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    WOMAN'S LIFE. Woman's Life; or the Trial...

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    • GREGORY'S ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. A Handboo...

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    Pashley On The Poob Law. Pauperism And P...

    approxim ately indicate the average number constantly chargeable , hich appears to be about one million of persons ; but , reasoning on data _^ hich are fully explained , Mr . Pashley calculates that the actual number receiving relief , at one time or other during the year , is 3 , 000 , 000 of souls . Of these , one-tenth are in-door paupers ; one-tenth are able-bodied men , exceeding the army recently raised by Austria from countries with a population of 17 , 900 , 000 ; and one million are children under sixteen years of aire . Of the children , from 120 , 000 to 150 , 000 are inmates of workhouses , _«<^ ow steadily graduating as * paupers and criminals , because the Poor _Law Board abstains from using its powers to establish district schools . " To show the effect of the local rating , Mr . Pashley analyzes the state _« f _nnunerism in the metropolis , where the burden of relief , for those who

    work in the city , is thrown mostly on the poorer parishes of East London . He also contrasts the state of three manufacturing districts with ten counties selected for their highly agricultural characteristics . The manufacturing districts are Lancaster , Stafford , and the West Hiding of Yorkshire . The agricultural districts are Bedfordshire , Berkshire , Buckinghamshire , Dorset , Essex , Norfolk , Oxford , Suffolk , Sussex , and Wiltshire . In the agricultural districts the poor relief expenditure in 1847 was 2 s . 2- 2 < _£ . iu the pound ; in the manufacturing districts , Is . 2 _% d . ; the average for all England and Ireland being Is . 7 d . ; the metropolis Is . 5 _% d . The noor relief expenditure costs , per head , on the population , in 1850 , for all

    England and Wales , 6 s . Id . ; lor London , 6 s . 3 ld . ; for the ten _agricultural districts , 9 s . Id . The Eastern district of London has but half the rental , aud more than three hundred times the population of certain unions in the ten counties . In East London , the poor relief costs 5 s . Id . per head ; in the agricultural unions , 10 s . A similar comparison holds good ia other respects—in the number of paupers proportioned to population ; in the proportion of crime , both adult and juvenile ; in the proportion ot i < morance , and so forth . ° A variety of plans have been suggested for the improvement of the present system , and Mr . Pashley passes them all in review . Union

    rating Avould be insufficient , as extension , would not sufficiently adjust the existing inequalities of burden . Union , rating , with Mr . Pigott ' s qualification , fixing the contributions of each parish in proportion to payments at a gi ? en date , would stereotype inequalities of burden now existing , and preclude adjustment according to future changes of population . To place the charge on the consolidated fund would abolish the last trace of the right of the poor to subsistence out of the land or the rental thereof . A national rate on real property would be fatal to local government , and to local safeguards . A national property-tax , a special income-tax assessment of the tithe commutation rent-charge , transfer to the State of all

    established or Union charges , transfer to the State of part of the charge of lunatic paupers—all of these measures , suggested by Mr . Disraeli , Sir Charles Wood , and others , are open to the same objections , and are also totally inadequate . Mr . Pashley ' s own proposal is— "That the law of settlement be wholly repealed ; that the various provisions for raising and administering relief to the poor be consolidated into one statute ; that the yearly sum needed for such relief be raised by parochial rates on real property ; that two-thirds of this sum be raised by a pound rate equal throughout the whole country , and the remainder by a further pound rate raising in every parish a sum equal to one-third of the actual expenditure of such-parish . "

    Assuming the net rental of real property in England to be £ 120 , 000 , 000 , and the sum required for the year ' s relief of poor to be £ 6 , 000 , 000 , it would be raised by a one shilling rate , of which every parish Avould contribute 8 d . on its own rental , raising on the aggregate £ 4 , 000 , 000 . The remaining £ 2 , 000 , 000 would be contributed by property in the several parishes in exact proportion to the pauperism found in each . Under this arrangement , Kensington , which now pays 8- ] - *? . in the pound , would have to pay first 8 d ., then one-third of 8 _% d ., or 2 _|

