The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 32, June, 1860

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1

The statistics of the English railways given in this article are taken from the volume here referred to. Because some cunning English contractors in South America took advantage of the statements in this book to depreciate the American railway system and American civil engineers, for their own private advantage in obtaining work, some Americans have been so foolish as to decry the book altogether, as traitorous to the interests of the country. Such mingled bigotry and conceit, shrinking from just criticism, would fetter all progress but fortunately it is rare.

2

The cost of operating this railway for 1859, as per last Report, was only 37.4 per cent. of the receipts, while that of the railways of Massachusetts for the same year was 56.9 per cent. The result is a dividend of 8-1/2 per cent. on capital, after paying the interest on bonded debt.

3

Translated in that excellent periodical, which no lover of chess should be without, The Chess Monthly, edited by Fiske and Morphy, New York. (Vol. i. p. 92.)

4

Mediaeval name for the Queen, (originally the Counsellor,)—the strength of the board.

5

The facts upon winch these statements are based are recorded in the Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts, 1850,—in the Annual Reports of the Boston City Registrar,—in the Annual Reports of the New York Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor,—and in other public documents.

It appears that the ratio of deaths to population was,

In New York, in 1810, 1 in 46.46

" 1840, 1 in 39.74

" 1850, 1 in 33.52

" 1857, 1 in 27.15

In Boston, in 1830, 1 in 48

" 1840, 1 in 45

" 1850, 1 in 38

" 1858, 1 in 41

It is probable that the ratio for the year 1858 showed somewhat more improvement even than appears from the above figures. The proportion is based on the population as ascertained in 1855. Up to 1858, the population was somewhat, though not greatly, increased, and any increase would serve to render the proportion in 1858 more favorable to the health of the city. But it was a year in which the number of deaths was less than it had been since 1850; it was, therefore, an exceptional year; and the change in the ratio of the deaths is, we fear, not the sign of the beginning of a progressive improvement.

6

In Boston, from 1810 to 1820, the average age of all that died was 27.85 years; in 1857, leaving deaths by casualty out of the calculation, it was but 20.63 years; in 1858, it was 21.76. In New York, from 1810 to 1820, it was 26.15; for the last ten years of which the statistics are known, it was less than 20.

7

Since writing the preceding sentences, we have been gratified to see that a bill proposing the creation of a Metropolitan Board of Health has been introduced into the Legislature of New York. If the bill becomes a law, as we trust it may, the board will be invested with power "to enact ordinances for the proper government and control of buildings erecting or to be erected, … to compel the lessees or owners of dwellings to put the same in proper order, and to provide sufficient means of egress in case of fire." The New-York Evening Post of March 23, in giving an account of this bill, says,—and there is no exaggeration in its statements,—

"The nearly one million of souls of this great city are left to take care of themselves,—to be crowded mercilessly by landlords into houses without light, air, or water, and without means of egress in case of fire; and the street filth is allowed to accumulate till the city has become as the famous Pontine Marshes, to breathe whose exhalations is certain disease. All this results, as is proved by comparison with other cities, in the unnecessary loss of five thousand to eight thousand lives annually, and of many millions of dollars expended for unnecessary sickness, and the consequent loss of time and strength,—all of which might be saved, as they are actually saved in other and larger cities, by the application of sanitary laws by intelligent and efficient officers.

"And yet our Common Council are unmoved to apply the corrective, and the Legislature postpones action upon the numerous petitions of the people upon the subject. How long these bodies will be suffered to abuse the patience of our citizens we cannot tell; but the breaking out of a pestilence which shall sweep a thousand a week into the grave, and bring this city to financial ruin, will be but a natural issue of the present neglect. The Health Bill now before the Legislature has been prepared under the auspices of the Sanitary Association. Its provisions are sweeping; but the importance of the subject, the uniform filthy condition of our streets, and the wretched and unsafe condition of our tenement-houses imperatively demand changes of the most radical nature. The general provisions of the bill seem to cover the points most requiring legislation; and while in some of its details it could probably be improved, it is difficult to imagine that the present state of sanitary regulations could be made worse, and certain that the proposed reforms, if carried out, would be of great advantage."

8

Plinii Nat. Hist. Lib. xvii. cap. 38.

9

Herodotus makes the same statement as to the Buda. "They are said to be evil-minded and enchanters," he says, "that for a day every year change themselves into wolves. This the Scythians and Greeks who dwell there affirm with great oaths. But they do not persuade me of it."—Herod. Lib. iii. cap. 7.

See on this subject Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce, and Nubia and Abyssinia, by Rev. Michael Russell. Petronius's story of a Versipelles is well known.

10

Hier. Fracastorius, De Sympathiâ et Antipathiâ, Lib. i. cap. 23. See also Vincentius Alsarius, De Invid. et Fasc. Vet., in Graevius, Thes. Rom. Antiq. Vol. xii. p. 890.

11

Lib. iii. cap. 46, confirmed also by Athenaeus, Deipnos. Lib. iii.

12

Inst. Gram. Lib. iv.

13

See also Turnebi Comm. in Orat. Sec. contra P.S. Rullum de Leg. Agrar. M.T. Ciceronis.

14

Plutarchi Symp. V. Prob. VII.

15

Vairus, De Fascino. p. 24.]

16

Plut. Præcepta Conjugialia.

17

Household Words, Jan. 23, 1858, vol. xvii., P. 139.

18

The passage from Didymus is this: "Macilenti et melancholici, qui binas pupillas in oculis habent, aut in uno oculo geminam pupillam, in altero effigiem equi,—quique oculos concavos ac veluti quibusdam quasi foveis reconditos gerunt, exhaustoque adeo universo humore ut ossa,—quibus palpebræ coherent, eminere, hirquique sordibus scatere cernuntur,—quibus in tota cute quæ faciem obducit squallor et situs immoderatus conspicitur, facillime fascinant. Strabones, glaucos, micantes et terribiles oculos habentes quæcumque et iratis oculis aspiciunt fascino inficiunt. Et ego hisce oculis Romæ quondam Hispanum genere vidi, quem nominare non licet, qui cum truculentis oculis tetro et irato vultu servum ob nescio quod objurgâsset, adeo servus ille timore ac terrore perterritus fuit, ut non modo fascino affectus, sed rationis usu privatus fuerit, et melancholico humore totum ejus corpus invadente, ita ad insaniam redactus fuit, ut in domo sui heri prope ecclesiam Divi Jacobi sibi mortem consciverit et laqueo vitam finiverit."

19

Albertus Magnus, De Animâ.

20

The title of this work is Cicalata sul Fascino, volgarmente detto Jettatura, by Nicola Valetta. It was published more than fifty years since, and copies are now rare.

21

Vie de Luther, par AUDIN, Paris, 1839. An accurate book, but scathingly bitter.

22

The details are to be found in the Narratives of the Expedition, by Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., published by Congress at Washington, in 1856.

23

As will be shown hereafter, the military functions of the temporal ruler long ago ceased, and the title of Tycoon has been substituted for that of Ziogoon.

24

Mr. Oliphant's account of Lord Elgin's expedition (Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission, etc., by Lawrence Oliphant, Esq.) is one of the most valuable contributions from Japan. His observations, which at Yedo were more extended and unimpeded than those of any preceding visitor, are recorded in the most lively and charming manner. The history of the embassy of Baron Gros (Souvenirs d'une Ambassade en Chine et au Japon, par le Marquis de Moges) is less complete and entertaining, but by no means destitute of interest.