390 



LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



Thursdny's Silting'i. — The Reformatory section was occupied with an animated 

 discussion on the Permissive Bill advocated by the United Kingdom Alliance. 

 In the other sections interesting papers on various subjects were read. In tho 

 evening a soiree was given to the members and their foreign guests by the Fish- 

 monger's Company. The wires of the Submarine Telegraph Company were 

 connected with the hall, and messages were despatched from the president, 

 council, and others, to the Burgomaster of Brussels, the Lord Lieutenant of 

 Ireland, and the Lords Provost of Edinburgh and Glasgow, to which replies 

 were received before the guests separated. The following cities and towns 

 were also spoken with : — Paris, Basle, Vienna, Warsaw, Cracow, Brussels^ 

 Berlin, Copenhagen, and Hanover, 



THE INTERNATIONA!. rHILANTHROPIC CONGRESS. 



The sittings of the International Philanthropic Congress were commenced on 

 Monday, the 9th of June, at Burlington House, under the presidency of Lord 

 Shaftesbury. In his inaugural address, his lordship stated that the object of the 

 Congress was to deal with subjects of private benevolence not requiring the in- 

 terposition of legislative enactment. In an able manner he pointed out how 

 much there was to be done in this direction. 



On Tuesday, the education of neglected children was treated in an earnest, 

 kindly spirit, by Miss Carpenter, in a paper which she read to the Congress. 

 She drew a graphic picture of the " Young City Arab," reckless of punishment 

 and privation, and precocious in the accomplishments of vice, earning h's claim 

 to be comfortably lodged and well fed for four years at the public expense, and 

 then discharged in first-rate condition to pursue with renewed zest and energy 

 his pernicious career. She insisted it Avas the duty of society to assume the 

 place of a parent towards those children who had either lost or been deserted by 

 their natural guardians. The State ought to supply the authority and a portion 

 of the fui.ds for such action, and leave the rest to private benevolence. Care 

 must, of course, be taken to prevent such institutions as Mettray and Rye House 

 from serving as a premium to undutiful parents, and it was only just that parents 

 should be compelled to contribute towards the education no less than to the 

 maintenance of their offspring. The child had also a right to be preserved from 

 the ill-usage as well as the neglect of its parents. As far as possible a domestic 

 character should be given to the schools for neglected children, and industrial 

 should be combined with elementary education. Miss Carpenter also urged that 

 the State ought to assist the ragged-schools. 



On Thursday, the following papers were on the programme for the day :— 

 Miss Carpenter, " On the Education of Neglected Children ;" M. de Perregaus- 

 MontmoUin, " Rapport sur la fn'quentation des ecoles primaires dans le Canton 

 de Neufchatel ;" Mr. IL Roberts, F.S.A., " Suitable Literature for the AVorking 

 Classes ;" Mr. W. Spottiswoode, F.R.S., " An Account of the Schools and other 

 arrangements for the Workpeople at Her Majesty's Printing-office, London;" 

 Miss Florence Nightingale, " Army Sanitary Reform under the late Lord Her- 

 bert;" Dr. Guy, "On the Rate of Mortality prevailing in the General Hospitals 



