tiated the mode in which the issue of bank-notes is rendered profitable to the issuer : "An individual, in whose wealth and discretion the public have confidence, being applied to for a loan, (say of 5000l.,) grants the applicant his bill or note payable on demand for that sum. Now, as this note passes, in consequence of the confidence placed in the issuer, currently from hand to hand as cash, it is quite as useful to the borrower as if he had obtained an equivalent amount of gold; and supposing that the rate of interest is five per cent., it will yield, so long as it continues to circulate, a revenue of 250l. a year to the issuer." We fear that such a vague description is calculated to impart but little information to the inquirer, who might be led to imagine that the profit here indicated is derived from some inherent quality of the note. The operation would be rendered plainer if it were said, "Supposing that the borrower pays interest at the rate of five per cent., the revenue of 250l. per annum will be so much gain to the issuer for so long as the note remains in circulation, and he is not called upon to provide the capital for the use of which interest is charged; and, in the meanwhile, the public are content to advance that capital free of any charge for interest, in consideration of the convenience of holding a symbol or substitute for money, which, as they can pass it away as freely as the gold which it represents, is not more unproductive in their hands than that gold would be." We might point out several other instances, where, for want of that precision of language which is so necessary for successful explanation, the meaning of the author is equally liable to misconstruction. We are induced to allude to this defect, that the author, who is so capable of giving full effect to his explanations, may have his attention drawn to the subject. We are well aware how difficult a thing it is for a man, who, like Mr. M'Culloch, has mastered all the intricacies of the questions which he elucidates, to place himself in the condition of the person whom he wishes to instruct, and to bear constantly in mind the necessity for explaining things which to himself appear to be self-evident.

THE POOR LAWS:

Their Present Operation, and their Proposed Amendment. Chiefly drawn from the Evidence and Reports of the Poor-Law Commissioners. Knight.

ever precise, formal, and decided they may be, unless they
are well understood and esteemed as benefits by the great
masses of society, can scarcely be considered as beneficial
laws; and thus we shall see them constantly infringed
through ignorance, irritation, and discontent; and we shall
thus arrive at the result that they are either bad in them-
selves, or bad because the people have not had the means
of properly understanding and appreciating them.
Books and pamphlets are better instruments of govern-
ment than grape-shot and bayonets. A plain exposition of
facts, and a straightforward reasoning upon them, will be
much more convincing and lasting in their effects than the
arguments of pains and penalties, or the logic of the sabre.
We must always give our recommendation to works like the
present. We look to their increase, and the progress of
education among the people, for the gradual lessening of
those sufferings, errors, and crimes, which undeniably cast
deep and disgraceful shadows over parts of what is in the
aggregate a happy and a prosperous land. We also recom-
mend that the local magistracy, the land-holders, great and
small, the farmers who have lived in the midst of the horrors
of the present poor-laws system, do not only read and care-
fully digest these publications themselves, but that they dis-
seminate them, by giving or lending them to the agricultural
and other labourers with whom they come in contact. An
eightpence or a fourpence thus bestowed may convince, re-
claim, and raise from abject debasement, an individual, a
family-nay, a whole hamlet. Let not the rich and the
better educated think too meanly of the poor man's intellect.
They have been too long in the habit of so doing, and hence
have arisen many mischiefs. We, on the contrary, have a
high notion of the plain good sense and ready apprehension
of the British peasant and artisan, and think that when in-
formation is laid before him in its proper simple form, and
when his own interests are clearly and candidly explained,
he is rarely or never backward in seeing and taking the
right path. Certain are we, indeed, that few of the labourers
of old England will read or hear repeated to them the facts
connected with the now expiring poor-laws system, without
feeling that the system was based on ignorance and folly-
that while it contemplated relieving the unfortunate among
them, it has oppressed them all with a continually increasing
load of wretchedness and shame-that it has obliterated in
entire districts the noble, independent English character—
and that it is now as necessary to change it and dismiss it,
as it would be to take measures against a plague that should
prevail among them, killing its thousands daily. It has, in
fact, been worse than a pestilence,-it has degraded and
slain the moral part of man!

