166 Transactions. 



An interesting field of comparison is opened up by a table 

 given by Dr Buniside regarding the number of persons engaged in 

 different trades in the town. The statistics are derived, as regards 

 the trades, from the books of the incorporations, and as regards 

 the others, it is supposed, from personal information. Unfortu- 

 nately, the statistics regarding the occupations of the community in 

 the census returns are given not for the parish, as Dr Burnside 

 gives them, but for the parliamentary burgh. An exact compari- 

 son is therefore unattainable. The respective numbers, however, 

 may be of some value as indicating any marked changes, and 

 therefore I eive them : 



These figures are very much what might be expected. There is in 

 proportion to the population employment for fewer artisans now 

 than there was a hundred years ago. The much larger production 

 is more than counter-balanced by the amount of work done by 

 machinery. Notably, the trade of shoemaker has undergone a very 

 great diminution. On the other hand, bakers are twice as numerous 

 as formerly, a fact no doubt to be accounted for by the much 

 smaller amount of oat cakes and other kinds of bread now made at 

 home. It is very remarkable that the additional 10,000 of the 

 population requires no more writers. It is also noteworthy that 

 while the population has more than doubled, doctors have been 

 multiplied sevenfold, ministers threefold, and apothecaries seven- 

 fold. The decrease in the number of men employed in the older 

 trades is more than made up for by the number of new employ- 



