THE ECONOMICAL PROGRESS OF THE NATION.

THE object of this work is to state the facts connected with the general economical condition of society, so as to point out in what particulars we have advanced, retrograded, or remained stationary, as far as such matters can be shown by mere statistics. The period embraced is from the Year 1800 to the present time. The subjects to be treated of are Population, Production, Interchange, (meaning "internal and external communication, trade, currency, wages, &c.") Public Revenue and Expenditure, Consumption, Accumulation, Moral Progress, (embracing crime, education, literature, and the fine arts,) and the extent and condition of our Colonies and Foreign Dependencies. The author, Mr. G. PORTER, is favourably known to the public as the Writer of some works relating to Tropical Agriculture, and as the compiler of the Tables of Revenue, Population, &c., published by the Board of Trade. So that, in addition to the general knowledge and skill of the statist, he possesses some peculiar official sources of information; which on the subject of expenditure, however, are not very likely to conduce to fuliiess of statement or freedom of opinion. The subjects of the present volume are only two, Population and Production. The plan of the undertaking, so far as an opinion can be formed from a part, consists in first taking a general view of the subject, and then endeavouring to exhaust the subdivisions into which it can be resolved. Thus, the first chapter of Population states the whole number of people, the rate of their increase as shown by the four returns of the present century, the proportion of males to females, births to deaths and marriages, and so forth. The second chapter deals with medical statistics; of whose insufficiency Mr. PORTER makes great complaint. The occupations of the people are handled in the third, and pauperism in the fourth chapters; the fifth deals with eraigration, and is the most meagre of the whole. As regards execution, the tabular statements form of course the nucleus of the work; but they are placed in a pretty considerable framework of text, which sometimes points to the deductions to be drawn, sometimes modifies statistics by reason, and sometimes unfolds the author's own theories or projects upon the topic before him,— for example, in the close of his chapter on Emigration, where he suggests the transportation of convicts to the Canadas !—as if the mere proposal, however plausible, to turn those colonies into a penal settlement, would not raise a storm about our ears, that would put an end to the proposition by ending our dominion. In a critical sense, a work of this kind must be judged by what it does, not by what it leaves undone. Completeness in statistics is at present impossible, simply because the materials are miserably deficient, and even from those which are at his disposal, the statist must select such as best support the points he is about to treat of; and in selection there is always the risk of omission. The true test of a statistical publication is its utility as a work of reference; for which purpose, we have not yet had occasion to use Mr. PORTER'S Progress. The next best recommendation, we are enabled to give—in reading the volume we have felt satisfied: the facts necessary for the complete view of the subject seem to be there.

Of course such a hook is neither adapted nor intended for quotntion ; but we will note a few facts which struck us as we read.

Thus, from 1700 to 1750, the population of England and Wales

only increased at the rate of 17 2-3 per cent.; from 1750 to 1800, the increase was 52 1-10 per cent.; whilst in the first thirty years

of the present century, (1801 to I831,) we have advanced at the rate of 56 3-5 per cent. In France, there is a progression, but nothing like that of England : in forty years from 1791 to 1831, the increase has been only 231 per cent.; and although some thing must be allowed for the massacres of the Revolution and the wars of the Empire, the effects are not so great as might have been imagined, and nothing compared to the poor living of the people; for, from 1791 to 1817, the numerical increase was in round numbers 2,800,000, and from 1817 to 1831 only 3,300,000.

a striking proof, after every allowance for the difference in the two periods, of the constant tendency that exists to replenish the earth. These results in both countries are not attributable to an increase of births; "for in fact, the births, if calculated with relation to the numbers of people, have diminished, but to a diminished proportion of deaths." In France, the deaths in 1817 were 1 in 39 1-8; in 1834 they were 1 in 41. In England, the results are fuller and more gratifying. In 1700, I died in 39 4-5; in 1730, the value of life had fallen considerably, the deaths being 1 in 31 1-10 ; in 1750 it had pulled up again, the rate being 1 in 40 2-5. There was a slow but very gradual improvement till 1785, when 1 in 41i died. After this date the advance was