We subjoin a few extracts from the pamphlet relating to some of the more important points, which the author has discussed with good sense and earnestness. He thus explains the usefulness and the reasonableness of the existence of the wealthy classes, whom some deluded men would rob in one day, and whose property they would dissipate in the next

THE Report of the Poor-Law Commissioners, with an appendix containing the returns of all the parishes, the examination of witnesses of various classes, and other documents, has been published by Government for the information and guidance of the legislature. These details occupy eight or nine very large folio volumes. The sight of such a mass of printing was sufficient to frighten almost every reader, and such a book was not likely to find its way to any other classes than those immediately concerned in the administration of our laws. The report alone, without any of the corroborating documents, was therefore published in a convenient octavo volume, at the cheap price of half-a- "It has been said by a great writer, that the class of crown; and it was hoped, by those who have at heart these rich is so extremely small, that if all their throats were matters, which involve the question of our national happi- cut, and a distribution made of all they consume in a year, ness or misery, that such a book would be widely circulated it would not give a bit of bread and cheese for one night's and read by the community at large. The writer of the supper to those who labour.' If, therefore, a large number pamphlet before us has, however, brought this subject of of paupers is maintained in a country, they must be mainvital importance still more within the compass of all. He tained in some way or other at the expense of those who gives in the First Part, and in a portion of the Second, a plain labour. A great mistake is made by taking for granted abstract of the Poor-Law Commissioners' Report, explaining that relief to the poor only comes from the pockets of the and setting off the most important points of that report; rich. For even were all rate-payers rich (which has been and in the Second Part he describes the present baneful ope- shown to be far otherwise) poors'-rates would still be a tax ration of our poor laws, and then tells us, in a familiar on the poor as well as on the rich. How does a rich man manner, what are the remedial measures recommended by spend his income ?-He does not eat, nor drink, nor smoke the commission to Government, and which form the ground-it: he does not wear two coats at a time, nor sleep in two work adopted by ministers for their new Poor-Laws Amend- beds, nor devour two dinners; a very small part of his ment Bill. Each of these parts may be had separately for wealth is consumed on his own personal appetites, the rest fourpence, and the whole pamphlet, containing ninety-five goes to supply the bodily wants of those who serve and work closely printed pages, embracing all the information neces- for him. Of these by far the greater number are skilful sary for the right understanding of the complicated subject, artisans and mechanics. Now, if you seize the rich man's is published at eight-pence. The form, the style, and the wealth to keep an army of paupers, you take away the bread price of the little book have been adopted in the express view of those who live by works of art and elegance. These of meeting the means and intelligence of even the poorest works, it may be said, are useless.-No; it is not useless to and least informed portions of our community, of enlightening diffuse a knowledge of art and a taste for elegance amongst the judgment, and winning, through the medium of their a people. It induces them to aspire above the mere wants own common sense, an approval of the bill, from those for of animals, and to aim at refined enjoyments, of which whom the bill has been framed. This appears to us the patterns are set before them. Many inventions of geniusonly sure course to pursue. Statutes and enactments, how-many articles of comfort and luxury, which were first de

vised for the rich man's use, find their way to the poor man's cottage. If a nation ever were foolish enough to confiscate the wealth of the rich, in order to maintain and propagate paupers, such a nation would speedily lose all refinements and all arts. But the wealth of the rich would not go far to satisfy the cravings of the multitudes who would press to live in idleness on the public funds. The rich are few-the paupers would be many. The wages of labour would soon be eaten up to support idlers, and the whole people would sink alike into one condition of wretchedness."

In our next extract the author advocates the cause of the honest, industrious labourer, who has now to struggle with such disheartening and enormous disadvantages. "The beginning, the middle, and the end of all rational plans for getting rid of the present abuses of the poorlaws, is to separate as widely as possible the condition of the independent labourer from that of the pauper. What, it may be said, would you treat poverty as a crime? To this we reply, first, let us understand what is meant by poverty. If nothing more is meant by it than the necessity of performing daily labour for daily bread, not only every member of the operative classes, however skilful and highly paid, but every member of what are called the liberal professions, who pursues his profession for a livelihood, and every man in a public office, who does not possess independent property, must be counted in the ranks of THE POOR. Industrious, honest poverty is so far from being a crime that it may better be called the mother of all virtue. Independent poverty is a different thing from dependent indigence. The vice of the present system is, that it mixes up these things together; and the first step to amendment must be made by drawing between them a very distinct line of demarcation.

