The intended effect. As instruction can only be conveyed through the senses, no deprivation can be sustained productive of so many disadvantages and evils as the want of the faculty of sight or (combined with loss of speech) of hearing. With either of these principal inlets to knowledge closed, the mind, without a special course of training, must remain undeveloped, and continue darkened by the absence of proper moral perceptions and useful information. details obtained at the Census will, it is hoped, assist in moving the further sympathy of the benevolent towards these unfortunate persons; although, indeed, their very helpless position-dependent for everything, as they are, mainly upon the good offices of others, and unable to support themselves in most of the ordinary employments of life-should of itself prove a sufficient incentive to exertions having in view the alleviation of their unhappy lot. Before noticing the chief results of the inquiry, it may be proper to state the mode in which the information was acquired. The plan adopted was the very simple one of including in the "Householder's Schedule" left at every house to be filled up with the required particulars relating to its inmates, a column in which was to be written the word "Blind" or "Deaf-and-Dumb" against the name of any member of the family so afflicted. In the performance of his duties, the enumerator was required to use the utmost care to prevent omissions, and when such were detected he was to supply the defective information, either from his own knowledge or the statements of credible persons, as far as he might be able. Owing to the difficulty of ascertaining the existence of dumbness in extreme infancy, the number of cases returned under that head must necessarily be slightly deficient; but as no motives are apparent to induce an intentional suppression of facts usually well known beyond the limits of the household, it may be presumed that the returns of the Blind and Deaf-andDumb, although subject, in common with the other branches of the inquiry, to accidental omissions, are on the whole tolerably complete. It was not thought desirable to divert the attention of the persons making and collecting the Census returns from the great and essential points of the general enumeration by any attempt to obtain, with respect to these special classes, information as to the circumstances of their affliction-such as whether it was congenital or acquired; nor was it found practicable at a later period to enter upon a further investigation of the cases in reference to these and other questions of undoubted interest. In Ireland, the Census Commissioners had fortunately no difficulty in pursuing the subject to its full extent. By means of that admirably organized body, the Constabulary force, and eminently aided by the experience of the Assistant Commissioner, Mr. Wilde, who has paid great attention to the subject, they were enabled successfully to follow up each case ; and they have embodied the results in a Report, recently presented to Parliament, which forms an extremely valuable contribution on a branch of vital statistics hitherto comparatively unexplored.* THE BLIND. In Great Britain and the Islands of the British Seas there are 21,487 persons-11,273 blind. The number in England and Wales males and 10,214 females-returned as totally is 18,306 of both sexes; in Scotland, 3,010; and in the Islands of the British Seas, 171 persons. These numbers furnish a proportion relatively to the whole population of 1 blind in every 975 persons in Great Britain, 960 in Scotland, and 1 in 837 in the Channel 1 in every 979 in England and Wales, 1 in Islands and the Isle of Man. NUMBER of BLIND PERSONS, and their PROPORTION to the POPULATION. These results admit of favourable comparison with the relative numbers in Ireland, which, according to the Census, are 1 in every 864 inhabitants. In the level portions of Europe, comprising Belgium, Hanover, parts of Germany, and the plains of Lombardy and Denmark, the proportion is stated to be 1 blind in every 950 inhabitants-but slightly differing from the average of Great Britain. In more elevated regions the proportion is considerably lower; but in Norway it is found to be 1 in every 482 inhabitants.† *The Report is entitled,- -"Census of Ireland for the Year 1851.-Part III. Report on the Status of Disease." † Census of Ireland.-Report on the Status of Disease, p. 41. In reviewing the distribution of the Blind over the different parts of Great Britain, it should be remembered that the institutions which have been established for the reception and instruction of persons deprived of sight are located in the principal cities and towns. Where, however, the towns are very large, the inmates of these establishments only slightly affect the proportion which the Blind bear to the general population. Thus in London, notwithstanding the number of cases brought from other parts, the proportion is 1 blind in every 1,025 inhabitants. Other large towns present the following results : Manchester Liverpool Birmingham Leeds Sheffield. Inhabitants. 