they can lay hold on a child's mind and raise it. The education must be religious but I don't want to have regular moral lessons. We must have a master who can make moral training pervade the whole system. We must also Dave industrial education. I consider the half-time system, that is, industrial work connected with intellectual education, to be the perfection of training, because then all the faculties are called into play, and the children learn as much in three hours as they otherwise would in five. Then we must have baths and washhouses, and a playground, or, if that cannot be had, a playroom. No doubt, these things would make the free industrial schools better than the national schools; but the answer to that objection is, improve the national school. What I ask Government to do for the ragged schools is to grant them not a third, as in the case of the British and national schools, but about a half; leaving the other half to be provided for by voluntary subscriptions. I should like best the principle of the minute of 1856, by which Government gave half the salaries, and half the rent, and two or three other things; but I would take either that or a capitation grant. I have said £1 per head for day, and 10s. for night scholars."

The PRESIDENT:-The Association, as a rule, is adverse to passing resolutions. Its object is to furnish a platform, or arena for discussion. But there can be no harm in passing this resolution, for it only asks the Council to do what no one will doubt the propriety of.

The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.

EDUCATION IN TURKEY.

Miss G. MUIR MACKENZIE and Miss IRBY contributed a paper on education, especially female education, among the Sclavonic Christians of Turkey in Europe. The paper stated that the number of the Sclavonic Christians, more or less connected with the Ottoman empire, amounted to between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000. Wherever the Christians have a native government public instruction is an object of solicitude, whereas the Mahomedan government of Turkey does nothing for the education of its Christian subjects. For instance, the self-governing principality of Servia, with 1,000,000 of inhabitants, has, during the last 35 years, provided itself with 318 primary schools, six gymnasia, two commercial schools, a theological seminary, a civil and military academy, while in neighbouring Bulgaria, which is administered by Mussulmans, 5,000.000 to 6,000,000 Sclavonic inhabitants have not a single Sclavonic academy or higher seminary. In the smaller Sclavonic districts, Old Servia, Herzogovinia, and Bosnia, education stands lower than in Bulgaria. Female education was impeded by the lack of qualified teachers not to be obtained in Turkey, and young girls could not well be sent out of their own country to be trained. However, the native women had started some schools which, if helped forward and supplied with proper teachers, would form a most hopeful instrument for civilising and instructing the community; and to undertake this work, an association has been formed for the promotion of education for the Sclavonic Christians in Turkey. The scheme was purely educational, without any object of making proselytes of the Oriental Church, one of its patrons being the Archbishop of Canterbury, another the Metropolitan of Servia.

374

HEALTH.

Report of the Standing Committee of the Department.

CONFERENCE was held at the Rooms of the Association on

A was bol, at the

of treatened visitation

of cholera. The Bishop of London was in the chair.

The Standing Committee of the Health Department, on whom devolved the duty of carrying out the resolutions passed at the Conference, were of opinion that the best way of giving effect to he intentions of the resolutions would be to form a Special Committee consisting of their own body, with the addition of delegates from other bodies. They felt that the known existence of a committee of practical and experienced men would tend to allay that undue alarm so likely to be excited by the disconnected and unexplained statements which often find currency in times of danger; and that, by collecting facts from all available sources, a mass of evidence might be procured, which would be of the greatest value as a guide in suggesting the adoption of precautionary and preventive measures should the cholera appear among us. The Committee thus appointed prepared the following resolutions, suggesting in the first place the inquiries, and the mode of making them, which, in the judgment of the Committee, ought to be instituted, and also such practical measures as may be carried out by voluntary exertion, to avert or mitigate the visitation of any epidemic disease. Their propositions were intended to be voluntary, and supplementary only to the efforts of the Medical Department of the Privy Council and the functions (so far as they can be well carried out) of the Medical Officers of Health; and the co-operation of the Medical Officers of Health of the Metropolis was invited, the Committee highly appreciating the importance of the practical suggestions made by them for the amend ment of the law for Improvement of the Sanitary Condition of the Population.*

I-That the number of deaths by miasmatic disease,† of which a large propor tion is preventible, amounted in 1863, according to the Report of the RegistrarGeneral, to 114,538 for all England; and that such amount of disease, especially

"Seventh Report Medical Officers of the Privy Council," pp. 528-532. The class of diseases coming under the term of "miasmatic" are cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, small pox, measles, scarlatina, diphtheria, quinsy, croup, whooping cough, typhus, erysipelas, carbuncle, influenza, ague, remittent fever. rheumatism, &c.

under a threatened invasion of cholera, and apart from it, demands the most serious public attention.

