That destructive ophthalmia may take place in scarlatina, and possibly in other exanthemata, besides variola.*

That even in cow-pock, though very rarely, a malignant form may occur from some individual peculiarity.

* Dr. Mackenzie has quoted (Opus cit. p. 434) Mr. Marson's opinion, that the destructive inflammation of the eye which follows small-pox is entirely a secondary affection, and that it is analogous to the sloughing of the cellular membrane in other parts of the body, which is a frequent sequela of that disease.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTICES.

Report of the Commissioners appointed to take the Census of Ireland for the Year 1841.

ANY one ever so little acquainted with the obtaining of statistical returns, must be aware how very difficult it is to combine minuteness with accuracy. And also that the difficulty arises as much from the machinery as the subject. The late Rev. Cæsar Otway, in his travels through Erris, tells us that the mode adopted in a former census was to employ persons who were paid in proportion to the number of the population they made out! will, probably, explain why the numbers given in the present census are so little above those obtained in the former, without the necessity of assuming extraordinary causes to account for a decreased population.

This

The present Commissioners-Mr. Tighe Hamilton, Mr. Brownrigg, and Captain Larcom-having the police at their disposal, arranged their plans with great care, and so as to avoid all ordinary sources of error, and the result is one of the most minute, ample, and satisfactory Reports we have ever met. In it we have very full details of the persons, houses, families, occupations, emigration (home and colonial), rural economy, such as division of lands, plantations and trees, farms and live stock, education and vital statistics, i. e. births, marriages, ages and deaths, as regards each county, and a general summary of the whole.

The Report upon the table of deaths has been intrusted to our distinguished compatriote, Surgeon Wilde, and we have no hesitation in saying that it does him infinite credit, both as to the mode adopted for obtaining accurate results, and the labour and extreme care bestowed. It is with this department that we shall occupy ourselves at present, as it has a more direct bearing upon the profession. But it may not be uninteresting to our readers before we leave the general Report-if we lay before them the portion which describes the plan adopted on the present occasion:

"Our first step was to procure from the Ordnance Survey Department a map of every barony in Ireland, showing the boundaries

and details of its several parishes and townlands, with classified lists of these subdivisions. As the survey had been completed, except in the counties of Cork, Kerry, and Limerick, we thus, for the first time, possessed the advantage of a set of maps which not only indicated correct boundaries, but exhibited every house upon the face of the country. For those three counties the maps were formed from less perfect documents, and exhibited, for the most part, no more than the boundaries.

"It having been resolved that the constabulary should be employed for the enumeration, we next distributed the maps and lists to the several officers and head constables of the force, selected by the inspector-general for each barony. They again divided these into districts of contiguous townlands, to each of which was assigned a superintending constable or sub-constable, or, in those districts where the constabulary were not sufficiently numerous, one of the coast-guard, or, where such assistance was not available, a civilian selected by the superintendent. We were thus enabled to mark on a general map the districts and stations of all the enumerators, and the whole force thus marshalled was in readiness before the arrival of the period fixed by the Act of Parliament for the enumeration.

"In the mean time, having maturely considered the best mode of ascertaining the various facts we had in view, we resolved to adopt the course of sending a form of return to each family, to be filled by its head, as less intrusive than requiring it to be filled by the enumerator from viva voce inquiry. But we, of course, took means to check the returns so obtained, and required from the enumerator a certificate that they were true to the best of his belief. Another form was supplied to the enumerator, in which he was himself required to record the various particulars sought, as to houses and matters of a similar nature. The general distinction we followed was, that the statement of all facts which were of a personal nature, and only ascertainable by personal inquiry, was, as far as possible, left to the head of the family, whilst that of all facts which could be ascertained by mere observation was demanded from the enumerator.

"The Act required us to ascertain the age, the sex, the occupation, and place of nativity of every person abiding in Ireland, on the night of Sunday, the 6th of June, with such other particulars as the Lord Lieutenant should direct. We accordingly made provision under the latter power for such inquiries as appeared likely to illustrate or verify the information specifically required. Thus, we asked the name of every individual, as a proof of identity; and the relationship, with a view to distinguish the members of the natural family from the servants and other members of the establishment, constituting what may be considered the social family. We also demanded a return of absent members, which, together with the measures adopted at the ports, to be described hereafter, we hoped would obviate the danger of error from the lateness of the season at which the census was to be taken. We also ascertained

the dates of marriages and of deaths since the last census, in order to institute a comparison of ages with the former returns, and, in the absence of registries, test in some degree the correctness of the enumeration.

