128 REPORT— 186G. 



arises, not from the charges of board, lodging, and tuition, which every student 

 must incur, but from tlie expensive liabits and costly amusements in which so many 

 indulge. The latter, therefore, might be avoided bv au}^ body of youths wlio were 

 sufficiently considerable in point of numbers to associate chiefly amongst them- 

 selves, and who were placed where they woidd not be in constant communication 

 with students of ampler means and different pursuits. 



Thirdly, the objection raised from the undue postponement of their studies has 

 been already in part removed by the new regulation, which enables the Under- 

 graduate to terminate his classical reading after two years of residence at the 

 University. 



Fourthly, in reply to those who apprehend that habits unfitting for a medical 

 man are likely to be acquired by a residence at the University, it was suggested, 

 that the risk of this would be mucli lessened by establishing a Hall or College 

 which should be resorted to principally by medical students, who would thus form 

 a community of their own, and feel less temptation to join in the pursuits of the 

 wealthier and idler portion of Oxford society. 



It is not, however, suggested that Oxford should be substituted for London as 

 a place for acquiring clinical instruction. All that is maintained is, that the pre- 

 paratory studies, such as Chemistry and Anatomy, may be mastered as well out of 

 London as in it, and that it can never be advisable that the acquisition of so large 

 a part of that knowledge which is looked for from an aspirant to a Medical Degi-ee 

 should be compressed within the short compass of the time he is expected to reside 

 in the metropolis, whilst all the previous years of his life, since the period of his 

 leaving school, have been engrossed by an apprenticeship to an apothecary, with 

 few opportunities of learning an}i:hing beyond the art of compounding medicines. 



Would it not, it was asked, be more advantageous to a large proportion at least 

 of these students, if, before they were considered old enough to reside in London, 

 exempt from all moral supervision, they were to spend half the year in keeping 

 terms at the University, and in there obtaining a sound knowledge of those sciences 

 which constitute the basis of a medical education ? And would it not be found 

 sufficient for them to devote merely the remaining half to the routine of an apothe- 

 cai-y's shop, for the purpose of acquiring whatever knowledge can be derived from 

 such a quarter ? 



On tJie Lace and Hosiery Trades of Nottingham. By "W". Felkin-. 

 The author observed that the progress of the town and suburbs of Nottingham 

 in population and material wealth during this century has been much advanced 

 by the increase of the lace manufacturers of the place. In regard to the popula- 

 tion of Nottingham, from the figures which appear in the population returns, much 

 misconception prevails. Nottingham there appears to have a population of about 

 75,000, that is within the limits of the mimicipal borough only ; while, including 

 the suburban parishes, which are practically parts of Nottingham, there are about 

 150,000 in all. It has risen from 35,000, the number in 1811. — The following ac- 

 count of the machine-wrought lace trade in 1865 is based on a census made by Mr. 

 Birkin and Mr. Heymann in 1862, of the machinery in the business, and given by 

 the former in his report to Class 24 in the London Exhibition of that year. At 

 that time there were 1797 circular machines making bobbin net; of these 200 were 

 at Tiverton, 100 at Barnstaple, 360 at Chard, 500 in Derbyshire, and 700 in and 

 near Nottingham. Also 1588 levers, 125 traverse warps, 42 pushers, all in Not- 

 tingham and its neighboiuliood, making a total, with 353 standing, of 3552 bobbin 

 net, and 400 warp lace frames. Of these, 2149 were making silk lace, and 1450 

 cotton lace. There were employed on plain net 1442, and on fancy 2157, the latter 

 being closer imitations of cushion lace than ever before made. Although since 

 1862 there have occurred gi'eat fluctuations in demand, and the prices of both silk 

 and cotton materials have advanced full 75 per cent., tlie amount of machiner}' and 

 emplojnnent was in 1865 about the same as in 1862. The entire production con- 

 tinues'to be finished and sold in Nottingham, except that at Tiverton, which is of 

 silk, and sold in Loudon. The approximate number of hands employed in 1865 is 

 calculated upon the account taken by the wi'iter recently of the hands actually en- 

 gaged in making and finishing the production of lace from a large body of bobbin- 