II. That it is of great importance, for the economical and efficient direction of public effort, to ascertain and make known, as early and as clearly as practicable, among what classes, under what conditions, and from what causes-whether of overcrowding, of defective water supply, want of proper ventilation, or otherwisethese diseases are developed and perpetuated.

III. That with this end in view statistics should be obtained as to the deathrates, and the proportions of deaths from diseases of the miasmatic class, in improved model or other dwellings, in improved common lodging-houses, and in well-managed public institutions-such as district institutions on the half time system, schools for the reception of destitute children, and well-managed prisons; distinguishing the diseases arising therein from those introduced.

IV. That the chief seats of miasmatic disease should be early ascertained and designated in lists, and marked on maps for the direction of inquirers.

V. That as the worst places are known to the Union Medical Officers and the Union Relieving Officers, it is to the Boards of Guardians of the Poor-Law Unions and their officials that the public must look for the earliest information to other bodies charged with the care of the public health, as to the first cases of the diseases referred to.

NOTE. Whereas, the authority of municipal corporations is often limited to portions of towns, all civic and rural populations are under the jurisdiction of Boards of Guardians, who, being themselves responsible to the Central Board and to Parliament, are charged with the relief of destitution occasioned by sickness and premature mortality, and with the supervision of the Union Infirmaries and of the Medical and Relieving Officers. VI-That the attention of the President of the Poor-Law Board be called to Resolution I., and that he be requested early to direct the attention of Boards of Guardians to the rates of mortality in excess of known standards afforded in the same counties as shown by the Supplement to the 25th Annual Report of the Registrar-General. That he be also requested to direct the guardians particularly to inquire into and ascertain by their officers the seats of the most rife miasmatic diseases, and to publish them without delay for the information of the ratepayers and others, and that the local authorities should be especially reminded of this fact that local registrars have in their books records of the places and houses actually visited by cholera, typhus, &c., in previous epidemics.

VII. That it be submitted to the President of the Poor-Law Board, that inasmuch as the proposed course of action, by averting or lessening the mortality from miasmatic diseases, will prevent claims for relief, on account of widowhood, orphanage, and premature disability, the necessary incidental expenses may be fairly charged on the poor's-rates throughout the country.

The following are recommended by Poor-Law Guardians and other authorities, as the best means of carrying out the foregoing resolutions:

().-Poor-Law Inspectors should induce the medical and relieving officers to mark on maps of their districts the places they have had occasion to visit for diseases of the miasmatic class.

(b)-Union clerks, as superintendent registrars, or the other officers acting as such, should mark on the same maps the places from whence deaths from diseases of the miasmatic class have been registered.

(c).-The seats of diseases of the miasmatic class should be marked with red ink; and of deaths, with crosses in black ink; and the places where cases of cholera have occurred, should be marked with blue ink.

(d). The medical and relieving officers should be requested to make notes and observations on the conditions of the places affected by miasmatic diseases, and the classes of persons who suffer most from them.

(e). The courts, alleys, and other places which are undrained, or badly drained, and which have no proper water-closets or self-cleansing house drains or sewers, and no proper pavement, should be marked on the proposed district map.

(f) The police having constantly to traverse all districts, and being well acquainted with those which are physically in the worst conditions, the heads of police should be requested to aid the local inquiries by directing each policeman

to make out descriptive lists of the places characterised by foul smells, by common nuisances, and by overcrowded and badly constructed tenements; and that weekly tenements, and the like places, where overcrowding exists in connection with disease, should be distinctly marked in the district maps.

(9).—The marks on district maps should be transferred to general maps.

(h). In the metropolis and in other towns where ordnance surveys have been made copies of the ordnance maps on the largest scale be used, and in other cases tracing of town surveys.

(i). In aid of such maps the chief seats of the miasmatic diseases should be accompanied by lists, with observations by the registrars or other union officers, and a statement of the density of the population.

