The Brecon Reporter and South Wales General Advertiser

THE SEWAGE QUESTION. On this important subject, Mr. John Hart, of Leamington, writes to a London contemporary :— Allow me to offer to your readers a few remarks on a subject now occupying much attention—namely, the disposal and utilisation of town sewage. In the report of a recent Royal Commission it is forcibly urged that all sewage should be intercepted from the streams -which have hitherto been its outlet; this suggestion, if strictly put in practice will no doubt prove one of the greatest sanitary reforms of modern times, and for it the thanks of the community are due to the com- missioners. With practical details it was not their province to grapple, and they seem to have come only to a general coueliision that irrigation is the remedy for the evils they had under consideration, whatever the nature of the district. On the other hand, after a long discussion at the Conference and Congress held in this town, in October last, on the same subject, it was concluded that no one system is applicable to every situation, and the truth of this deduction, differing though it does from the preceding one, will not be doubted by unprejudiced nrinds. In the vicinity of large towns, supposing the difn- cnVty of obtaining sites for irrigation meadows to be overcome, it still remains to be proved that sewage, if continually poured in vast quantities over land, is less prejudicial to health in its effects than if, after being deprived of its impurities, it is allowed to flow into the streams. A little observation of the effects of sewage irrigation on those fields where it has been longest in operation will serve to show that this plan, though haying many advantages to recommend it, is not all that can be desired, as many of its enthusiastic supporters would lead the public to believe. A system seems to be wanted which shall be free from the disadvantages of irrigation as usually carried out, and yet utilise the refuse of our towns. Such a 81W presents itself in a modification of the well- known process of warping, as carried on near bodies of tidal water. The principal feature of it is covering land wholly of partially with sewage, and allowing this to remain ia a state of rest for any period that may be found de- sirable, during which the greater part of the manurial matter is deposited, and as much fluid as the earth will absorb, varying according to circumstances, is given to it. On some porous lands many inches in depth may thus be absorbed in a short time, and a valuable solid addition to the soil also made without the employment of any complicated means. Many opportunities will occur of applying the sewage to growing crops, as this system is apnlicable to arable land, and offers a favourable contrast to that now in operation in various places where rye grass is the prin- cipal, if not the only crop that can be probably pro- duced. The most impure sewage here requires no such straining as is found necessary previous to its applica- tion to land constantly under irrigation, as the soil is benefited in proportion to the amount of sediment de- posited upon it. The advantage also to growing crops to be derived from their free exposure to sun and air is not interfered with, as sufficient time between each application of liquid can be allowed to elapse for these great natural deodorisers to perform their important pa-rt in the production of vegetable fibre. Again, it is well known that no arable land will con- tinue to produce profitable crops without a proper rotation being observed; by the system now under consideration this is rendered practicable by the most simple means. Let us suppose sewage supplied to a district in reservoirs at as high a level as possible, either bypumpingorgravitation, as the circumstances demand. From these reservoirs feeders or channels radiating in *uy direction that the levels permit carry the sewage to the required distance from them it may be still farther distributed in furrows made by an implement worked in the same manner as a plough. It is not necessary that a large outlay for preparing the fields be incurred, as by a judicious distribution of these furrows gentle undulations may be covered with the liquid, and its flow regulated to a nicety by dams placed at intervals in the feeders. The principal advantages to be attained by the system here indicated consist—firstly, in the agricul- turist being able to apply successive dressings of sewage at such times and in such quantities as his ex- perience suggests secondly, in its easy application by unskilled labourers to crops which have hitherto re- ceived the benefits of liquid manure only on a limited scale. Thirdly, the freedom from those injurious emanations which are generally found in connexion with sewage when applied in such quantities as to be a hindrance rather than a stimulant to healthful vegetation. In the foregoing observations minute details have been avoided, my desire being to bring into notice the general <m times of a system worthy of further investigation, the pecuniary and other bearings of which might be enlarged upon but for the fear of occupying too much of your valuable space.