1,181 Cheshire and Lancashire. Durham Staffordshire 1,203 99 1,141 It has been generally considered, and is no doubt to a certain extent true, that crowded dwellings and other circumstances attendant upon dense populations, by inducing diseases of the organs of sight, have caused a greater amount of blindness in towns than in rural localities. It has also been thought that blindness has been increased by many of the employments followed in populous manufacturing towns. But whatever may be the influences prevailing in towns, it is clear from the returns that a much larger proportion of blind persons is found in agricultural than in manufacturing and mining counties. For example, in Wilts, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset there is an average of 1 blind in every 758 inhabitants; in Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, 1 in 888; and in the northern counties of Scotland, which include the Highlands, 1 in 823. The highest proportion, I in 665, is observed in Herefordshire. In striking contrast with these are the following manufacturing or mining counties:-- I Inhabitants. Yorkshire, West Riding. I blind in every 1,231 Cheshire and Lancashire I 1,167 Durham 1,163 Staffordshire 1,082 Conclusions unfavourable to the rural districts should not, however, be deduced from a mere comparison of the proportion of the Blind to the population living at all ages. Blindness is a common infirmity of extreme old age, and an examination of the ages of the Blind shows that nearly one-half of the persons deprived of sight are above 60 years of age. It follows, therefore, that in those localities in which the largest numbers of old men and women are living, the largest proportion of the Blind will be found. In the great seats of manufacturing industry the population generally is much younger than in most of the agricultural counties, where, as shown in a former section of this Report, persons in large numbers, and especially females, are living, in circumstances favourable to longevity, at very advanced ages. Thus, in the counties presenting the So, in other counties, according to the proportion of old and young persons living, a greater or less amount of blindness is generally observed. But, while the question of age is of great importance in investigating the distribution of blindness, it will not explain all the variations presented in the returns, as in some localities other influences are doubtless at work. In the early years of life the numbers of the Blind are not large. Of the 21,487 blind persons in Great Britain, only 2,929, or less than 14 per cent., are under 20 years of age -a circumstance tending to show that cases of blindness at birth are not very common. Between 20 and 60 years of age there are 8,456 persons, or about 39 per cent. of the whole number; while 10,102 persons, or 47 per cent., are at the advanced ages above 60. These facts point to the conclusion that blindness in many cases may have arisen as a natural infirmity attendant upon old age, and also show the great longevity of the Blind, notwithstanding the accidents to which they are liable. Of the persons in Great Britain returned as blind 11,273 are males and 10,214 females. Accidents and diseases resulting in loss of The returns of occupations do not admit of a rigid distinction between the employments followed by the Blind and those subsequently acquired by them. Instances are common of blind persons being engaged in pursuits apparently quite incompatible with loss of vision. The employments taught in the institutions for the Blind are usually basket-making, sack and net making, knitting, and music. Most of the other occupations returned must be regarded as those followed previous to blindness. The present or previous occupations of the Blind are classified in Table XLIII. This affliction, it will be seen, is not confined chiefly to particular classes and trades, but exists amongst all ranks, and in a great variety of employments. None of the great branches of manufacturing industry seem to be peculiarly liable to it; indeed the small numbers returned against cotton, linen, silk, woollencloth, iron, and earthenware are remarkable, when the immense amount of labour employed in these manufactures is considered. Factory workers are, however, mostly young persons; and none would be employed in the midst of machinery with any defect of vision. Amongst the items which present the largest numbers in the classification of employments are (in Great Britain) Agricultural Labourers, 907; Labourers not other wise described, 512; Chelsea Pensioners and Soldiers, 586; Greenwich Pensioners, 70; Farmers, 505; Domestic Servants (chiefly females), 438; Weavers, 295; Coal-miners, 195; Copper and Lead miners, 68; Stone and Limestone quarriers, 51. Of the class described as "Annuitants" and "Living on Alms" there are 1,062; and 2,833 blind Paupers are returned in workhouses without any statement as to previous occupation. Of the Blind followinge mployments presumed to have been acquired after loss of sight there are-musicians and teachers of music, 535; mat, sacking, and net makers, 127; and knitters, 92. With respect to 2,853 males and 5,960 females, no returns respecting their actual or previous pursuits are made. Benevolent persons, impressed with the forlorn condition of the Blind belonging to the labouring classes, have urged the necessity for some provision by the State for their instruction and protection. The present inquiry, besides showing how widely the Blind and the Deaf-and-Dumb are scattered over the country, insomuch that there is scarcely a District in England without persons of both these unfortunate classes amongst the poor, also divulges the fact that there is no adequate provision for their instruction when young, nor any asylum but the workhouse for their sustenance in age. Of the Blind, there are in workhouses 2,833, as already stated, undescribed, besides many more entered under their former pursuits; while less than 1,000 are returned