quicker, and by 1800 the deaths were only 1 in 47; in 1811, they were 1 in 53; in 1820, 1 in 604. In 1831, life had dropped again, 1 dying in 584. The following table will show at a glance the proportion of deaths, marriages, and births, to the whole population in the principal states of Europe. It is singular that Norway, with such an ungenial soil and climate, should rank the highest : but then, she has a Radical constitution I Notwithstanding the facts just stated with regard to the improvement of life in England, it is singular that the medical statistics, so far as they go, do not warrant any conclusions favourable to the advancement of what Mr. PORTER calls "the curative art." The returns from St. Bartholomew's Hospital embrace a period of fifty years : divided into quinquennial periods, there is only a difference of ?; per cent, between the deaths in the first period and the last. From 1790 to 1794, the average number of deaths per cent. was 7-76 ; from 1825 to 1830, they were 7.25. In two other London Hospitals, the cures were less ; at two country ones, very much greater. Taking the average of five years ending in 183'3 and 1834, the proportion of deaths at the London Hospital was 11.44 per cent.; at St. George's, 1P19 per cent., at the Manchester Infirmary, 7.16 per cent.; and at the Liverpool Infirmary, only 5.37 per cent. Mr. PORTER advances no reasons for this difference; nor, indeed, is it easy to assign any. The casualties and diseases would seem likely to be as severe at Liverpool or Manchester as at London, and the air not so much better as to cause such a great discrepancy. Had the London Hospital stood alone, the poverty of the neighbourhood, and its vicinity to the Docks and the Pool, might have partly caused a greater mortality ; but there is only a half per cent. between that institution and aristocratic St. George's. If we knew the interior economy of the Provincial Hospitals, some light might be thrown upon the subject. In London, all the medical officers reside out of the institutions, and many of them miles away. In cases of very severe accident, the patient may frequently die before they could possibly arrive. Is there at the two Country Infirmaries a resident surgeon, with authority to act the moment the patient is brought in ?

Quitting this digression, and turning to insanity, the treatment of this deplorable malady seems, contrary to the general opinion, not to have improved at all. At least, during the first ten years after the establishment of St. Luke's (1751 to 1760), the centesimal proportion of males cured was 44-4, and of females 48-8; whilst from 1821 to 1830 it had sunk to males 33-2, and females 41-3. A somewhat similar remark may be hazarded as to the smallpox. At the beginning of the last century, the deaths within the bills of mortality, from that disease, were 65 in the 1000; in 1823 they were 23,—which, considering the alleged improvements in the mode of treating it, and the extensive spread of vaccination, is not so groat as might have been expected. It must be borne in mind, however, that the ravages of the disorder were often periodical, as from 1770 to 1779, when the deaths were 102 in the 1000; and that during the present century the decrease has been

steady. Comparing the disease with itself, there are only conjectural grounds for gratulation. Looking at the last forty years— the period of JENNER'S discovery—" the applications for admis

sion into the Smallpox Hospital are now as numerous as ever, and the proportion of cures steadily though by no means rapidly advancing." The following extract embraces the whole of the

facts, with Mr. PORTER'S comments ; to which we may add, that an inspection of the first table will show, that notwithstanding the decrease of the disorder in extent, and perhaps in virulence, it still retains its old character of prevailing more at one period than another.

If the last decennary period were divided, it would he seen that, in the five years from 1830 to 1834, the cases were 1189, and the deaths 294, being in the proportion of 24.7 in each 100; while in the last two years of the series the numbers are

1833-242 admitted, 47 died, proportion of deaths 19.4 in 100

1834-163 ... 22 . 13-3 ...

The favourable result of these two years may possibly have been accidental, but accidents of this nature do not occur in regular progression through so long a period as forty years; and the statement above given fully bears out the opinion. expressed in regard to the comparative mildness of the disorder as it now exists, and the degree in which medical treatment has been successfully applied in arresting its ravages.

We suspect that this last remark solves the whole riddle of medical statistics. Life on the average has a greater value now than formerly, because Hygiene is better understood and practised. Our houses are better ventilated, built, and furnished. Our habits are more cleanly and more temperate than of yore. Greater precautions are taken against infectious diseases; popular knowledge and prompter advice perhaps enable acute disorders to be oftener nipped in the bud. Hence the range of some diseases is limited ; and many are rendered " milder," because the fuel on which they fed has been lessened. But the average duration of life has not been extended, althaugh more live who are born. When matters get serious, the respective proportions of dead and cured are pretty much the same as ever : when Death and the Doctors are fairly pitted, the child of Sin and Satan is as triumphant as heretofore.

We had noted several curious points connected with the oecupations of the people, and a fact or two upon pauperism and emigration; but we must stop here. The statist and the student of political economy required no hints as to the uses of such a work. The general reader will see from these specimens the account to which it may be turned. It may be as well, however, to inform both classes, that we break off at the 50th page, leaving sixsevenths of the volume untouched.