EDUCATION IN FRANCE. curious facts relative to the state of education in I'Yiince have been revealed by the reports of the com- mittee appointed to inquire into the condition of French agriculture, with special reference to the proposed military reorganization bill. It appears from these reports that in 1848 the pro- portion of men liable to military service who could neither read nor write was 38.12 per cent.; in 1863, 28.61 and in I860, 24 32 per cent. 'The proportion of uneducated women is of course much greater; in 1866 it was 42.02 per cent. The amount of education varies very mu.h in the different departments. In that of the Vosges 1.76 per cent. of the able- badied male population only are unable to read or write,, while in the Haute-Vienne the proportion is 45, 4D per cent. The number of village, schools is increasing, but 094 out of the 37,•>48 communes are still without stckools. In 1865 there were 440,000 children between the agea at seven and thirteen who had never been to school, and, of those who had, 49.8 per cent, only mmt to school all the year round. The Government has devoted particular attention to the evening schools for adults, of which there were but [..623 in January, while their number has now in- creased to 28,546. These schools were attended last year by 552,939 men and 42,567 Nvoinen. Of these 62,2121eant to read, 102,132 to read and write, 194,102 became tolerably proficient in arithmetic, 56,059 in geometry, 33,282 in book-keeping and commercial ac- counts, 22,340 in drawing, 13,960 in singing, and 8,386 in natural philosophy.

JAPANESE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. The following brief description of the habits of that re- markable people, the Japanese, has been culled from Mr. Silver's new work, "Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs," and will not be devoid of interest to the reader:- A bonze is a priest, and, as the Japanese are a very superstitious people, the priesthood is numerous ac- cordingly. As all their houses are built of wood or bamboo, and as they are addicted to a peculiarly care- less and dangerous way of .smoking tobacco, fires are of constant occurrence, and their fire brigades are kept in full practice. Their firemen are as well trained and fearless as our own. and expose their lives with even greater recklessness. The engines in use are nmde of wood, and seem to be of very little use in extinguishing a large fire. They are chiefly employed, it appears, to pump upon the firemen, whose business ic is to pull down the burning houses, and who, being clothed in full suits of armour, would otherwise be literally ba^ed. It is thought, however, that this pri- Biitive practice will ere long be superseded by the introduction of the English method and of English eagiaes. rn&.nother thing in which the Japanese are rather behind the western world is wrestling. This is a very popular sport with the whole people and a champion wrestler there is an object of as much admiration as Tom Orib and Owen Swift once were among ourselves. The mistake of the Japanese is m practising a kind of wrestling wherein weight rather than strength or agility must win the day. The men wrestle on a raised platform, on which a wide circular area is marked out; and it is the object of each athlete to push his antagonist beyond the ring. A fall counts but still the victory is net won until at least a great toe or a 1 n thumb has heen thrust over the boundary line; the result being that when both men are on the ground a process of dragging and pushing and heaving com- mences, in whicb a stone or two of extra weight is obviously very advantageous. The wrestlers fatten themselves up for their work, and as they do not themselves up for their work, and as they do not neglect their muscular development at the same time, their bulk is something quite astonishing. But one of the oddest among the minor oddities of this people is their practice with regard to public singers. The Japanese delight in singing, and a troop of singers seem to belong to the household of each of the Emperors, and perhaps also to the households of the wealthier nobility. Yet, in spite of this public appreciation of the art, these singers, it seems, do not enter their profession because of any natural aptness for it. They are mostly degraded gentlemen whose property has been forfeited to the State for some high crime or misdemeanour, and who are reduced to this method of earning a livelihood. But so it is and, what is more, notwithstanding the general love of song, no Japanese gentleman ever sings. He would be thought to have disgraced himself by such an ac- tion so that the profession and pursuit of this art for money is esteemed no light punishment in itself, over and above the forfeiture of goods. The Japanese live much in public, and the theatre is a very favourite amusement with them. It is open from half-past ten in the morning till late in the even- ing, and the plays are proportionably long. One