96 REPORT—1849. 
frightful evils which arose when the standard of value, either from natural causes 
or from the culpable neglect of government, became variable to any serious extent. 
But those evils were plainly demonstrated by the results of a variable standard in the 
reigns of Henry the Eighth, James the First and James the Second. The remedy 
for these evils could be discovered in a very simple way from considering the reason 
why gold had been maintained as our standard of value. It had been so maintained 
because for two centuries it had been of all commodities the least variable in value, 
and therefore the best fitted to serve as the measure of the value of other commodi- 
ties. Should it now from any cause become variable in value, the same reason that 
has impelled us hitherto to select it would lead us to take in its place as a standard 
the commodity which would then become least variable in value. This commodity 
would, he believed, be found to be silver. Silver was our standard of value for many 
centuries after the Conquest. It formed a mixed standard along with gold from 
1717 till 1774. It was now used as a standard in France, Hamburg and many 
other European states, and also in the United States of America. There was no 
reason, therefore, why we should not, if necessary, adopt silver as our standard, and 
so entirely obviate any variation in prices being produced by the discovery of gold. 
On the Sanitary Condition of Darwen, Lancashire, with Suggestions for its 
Improvement ; in a Letter from J. Paton, C.E. 


On the Tenure of Land in the Island of Madeira. 
By the Very Rev. G. Peacock, D.D., Dean of Ely, F.R.S. 
The surface of the island of Madeira is singularly corrugated and mountainous ; 
with the exception of a small portion near the level of the sea on the western coast 
and the table-lands of the Paul de Serra, a very lofty mountain range, there is abso- 
lutely no level ground. From the central region of the Curral, which reaches an 
elevation of more than 6000 feet, a series of steep and precipitous ridges, with deep 
ravines, the channels of the mountain torrents, radiate in all directions to the sea, 
reaching it at various elevations, exceeding 2000 feet at Cape Giram about two 
miles to the west of Funchal, and forming almost everywhere a coast line of great 
boldness and magnificence. The rocks are entirely volcanic, presenting every va- 
riety of basalt, compact, vesicular and scoriaceous—tufas, which are sometimes loose 
and friable and at others more or less solid and decomposing slowly under the influ- 
ence of the atmosphere—extensive beds of white lapilli and pumice, intermixed with 
earthy particles, and not disposed in the order of gravity—beds of voleanic mud in 
various states of consolidation as affected by the action of the overlying lavas—others 
of voleanic cinders and fragments of volcanic rocks and also of scoriz, occasionally of 
great thickness, which it would be sometimes difficult to distinguish from the pro- 
ducts of an iron furnace. The surface which is capable of cultivation, in an island 
thus physically constituted, bears a small proportion to the whole—more than half of 
it—the region of the vaccinium and arborescent heaths—is either too barren or too 
elevated for the successful growth of the cerealia, and affords a very scanty pasturage 
for cattle, sheep and goats. Much of the remainder is either sterile rock or too pre- 
cipitous for tillage. 
Of the parts of the island which are capable of cultivation, a great portion is only 
maintained in tiat state by walls and terraces, succeeding each other frequently within 
the distance of a few feet, which not only divide the several occupations from each 
other, but serve to protect the vegetable soil from being washed into the ravines 
and torrents by the violent rains which are known to prevail, in their proper seasons, 
in a semi-tropical island. The richer soils are found generally~in the lower lands 
near the sea-coast and at the bottom of the ravines. 
The finest wines are produced between Funchal and Cama dos Lobos and the Etreito, 
and in a few other favoured localities on the southern parts of the island. No wines 
of a superior quality are produced at an elevation exceeding 1000 feet; its cultiva- 
tion ceases altogether when we reach 2000 feet. 
Among other productions of these more favoured regions we find coffee of a very 
superior quality, Sugar, which was once extensively cultivated, and formed a large 

