TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. l7l 



34; remittent fever, to 30; infantile fever and purpura, each to 17; ague, to 10; 

 carbuncle to 9 ; and hydrophobia, to less than 1 in the year. 



A very interesting group of diseases (tubercular diseases) is remarkable for the 

 moderate mean fluctuation to which it is subject. It comprises one very important 

 disease, namely pulmonary consumption, which shows a remarkable degree of 

 steadiness, whether we test it by the mean or by the extreme fluctuation. This 

 fatal malady of the young adult proved fatal, in the fifteen years comprised in the 

 table, to a maximum of 3941, a minimum of 2645, and an average of 3230 in the 

 million, being little less than a seventh part of the total deaths at ail ages, and more 

 than a third part of the deaths from ] 5 to 60. The average number of deaths from 

 this fatal disease is, as nearly as possible, 13 per cent, of all the specified causes of 

 death at all ages, and 39 per cent, of the deaths from 15 to 60 years of age. 



Dr. Guy finished his communication by stating that the object with which it had 

 been taken in hand was sufficiently answered by the publication of the five tables in 

 the Appendix, which would, he thought, be found very useful for purposes of refer- 

 ence ; and he promised to take an opportunity of turning to another account the 

 figures contained in his tables. 



On the Agricultural Labourers of England and Wales, their Inferiority in 

 the Social Scale, and the means of effecting their Improvement. By John 

 Locke. 



Mr. Locke, after a few preliminary remarks, referred to the education of the 

 labourers, which, he remarked, should be adapted to the peculiar circumstances of 

 each class. Such instruction as was suitable to the labourer's subsequent position 

 in life was generally omitted in rural schools ; and while the chemist had developed 

 the principles of agriculture, and the mechanist facilitated its operations, they lost 

 sight of the fact, that the human instrument of production was left uncultured in 

 the acquisition of ideas relating to the nature of his future employment. The defi- 

 ciency, too, was aggravated by children leaving school too soon, before their intelli- 

 gence was thoroughly awakened as to their duties in life. Hence resulted pecuniary 

 losses to employers ; for they could neither expect earnestness in intention nor system 

 in performance, when a man understood not the reason of what he did, while his very 

 ignorance extinguished all rational ambition of improving his lot in life. Let them 

 now see how far the efforts of Lord Brougham and others had been productive of 

 practical results. According to the Parliamentary returns of 1818, there was then 

 in day schools 674,883 scholars, and 477,225 in Sunday schools; now, extending 

 their inquiry to 1854, during which interval the population had increased 54 per cent., 

 the number of day scholars then amounted to 2,144,378, and of Sunday scholars to 

 2,407,642. Out of twelve agricultural counties in England, the most favourable 

 attendance of children at day schools was above the standard proportion of one in 

 eight of the population, and the most unfavourable, one in ten. In North and South 

 Wales and Monmouthshire, the proportion was still lower. Mr. Locke, after ex- 

 pressing his opinion in opposition to charity schools, except in cases of absolute 

 necessity, and also on the dwellings of the labouring community, which he 

 thought might be greatly improved, referred to the opinion which, he said, of 

 late years had been gaining ground, that the anomalies of the poor law require an 

 extension of the area of taxation. Mr. Locke concluded his paper by remarking 

 that, until oeconomy was made available for profit, it would not be thought of by 

 that section of the community, whose wages being barely adequate to support 

 existence, afford neither motive nor result to prospective industry and ingenuity. 

 When the principle of hope is extinguished, all improvement — moral, intellectual, 

 and physical — is interrupted at the very outset. 



On the Influence of Factory Life on the Health of the Operative, as founded 

 upon the Medical Statistics of this Class at Belfast. 

 By A. G. Malcolm, M.D. 

 After some preliminary observations relating to the importance of the linen manu- 

 facture to Ireland, the origin of fiax-spinning machinery, and the agitation respect- 



