"OUR MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE LAWS." 663 



was a perfect model of successful hygienic administration. Strug- 

 gling with distressing and dangerous disease he continued to lead a 

 life of intellectual activity not often accomplished by the most ro- 

 bust ; and when, in 18G0, the Army Medical School was established by 

 Lord Herbert of Lea, Sir James Clark had no hesitation in advising 

 that Dr. Parkes should be secured if possible as the Professor of 

 Hygiene. How excellent the foresight of that eminent physician 

 was, we all know, for Dr. Parkes was not only the first professor of 

 the science in this country in point of time, but also the first in every 

 sense of the word. The publication of his well-known " Manual of 

 Practical Hygiene " gave us for the first time a work on the subject 

 which was not merely a string of opinions and surmises, but at every 

 point brought opinion to the test of figure and experiment, where it 

 was possible, and thus laid the foundation for a real science in the 

 future. Similarly with his teaching he pressed upon the Government 

 to establish practical laboratories for his pupils, where they could do 

 for themselves as much of the experimental work as time and oppor- 

 tunity allowed ; and he impressed upon those who studied under him 

 the necessity of testing everything by actual investigation and bring- 

 ing all statements to the proof of figures before accepting them as 

 true. There was never probably a man of calmer and more judicial 

 mind, a man more rigidly critical of his own work, or more kindly 

 disposed to allow every credit to the work of others. Having known 

 him personally for many years, during thirteen of which I was his 

 assistant and colleague, I can bear confident testimony to the exceed- 

 ing beauty of his character, in which "sweetness and light" were 

 never more truly displayed, and the scrupulous accuracy and care 

 with which every investigation of his was carried out. The science 

 of hygiene could have no purer and better founder and its votaries no 

 brighter and more spotless example. Lancet. 



"OUR MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE LAWS." 



By E. T. MEEEICK. 



AN article in the June number of " The Popular Science Monthly " 

 for 1883, on the subject of " Our Marriage and Divorce Laws," 

 it seems to me, is worthy of further notice. 



We have no occasion to find fault with the picture which the 

 writer draws of the divorce laws of many of the States. It is highly 

 probable that the cause of the deplorable disregard of the binding force 

 of the marriage tie, in certain of the Eastern States, must be sought for 

 outside of the statute laws themselves. Laws or constitutions have but 

 little value except public opinion demands their enforcement. 