(k). That maps and lists constructed and marked in the manner recommended should be published without delay for the use of all concerned in sanitary inspection.

VIII. That it is desirable that local associations should be formed to visit the places pointed out in the maps and lists, and to organise a system of voluntary house to house visitation, to ascertain the conditions which require removal or mitigation.

NOTE. The following are among the effects which may be reasonably expected from the proposed local associations and examinations, viz., more accurate information as to the extent and nature of defects of the sources of water-supply of many districts, of such injurious defects as sewer-tainted wells, water kept in uncovered butts and tanks over privies or dungheaps, and defects in the ordinary qualities, quantities, and methods of the dis tribution of the water supplied-as means of house and street cleansing, as well as for personal cleansing, for clothes washing-especially for the poorest classes-as also defects of sinks, drains, and means for removing foul or waste matter, the extent of existing defects of house and street drainage, the extent of cesspools and of house drains, and of sewers of decomposing deposit, which are only extended cesspools.

IX. That special local inquiries be directed to the state of the existing provi sion for receiving and treating cholera cases in union-houses, hospitals, houses of refuge, &c., and as to the means provided for the immediate removal, not only of the dead, but of the sick, from rooms which are at once the living and sleeping rooms of the poorest classes, to places specially provided for the purpose.

X. That a special fund be raised to defray the expenses of the Committee in printing, correspondence, obtaining and distributing returns, and otherwise and that a susbcription be invited for this purpose.

October 24th, 1865.

BILLS.

In the last Session of Parliament several attempts were made in sanitary legislation; a Bill for facilitating the more useful application of Sewage in Great Britain, and a Bill to amend the laws for the Protection of Rivers and Streams in England. These Bills were brought forward by Lord R. Montagu, but were subsequently withdrawn. Two Bills were brought forward for regulating the trade of Chemists and Druggists; one proposed to apply the system of registration and examination in use under the Pharmacy Act of 1852, the other to establish a new body, consisting of a "Council of the Chemists and Druggists of England," to be under the control of a Commissioner appointed by the Secretary of State. These Bills were also withdrawn.

REPORTS.

A third Report of the Committee on the Utilisation of Sewage was issued this year, containing many new and valuable experiments

in agricultural chemistry, and on cattle-feeding. A Committee also sat to inquire into the most useful and profitable mode of disposing of the Sewage on the north side of the Thames; and although this inquiry refers principally to a Private Bill (the Hope and Napier plan of employing the Sewage in Essex Marshes), it involves matters of great importance, both as regards the Utilisation of Sewage and the principles of Local Taxation.

The following Reports, which have appeared during the year, deserve special mention :-The 7th Report of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council on Public Health; the 20th Report of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and the Supplement to the 25th Report; a most valuable summary of the causes of Death, and the proportions of death-rate to population in all parts of England for the last ten years, and the Report of the Medical, Sanitary, and Statistical Condition of the Army and Navy up to 1863.

UNHEALTHY OCCUPATIONS.

In what Way can the Needless Exposure of Workmen to Danger to Life and Health be best avoided, especially in Collieries, Mines, and Manufactories? By P. H. HOLLAND.

BEING a Medical Inspector under the Government, and a member of the late Mine Commission, it is proper to remark that anything I may say is entirely unofficial. In considering the question, it is necessary to inquire, what are the needless dangers to which the particular workmen in question are peculiarly exposed, and how those dangers can be best guarded against, and how both masters and workmen may be best induced, or, it may be forced, to adopt the precautions necessary for avoiding such danger? By needless danger I do not mean such as could only be avoided by abandoning dangerous occupations, or by precautions so costly as to render such occupations unprofitable, but such only as might be guarded against by reasonable and proper care. It is right that dangerous work in one district should be carried on in as safe a manner as in other districts; and it is only fair that masters who refuse to do what is necessary to preserve their workmen from needless risk, should be made to pay full compensation to all who are injured in consequence. Since I brought the dangers of coal mining before the Association at Bradford, in 1859, much progress has been made, in a great degree caused by the public attention which has been directed to the subject. In 1860, the Amended Colliery Inspection Act imposed expressly upon owners and agents of mines the observance