drawing represents an interior which is more like that of an English church in the worst style than a theatre. The body of it is divided into square boxes like pews, which are generally taken by families who bring their dinners with them. Down each side run long open galleries, row above row and between the middle boxes and the sides are raised planks from which ser- vants are dispensing refreshments. Next to the theatre, wrestling, and concerts, come the tea-houses and the bathing-rooms. Of the "tea-house" different travellers give different ac- counts: some representing it as merely a Japanese Cremorne others as an ordinary place of refresh- ment, more like our suburban tea gardens." Japanese gentlemen take their wives and daughters to these places; but so used English gentlemen to take their wives and daughters to Vauxhall within the memory of living men. The bathing tub, however, is a scandal to European eyes which cannot be glossed over. Not only do the sexes bathe promiscuously, but the bath-rooms are open to the street. The political constitution of Japanese society is per- haps the best known thing about the people. The Government, superficially at least, is very like the feudal system as it flourished five hundred years ago. A powerful and wealthy aristocracy (the Daimios) are presided over by a temporal sovereign (the Tycoon) and a spiritual sovereign (the Mikador). The latter office is strictly hereditary, and is said to have de- scended through the present family for two thousand five hundred years. The Tycoon is both elective and in some sense hereditary. He is chosen by the daimios but their choice is restricted to the members of three families. The idea of a gentleman seems to have taken deep root in the Japanese mind. We have yet a great deal to learn of their more exact views on this point. But they certainly carry the principle of noblesse oblige further than it has ever been carried by those with whom the maxim originated. Hence the strange institution called Hara Kiru, which is an ingenious contrivance for saving the honour of one's family. The only way by which a Japanese gentleman can expiate a misdeed and vindicate his gentility at one and the same time, is to dispossess himself of his bowels. In fact, the privilege of being allowed to rip open his stomach with his own hand is prized by the daimio as one of the choicest gifts of high birth. It is confined to the no- bility, the army, and to a few civilians of high rank, and it simply consists in this, that as a whole family is held to be disgraced by any kind of punishment in- flicted upon one of its members, the Tycoon, in the case of a patrician culprit, is graciously pleased to signify to him that he may commit suicide if he likes. But now follows another very curious feature in the case. The obligation on the part of the offender does not begin until the mandate has been personally served upon him. He may waylay and murder the messenger he may fortify his baronial castle and set his sovereign at defiance and all this contumacy will expose him to no social censure. But when the fatal officer has once effected his entry and read his warrant-when, as we may say, he has once put in his execution—it is all over. Noblesse oblige." It is impossible any longer to affect ignorance of the intended favour. To refuse it would bring intolerable consequences. So the victim washes his face, anoints his head, and sits down to to meat with his companions once more before death. He has previously taken leave of his relations so that he has nothing to do but to pass from the banquet to the block, at a given signal previously arranged between himself and the imperial commissioners. When he rises from table he retires behind a screen which is placed at one end of the room, and there, squatting on the floor with a supporter" on each side of him, he listens to the reading of the mandate. When that is concluded all the attendants retire except the two commissioners and the two supporters, who now, however, fell back a little way on eaeh side of their unlucky friend. A new character now comes upon the stage in the shape of a man who bears a long sharp sword under his arm, and who places before the doomed noble a little square block with the sacrificial knife upon it. What then actually takes place Mr. Silver does not tell us. But as soon as he has done whatever it is usual to do on such occasions the man behind him strikes his head off. So ends the sacrifice to family honour. Another very curious product of Japan is the "lonin" or voluntary outlaw. Every Japanese chief is answerable for the good behaviour of his vassals or clansmen, so that when any of these resolve upon some desperate enterprise they formally renounce his pro- tection in order to void his responsibility. They thus become public enemies, whom all men are forbidden to harbour and though they may never originally have contemplated descending to a regular life of crime, such is too often the result.