"Not that even indigence should be treated as a crime; it is often an undeserved and unavoidable misfortune. But when whole armies of able-bodied labourers join in the ranks of the indigent, and profess themselves to be in a state of utter destitution, their situation, if not a crime, is a national calamity. It is a calamity which ought not to be, and cannot long be met by feeble palliatives-by miserable pittances of out-door relief. It demands a public effort of no ordinary magnitude for the purpose of supplying sources of profitable employment at home, or of encouraging the emigration of those who will seek their fortune abroad. To hear the want of employment for the labouring classes urged as a reason against the reformation of the poor-laws is pitiful. If the population be indeed excessive-if we really are too numerous to support ourselves at home by our labour, that is no reason why we should sit down quietly under a burthen which, if it continues, must, in the nature of things, increase. The industry and property of the country cannot long sustain a numerous and increasing body of labourers out of employment. Something must be done to set the idle hands at work again, and the longer the effort is delayed the greater will be the difficulty.

"But until something is done, by means of a thorough reform of the poor-laws, to separate those labourers who can support themselves by their labour, from those who cannot find employment and maintenance without public assistance, it never will be possible to ascertain whether or not our populafion really is too numerous for our means of employment; and consequently it never will be possible to take proper measures for disposing of the surplus number. So long as boys and girls are encouraged to enter the married state, and trust to the parish for providing the means to support a family-so long as idle persons are saved the trouble of seeking employment by obtaining out-door relief, in lieu of labour, from the poors'-rates-so long as industrious persons are discouraged from exerting their industry, by seeing that those who work less fare as well or better than they do, and are also discouraged from saving by finding it shuts them out from the hope of employment-so long as these and all the other abuses of the poor-laws prevail, the population must always appear to be greater than the land can support; for the land does not get fair play-it does not get proper cultivation. The farmer is taxed to support the idle till he cannot afford to employ the industrious; the parish birds, whom he is obliged to maintain, employed or not, will not work enough to pay for their own keep, not to mention a fair profit for their employer; and the steady and honest labourer, who desires to live by the sweat of his brow, finds himself thrown out of work for the sake of drones who would live on the labour of others."

The third extract, with which we must conclude our notice of this useful and important work, is selected from the author's introductory remarks on the remedies and changes now proposed. "In cases where extraordinary vigilance on the part of the overseers or vestry has been seconded by extraordinary discretion on the part of the magistracy, the spirit and intention of the law has been sometimes carried into effect under the present mode of administration. On looking closely, however, into the history of such cases, these good effects will generally be found to have arisen from the exertions of some one individual of great humanity, firmness, and influence, resident constantly in the parish, and superintending personally the management of the poor. Observing the evil effects of administering relief in the usual manner, he undertakes the difficult task of reconciling all parties to the adoption of a better system. For this purpose he finds it absolutely necessary to limit and restrain that wide discretion as to the proper objects of relief and the manner of affording it, which is at present shared between the neighbouring magistrates and the officers of the parish. He is obliged, in fact, to legislate for the parish; to lay down certain rules and regulations upon which all relief should in future be administered; and having done so, to take care, by his own presence and watchful superintendence, that those rules and regulations should be carried into effect. Not having any legal powers to enforce obedience to his wishes, he is thrown upon his own personal influence in the parish, and the deference paid to his character and superior abilities. Relying on these alone, and the firm conviction that he is introducing a sound and beneficial principle of management, he has to struggle against the pretensions of paupers claiming not only relief, but a particular amount of relief, as a matter of right; against the irresolution of overseers, whose consent and assistance are quite necessary to his success; against persons interested in the continuance of mismanagement; and, finally, against the prejudices and short-sighted policy of magistrates, whose credit is impeached by such propositions of improvement, and each of whom is by law invested with sufficient power to defeat every attempt to carry them into execution. Such are the difficulties by which a 'person, fortunately possessed of sound principles and disposed to exert himself for their introduction into his own parish, is invariably surrounded; the only weapons by which he can overcome them, being his own influence and individual powers of persuasion. This accounts for the rare instances to be found of parishes into which sound and successful principles have as yet been introduced, notwithstanding that a few very striking examples of well-regulated parishes have been a long time in existence, and that the circumstances attending some of these cases have long been made notorious by publication, at least to the magistracy of the country. That such examples, though well known, have been so little imitated, even by neighbouring parishes, cannot be owing to ignorance of their existence; it must rather be attributed to the operation of strong prejudices, sinister interests, or the inactivity of those concerned in parochial management, and the difficulties of introducing improvements under the present state of the law.

