healthiest of mankind, owing chiefly to the excellence and simplicity of their diet. He speaks of their gymnastic exercises, of the reverence paid by the young to the aged, &c. Egyptian women frequented the markets, while men worked at the looms.

66

The Cyropædia has made us familiar with the training of the ancient Persians, but the domestic life of the Hebrews is less known. Among them education was of a family kind. "Marriages," says Kramer, were contracted early; equality of rank was little regarded, fertility being the chief care of the legislator. Religion influenced the life of a child from the moment of conception. Every Israelite wished, by his offspring, to increase the number of the chosen people of God and hoped to find among his descendants a fan of God,' and they firmly believed that the pious disposition of the parents was transmitted to the children. Many traces of the idea may be found, and particularly in the Talmud, where mention is made of children born holy. The Rabbins maintain that children engendered in sensuality become sensual, dissipated, and disobedient; from such causes they accounted for the brutal lusts of the heathens," &c.

Of the attention bestowed on growth by the Greeks and Romans, nothing need be said here. Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, and Aurelia, mother of Augustus Cæsar, had been governesses of other women's children before their own sons were born.

Generally speaking, the aims of parents and their example, more than anything else, determine the growth-mental, moral, and physical of their offspring. Several instances are known of well-born affectionate parents, who, just prior to their marriage, lost property and everything but love for each other; yet their children have been superior, not only to those amongst whom altered circumstances necessitated their being brought up, but even to others of the class in life the parents had left. The late General Beckwith, of La Tour, in Piedmont, once pointed out to me a number of such cases in the Protestant population there.

But although to produce perfect growth the seed must be good as well as the soil, and the climate suitable, much may be accomplished by care and culture.

Salzmann's table for the employment of time during the period of youth and growth seems to me one of the most sensible and practical. It is as follows:

That gentleman's exercises for the senses are singularly good: those for touch, e.g., 1. Feeling the faces of friends as a means of recognition; 2. Reading off coins by gently rubbing their surfaces; 3. Naming the leaves of plants by laying hands on them; 4. Discovering the temperature of water by dipping the fingers in it; 5. Distinguishing stones by their surfaces; 6. Telling tissues of silk, cotton, alpaca, &c., by passing the fingers over them; 7. Estimating the weight of bodies by poising them in the hand; 8. Detecting different kinds of metal by their comparative weight; 9. Estimating length, breadth, and cubic contents by the hands only, &c., &c. The senses thus exercised are invigorated and ennobled. The body having become the instrument of an intelligent mind, assumes the wondrous energies and attitudes of volition, kindles with animation, and is radiant with beauty.

A word more on popular misconceptions, and I have done.

There is a chemical process by which when a piece of gold is connected with one pole of a galvanic battery, and a piece of clay with the other, the gold will be disintegrated, and its particles made to adhere to the clay; but not without the intervention of a skilled workman to metallise the surface of the substance to be gilded, and to observe that no other metal than gold is suspended in the bath. In the natural process of which I have spoken, disintegration takes place, and adhesion occurs without human assistance. Moreover, though half a dozen different substances be introduced into the human stomach, one homogeneous mass of chyme is produced. Could the chemist excite in his crucible anything like the agency of the gastric juices in the human body, the alchemist's dream of a transmutation of metals would be realised, and a further fall in the price of gold might be anticipated.

I venture to adduce this illustration because we have heard that life is a kind of galvanic current, and the human body a battery in which a given amount of energy can be generated and expended, but no more. Whereas the growth that goes on from the earliest to the latest period of a healthy existence clearly proves our possession of reparative powers and cumulative energies, as well as provision for eliminating and removing effete tissue or useless oxides.

Again, a machine has been called a man without human infirmity; it is rather an unwearying worker without the attributes of humanity. The difference is vast. The finest steam-engine feeds its own fires, fills its own boiler, oils its own wheels, checks its own work, and rings for assistance in case of need; yet it is not selfacting or sustaining; it cannot do its own repairs. But in the human frame engineer and engine are inseparable; in it, instead of the machine becoming worse for wear by work, it may positively become better, since up to a certain point faculties enlarge and improve by exercise. Were the steam-engine to cut out its own worn boilerplates, mend its own valves, bend its own pipes, add to its own horse-power, alter its own dimensions, and finally be its own pointsman and shunt itself on the rails, it would still be as far inferior in

its powers and performances to the development of the human body as brass and iron are inferior, in sensation and fruition, to brain and nerve.

Growth, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, is the main ground of distinction between the organic and the inorganic worlds. Divine in its origin and invisible in progress, it inspires confidence in the issues of eternity. It may also become a source of increasing joy. The emotions of a discoverer of a new planet, or of new properties of matter in our own sphere, can hardly transcend the happiness of a man who perceives within himself the manifestations of powers of which he was previously unconscious-when his welltrained faculties reveal secrets impenetrable to his fellow-man, or enable him to build securely, where others find no foundation. Dull is the delight of contriver or inventor compared with that of the individual who feels the senses of sight, sound, smell, and touch, adapting themselves to his necessities, and becoming more and more acute, according to the culture bestowed upon them.

The Health of the Children at the Stepney Union Establishment, Limehouse, as compared with the health of a similar class of children residing in the neighbouring district. By J. S. HAWKINS, Medical Officer.

THE district from which these children are brought comprises the parishes of Limehouse, Ratcliff, Shadwell, and Wapping, four of the poorest and most densely populated parishes at the East of London.

