B I R 



448 



B I R 



building the premise* in 1820. none of the proceeds were 

 in 182' applicable to this purpose. It was expected that 

 the charity would airain become operative about this time. 



Ann Crovlry's Charity. Under the will of this lady, 

 with an addition afterward* made by Mrs. Srott, 6/. is paid 

 to a school-mistress for instructing, at her own house in Bir- 

 mingham, ten girls sent by the trustees, to read, sew, and 

 knit : and a further sum of five guineas is disposed of in the 

 purchase of cloth and worsted, for the girls to work up into 

 clothing for their own use. 



Protcitant Distenters' Charity-tchool. This school is 

 situated in Park-street, where it has been carried on for 

 many years. It originated in and is still principally sup- 

 ported 'by voluntary contributions, with the addition of lega- 

 cies and other casual benefactions. There i* no land be- 

 longing to this charity, except that on which the school- 

 house stands. 



Sunday-schools were early established in Birmingham, 

 and they are now supported by the congregations of all the 

 religions sects', both in the Establishment and among the 

 dissenters, and not less than 16,000 children are constantly 

 in course of receiving at these seminaries the humble but 

 useful portions of elementary knowledge which they are 

 capable of bestowing. Twenty day-schools, including the 

 Blue-coat School and nine Sunday-schools, are connected 

 with the National School Society. In the former there were 

 1664 boys and 1813 girls, in March, 1835 ; and in the latter 

 1050 boys and 735 girls. (Report of the National Society, 

 1835.) A charity-school, attached to the Established Church, 

 maintains nearly 200 children of the two sexes ; another, 

 called the Dissenting Charity School, receives 50 girls. 

 There are several schools on the plans of Lancaster and 

 Bell, and infant-schools which receive pupils between the 

 ages of two and six ; and an excellently managed school for 

 the deaf and dumb, where nearly 50 of these unfortunate 

 individuals are instructed, and rendered capable of useful- 

 ness and enjoyment. An extensive and well-conducted 

 parochial asylum for the infant poor provides for upwards of 

 400 children, who would be otherwise destitute, and who are 

 judiciously educated, and taught early to spend a portion of 

 their time in useful and profitable labour. 



Several useful institutions for intellectual improvement 

 are supported principally by individuals of the working 

 classes. Among these is a well conducted Mechanics' In- 

 stitute, not so numerous in its list of members as might 

 be expected in such a place, but zealously supported. This 

 institution gives class instruction in writing, arithmetic, 

 mathematics, drawing, and the languages, under able 

 tuition; and it contains a well selected library of 1200 

 volumes. A weekly lecture is given on subjects connected 

 with science, art, history, and general literature. 



The Artizans' Library was founded at the commence- 

 ment of the present century, and is supported by small quar- 

 terly subscriptions. It consists of 1500 volumes. 



The Social Union for improvement and recreation is of 

 late date. It consists entirely of persons of the working 

 elates, and its members meet at fixed times, and alter- 

 nately hear lectures and join in conversation, or enjoy 

 musical and other entertainments. 



The effort* of the Temperance Societies are also felt in 

 Bininn.'!i:im. Large numbers enrol themselves in these 

 institutions, and numerous instances arc weekly produced 

 of persons who, urged by the considerations presented to 

 them, have succeeded in forsaking their habits of vicious 

 indulgence. 



Sick clubs and benefit societies are of old establishment ; 

 but many of them have been proved by experience to be 

 founded on erroneous calculations, and nearly all are ren- 

 dered -eJes, by the condition of holding their meetings at 

 the public house, where the members are induced to lay 

 out money in drink. This radical defect is now in course 

 (if iciiMYiil by the recent establishment of Provident So- 

 M on true principles, which meet for despatch of busi- 

 ne*s at the vestry-rooms of various places of worship, or 

 other place* unconnected with needless and prejudicial ex- 

 penditure. All fcueh institutions, supported and managed 

 totally or principally by the working people thcmvKe-, 

 whether directly devoted to education or not, are peculiarly 

 valuable as tending, each in its own way, to give them 

 habits of frugality, knowledge of business, and to elevate 

 their general character. 