GARDENING OPERATIONS FOR THE WEEK. (From the Gardener's Magazine.) Broccoli from late sowings to be pricked out, and young plants in a forward state to be planted out, where they are to remain in soil deeply dug and liber- any manured. Brussels Sprouts to be planted out as fast as possible. Previous to the late rains we got out a large quantity m rows, between potatoes, and they are now looking remarkably well. The soil must be in good condition for these, for if they are not fine, they are scarcely worth having. J Collards should be planted in quantity, as ground can be obtained for them. Plant them rather thick. Celery to be planted at every opportunity. Deep trenches may be used now, but in another few weeks it will be advisable to make the trenches shallow be- cause the late planted crops will have to stand out the winter. Any remaining in seed-pans or boxes may now be pricked out in beds in the open ground. Spinach.—If requisite to sow now, give the prefer- ence to the prickly seeded variety, which is used for winter spinach, as it is less likely to bolt in case of hot dry weather. Tomatoes to be trained and stopped. If not fre- quently stopped a good crop cannot be expected. Root Crops, such as parsnip and beet, require now a final thinning there is no gain from crowded beds. Potatoes to be frequently hoed between we have no great faith in the practice of moulding up the rows, but it is everywhere practised, and is evidently not seriously detrimental to the crop. If children can be emploved to pick off the blossoms, the weight of the crop will be increased, but the difference will scarcely pay for any other kind of labour. Sow, for succession, Mazagan beans, York, Rosette Colewort, and Collard cabbage, cucumbers (Highland Mary is one of the best to start now), endive, French beans, onions, parsley, peas, turnip radish. Flower Garden. Rhododendrons, Kalmias and Andromedas may now be layered for increase it is the simplest and surest method of propagation, though slow nevertheless thev are always better on their own roots than grafted, and though many kinds sow them- selves in plenty, and produce thickets of seedlings if allowed, there is no dependence to be placed on them for character when at last they come into bloom. Old beds of American plants may be benefited now by top dressings of cow-dung quite rotten. Recently formed beds should not have it; nevertheless a mulching of some kind, especially amongst Kalmias, will be bene- ficial. Where moss is plentiful, there is nothing better to strew three or four inches thick over the whole of the soil it soon sinks to a close peaty layer, and pre- serves a moist condition of the roots. Carnations and Picotees have been terribly afflicted with fly of late, but the recent rams have pretty well cleansed them. The buds must be thinned, and all other needful preparations made to prepare for a good bloom. Dahlias must be safely staked, or the first gale will lay them low. Hollyhocks must be securely staked. Roses are looking well since the cool rains, and all blights and maggots have disappeared. Heavy rains do more for roses in a few hours than artificial aids can do in a whole season. Look over the stock of hrier" intended for budding, and cut away all superfluous shoots to the base, and slightly shorten those that are so placed as to be suitable for budding. By the time the general budding season arrives the shoots thus shortened will be in full growth again, and will take the buds more readily. In some places, however, thousands of briers have been budded already, and if the work can be well done, the early doing it is 9, great advantage, because of the growth that can be got dur- ing the present season. Therefore, we say, make ready to work the strongest briers at once, and as soon as plump buds can be obtained of the choicest varieties. Buds that remain dormant till the next spring do not generally make such good plants as buds that start away soon after being entered, and make ripe hard shoots before winter. We have found that when the shoots from the buds of the season were very sappy, a gentle lift of the stock by means of a four- tined fork, early in October, gave a check that hasten fd the ripening, and prevented loss in winter. We mention this now because some propagators prefer dormant buds, because of the risk in winter, whereas pushing buds can be used with equal safety if means are resorted to check the growth in time. Another matter worthy of mention is that the wild wood should not be cut away severely before entering the buds, as a loss of it checks the flow of sap, and defers the com- plete junction of the two barks. Bulbs in pots, that flowered in spring, and have now finished their growth, will be better worth keep- ing_ if the pots are placed on a shelf in a hot lean-to. This is the way we are now dealing with our stock the object is to roast them before shaking them out of the pots. Cape bulbs require much the same sort of treatment, but care must be taken to keep them grow- ing a reasonable time after flowering, till, in fact, they have "made themselves" for the next season. It is because we do not ripen bulds sufficiently that so few are of any value after having once flowered. Crysanthemums to have plenty of water, and to be assiduously trained. Cuttings struck now, and carefully grown, will make very pretty small specimen plants. Greenhouse and Conservatory.—Conservatory plants require abundance of water and a free circulation of air amongst them. Climbers must never be neglected, or the growth will become so confused that to restore anything like order much of it must be cut away. Moisten all walls, borders, and stone-work the last thing in the evening, to create a humid atmosphere. Beaucarneas and their allies are generally very badly treated, hence the rarity of good specimens. One of the greatest secrets of success is to give them abun- dance of water at this season it is scareely possible to overdo it. Fuchsias should be propagated now in quantity. Specimen plants will require abundance of water, and once a week liquid manure. Fuchsias in the open ground are generally disfigured with a superabundance of sticks, whereas in a good turfy soil, with a moderate amount of rotten dung, they ought to need but little artificial support, and a certain easy drooping habit is proper to their character. Most of the light fuchsias require to be well shaded, or the points of the calyx acquire a green tinge. Azaleas and Camellias, if still under glass, must have air