Labour and Pauperism in England. 277 males; and that children are only allowed one-half the quantity of females. The latter, probably, approaches to the natural demand for food, and indicates the prevalent extent of waste in the parochial management of the work-houses. "The following table will show more clearly, at a view, the relation or comparative condition of each class, as to food, from the honest and independent labourer, to the convicted and transported felon, as obtained chiefly from official returns: THE SCALE. I. The Honest Agricultural Labourer— According to the returns of Labourer's Expenditure, they are unable to get, in the shape of solid food, more than an average allowance of, Bread (daily) 17 oz.-per week 119 oz. Solid food 151 oz. In addition to the above, which is an average allowance, the inmates of most workhouses have, Milk Porridge 3 quarts 7 And 160 oz. potatoes.-(see the Gaol Returns from Winchester.) Bread per week Meat 192 oz. 12-204 oz. solid food. VI. The Transported Thief 10 lbs. meat per week 10 lbs. flour which will increase, when made 168 oz. - 182 Solid food 386 oz. This is the ladder of promotion for the adroit thief; the mal-adroit, it is true, sometimes ascends a step higher, but then all sorts of sympathy are lavished upon them, and if they repent, they are assured their reward is glorious; and the hangman, with the aid of the ordinary, despatches them, (as the newspapers declare) into bliss eternal." SCARPA. Antonio Scarpa, the celebrated professor of Anatomy and Surgery, died at Pavia on the 31st October last. He was born about 1750 in the province of Treviso; he made himself early known for his anatomical learning, and was professor at Pavia at the epoch of the French invasion in 1796. He then refused to take the oath to the Republic, and was consequently dismissed from his chair. Napoleon, in 1805, having made himself king of Italy, went to visit, among other places, the University of Pavia, the professors of which were duly introduced to him. He suddenly inquired where Scarpa was? The reply was, that Scarpa had been dismissed long since, on account of his political opinions, and because he had refused to take the oaths. "And what have political opinions, and refusal of oaths, to do in such cases?" impatiently interrupted Napoleon. "Dr. Scarpa is an honour to the University, and to my States." Scarpa was therefore invited to resume his chair, which he did, and he continued to lecture to a very advanced age, occasionally employing one of his pupils as a substitute. Besides his great fame in the scientific world, his personal character was held in the highest estimation, and he was beloved and revered by his disciples. The principal among his numerous works are: his Treatise on the Organs of Hearing and Smelling, published at Pavia, in 1789; his Tabula Nevrologia, or plates of the Nerves of the Human Frame, Pavia, 1794; his Essays on the Principal Diseases of the Eyes, 1801; his work on Aneurism, 1804; and his Treatise on Hernia, Milan, 1809. Scarpa was also a great lover of the Fine Arts, and had formed a valuable collection of paintings by the first Italian Masters. The Subscribers to the Journal of Health, are earnestly solicited to make immediate payments for the present Volume, as well as for the past, where such arrearages are due. A speedy attention to this request may save a trifling expense of postage and trouble in making out and forwarding separate bills to Subscribers. THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND RECREATION-is published monthly, at the rate of $1 25 per annum. Each number to consist of 32 pages 8vo. Address S. C. ATKINSON, No. 12 Hudson's Alley, Philada. The laws of hereditary descent figure largely in the plan which Dr. Spurzheim proposes as the perfecting process of mankind. Perhaps we cannot interest our readers more than by devoting this paper to an abstract of his views on the subject. Children participate in the bodily configuration and constitution of their parents, and also in their tendencies to particular manifestations of the mind, these being dependent on the individual parts of the brain. The qualities of the body are hereditary. There are family-faces, family-likenesses, and also single parts, such as bones, muscles, hair and skin, which are alike in parents and children. The disposition to various disorders, as to gout, scrofula, dropsy, hydrocephalus, consumption, deafness, epilepsy, apoplexy, idiotism, insanity, &c., is frequently the inheritance of birth. Children born of healthy parents, and belonging to a strong stock, always bring into the world, a system formed by nature to resist the causes of disease; while children of delicate, sickly parents, are overpowered by the least unfavourable circumstance. Longevity depends more on innate constitution, than on the skill of the physician. Is it not then astonishing that this knowledge, as a practical piece of information, is not taught and disseminated among young people? Indeed it ought to be familiarly and generally known. Even the unthinking must perceive that the enjoyments of life are rendered impossible, when diseases make their ravages in a family; and that love for the most part ceases, when poverty takes up its abode in the house, There are many examples on record, of certain feelings or intellectual powers, being inherent in whole families, Now if it be ascertained that the hereditary condition of the brain is the cause, VOL. IV-2 K 279 280 Hints about Phrenology. there is a great additional motive to be careful in the choice of a partner in marriage. No person of sense can be indifferent about having selfish or benevolent, stupid or intelligent children. But it is said that men of