    = Is . G \ d . St . Christopher Le Stock , iioav paying nothing , would have to pay 8 d . St . Mildred , Bread-street , now pays 8 s ., it would have to pay 8 d ., plus 2 s . 8 d ., equal to 3 s . did . ¦ This plan would be in accordance with the principle of one of tho earliest statutes of the time of the Reformation , Avhich enacted that any surplus funds in rich parishes were to be distributed in relieving poor parishes of tlieir burden . If tiio law or _Hctt , _l _* 7 «> _o _« _t h _^ repealed , the incidence of the noor-rate must be altered ; otherwise , a higher ' premium than ever would be given to indiscriminate and remorseless clearances : a contingency provided for by the plan . The provision for a rate in aid under the statute of Elizabeth , shows an intention to limit the

    administration to tho parish ; but not the raising of the funds for poor relief . The effect would bo very great ; then ! aro now 1 ( 550 parishes , which pay less than 6 d . in the pound , and 440 which pay more than 4 s . The parishes . in which poor-rates aro extremely high , or extremely low , aro for the most part small parishes ; hence tho great relief Pashley ' s plan would give to the most heavily burdened , would scarcely be appreciable as an increase of the special burden throughout the country . The fears entertained by some , that repeal of the law of settlement wonld increase vagrancy , are exaggerated ; but even if it were increased , the evil might be met by the present law , or by a hvw adapted fo tho want , and vagrancy might be dealt with in a more separate and substantial form . Our own readers will scarcely need to he reminded , that Mr .

    Pashley ' s proposal is not one which avo can accept as sufficient . We have always < H > ntended for three essentials as tho main elements of a , sound Poor Law—Reproductive employment ., and no other relief for the ablebodied pauper ; perfectly free relief for the sick , with free provision for old age , ; and industrial training for tiie young . All these elements are to be found , inn scattered or imperfect shape , in the actual administration ol the Poor Law , under practical parish officers , who carry improvements beyond , perhaps , the warrant of the central authority . It ; appears to uh that , snch a law is justified by a priori reason , as securing to the poor that subsistence out of the land which they would have by nature , if society did not prevent their access to the land " through the institution of private propert y . If appears to us to be justified by expediency , us meeting the

    Pashley On The Poob Law. Pauperism And P...

    wants of each class in the proper manner . It appears to us to be demanded by the actual state of industry , as a means of regulating the distribution of employments , by causing labour to revert to the primary source of all subsistence . Mr . Pashley ' s book , however , possesses very great value as the most intelligent , if not the only , survey of the existing state of poverty in this country , and of the administration of the Poor Law .

    Ar01904

    Woman's Life. Woman's Life; Or The Trial...

    WOMAN'S LIFE . Woman ' s Life ; or the Trials of Caprice . By Emilie Carlen , author of "The Rose of Tisleton . " 3 vols . Bentley . With the aid of judicious " skipping" this Swedish novel will be found very interesting , not simply as reflecting the homely life of Sweden , but also as telling a story of woman ' s caprice and passion which when once commenced cannot be laid down unread . The earlier portions are terribly wearisome , being padded out with a surplusage of stupid talk and indifferent incident , only tolerable among our cold-blooded , slow-blooded northern friends ; but when once the drama between Helmer and Edith fairly opens , then the interest is riveted . JSot that the story has much vraisemblance , nor the characters more of reality than belongs to the

    ordinary class of novels ; but there is a certain fascination in these eternal conflicts of passion which is irresistible . The caprices of woman , ( not to mention our OAvn ) , we have all more or less suffered from , and our experience makes us sympathise with poor Helmer , though we have no very great belief in his reality . And if Edith's caprices are extravagant and often unintelligible , what then ? Are the caprices of woman usually intelligible , and should we call them caprices if they were ? One of the best portions of this story is , where Edith becomes jealous of her husband , insults him grossly ( is not all jealousy an insult ?) is sternly reprimanded for her folly , and lives to see her husband jealous of her in his turn . The authoress has not worked this donnie with the power it demanded , but she has suggested it .

