Tavistock-place, Tavistock-square; and a work with illustrations on the subject may be purchased, entitled A Practical Guide to the English Kindergarten. Such, then, is the plan of such a school; the children may sleep at home, and be brought early every morning, and remain all day, the parents paying a small sum weekly these should not be charity schools, but schools either under the fostering care of the local authorities, or of the State. Charity schools are very good, and they are nobly supported; but they are not carried out upon a broad principle,-they do not do the good that an establishment of the kind I have mentioned can do. If the Government would only spend a third, upon the bodily and mental culture of the infant, of what they do upon the punishing and imprisonment of the man, we should be all the better for it, and money in pocket. Crime is the child of ignorance, ignorance of good. The people of the finest, and most noble-hearted nation in the world, only require to know better, and to be taught it in a kind and benevolent spirit, to leave off the beastly, disgusting ways which blot the history of the present age. To do this, we must begin at the root. Cultivate your children, and in nineteen cases out of twenty the fruits will be a good man. Punish your adults, and they fall from bad to worse;—a man once within the vortex of crime sinks, and sinks to rise no more. I repeat-cultivate the health, the brain, and the morals of your poor children. In the Health of Towns Commission, Second Report, Local Reports, vol. i. p. 122, we find these recom OFFICER OF HEALTH. 39 mendations: "The most eminent medical witnesses concur in declaring, that it is by the careful observation of the causes of disease and mortality operating upon large classes of the community, that the mode and extent of their large operation may be ascertained, and the power of diminishing and preventing them be acquired. For this purpose the appointment of an officer, whose duty it would be to direct his undivided attention to such causes, would in our opinion be a public benefit, more especially to the poorer classes, and might be advantageously employed in making investigations into matters affecting the sanitary condition of the district under his charge. We therefore recommend that the local administrative body have power to appoint, subject to the approval of the Crown, a medical officer, properly qualified to inspect, and report periodically upon the sanitary condition of the town or district, to ascertain the true causes of disease and death, more especially of epidemics increasing the rates of mortality, and the circumstances which originate and maintain such diseases, and injuriously affect the public health of such town or populous district." OFFICER OF HEALTH. This is a most important office, and should be a constant one, and not, as is the case at present, merely called into existence on emergency, for then there is little comparatively to be done; the time for action is before any epidemic has arisen, and in some districts by judicious management, cholera has been wholly averted, and in others much alleviated. In the City of London, under the judicious and masterly care of Mr. Simon, the health of the city has greatly improved. He says, in his Report for the year 1852-3, "My comparison of the past five years with any considerable previous period cannot be as precise as I could wish, owing to the absence of circumstantial records for the time anterior to my appointment; but judging from such information as I can consult on the subject, I am induced to believe that the deaths, for equal numbers of population, are about 4 per cent. fewer than before your Acts of Parliament came into operation, and that the disproportionate mortality of children is decidedly lessened. Further impetus in the same direction will shortly be given by the removal of sanitary evils, already in fact or in principle condemned. The approaching institution of your extramural cemetery, and, I venture to hope, the translation of all slaughtering establishments to the site of your new Smithfield, will be important contributions to this effect." The duty, then, of the officer of health is to be continually on the look-out for abuses; to superintend the removal of nuisances; during the times of health, to periodically visit his district, examining into the sanitary welfare of the inhabitants, to superintend the visits of the various inspectors, to promote the erection of public sanitary institutions, pointing out the most desirable sites; to advise in reference to any districts insufficiently drained; to superintend the ventilation of public buildings; in fact, in every way within his power to foster the health of the inhabitants of his district. In times of pestilence, to unite with the parish me INSPECTORS UNDER THE OFFICER OF HEALTH. 41 dical officers in house to house visitation, daily if possible; to superintend the proper supply of medicines and medical comforts; to organize a depôt for such materials, and to supervise their distribution. Such are the duties of the officer of health; which, if efficiently carried out, may be the means of saving hundreds of lives, and allow children, amongst whom there is now such an enormous mortality, to be brought up to man's estate, stronger, and with a better chance of average life. Week Inspectors under the officer of health should be appointed, whose sole duty should be to visit under his direction every inspected house in the parish, to make enquiries, and personally to examine into the number of lodgers, the ventilation, cleanliness, drainage, water supply, dust removal, paving of yards, the existence, and consequent removal of nuisances, and the like; and tabular forms should be constructed for their use, which admit of this information being recorded and reviewed in the readiest manner. by week these should be examined, the report drawn up, and where the powers of the officer of health, or of the local authorities, can interfere, then the desired improvements should be enforced under the Act. Consequently, in each week there would fall due a certain number of sanitary works (relating to housedrainage, water supply, and the like), for which previous orders would have been issued, requiring them to be completed within a stated time; and on the satisfactory execution of these, it will be the inspector's duty to examine and certify. Thirdly, in each district there should be a certain rota of visitation according to the badness of the spot, and its known liability to fall into filthy and unwholesome condition, requiring one set of houses to be seen weekly, another set fortnightly, another monthly, another quarterly, and so on.-A rota, varying from time to time with the changing circumstances of each locality; and out of this rota each week would supply a stated number of cases for enquiry, to which occasionally should be added a certain number of those establishments in which offensive occupations are pursued. Thus, in the large number of visits made weekly by the inspector, there would be a certain proportion of that more elaborate kind which involves an examination of the entire house; another proportion made for the sole purpose of seeing that previous orders have been executed; another proportion repeated at fixed intervals, simply to ascertain that houses once cleansed and repaired are not relapsing into filth, nor their works becoming inefficient. Another excellent suggestion is, that printed notices should be posted in various public positions in the parish, and in the courts and alleys, and renewed once a month, advising the careful maintenance of cleanliness in all houses, and inviting all persons who are aggrieved by any nuisance, or by any neglect of scavengers and dustmen, or by any defect of water supply, forthwith to make complaint at the vestry or to the district surveyor, or inspector, whose names and address might be subjoined. Secondly, that a circular letter should be written to all persons in parochial authority, also to the clergy, to the heads of visiting societies, and the like, begging them to communicate with the officers |