night and day, and the floors kept damp. Use the syringe regularly till the flower-buds show at the points of the shoots, and then discontinue the use of the syringe. Soft-wooded plants, such as Cinerarias, herbaceous Calceolarias, Chinese Primulas, Pansies, Pyrethrums, &c., should be raised from seed now in quantity. If Primulas were sown in April for early bloom, it will be ns well to sow again for a successful batch. Re- member that to grow bad seed is just as much trouble as the best, so that the question of cost of seed should not be considered too closely. Procure the best that can be had from houses known to be above the shabby practice of mixing or misdescribing, and grow them in a good compost from the first. Soft-wooded plants rarely do any good if grown slowly they need abun- u dant nourishment, and if kept stout and strong rarely suffer from vermin. It is the bad practice of starving seedlings in the seed pans that creates the principal trouble of getting them clean afterwards. Hard-wooded plants that have flowered will require to be pruned in and set in a shady place to rest awhile, and repotted if needful when they have started into a new growth. Cinerarias are now very forward in the seed-bed, and the largest must be potted off and put in a frame. A bed of spent hops answers admirably for them.

THE VACCINATION BILL. Mr. Edwin Lankester, Medical Officer of Health, of St. James's, Westminster, London, desirous of showing how the Vaccination Bill, now before the House of Commons, will probably operate, writes the following to a contem- porary :— Allow me through your columns to call the attention of the public to the objectionable nature of the Vac- cination Bill which is now passing through the House of Commons. In the first place, this bill continues in the hands of the Poor Law Board the control of vaccination throughout the country. From Lord Robert Montagu's speech the other night, it will be seen that, although that board has hitherto had all control in the matter of vaccination, upwards of 20,000 persons died of this disease in England and Wales in three years, from 1863 to 1865. Where one person dies of small-pox, at least ten catch it and recover. If the cost of each case be put down at 51., some idea may be formed of the money loss which has thus been incurred by the incompetent manner in which previous Vaccination Acts have been carried out. Is it wise, humane, or economical to trust the same body with powers which it has shown itself so thoroughly incapable of carrying out ? The next objection to the present bill is that it pro- vides for no compulsory registration of births. The success of the Vaccination Act for Scotland has en- tirely depended on the fact that there is in Scotland an Act rendering the registration of births compulsory. No such Act exist in England and Wales. This de- ficiency in the law of England has been pointed out first to Mr. Bruce and then to Lord Robert Montagu by deputations from vestries and medical officers of health, and they have been warned that any com- pulsory Vaccination Bill without a compulsory regis- tration of births must be a delusion and a snare. It is well known that in many districts of England, especially in London, a large percentage of the births are not registered at all, and no machinery of the pre- sent Vaccination Bill can reach the case of these unregistered children. As the demand for vaccination must follow on the birth of a child, it would be much better that the super- intendence of vaccination should be placed in the hands of the Registrar-General, who, with a compul- sory Registration Act, would be in a position easily to register the performance of the operation of vaccina- tion without the cumbersome provisions of the present bill. The present bill is framed to introduce a costly system of inspection. If the money thus proposed to be spent were paid to intelligent medical men for the performance of vaccination, the same end would be gained. What really makes the success of the operation doubtful at present is the contemptible sum that is paid the public vaccinator. It is a well- known fact in parishes where the minimum sum of one shilling has been increased by the board of guardians that their medical men take more in- terest in looking after the children to be vaccinated and small-pox is less frequent. The life and health of the community ought not to be a subject of pounds, shillings, and pence but there can be no doubt that the prevalence of small-pox in a district could be pre- dicated with tolerable accuracy from the sum paid for each case to the public vaccinator. I am not prepared to say what is the minimum payment that would give the largest amount of vaccination, but it would cer- tainly be nearer double the amount offered by the present bill than any intermediate amount. On the above letter, in support of Dr. Lankester's state- ment, Mr. J. W. Barrett, a Public Vaccinator, of King's Lynn, makes the following observations:- Dr. Lankester says very truly that "a large number of children in. England go unregistered, and that no machinery of the present Vaccination Bill will reach these children." Now, I wish to suggest the propriety of making the registration of births compulsory within three months after birth, and of the parents being re- quired to produce a certificate from some duly qualified surgeon, of successful vaccination having been per- formed, without which the registrar should be in- structed to refuse to register the birth. This would, I think, give an opportunity for all medical practitioners to become public vaccinators, and would obviate the unpleasant duty which is at present incumbent on every public vaccinator who does his duty, viz., that of calling upon his professional brethren's patients to see that thJir children are vaccinated. In support of this I would say that many private practitioners who have no interest in vaccination, do not even encourage their patients to comply with this very necessary operation and with regard to their poorer patients, who cannot afford to pay for vaccination, after the labour is at an end and the fee paid, the infant is allowed to go into the world wholly unthought of; and when the-public vaccinator requests that he may b allowed to vaccinate the child, he is told "Dr. So- and-so is my medical man, and he's going to do it;" and unless the public vaccinator takes the trouble to call two or three times, Dr. So-and-so acts (probably without knowing it) as a cloak to cover a small-pox bed.

ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISH- MENT IN PORTUGAL. On Friday last the punishment of death was solemnly and for ever banished from the Portuguese code of law by the Chamber of Deputies. What is hardly less worthy of remark, the Chamber passed the bill em- bodying this great change with only two dissentient votes. It has long been the tacit custom in Portugal not to inflict the punishment of death; but the fact which is notified by the English embassy at Lisbon in its last report—that murders have decreased under this mild regime—has had, of course, a great effect in producing so remarkable an unanimity. Portugal is now added to the long list of States in Europe- beginning with the illustrious reforms in Tuscany last century which have gravely broken away from those ancient Mosaic pandects that exact blood for blood. Portugal has been unable to withstand the two grand arguments again su the hangman—one, that human -tr, justice is too fallible to have the right of inflicting an irrevocable sentence the other, that a deep and sacred veneration for the principle of life is best taught, even to the vilest, by the refusal of the State to shed the blood of murderers.

ACTION AGAINST A RAILWAY COMPANY FOR DELAY. An action for damages brought against the Lyons Railway Company, under singular circumstances, has just been heard before the Tribunal of Commerce of the Seine. M. de Saint-Romain, a partner in the racing stable of M. Delamarre, left Paris on the 27th of October for Marseilles to be present at the races on the follow- ing day. The train, however, instead of arriving at noon, did not reach Marseilles until half-past four, when the running had already taken place. M. de Saint-Roman now claimed 15,000f. damages for the loss he had sustained in not being able to give instructions to his jockeys or direct the starting of his horses in the races, in which they had the greater chance of success from the number or quality of their adversaries. A heavy fog had fallen during the night of the 27th. and had led to a delay of two hours in the arrival at Lyons this cause being beyond the control of the railway authorities the Court decided that they could not be held responsible. But on the express train reaching Lyons, the company had amalgamated it with an ordinary one, which stopped at a great number of stations, and had thus led to a still further delay; there being no justification for this proceeding, the Tribunal ordered the defendants to pay a sum of 300f. damages and the costs.

HEALTH AND DISEASE. Health is that condition of the body in which all the functions of life are performed harmoniously, with ease, and with a feeling of well being. Each organ acts un- consciously; the whole bodily energies seem to play their part together, and the union is so complete that we neither feel nor care to inquire hew the machine works we are only sensible that its movements are simultaneous. (We are quoting the remarks of a London physician.) Every deviation from this state denotes, in strict language, if not the actual pre- sence, at least the approach of disease. Thus, when the food, instead of being digested with- out consciousness of the process, causes uneasiness or pain when the appetite is lost, and the sight of instead of exciting the desire to eat, induces loathing, or nausea, or vomiting, we may conclude that disease exists unless we can trace these circumstances to transient causes, on the discontinuance of which they also dis- appear. When the ordinary bodily exertions cannot be carried on without weariness, languor, or fainting when the circulation is hurried; the skin is hot and dry or sweating is excited on the slightest exercise when the breathing is embarrassed; when the head aches or there is a sensation of dizziness the usual sensibility being either considerably diminished or augmented; the volition impaired or the mental faculties disturbed, and under little or no control; then is disease present. It is not necessary, however, that all or even many of these systems should exist at the same time any one of them, occurring and continuing, constitutes disease.