"Under such circumstances, if it can be clearly made out that certain principles, regulations, and rules, as to the manner of affording relief, are more beneficial in their effects than the practice at present prevailing almost universally throughout the kingdom, parliament is called upon to attempt the introduction generally of such principles and regulations by those means which may appear the readiest, surest, and most effectual means of introducing them. It is quite clear, considering the rapid progress of the present evils, that the introduction of improved management ought no longer to be left to the chance discretion of those connected personally with particular parishes."

Foremost among the features of improved management thus recommended is, the establishment of a permanent central board. The opposition raised by a portion of the press to this particular measure has been clamorous and pretty general; but it has not been echoed by the people or their representatives. The Companion to the Newspaper' is a fitter place than this review for a discussion of this branch of the subject, and we therefore refer our readers to that publication for a view of our opinions on the proposed application of the centralization principle.

J

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. Vol. I. Part 2.

4to. pp. 103.

Report of the Zoological Society of London. 1834. 8vo. pp. 28. WE willingly embrace the opportunity which these publications offer of laying the existing state of this important institution before our readers. In doing this, our best course will be to state the more interesting particulars detailed in the Report, noticing the Transactions in their proper place as we proceed.

Members.-The total number of fellows of the society, and fellows elect, is 2546. The new fellows elected during the preceding twelve months were 257; but, in consequence of the death of 39, and the resignation of 41 of the former fellows, the actual increase has been only 177. The foreign fellows are 21, the honorary members 10, and the corresponding members 95. The latter are extensively distributed in various parts of the world, including the remote dependencies of the British crown.

Finance.-The receipts of the society for the year 1833 amounted to 14,8437., which is less by 6507. than the receipts of the preceding year. The difference is occasioned by a failing off of 10477. in the receipts for admission to the gardens, while the amount received from members has exceeded by 3627. that of the year preceding. The amount to be received from members alone admits of a near estimate, as the payments by the public must always be expected to fluctuate with the state of the weather and other circumstances. Thus the fine weather of the current year has probably been the cause of the increase which appears in the corresponding quarter of 1833. The expenditure has amounted to 13,1527., being 9237. on the farm, 97847. on the garden, 9367. on the museum, and 14007. on the general establishment.

Publications.-The first part of the Transactions of the society was published in August last, and was well received by the members of the society and by the public: 262 copies were sold; and copies have been presented to the libraries of the most important scientific bodies in Europe and the United States. Since the delivery of the Report, the second part has been issued: it contains eleven papers and thirteen plates. It is a work, in its contents, style of getting up, and price, addressed rather to the few than to the many. It is designed for scientific men, to whom it promises to be of much use in its progress, which we doubt not will continue to afford most respectable testimony of the attention given in this country to the interesting branches of science it proposes to illustrate. The present Number contains several anatomical and entomological papers, besides a description of a new genus of Acanthopterygian fishes; a notice of a mammiferous animal of Madagascar, supposed not to have been hitherto described; a notice of the maneless lion of Guzerat; a description of a new species of bird (of the genus eurylaimus) found in the neighbourhood of Rangoon; and the Number concludes with some remarks tending to illustrate the natural history of two annulose genera, the urania of Fabricius, and the mygale of Walckenaer. This last is a very curious and interesting paper, several pages of which are employed in combating the notion that any species of spider can capture and devour the humming bird. The writer (Mr. Macleay) appears to have had advantageous opportunities of making observations on this subject, of which he has well availed himself. We are, however, disposed to dissent from one of his conclusions-that spiders will not devour lizards; for we have ourselves seen them in the very act.

Under the head of Lectures, the Report states, that, during the early months of 1833, the society was indebted to the liberality of Dr. Grant for a course, extending to about forty lectures on the structure and classification of animals. It included a general outline of the existing state of zoological knowledge, and was illustrated by specimens, and by an extensive series of diagrams proposed by the professor.