"The Act also required a return of the houses, distinguishing those which were inhabited from those which were uninhabited, or building; and by a similar extension of the inquiries into subjects of a kindred nature, we sought to ensure a correct knowledge of their state in point of accommodation; whilst, from the combination of these several returns with those before mentioned, we hoped to throw some useful light upon the general condition of the community, as there can be no more obvious indication of the advances and condition of a people than improvement in the comfort of their residence. So, in an agricultural community, the quantity of land held or tilled by each occupant, not only throws light upon agriculture as a branch of national wealth and industry, but by its influence on the condition of the people, affords a test of the relative advantages of large and small farms. Again, the quantity of cattle and other stock of every description, is necessary to a just estimate of the productiveness of a country, and its influence upon the comfort of the inhabitants."

For further details we must refer the reader to the Report, and we can honestly assure him that he will be amply repaid for the trouble of perusal.

Now let us turn to Mr. Wilde's Report, which is divided into five sections:-1. The mortality from disease and accident. 2. Coroner's inquests. 3. Insanity and lunatics in jails. 4. Hospitals and sanatory institutions. 5. A special sanatory report on the city of Dublin. We shall notice a few points here and there, leaving the fifth section for a future notice, premising that this is the first attempt at a bill of mortality for Ireland. Dr. Wilde observes:

"None of the ancient Irish works attempt to enumerate the diseases of this country, to catalogue their names, or describe their symptoms or fatality. The same deficiency in medical nosology is apparent in those of more modern times; and in no instance has. any effort been made to draw up a general bill of mortality for this kingdom until the present. The only conception of this kind arose with Sir William Petty, who, in 1683, published a small tract of 'Observations upon the Dublin Bills of Mortality, MDCLXXXI., and the State of that City.' In the opening paragraph of this essay, he says, The observations upon the London bills of mortality have been a new light to the world; and the like observation upon those of Dublin, may serve as snuffers to make the same candle burn clearer.'

""The London observations flowed from bills regularly kept for nearly one hundred years; but these are squeezed out of six straggling London bills, out of fifteen Dublin bills, and from a note of

the families and hearths in each parish of Dublin, which are all digested into the one table or sheet annexed, consisting of three parts, marked A. B. C., being the A. B. C. of public economy, and even of that policy which tends to peace and plenty.' These tables having a more local interest, will be referred to in the Report upon the mortality of the city of Dublin in particular."

"The precise period at which burials and births' were first recorded in Dublin has not been ascertained. They must have been in existence long prior to the date of Petty's tract (although they did not specify the cause of death); for in his Table B. he commences with the burials and births' of 1666. May they not have been introduced when Graunt's Natural and Political Observations upon Bills of Mortality,' in 1661, first drew particular attention to the value of statistical inquiries of this nature in England? I find in the Appendix to his 5th edition of 'Observations on the London Bills of Mortality,' published in 1676, a small imperfect Dublin bill given without any observations, and headed thus'Dublin-A bill of mortality from the 7-6 of July to the end of August, 1662.' The registries in this document are flux, 7; rickets, 0; ague, 4; feaver, 0; consumption, 8; small-pox, 1; spotted feaver, 0; plague, 0; baptised, 14; died, 20.' This was in all probability one of the first attempts at a registration of deaths in this city.

6

"These bills were obtained from the parish clerks, but must have been very defective, from the circumstance of so many persons being buried in the grave yards in the vicinity of the city, and also from the fact of the births of dissenters not being registered. The exact period over which these bills extended cannot now be accurately determined; Dr. Thomas Short, in his work "Observations on the City, Town, and Country Bills of Mortality,' 1750, thus alludes to this tract of Petty's :- Major Graunt having taken no notice of the Dublin bills of mortality, though the second city in his Majesty's dominions, an ingenious author in 1681 has published a small schedule on them, with three short tables.' This small bill for 1662 must have escaped the notice of Short, or he consulted only the early editions of Graunt's work. In 1686, Sir William Petty reprinted his original tract under the title of Further Observations upon the Dublin Bills; or Accounts of the Houses, Hearths, Baptisms, and Burials of the City.' London, 8vo., 1686. The only additional matter inserted in this edition is one small table for 1682, from which it appears that the houses were 6,025; fire-places, 25,369; baptisms, 912; and deaths, 2,259. In a few remarks upon this table, he concludes that the deaths of the metropolis were at that time 1 in 30-more according to an established rule for forming proportions of mortality then in use, than as the result of any actual calculation or observations of his own; were this proportion correct it would increase the ratio of deaths to the population, to 2,263 for that year. In 1684, Petty introduced the subject of these bills before the Royal Society-(see Philosophical Transactions). After this' (1648), says Short, I meet

VOL. XXV. NO. 73.

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