246 Robert Harkness, Esq., on Fossil Footprints. 



mortality in one portion of the present year over another by natural 

 causes, there is an excess of deaths in this city over most other 

 towns, for which some other origin must be sought. The forbidding 

 aspect of a large portion of the dwellings in the older parts of the 

 town, engendering, as they do, an absence of due self-respect, fol- 

 lowed by low and debasing habits in their inhabitants, is scarcely 

 surpassed, in regard to extent, in any other British city. Unfortu- 

 nately, the application of proper sanatory measures, by the formation 

 of new, well-ventilated streets and houses, instead of the condensed 

 habitations at present existing, has been confined to the great Me- 

 tropolis, and will be employed as another argument in favour of 

 centralisation, unless our local authorities are speedily prepared to 

 devise and apply the adequate remedy. Another desideratum among 

 those classes most liable to disease, is a plentiful supply of the purest 

 water which can be obtained for domestic use, free from sewerage : 

 the connection between impurity of water and moi'tality, having been 

 Avell illustrated in the condition of London. Again, it becomes a 

 question of import to health, if the noble Clyde, with its sewer- 

 like waters and impure exhalations, be not equally conveying, in its 

 present state of pollution, wealth and malady to a teeming city. 



And lastly, the fearful mortality from smallpox and other en- 

 demics, urgently demands that the Scottish population should be 

 placed on an equality with that of England, by an extension to our 

 kingdom of the Vaccination Act, as well as of the Kegistration Act, 

 which, if committed to the excellent administration of the Registrar- 

 General of England, could be brought into operation, with the ma- 

 chinery at present in existence, with but a trifling addition to the 

 expense of the country. Scotland would thus be removed from the 

 unenviable position of being classed with Spain, Greece, Hungary, 

 Turkey, and Ireland, as the only parts of the civilised States in 

 Europe where authentic official registers are not kept. ■ i •- 



.rrltlitiTfr 



Note. — The blanks ia the preceding Tables are due to the circumstance that 

 the new form of Mortality Bill was introduced only in April. 



On Fossil Footprints. By Robert Harkxess, Esq. 

 Communicated by the Author. 



Since the commencement of the present century science has 

 made such rapid advancement that it in a great measure 

 possesses a new and a different character. Some of its 

 branches have so far influenced the progress of society that 

 our present position results almost entirely from their appli- 

 cation to the common businesses of life ; and others may be 