There arc in Birmingham numerous charitable institu- 

 tions, which arc well managed and liberally supported. 



Among these may be named the General Hospital, whose 

 Tumi* are assisted by the celebrated triennial musical fes- 

 tivals, now held in the town-hall ; the Dispensary ; a society 

 for the suppression of Mendicity ; a Magdalen Institution ; 

 and a great variety of minor associations for supplying 

 clothing and other comforts to the necessitous poor. 



The upper and middle circles of Birmingham arc a highly 

 improved and intellectual community. Great Mtmtion is 

 paid to the cultivation of literature and the fine art-. Be- 

 sides circulating and other minor libraries, there are two 

 principal public collections of books, the Birmingham Li- 

 brary, containing 16,700 volumes, and with 560 subscribers 

 of one pound per annum ; and the New Library, containing 

 4000 volumes, and with 360 subscribers. There are also 

 many reading societies, in which the new publications cir- 

 culate among the member*. In New Street arc the rooms 

 of the Society of Arts for the exhibition of pictures by an- 

 tient and modern artists. Concerts of a hi^h order of 

 excellence aro given, and the exhibitions of the Society of 

 Arts are of the very first class. A botanical and horticul- 

 tural society has been formed whose gardens are on an 

 extensive scale ; and the school of medicine presents advan- 

 tages second only to those of the metropolis. A philoso- 

 phical institution is liberally supported, and there is also a 

 spacious and well supplied news and reading-room. 



Population of the parish of Birmingham . 112,000 



,, of the suburbs, connected with 

 the town but in the adjoining parishes . 8,000 



Total 120.0UO 



Comparative state in 1815 and 1831. 

 1815 Population 78,000 Assessments 247,050 

 1831 112,000 281, fill 



Increase per cent. 50 12| 



State of the elntely peopled divisions. 



Value of IU,l 



Parishes. Extent in properly per Total Population 



ere*. ' nv. value. per nere. 







St. Phillip's 118 9145 1,080,000 13fi 



St. Mary's 130 7075 329,000 136 



St. Peter's 1-43 5172 740,000 104 



Extent of the entire parish, 2810 acres. Average popu- 

 lation, 41 to an acre. 



Assessments. 



Under 5 per annum 16.000J <* *?* f 



Total Assessments 30,600 



Local lii.ru/inn, at annually paid. 

 Rates paid by 

 Poors'-ratc 



ClnwA. 





 3,190 



n. 







8,400 







3,700 



Tutnli. 





 '14,000 



23,000 



32,400 10,900 3,700 67,000 

 A mount of a rate of 1 s. in the pound i'7t>oo. (Commu- 

 ni'-ation from Birmingham.) 



BIROSTRI'TES, in zoobgy, a fossil to which Lamarck 

 has given the generic name at the head of the article. He 

 has placed it under his family Hiutixtft, a family which, as 

 Mr. G. Sowerby observes (Genera No. 11.), might be struck 

 out; for there can be hardly any doubt that Lamarck has 

 misconceived or misplaced the genera of which it is com- 

 posed. G. Sowerby, from an examination of the cast of the 

 inside of the shell, expresses his conviction that nirmtritet 

 ought to be placed next to Dicrrat, or at least in the same 

 family with Chama and Dicrra*, inasmuch as it accords 

 very nearly with those shells in its internal characters. 



The following is Lamarck's description of this singular 

 fos-il. Shell composed of two pieces or valves, which do not 

 unite by the edges of their base, one enveloping the other, 

 and the dorsal disk of each being elevated into a nearly 

 straight cone slightly arched within. These horn-shaped 

 valvrs arc unequal and diverge obliquely under the form of 

 a very open V. It seems as if one valve came out of the 



