MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 



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About 4 per cent, of the houses in Great Britain were iinoccupied in 

 1851, and to every 131 houses inhabited or uninhabited there was one in 

 course of erection. In England and Wales, the number of persons to a 

 house was 5.5 ; in Scotland 7.8, or about the same as in London ;. in Edin- 

 burgh and Glasgow the numbers were respectively 20.6 and 27.5. Sub- 

 joined is cd statement of the number of inhabited * houses and families in 

 Great Britain at each census, from 1801 to 1851, also of persons to a 

 house, excluding the islands in the British seas. 



The number of inhabited houses had nearly doubled in the last half 

 century, and upwards of two million new families had been founded. 

 67,609 families, taken at hazard, were analyzed into their constituent parts, 

 and they gave some curious results. About 5 per cent, only of the families 

 in Great Britain consisted of husband, wife, children, and servants, 

 generally considered the requisites of domestic felicity ; while 893 families 

 had each ten children, at home, 317 had each eleven, and 64 had each 

 twelve. The number of each class of institution, and the number of per- 

 sons inhabiting them, are annexed : 



Of these 295,856 persons, 260,340 were inmates, and 35,516 officers and 

 servants. The excess of males in the prisons arose from the fact that 

 crime was four times as prevalent among males as among females. 



It was mentioned as a curious trait of gypsy feeling, that a -w^iole tribe 