in schools and other public institutions. THE DEAF AND DUMB. In Great Britain 12,553 persons (6,884 males and 5,669 females) are returned as Deaf-and-Dumb. Of this number, 10,314 are in England, 2,155 in Scotland, and 84 in the Islands in the British Seas. The subjoined Table shows the proportion which the Deafand-Dumb bear to the general population, and from it we learn that in Great Britain 1 in every 1,670 inhabitants is a Deafmute, in England 1 in 1,738, in Scotland 1 in 1,340, and in the Islands 1 in 1,704. These numbers and proportions would be slightly increased if allowance were made for the omission of infants, with respect to whom, owing to the difficulty of ascertaining the existence of deafness and consequent muteism* in the first years of life, the returns are unavoidably imperfect. The above numbers will therefore be received as an under-statement of the actual state of Deaf-dumbness. But as the same defect of necessity exists in the returns of other countries, no erroneous conclusions will be formed from using them for the purposes of comparison. According to the most recent returns, the average proportion of the Deaf-and-dumb to the population of Europe generally is found to be 1 in every 1,593 persons. In Holland, Belgium, and other states presenting chiefly a flat surface, the proportion is much smaller than in Norway and Switzerland; indeed, in some of the Swiss cantons, where cretinism is prevalent amongst the mountain passes, there is 1 Deaf-mute in every 206 inhabitants. In Ireland, the average is 1 in 1,380 persons; and in the United States of America, where, however, the returns are admitted to be very defective, 1 in 2,366. Looking at the distribution of the Deafand-Dumb over the face of Great Britain, we find them to be more common in the agricultural and pastoral districts, especially where the country is hilly, than in those containing a large amount of town population. The Northern Counties of Scotland, which include the wild and mountainous region of the Highlands, present the highest average,-1 in 1,156 of the population; then the SouthWestern Division of England, with 1 in 1,393; followed by the Southern Counties of Scotland, 1 in 1,480; and the Welsh division, 1 in 1,542. We have already seen that the South-Western and Welsh Divisions of England and the Northern Counties of Scotland contain the -largest proportional number of blind persons. Cretins, most of whom are deaf-mutes, are found in some of these localities; the disease of cretinism is also accompanied by mental imbecility in a greater or less degree. NUMBER of the DEAF-AND-DUMB, and their The relative numbers of the sexes are in all countries much more disproportionate amongst the Deaf-and-Dumb than amongst the Blind. In Great Britain and in England and Wales there are 121 male Deaf-mutes to 100 females; in Scotland the inequality is somewhat greater, namely, 125 males to 100 females; in the Islands in the British Seas there are 121 males to 100 females. The Irish Returns give the reversed proportion of 111 females to 100 males. In every 100,000 of the general population of each sex in Great Britain, 67 males and 53 females are Deaf-and-Dumb. But while the returns for the whole country exhibit a larger proportion of males, the reverse obtains in some localities; thus in Berks, Bedford, Salop, Derby, and Monmouth, more females are returned than males relatively to the numbers living of each sex. An examination of the ages of the Deaf-andDumb presents results the opposite of those indicated by the Tables relating to the Blind. It has been shown that blindness is found chiefly in persons in advanced life,-47 per cent. of the Blind being upwards of 60 years of age-and to a small extent amongst young persons. Of the Deaf-and-Dumb the highest proportions exist at the periods of age ranging between 5 and 25 years, -the numbers gradually diminishing as the ages advance. The Blind, on the other hand, increase at each period from infancy to old age,—after 55 very rapidly, and nearly in the same ratio as the general mortality. ENGLAND and WALES. - PROPORTION of the DEAFAND-DUMB and the BLIND at different AGES to the MALE and FEMALE POPULATION. To every 100,000 living, the Proportion of 1,325 II. South-Eastern 836 III. South-Midland. 649 IV. Eastern. 669 V. South-Western I,295 VI. West-Midland . 1,325 VII. North-Midland 694 I,750 VIII. North-Western 1,237 2,014 IX. Yorkshire X. Northern XI. Welsh The proportion of Deaf-mutes is lowest in the Northern Division of England—1 in 2,058 inhabitants; and in the North-Western Division (Cheshire and Lancashire), where a nearly similar average prevails-1 in 2,014. Although as a general principle a greater degree of prevalency of Deaf-dumbness seems to exist in rural and hilly localities than amidst urban and manufacturing populations, yet exceptions are remarked on applying this test to the counties, and the smaller sub-divisions composing them. The following Eng- 85 and upwards lish counties, for example, present widely different results, scarcely to be explained by a reference to their physical or geographical peculiarities: Deaf-and-Dumb. Inhabitants. Of the 12,553 Deaf-mutes, only 783 or 6 per cent., had reached 60 years of age, a fact showing the unfavourable position of this Yorkshire, East Riding I in every 2,231 class as regards length of life; while those Monmouthshire 99 2,300 under 20 years of age, although the numbers 2,343 are unquestionably deficient, amounted to 47 per cent. 2,480 The incompleteness of the returns for the years of early