The number of visits to the gardens during the year 1833, amounted to 211,343. This general number of visits is 7242 less than in the preceding year; but the number of visits made by members and their friends in, 1833 exceeded those of the preceding year by 13,705. We may here express the pleasure with which we noticed, in the last 'Report of the City of London Royal British School for Boys,' that 160 of the children were allowed by the council of the Zoological Society to see the gardens gratuitously. We wish

some arrangement could be made, under which every poor school-boy in the metropolis might be enabled to enjoy a similar advantage. The privilege might be made the reward of meritorious conduct, and in every way it could not fail to operate most usefully. It might even operate beneficially on the funds of the establishment, for the children would be so many living advertisements of the wonders of the place.

The Works for the year have included the completion of those which were in progress at the last anniversary; the formation of the ha-ha and glacis along the western boundary of the south garden; the enclosing and securing the addi-" tional ponds in the newly-acquired ground; and the laying out and draining the paths and grass-plots in the south garden. After mentioning several arrangements which had been made for the better accommodation of the birds, the Report proceeds to state, that the embellishment of the gardens with ornamental plants has in the present season been especially attended to. Partly by means of purchase, but to a much greater extent as presents, there have been acquired for the gardens, within the last few months, 2447 new and additional kinds of ornamental shrubs and herbs. The Menagerie.-The number of species and marked varieties of Mammalia contained in the menagerie has rarely fallen, at any period of the year, below 140. Of the species of Birds, the average number has been nearly 200. The total number of individual animals in the garden and at the lake, has generally somewhat exceeded 1000. The additions to the list of animals exhibited has not, this year, been numerous; but they include several of considerable rarity, and others which appear to have been unknown to science previously to their arrival in the Society's collection. The following is the list of the additions:

MAMMALIA. Egyptian dog, Canis familiaris, Linn. var.; Malbrouck monkey, Cercopithecus tephrops, Renn.; Bearded Capuchin monkey, Cebus barbatus, Geoff.; Redhanded Tamarin monkey, Midas rufimanus, Geoff.; Black Lemur, Lemur niger, Renn.; Red-fronted Lemur, Lemur rufifrons, Renn.; Bush kangaroo, Macropus oualabatus, Less.; Bristly kangaroo rat, Hypsiprymnus setosus, Ogilby; Irish hare, Lepus Hibernicus, Yarr.

BIRDS.-Secretary Vulture, Gypogeranus serpentarius, Ill.; Egyptian vulture, Neophron Percnopterus, Sav.; Kolbe's vulture, Vultur Kolbii, Daud.; Grenadier Grosbeak, Loxia Oryx, Linn.; Weaver bird, Ploceus Philippinus, Cuv.; Gold-eyed parrot, Psittacus chrysophthalamus, Gould.; Grey-breasted parakeet, Psittaca murina; New Holland ground parakeet, Platycercus Novæ Hollandiæ, Vig.; Purple-crested touraco, Corythaix perphyreolopha, Vig.; Red grouse, Tetrao Scoticus, Lath.; Cape-crowned crane, Anthropoides Regulorum, Licht.; Ruff-headed heron, Ardea russata, Temm.

By the addition of these animals to those of which lists have been published in previous reports, it appears that the menagerie has already contained 209 species of mammalia and 276 species of birds, besides numerous marked varieties and many hybrids. Most of the additions above enumerated are due to the liberality of members and friends of the society. Several duplicate animals have been sold, and the King of Prussia has graciously and thankfully accepted the offer from the council of several animals which were understood to be desirable for his menagerie. Duplicates have been presented from the Museum also to foreign and provincial collections. Among the additions to the collection by breeding, some are of sufficient interest to require special notice. Such are several broods which have been reared of the Carolina or summer duck, and a brood of the rare and beautiful Mandarin duck of China. From the magnificent Reeve's pheasant, of which an individual for several years attracted universal notice at the gardens, a cross breed was obtained during the last summer; no female of the Reeves's pheasant has yet been brought to Europe, or even, it is believed, to Canton. A crested porcupine has produced young at the gardens, as has also a Rhesus monkey; and in the course of the last two or three years, young have been repeatedly bred from the weasel-headed armadillo. The cereopsis geese, the emeus, the wapiti, axis, and Virginian deer, and several other animals, have continued to breed freely at the farm.

The Museum has continued to receive great accessions, both by purchase and donations. Among the most considerable of the latter, are mentioned 300 skins of birds collected in Nepal, together with the skulls and skins of