The ravages which disease and death make upon the children of this locality may be easily ascertained by referring to the last Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the district, wherein it is stated that, of the 1,293 deaths occurring during the year, 606, or nearly onehalf, were those of children under five years of age. In the periodical report of last week the mortality was shown to be 20 per cent. above the average; the greater number of deaths being among children. Most of the deaths arise from preventable causes.

The age at which children are admitted into the Limehouse establishment is from two years to sixteen. Very many of those admitted are in a frightfully diseased state, due to hereditary transmission; the majority are in a cachectic and squalid condition, commonly due to the effects of a confined and polluted atmosphere, insufficient or improper food, neglect of cleanliness, &c. The improvement of this latter class is most marked after a short residence in the establishment.

The statistics of the past three years will suffice to show the number of children in the house-the proportion of sickness, and the amount of mortality-distinguishing the deaths taking place among those admitted ill.

During the year ending Lady Day 1861, there were 919 children in the house, 504 of which were new admissions-of these 169 were sent direct to the infirmary-89 being under five years of age.

The deaths during the year were 23, of which 19 took place among those admitted ill-15 being under five years of age.

During 1861 there were two epidemics, scarlatina and hooping cough.

For 1862 the total number in the house was 927, of which 485 were new admissions-of these 123 were sent direct to the infirmary -71 being under five years of age. The deaths during the year were 10, of which 8 occurred among those admitted ill-7 being under five years of age. During this year there were two epidemics, measles and hooping cough.

During the year 1863, the total number in the House was 845 ; of this number 419 were new admissions-138 of which were sent direct to the infirmary, 90 being under five years of age. The deaths during the year were 19,-16 of which took place among those admitted ill, all being under five years of age. There were three epidemics this year, measles, scarlatina, and hooping cough.

Each year the origin of the epidemics could be clearly traced to their being imported.

No case of zymotic disease occurred spontaneously in the establishment during the whole period. The average daily number of cases in the infirmary, was

During the year ending Lady Day, 1861 ... 34

Several of these were there through accident-suffering from wounds, contusions, sprains, fractures, &c. The amount of sickness is above 25 per cent. less, among the children of this establishment, as compared with those out of doors,

The per-centage of mortality during 1861 was 1.85

During the year ending Lady Day, 1863, the imported epidemics were very heavy. Mr. and Mrs. Moseley, the indefatigable master and matron at this establishment, can testify that the immunity from sickness enjoyed by these children is brought about by estimating at their proper value three or four simple things, such as pure air, pure water, sufficient drainage, and healthy bodily exercise-in fact, a strict and due observance of the teachings of Sanitary Science.

Those conversant with the working of this class of institution have little doubt that this is the most successful one of the kind in operation, and merits the attention, and deserves the praise, of all those who are interested in the preservation of the public health, and who desire to render tangible benefit by reducing the rate of mortality.

549

On Dietaries for Children in Workhouses. By JOHN BEDDOE, M.D., Clifton, Physician to the Bristol Royal Infirmary. SOME time ago Dr. Colborne, of Chippenham, directed his attention to the deficiency of milk and other azotised food in the children's dietary of Chippenham Workhouse, as one probable cause of the pre valence among them of diseases of a low type. With the view, in which he ultimately succeeded, of demonstrating to the guardians the desirability of an alteration in this respect, he collected from workhouses in various parts of the kingdom a considerable number of dietary scales in use for children of different ages; these he has placed at my disposal, and they have furnished the data for the following paper.

In endeavouring to draw up a model dietary for pauper children, one would keep in view the following desiderata :—

In the first place, sufficiency in quantity-in children, more distinctly than in adults, over-feeding is less prejudicial than under-feeding; and though one should allow due weight to considerations of economy, one needs not to be so much restrained as in the case of grown people by the fear of holding out alimentary temptations to the improvident.

Secondly, a due proportion between azotised and carbonaceous foods. In the dietaries for adults, given by Pereira and Christison, this proportion varies usually between one to three and one to four. Considering the incessant activity of healthy children, and the consequent waste of tissue, and the necessity of that waste being more than replaced in order to provide for growth, I am disposed to think that the azotised element should not fall below the latter of these ratios, although the activity of respiration, and the rapid cooling of the comparatively large surface of the small body, necessitate a large supply of carbon and hydrogen. I shall recur to this point presently. Under this head may be considered also the proper ratio of saline and earthy to organised elements in the food. For the reasons above given, I think this ratio should be large: in particular, the due growth of the bones requires an abundant supply of phosphates, which may be procured from milk, or, failing this, from cheese or bran bread. In what proportion fatty matters should be provided is very doubtful; nature furnishes them to infants in large quantities in milk, but the decided liking shown by most weaned children for sugar, and their frequent dislike of fat, seem to point the other way. Fresh vegetables are not quite so necessary to young children, perhaps, as to adults; but they should always be allowed, in moderate quantity, increasing with their years.

In the third place, we must pay attention to the external or superficial qualities of the food, on which its wholesomeness and digestibility mainly depend. It should be neither too coarse nor too fine; the natural food of an infant is extremely fine; it yields no refuse whatever. On the other hand, it is certain that most adults in this country use food too fine and concentrated for the healthy action of the alimentary canal; and that, on this ground, as well as on that of its containing a greater relative amount of nitrogen, brown bread is for most