    What we most miss in the work is the evidence of that impassioned experience which alone can furnish permanent material for fiction . It is a novel such as hundreds of novels are—readable enough , but not memorable . The plot is constructed with sufficient skill to sustain sympathetic curiosity ; but as soon as the whole web is unravelled , all interest vanishes . Those who delight in Miss Bremer ' s books will also welcome this , and for a similar reason , namely , because the stories move amidst localities and details which are fresher than those of our English and French fictions . The description of a London dinner , or Paris ball , is too hackneyed to be attractive ; but a Swedish tea drinking , or dance , has still attraction .

    • Gregory's Organic Chemistry. A Handboo...

    • GREGORY'S ORGANIC CHEMISTRY . A Handbook of Organic Chemistry . E or tbe use of Students . By "William Gregory , M . D . Third Edition , corrected and much extended . Taylor , Walton , and Maberly . De . Gbegoey ' s Handbook of Organic Chemistry is a work which should be possessed by every student , but which must puzzle the reviewer who attempts to do more than briefly indicate his sense of its value . Meant for the laboratory and the study—meant to be used and not rapidly perused—it baffles all attempts to make it the subject of an article . It is as full of facts as an egg is full of meat . It bristles with formulas and

    tables that would frighten the reader of a _newspaper ; and its general principles , though clearly and succinctly expressed , are so connected with these facts , these tables , and these symbols , that one cannot separate them . We have made three several attempts to give an interesting analysis , and noAV confess the failure . We must be content with saying that tho Handbook is what it professes to be , a Handbook , and an admirable one . It contains tho results of the very latest researches , expressed in tho briefest compass ; and although of course specially addressed to students of chemistry , it has _passages of universal interest when treating of tho chemistry of agriculture and physiology . Erom these portions wo will borroAV an extract or so for tho sake of those not likely to see the book .

    EFFECT OF VEGETATION ON THE AIR . " The various processes , constantly going on , of tbe decay of dead animals and vegetables , tbe respiration of animals , and combustion , are at every moment pouring carbonic acid into the air , and yet , in the free open atmosphere , the proportion of carbonic acid never _inci-eimcs , as it would do iu a closed space , beyond the average of about \ ro _^ h part of tbe volume of tbe air . Now these processes not only produce _uurlxmU } iu > i < l , bnt also consume _oxygen , Und that in the same proportion , the oxygen they take up being equal in volume to tbe carbonic acid which it forms . And yet ., not only does the proportion of carbonic acid in tbe air not increase , but tbat of tbe oxygen does not diminish . Kvidently , therefore , some cause must be in operation , directly opposed to , and exactly balancing the ; processes of respiration , decay , and combustion . And such a process is that of _vegetation , or the action oi

    growing plants on carbonic acid and water under the influence of light , by which , us wc have seen , these arc deoxidised , vegetable products are formed , and oxygen is given out . Thus the air is kept in a state of purify , and yet is constantly undergoing change ; for as fast as respiration , decay , and combustion consume oxygen and form carbonic ; acid , vegetation consumes carbonic acid and produces oxygen . Any excess of carbonic acid instantly causes an increase of vegetation , and therefore of oxygen , as well as of food for animals . When animals , by this food , increase , they produce more carbonic acid , and ho on , flic oxygen circulating from tbe air to carbonic acid in tho animal processes , and from carbonic acid , by means of plants , back to the air again .

    " It is quite conceivable , that in the earlier geological periods , when , as if appears , warm-blooded animals did not exist , tbe air may have been unfit for them , by reason of its containing too much carbonic acid . _Ihit this , within certain limits , would be , favourable to vegetation , and especially , as there is reason to believe , to that of eryptogainoiiH _. p lants , such as ferns and lycopodiucca _* , and also tho _cyeadaceai . The action of huc . 1 i plants growing with enormous luxuriance , and not balanced by animal life , would iu time diminish flic amount of carbonic acid , increasing at ; the Name time tbat of oxygen in the air , fill it became lit for the respiration of warm-blooded animals , and the carbon , thus removed from the air , would be stored up in the form of remains of these plants , protected from decay by being

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 24, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24071852/page/19/