Sixth Annual Report of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council contains much valuable matter under the heads of:— I. Public Vaccination. II. The Distribution of Disease. III. Outbreaks of Contagious Disease.

Under the first Mr. Simon reports further evidence of the unsatisfactory working of the present system of public vaccination. The

Reports of Dr. Seaton and Dr. Buchanan for London, trace the frequency of epidemic smallpox and its fatality in London to the great extent to which vaccination is still neglected, and to the imperfect and insufficient way in which it is frequently performed. The neglect. arises from the indifference of the parents, and their want of confidence in the operation as performed at present. The Report points out what vaccinating arrangements in a large town ought to be. It recommends in order to secure the necessary supervision and uniformity of action, that vaccination should be a metropolitan, instead of a parochial charge. Smallpox, which in the Grand Duchy of Baden, for eight consecutive years, and for thirteen in Copenhagen, took away not a single life, killed last year in London 2,000. Dr. Seaton reports, as the result of his inquiry in Yorkshire, Herefordshire, and Wales, that he found no large or middle sized towns properly protected against smallpox. In the North and East Ridings. of Yorkshire, great neglect of vaccination prevails. In 1857-59, smallpox was epidemic, and excessively fatal throughout these Ridings. It broke out afresh in 1862, and prevailed at the time of inspection. York, and Whitby were the centres of the plague. In York, the mortality was very serious. The disease began to spread in August and September, 1862, and did not reach its period of greatest fatality till January, 1863. At the time of inspection, when the epidemic had not terminated, the deaths had reached 100, or proportionally more than threefold the mortality which created such just alarm in the metropolis last year. Dr. Seaton strongly recommends a better system of registration, and of appointment of operators and systematic supervision.

Under the head of "Distribution of disease in England, and the circumstances by which it is regulated," the inquiry into the preventible mortality of the country is continued. The circumstances examined and reported upon, are—the food of the poorer labouring classes; the causes of sea scurvy in the mercantile marine; the occupations of workers in lead and mercury, of printers, tailors, and dressmakers; and the effects of residence in marsh districts.

The inquiry into the food of the poorer labouring classes was conducted by Dr. Edward Smith. The households visited were, England and Wales 553, Scotland 29, Ireland 52. Mr. Simon, in summing up the results of the inquiry, says, "The wives and children of the examined agricultural populations, and doubtless to some extent the labourers themselves, are, in some counties, miserably fed. The worst deficiencies, however, were found among in-door operatives. They, taken as a whole, are so ill-fed that assuredly among them there must be many instances of severe and injurious privation. Dr. Smith made an estimate of the quantity of food absolutely necessary to avert starvation diseases, and he found whole classes of the population living below that standard. The average state of health of those living thus was unsatisfactory, though those only were selected for examination who, as to industry, thrift, and capability for labour, fairly represented their class."

The lowest fed class included in the inquiry is the class of needlewomen. Their average income was 3s. 114d. per week, and the cost of food obtained was 2s. 7d. per adult weekly. They showed an exceedingly feeble state of health-some subsisting on bread and butter and tea, three times a day. Their case requires more extended investigation. Of all the in-door workers, silk-weavers, needlewomen, kid-glovers, shoemakers, and stocking-weavers, he says "the average quantity of food supplied was too little for health and strength." This does not seem to be the case with agricultural labourers, so far as the results of the inquiry go, though in England the wives and young children of the labourer are under-fed, and all have less food in winter than in summer, though more is required. They are better fed than the town poor, the great deficiency in their dietary being want of milk, the abundance of which in Scotland and Ireland makes up for every deficiency. Concerning hurtful occupations, working in lead and mercury are this year reported on. Of the former, the inquiry, as far as it goes, shows that ventilation of the work places and personal cleanliness in the workers do much. to render it harmless. Only two occupations require the use of mercury-water-gilding and mirror-silvering. Their hurtful effects cannot be altogether escaped, and are greatly increased by the want of ventilation and cleanliness.

Extensive inquiries have been made into the condition of in-door workers generally; and the concurrent testimony is that wherever a number of workers are employed together in any in-door industry, want of ventilation converts the employment, however harmless in itself, into one seriously dangerous to health: "Thus," Mr. Simon remarks, explaining the fact that "in proportion as the people of a district are attracted to any collective in-door occupation, in such proportion, other things being equal, the district death-rate by lung diseases will be increased." For every 100 in the agricultural districts who die of lung disease, there die in Nottingham 192, and in Manchester 263. Women engaged in straw plaiting die at the rate of 578 to 219 men of the same district, lace-making women 617 to 301 men of their district, and so on; while, in standard agricultural districts, the men and women who fall by lung disease are, as nearly as possible, equal. The inquiries of last year relate, more especially, to three large London industries-dressmaking, tailoring, and printing. In all of these the conditions are more or less unhealthy through overcrowding and overwork. Dressmakers work generally in badly ventilated rooms. In the season, for about four months in the year, their hours of work are, as a rule, fourteen per day, and, when there is pressure, for days together seventeen or even eighteen hours. At other times of the year the work of the in-door hands ranges from ten to fourteen hours, and uniformly the work of the out-door hands is twelve or thirteen hours. Concerning the health of dressmakers no special statistics were attainable, but the general state of health is not good. The London printers and tailors suffer still more severely. At the age of thirty-five to forty-five the