THE MANUFACTURE OF HUSBANDS. The following sketch is from a periodical entitled the Imperial Review ;— A beloved Sovereign has provided a Hyde Park and the Row; a generous nation has supplied the Horti- cultural Gardens and an emulous community has prepared a nightly succession of balls, soirees, concerts, and such-like convenient festivities, all of which con- spire towards the realization of the great central idea of life-the procuring suitable mates for the fledglings of the year. Everybody and everything assist every- body and everything else. We visit and are visited in turn. The vigour of all allows no one's ardour to slacken. A town life, in full swing, resembles a country dance we are always meeting each other again. No time for "cooling down now. To-night, an hour in an opera-box, and a couple of hours more at somebody's assembly. To-morrow, at noon, nods and glances, trim riding-habits, and provokingly sudden good-byes in the Park. Towards five o'clock, salu- tations in Bond-street, from the exciting distance of carriage-cushions, flashing past in an instant. Again, about seven, an encounter in the park—perhaps under the trees, perhaps in a carriage draw- up at the rail- ings, and detained by a block (aused by everybody, arid^of which everybody is wont ering who can possi- bly oe the cause. Towards midnigus, the ball of the season how many of them there are!-at which the whole world is present. And so on, and so on. Talk of cooling down" under such circumstances It is impos- sible. Admiration has long been left behind, and even the warmth of the suitor no longer registers the true con- dition of the thermometric heart. Engagement heat is arrived at, which the expenditure of very little fuel on the part of the triumphant operator, who in the country might have burnt up every stick on the ancestral premises without even raising the swain's ardour above "temperate." Of course there must be moments, even in London, when there is a pause, a suspension of labour, and when the operations of which we have spoken must perforce be intermitted. But the pause is short, the suspension brief, and work is resumed before time has been allowed for any injury to be done to the article undergoing manufacture, by a break in the process. In the country, as we saw, a man passing through the stages which are intended to lead to matrimony is allowed to be idle and run back again. But in Lon- don, the very between times" assist the process. They are just long enough to make him consciously re- member and dwell upon the pleasant scenes in which he has recently been a leading actor, but never long enough to enable him to forget them. He longs to be again m the arena, and before the longing has time to wear off, he finds his wishes gratified. His imagina- tion is stimulated by these brief interludes, just as our imagination and curiosity are stimulated at a theatre by the temporary fall of the drop-scene. He is indulged in those judiciously-measured absences which make the heart grow fonder, never in those inadvertently—or, in the country, inevitably- prolonged < -nes which make it fickle. He is thrown upon the resources of his club for j ust that number of hours during the week which will make him find it dull and tedious, never for that longer time which might possibly drive him into find- ing it a consolation and even a necessity. Just as he is allowed to snatch fearful and intermittent joys, so is he permitted to undergo dreaded and intermittent miseries. He is not yet enabled to live with the ob- ject of his fired fancy, but they who are managing his development take good care that he should not dis- cover, by too 'great a lull or separation, that he might possibly be able to live without her. Nor must we forget that that mighty agent in the success of all manufactures, emulation, is brought to bear upon him at every stage. During working hours or resting ones, in the park or at the club, in halls of dazzling light, or whilst condemned to the shade of his own chambers, he never can feel sure that he is not being cut out"- by some more favoured rivaL Indeed, during the active time of the operation he is made to see and feel, or the conductors of it must be very clumsy, that he is hard pressed by several com- petitors. It can be easily understood how the "between times" of which we have spoken act under such circumstances very differently from the manner in which they operate in the country. They actually become elements of the noble industry. Present or absent, he never can cool down. Thus combination, co-operation, rivalry, a due division of labour, and the requisite machinery, speedily bring about the desired end. Nor is it one husband only that has been produced. Hundreds, thousands of husbands have been manufac- tured at the same time, by the same process, and with one and the same expenditure. As in all manufacture based upon sound principles, production has been rapid, large, and economical. Neither labour nor capital has been wasted. There have been no extra- vagant banquets, ending in rude disappointment, no reckless pic-nics terminating in barren flirtation. The insolent song of the Psalmist can no longer be sung, for the game is in the net of the snarer, and will be set free never again. There have been no futile readings of Tennyson in shady corners, no purposeless toyings with the poets, just to while away the tedium of a too long summer day. There is more matrimonial virtue in a Greenwich dinner—given of course at the alien expense of some rich parvenu financier—than in all the sentimental verses that were ever written.

ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. The Cosmos has an interesting article by M. Hoefer on th.e distribution of animals on the face of the earth.' Mammalia have at all times, in this respect been ob- served with the greatest attention. Prince Charles Bonaparte states their number to be 1,149 • Minding fixes them higher, at 1,230 Oken at 1,500; so that, taking the average of all these numbers, we may sup- pose them them to be about 1,300. These species are very unequally distributed monkeys, for instance, are only to be found under the tropics, with very few exceptions and kangaroos only in Australia. On the other hand, pachyderinata, of which the horse is one, exist all over the globe, except in the Arctic regions it must not be forgotton, however, that there were no horses in America until they were imported. Australia also forms an exception in this as in many other respects for instance, in the case of certain plants that still thrive there, while in our regions they have been extinct for thousands of years, and are now only to be met with in a fossil state at a depth of hundreds of metres. There are not more than thirty-eight species of pachydermata, forming ten genera, among which we may mention the elephant, hyppopotamus, rhinoceros, and tapir. And yet, of all mammalia, this class is most numerously represented in the series of fossil animals we possess and while at present, as we have said above, pachy- dermata have disappeared from the Arctic regions, it is there, buried in ice, we find their extinct species. The gradual disappearance of species offers matter for curious comment. Thus the hypponotamus was very common in the Nile at the time Herodotus visited Egypt, that is, about 450 years before our era. Fif- teen centuries later it had become much rarer, and Abdallatif, an Arab physician, who flourished in the 12th century, speaks of it as an animal regarded with terror by the inhabitants. Two of them were shown to this writer at Cairo, where they were kept as curiosities, which proves its rarity at the time. But now the hippopotamus has entirely left the Nile, where the inhabitants do not even know It by name and it is only in the Niger, the Zaira, and other rivers of Africa, it is to be found in our, days.

CONVICTS IN TASMANIA. A blue-book just published shows that on the 31st of December, 1866, there were in the colony of Tas- mania 746 convicts, 731 being males and 15 females. Of the former there were 189 pass-holders, 147 being m private service or illegally at large, 26 in hospitals or lunatic, and 14 on probation for pardon; 78 ticket- ot-leave holders, 41 of whom were earning their own IiTdikioil. 20 were under sentence, and 17 in hospital; and 464 classed as miscellaneous, all of whom were under sentence of penal servitude or imprisonment. The female convicts were all ticket-of-leave holders, 13 were earning their own livelihood, one was invalid, and one under sentence, so that of the above total number 545 only were maintained by Government. The Governor, in enclosing the annual report, observes that the number of convicts at Port Arthur who are exempted from labour on account of age and infirmity increases annually, and this, while it checks the immediate diminution of expense, points to a pro- spective and permanent decrease in the strength and expense of the establishment."

THE MAGYAR COSTUME. A Pesth correspondent says It more than once occurred to me as being somewhat anomalous that, while the Turks, who are so much farther east, and who indeed are Orientals, adopt as they do the cos- tume. of Western Europe-even on this grand state occasion the lurkish minister and his secretaries were all dressed in plain blue frock coats and trousers—the Hungarians should still, even at social festivals, retain the Asiatic dress, which with all its splendour and magnificence, or rather from its very magnificence, reminds one of a barbaric age. But long after the lurk has given up his flowing robe, his turban and slippers the Magyar will still retain the pomp which tells of his Asiatic descent. It is this dazzling splen- dour which he loves the agraffe, the jewelled scimitar, the royal mantle bordered and lined with sable, and heavy with the precious metal and with precious stones the dress of t Ie attendant even a sight and marvel. This it is which he takes delight in, and a satisfaction. Each one who spoke to me about the coronation observed, inquiringly, You would not see the like elsewhere in Europe?' to which with good conscience I could decidedly answer 'No.