life, arising from the uncertainty which must exist with respect to infants, and the natural indisposition of parents to form a painful conclusion on the subject while the slightest grounds for doubt exist, has already been adverted to. A rough estimate of the omissions from this cause may be made by assuming the Deaf-mutes under 5 years of age to bear the same proportion to the general population of the same age as the Deaf-and-Dumb persons aged 5 years and upwards bear to the residue of the population. There were in Great Britain, of 5 years of age and upwards, 18,222,518 persons, of whom 11,993 were Deaf-and-Dumb. If a like proportion existed amongst the population under 5 years of age (2,736,959 persons), 1,801 Deaf-mutes, instead of 560 would have been returned under the first quinquennial period of age. The addition of 1,241 cases would raise the percentage of those under 20 years of age to 52, and lower that of the ages above 20 to 48; but as the fact of dumbness would be better known and returned in the fourth and fifth years of age than in the earlier years, the supposed number to be added is probably too large. In London a larger proportion is observed between 5 and 15 years of age than elsewhere, a circumstance attributable to the institutions for the Deaf-and-Dumb established in the metropolis. Throughout the country, however, a very small number, scarcely more than 1,100, were returned as inmates of schools or asylums; and when it is remembered that even partial instruction can be imparted to persons in their condition only by a special course of training, and then with great difficulty, the inadequacy of the existing provision for their education will be apparent. Without careful instruction, the Deaf-mute is sometimes highly dangerous to society." A very appalling case of matricide by one of this class will be remembered as having occurred a few months back. VIII. PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.-INMATES OF WORKHOUSES, PRISONS, LUNATIC ASYLUMS, AND HOSPITALS. One of the most unerring tests of the civi- | lization of a State is to be found in its Public Institutions. A stranger arriving in a country where the most conspicuous objects consisted of edifices for religious worship, schools and colleges for the education of the young, almshouses and asylums for the aged or the helpless, workhouses for the poor, hospitals for the sick, barracks for the soldiery, and prisons for the custody of offenders, would be at no loss in coming to the conclusion that he was in the midst of a highly civilized and enlightened community. In Great Britain, although doubtless much remains to be done for some classes having strong claims upon the public sympathies, institutions of almost every description which a complete social organization and a large amount of public benevolence can suggest are found, not only in the capital, but in nearly all the principal cities and towns, and also, as far as circumstances will permit, over the surface of the country. change from voluntary contribution for the relief of the poor to legal assessment under the new Poor Law Act is only now in progress; the amount levied for poor rates represents, therefore, but a portion of the sum expended on the poor of that part of Great Britain. According to the returns of the Poor Law Board, the number of paupers in receipt of relief both in-door and out-door, in England and Wales, was 862,827 on 1st January 1851, and 813,089 on 1st July 1851. At the time of the Census 126,488 paupers were inmates of workhouses in England and Wales, being in the proportion of one in-door pauper to every 142 inhabitants, or 7 in every 1,000. Out-door paupers are often in receipt of relief for very short periods on account of sickness or temporary distress; but those received into the workhouses are for the most part supported for long periods-frequently for the remainder of their days. The highest proportion of in-door paupers to the general population is observed in With respect to churches and other places Surrey and Middlesex (Extra-Metropolitan)— of worship, and to schools, the particulars of the pauper children belonging to several of their number, nature, and extent of accom- the London parishes being placed out in modation, will be found in the Abstracts of establishments situated in those counties—in the Census of Religious Worship and of Kent and the other counties surrounding the Education recently laid before Parliament. metropolis, and in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Wilts. The returns relating to the Inmates of Work- Advancing towards the north, we find the houses, Prisons, Lunatic Asylums, and Hos-proportion considerably reduced; but it is pitals call for a few comments. The military in barracks are included in the statements respecting the Army generally already given. PAUPERS IN WORKHOUSES. The large provision that is made in this country for the poor is shown by the fact that 4,962,7047. were expended on their relief in England and Wales in the year ended 25th March 1851; and 535,944l. in Scotalnd in the year ended 14th May 1851. In Scotland the lowest of all in Yorkshire, where only 1 inpoor pauper is returned in every 330 inha['bitants. In this county, however, there are five unions without workhouses, out-door relief only being given. In Wales, ten unions, and in Devonshire, Cornwall, and Cheshire, two unions in each, were also without workhouses. In Scotland the number of poor on the relief register on 14th May 1851 waș 76,906. At the Census there were 5,438 in-door |