November 26, 1886.] 



SCmJ^CM 



469 



by medico-legal experts ; the physiology and psy- 

 chology of this attention-cramp, or whatever we 

 call it, must be worked out. Hence a review. 

 Judging from the contents of the first four num- 

 bers of the Revue, one must pronounce it a very 

 convenient publication. It will enable one to fol- 

 low the development of this interesting movement 

 with least waste of time. It differs from the pro- 

 ceedings of our psychic research societies in that 

 its aim is essentially practical, and the interest it 

 represents largely medical. True, we are intro- 

 duced to such novelties as hypnotizing through 

 the telephone, and the action of medicaments at 

 a distance ; but these are brought forward to show 

 the extent of the change in sensibility in hyp- 

 notics, not as evidences of ' supernormal ' gifts. 

 There is a large scientific field for this sort of 

 study ; and physicians, particularly specialists in 

 nervous diseases, are the ones best qualified to take 

 it up. On the whole, the movement represented 

 by the staff of this review may be regarded as a 

 very promising one. 



The report of the British commissioners of 

 customs for the last fiscal year contains some 

 interesting statistics and observations. We learn, 

 that, inclusive of warehouse charges and the 

 revenue of the Isle of Man, the customs revenue 

 for the year amounted to £19,916,995, a decrease 

 of over £800,000 from the receipts of the preced- 

 ing year. Some of this difference is attributable 

 to the fact that the receipts for the last quarter of 

 the preceding year were unusually increased by 

 the general expectation that the duty on some 

 articles, notably tea, was to be increased ; and 

 consequently unusually large imports were made 

 in order to gain the advantage of an increase in 

 the customs tax. The consumption of coffee, as 

 measured by the customs returns, continues to de- 

 crease, the commissioners saying that not even the 

 low duty of one and a half pence a pound is able to 

 counteract the inconvenience which is inevitable 

 in its preparation for consumption in comparison 

 with te^. If the receipts from coffee, based on 

 the returns of ten years ago, had kept pace with the 

 growth of population, they should have yielded this 

 year a revenue of £227,644 ; while as a matter of 

 fact they yield only £207,977. The decrease in the 

 receipts from rum and brandy together amounts 

 to £195,610, which seems a proof of a real and 

 large decrease in the consumption of them. To- 

 bacco shows an increase of £12,351 ; but, as much 

 of the quantity imported is stiU in storage, this 



sum does not fairly measure an increased consump- 

 tion. As regards smuggling, the commissioners 

 observe that it is in tobacco that nearly all the 

 frauds on the revenue by importation are at- 

 tempted, and they regret to have to report that 

 their experience leads them to conclude that an 

 organized system of smuggling is in operation 

 at all the large ports trading regularly with coun- 

 tries where tobacco is to be bought at a slight 

 increase on its cost of production, and that to 

 effectually check this illegal practice great severity 

 lof the revenue laws and the utmost vigilance of 

 the officers are necessary. 



According to the annual report of the com- 

 missioner of internal revenue, the receipts of the 

 U.S. treasury from that source for the last fiscal 

 year were $116,902,869, an increase of about |4,- 

 500,000 over the receipts for 1885. The cost of 

 collection was 3. 6 per cent of the amount collected ; 

 last year it was 3.9 per cent. Violations of the in- 

 ternal revenue law seem almost wholly confined 

 to the mountainous districts of Georgia, North 

 Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, 

 where considerable illicit distilling is carried on. 

 Property to the value of $286,902 was seized dur- 

 ing the year for violations of the law, 6,242 distil- 

 leries were registered, and 6,034 operated, during 

 the year. In reference to the operation of the 

 new oleomargarine tax law, the commissioner 

 says that " it is impossible at this time to estimate 

 the amount of internal revenue which will be de- 

 rived from oleomargarine. If, however, the opera- 

 tion of the law should prove unsatisfactory in its 

 present form, which is construed to levy a tax 

 only upon the article manufactured and sold or 

 removed for consumption or sale as supposititious 

 butter, the law can be so amended as, while im- 

 posing a tax upon oleomargarine-oU, neutral, and 

 such like substances, without which the supposi- 

 titious butter cannot be extensively manufactured, 

 to provide also for the use of such substances by 

 subsequent compounders without the payment of 

 a second tax, as rectifiers are allowed to compound 

 distilled spirits on which the tax is paid without 

 paying an additional gallon-tax, simply by deliver- 

 ing up the original tax-paid stamps, and receiving 

 in exchange other stamps representing the same 

 quantity ; also for refunding the tax on so much 

 as is used for lubricating purposes or otherwise in 

 the arts and sciences. In my opinion, the advan- 

 tage in securing the tax from the manufacturer 

 who derives his material from the slaughtered 



