The Town of Reading during the Early Part of the
Nineteenth Century. By W. M. Childs, M.A. (University College, Reading. 2s. net.)—Professor Childs tells us a very curious story, one which the laudator tempo: is a,cti would de well to consider. Here is one significant fact which stands for a good deal. In 1847 the popula- tion of the town was about twenty-one thousand, and the annual deaths averaged six hundred, or 28.5 per thousand. The death rate is now not much more than half that proportion. Nor are we surprised when we read about the crowded burial-grounds, the open sewers, the defective supply of water, &c. The book is full of little details. Doubtless Reading was not worse than Other towns, and somehow it has contrived to grow and prosper as no other town in Southern England (apart from watering-places and the localities of arsenals) has done. The story of the school is especially interesting.
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