174 REPORT—1862. 
aid of parochial and other libraries, to mechanics’ institutions, working-men’s so- 
cieties, and for distribution to sa‘lors, soldiers, emigrants, miners, and nayvies. 
Hawking or Colportage of carefully selected books and prints was systematically 
commenced in England in 1851, and within the last ten years much has been done 
in this way to promote the circulation of pure literature in the rural districts. 
Sixty-two local associations have been organized, and are united with the “Church 
of England Book-hawking Union,” which employs about eighty book-hawkers, 
whose aggregate sale is now about £16,000 per annum. 
Another society, designated the British Colportage Association, was established 
in 1860, with a view of carrying out the same object by agents not restricted to the 
sale of books and educational appliances, but who are expected to act also in a cer- 
tain sense as missionaries. 
The numerous publications specially used for instruction in the Schools of the 
Poor are mostly issued by one or other of the school societies, and no accurate 
estimate as to their numbers can be given. 
A class of publications intended to impart a general knowledge of Sanitary 
Science, in its application to every-day life, has been lately introduced, and now 
forms an important branch of the instruction conveyed to the labouring-classes 
through the various agencies under review. The production and circulation of 
such publications is a main object of the Ladies’ Sanitary Association, which has, 
since its establishment in 1857, distributed 468,500 copies of small works, sold 
mostly at from 1d. to 2d. each. The issue of sanitary publications was commenced 
by Messrs. Jarrold & Sons about ten years since, under the designation of “ House- 
hold Tracts,” which are sold at 2d. each, and of these the number issued up to 
June last was 1,345,000. Of another class, entitled “Science for the Household,” 
125,000 copies have been circulated. 
Publications promotive of temperance are circulated very extensively from the 
establishment of Mr. Tweedie, 337 Strand, and many other booksellers. One 
journal devoted to this cause has a circulation of 25,000 copies weekly. The 
‘ British Workman,’ issued at 1d., and the ‘Band of Hope Review,’ at 3d. have 
now a circulation of about 250,000 copies each, with a well-merited increase. 
From Mr. Peter Drummond’s Tract and Book Depét, at Stirling, N. B., have 
been issued since 1848, gratuitously and by sale, 33,600,000 tracts of 1 to 12 pages 
each. 
Another pena firm, that of Mr. John Cassell, issues from 25,000,000 
to 30,000,000 annually of well-written penny publications, besides the ‘ Popular 
Educator,’ the ‘Illustrated History of England,’ and the ‘ Illustrated Family Hible, 
in weekly penny numbers, of which, up to the present time, 21,000,000 numbers 
have been printed. 
To this greatly increased circulation of a pure and instructive cheap literature, 
and particularly to the extensive distribution of the Sacred Scriptures, the author 
feels justified in attributing, in no small degree, the striking change in the conduct 
of our manufacturing operatives, at the present time of severe privation and suffer- 
ing, as or ee with their riotous proceedings in days not very remote from the 
present; and he would trust that their conduct may prove instructive to some 
in other countries, who, exalted in authority, and knowing not the value of moral 
influence in governing a people, fetter the human mind, and incarcerate those who, 
having themselves Sages that the ways of true wisdom are pleasant, and 
her paths peace, would lead others to walk therein. 
A Statistical Inquiry into the Prevalence of numerous Conditions affecting the 
Constitution in1000 Consumptive Persons. By Epwarp Suitu, M.D.,LL.B., 
F.R.S., Assistant Physician to the Hospital for Consumption at Brompton, &c. 
The inquiry was made upon 600 male and 400 female patients at the Hospital 
for Consumption, Brompton, and was intended to show the influence of all the 
causes vwhiell are believed to modify the health. 
The average age of the patients was 288 years. 30 per cent. had been born in 
London, 36 per cent, had lived chiefly in London, aid 53 per cent. had lived in 
