262 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



affair altogether. The bayonet will be an almost use- 

 less addition to the soldier's arms ; a charge of cavalry 

 upon well-armed infantry will be almost as hopeless 

 as the famous Balaklava charge ; and the artillery on 

 either side will have to play a game at long shots. We 

 venture to anticipate that the first great European war 

 will introduce a total change into the whole system of 

 warlike manoeuvres.* 



(From the Daily News, November, 1868.) 



INFLUENCE OF MARRIAGE ON THE DEATH- 

 RATE. 



THE Koyal Commission on the Law of Marriage 

 has attracted attention to many singular and instruc- 

 tive results of modern statistical inquiry. ISTot the 

 least important of these is the apparent influence of 

 marriage on the death-rate. For several years it has 

 been noticed by statisticians that the death-rate of un- 

 married men is considerably higher than the death-rate 

 of married men and widowers. "We believe that Dr. 

 Stark, Registrar-General for Scotland, was one of the 

 first to call attention to this peculiarity, as evidenced 

 by the results of two years' returns for Scotland. But 

 the law has since been confirmed by a far wider range 

 of statistical inquiry. The relative proportion between 



* The reader need hardly be reminded of the most complete fulfil- 

 ment of this anticipation. 