great talents often have children of little understanding, and that in large families there are individuals of very different capacities. As long as eminent men are married to partners of inferior capacities, the qualities of the offspring must be uncertain. The condition of the mother is not valued as it ought to be, and yet it is a common observation that boys resemble their mother, and girls their father, and that men of great talents almost always descend from intelligent mothers. The physical education of both sexes deserves the greatest attention, and it is unpardonable to neglect that of girls. The degeneration of man is certain in families who intermarry among themselves. Uncles and wives, or first cousins, or cousins who commit this error for several generations, have no children, or their progeny is feeble in constitution of both body and mind. It is indeed a pity that the laws of hereditary descent are so much neglected, whilst, by attending to them, not only the condition of single families, but of whole nations, might be improved beyond imagination, in figure, stature, complexion, health, talents, and moral feelings. "It is probable," says Dr. Rush, "that the qualities of body and mind in parents, which produce genius in children, may be fixed and regulated; and it is possible the time may come, when we shall be able to predict with certainty the intellectual character of children, by knowing the specific nature of the different intellectual faculties of their parents." Three successive generations appear to be necessary to produce an effectual change, be it for health or disease. According to the laws of creation, therefore, it is said, that "the Lord visits those who hate him (those who do not submit to his laws) to the third and fourth generation;" namely, by their hereditary dispositions. Such causes as produce what is called the old age of nations, deserve to be remarked. Luxury belongs to them, and its influence, if continued during several generations, weakens body and mind, not only of families, but of whole nations. The Greeks, as appears from their customs, philosophy, and legislation, had particularly in view the beauty and vigour of the human constitution. "As we," says Plutarch, are anxious to have dogs and horses from a good breed, why should we marry the daughters of bad parents?" Plato spoke against marriages between relations. He, as well as Solon and Aristotle, considered also the age at which it was best to marry. The ancient philosophers commonly fixed it between eighteen and twenty-four for a woman, and between thirty and thirty-six for a man. It is often the case that women, who marry when very young, and bear a numerous family, become early victims to an exhausted constitution. It may be said that these considerations can never become prac tical rules of conduct for society at large. In the actual situation of things, perhaps this is true. But we must also admit that the laws of the Creator will not change to gratify our fancy. If we will not submit to his dictates, we have no right to complain of being punished by unavoidable, though disagreeable results. Christian principles are not sufficiently exercised in society, yet it is not, on this account, considered superfluous to teach them; and he who loves mankind, will wish for their promulgation. Now the laws of hereditary descent are in the same situation. The Supreme Being gave us understanding that we might perceive these laws; and having perceived them, it is our first duty to obey them as His dictates; and having done so, we may then, and not till then, expect His blessing to attend us. The special obedience to the natural laws of hereditary descent is an indispensable condition to the improvement of mankind; and nothing but ignorance, superstition, and prejudice can oppose it.-Ladies' Maga zine. THE USE OF ALMANACS. There are few things, in which a man may find more room for speculation than an almanac. There is scarcely a family, however ignorant and indigent, without one copy hanging constantly in sight, and yet there is no production the contents of which fewer persons understand. The sense it contains is not only abstruse and remote from common apprehension, but it is exhibited in the most scientific and conscise form. Figures, initials, symbolical characters, and half words every where abound. A stranger who should meet, in every hovel, with a book, in which the relative positions of the planets, the diurnal progress of the sun through the zodiac, the lunar and solar eclipses, the wanderings of Sirius, Arcturus, and the Pleades; of Occulus, Tauri, and Spica Virginis, are described in a way the most technical imaginable, would be apt to regard us as a very astronomical and learned nation. That the volume should be bought annually by every family; should be considered as an indispensable piece of household furniture; be so placed as to be always at hand, are facts that would make this inference extremely plausible. He would be not a little surprised to discover, that the book is bought for the sake of that which the memory and skill of children would suffice to find out; of that which costs the compiler nothing more than the survey of a former almanac, and a few strokes of his pen; and that these celebrated computations, these mystic symbols, this adjustment of certain days to certain holydays, are neither attended to nor understood, in this country, by one in ten thousand. The eye roves over them, but the question, what do they mean? never, perhaps, enters the mind. Being accustomed to meet in an almanac with certain figures and arrangements, we are dissatisfied if we find them absent-while a book of this kind being compiled and published anew |