cise twice a-day, and the fundamental truths of our holy religion taught from it: but on no occasion ought it to be used as a common book. Whenever it is opened, the children should be called into reverential attention, and the truths it teaches ought to be propounded with solemnity. With regard to the teaching of points of doctrine, with this we can only partially agree; correct actions can only proceed from correct motives and correct notions. The doctrine by which a child may feel that he is a Christian, and heir to the promises revealed in the sacred volume, ought to be fixed in the mind, at least in a uniform and systematic manner; but every thing that breathes of controversy should be studiously avoided, while practical religion should be enforced by being brought home to the present circumstances, feelings, and understandings of the children.

For the present we leave the further consideration of this matter, but in our next shall speak of a school on this system, just opened at Ealing, Middlesex; we shall recur to the subject often, and mark its progress, being convinced that such institutions, if placed on a firm basis, will add much to the improvement and materially influence the future prospects of the population.

SELF-SUPPORTING DISPENSARIES.

PLANS of charity, which tend to give the poor a sense of that independence they have lost, are, above all others, calculated to do good to them. Those who wish essentially to serve the poor must teach them how they may help themselves, otherwise eleemosynary bounty becomes a curse, where it is intended to be a blessing. Next to the religious state of this class of the population, is to be considered their physical condition, as regards their health;-one of the most distressing things to the mind of a benevolent person when visiting the poor, is the many cases of extreme destitution and poverty he is called upon to witness, brought on through the insufficiency of medical aid. Generally it is found that the poor are afraid to apply to the doctor, on account of the expense; and frequently a desease, simple and easy to be cured at first, is suffered from this cause to go on till the sufferer is bed-ridden, and half his property sold or pledged to support him in his illness, which often ends in the total destruction of the constitution, or in death.

The attention offered to the poor by the parish doctor is too often of a kind not calculated to give satisfaction; indeed the scanty pay afforded to the medical practitioner of the parish, will scarcely enable him to devote a sufficient time and attention to the wants of perhaps a numerous population in time of sickness. To remedy these and similar evils, Self-supporting Charitable Dispensaries have been formed; in these the medical man is paid by the society for his services, and not for the medicine, which is furnished by the society. The poor pay one penny per week, and many choose their own attendant, and have a sufficient supply of medicine from the dispensary.

The following letter, addressed to Mr. Hull, of Uxbridge, relates to a Self-supporting and Charitable Dispensary established at Coventry:

"The Self-supporting and Charitable Dispensary recommended by Dr. Smith, is carried on well here by surgeons Bucknell and Bankerville, and Dr. Arrowsmith. I am informed, that before this dispensary was established there was not one in the town. Although only three years have elapsed since this institution has been at work, it now numbers 2,600 free subscribers amongst the poor. They, by paying one penny per week, choose their own doctor and have all the medicine they require, while the subscriptions of the affluent make up the deficiency. From the funds of the institution are provided wine, change of linen, &c.; by these means a spirit of independence is engendered, and the poor command attention. Surgeon Bucknell thinks the decrease of the poor's-rates may be ascribed to the dispensary, and I have no doubt it may be. Sickness, by throwing a poor man out of work, and bringing a heavy doctor's bill upon him, often bears him down and throws him upon the parish. It was stated to me, that before the establishment of the dispensary sixty children died of the measles, and some hundreds, without any medical attendance, in a short space of time."

The following is the substance of resolutions passed at the Townhall of Atherstone, which seem to embody the spirit and principles of these institutions:

1.-They have aided, materially, those persons who are now able and WILLING to maintain themselves in honest dependence on their own labour; and created in others a desire for the same commendable distinction.

2. They have given a salutary check to any mistaken mode of charity that may be practised by the benevolent, by uniformly but unobtrusively directing their attention to the willing but UNABLE labouring poor, who not habitually applying to the permanent funds of the country, should alone have temporary relief.

3. Of the paupers who are generally unable or UNWILLING to maintain their families they have effected a complete separation and demonstration, by showing who are unobjectionable, viz. the infirm and aged, for whom the poor rates were originally wisely and benevolently intended, in contra-distinction to comparatively idle, imprudent, and vicious paupers, who rob and consume the parish rates.

4. It has further appeared, that young persons have been trained by these means, to the true objects of education--practical habits of forethought, economy, and forbearance; and have been led to make deposits in savings' banks, or, by entering friendly societies at an early period of life, insured such ample funds for disease and old age, as will render them permanently selfdependent.

5.-They have induced servants to endeavour to keep their places. They have frequently prevented the removal of paupers to their respective parishes, and have uniformily and systematically operated in elevating the feelings, character, and condition of the working community, while the poor laws (whose rates they have materially diminished) have tended to demoralize and depress them. 6.-District Dispensaries, by combining, in all difficult cases, the skill of the district, have tended to promote medical knowledge and increase its usefulness. 7. The remuneration of medical men being for skill and time, instead of drugs, has, by means of District Dispensaries, been more professional, and

more in accordance with their feelings, than contracts for the parish poor, or taking from hard-working men and servants, sums of money for drugs, which, however moderate, are to them oppressive, frequently producing a neglect or abuse of medical means, destroying all confidence and grateful feeling towards those who sacrifice more in body and mind, by day and by night, for the relief of the poor, than any other class in the kingdom.

First, or Free Class-Consisting of labourers willing to subscribe something for themselves, and allowed to subscribe on the recommendation of a respectable individual, or (if a servant) of his employer.

Second, or Charity Class-Unable to subscribe, but recommended by honorary subscribers.

Third Class-Parish paupers, admitted by contract by the overseer. The funds of the dispensary are to be derived from three sources:1. From the subscriptions of free members.

2. From the subscriptions of benevolent persous.

3. From sums paid by parishes.

Free members to contribute* one penny each week; under fifteen years, half the sum.

Honorary subscribers to recommend one charity patient for each 10s. 6d. Parishes to contribute for each hundred of population. Every regularly-educated practioner, residing in the district, to be allowed to offer himself. Each medical officer to attend on certain days. The patients to be allowed to have the advice of the practitioner whom they may prefer. Medical officers to be remunerated according to the number of patients which each has attended.

Extra supplies and patients in sickness to be allowed under the direction of a committee, and chiefly (if not actually) confined to free members.

The following Results are extracted from Reports published at the undermentioned Places:

Coventry. bourne.+ Birmingham.† stone. Lymington.

The cost and expenditure may be easily calculated from the above Table; from which it appears, that the weekly payments of members will cover the whole expense.

"One penny per week so nearly pays the common charges, that the honorary subscription is merely required for extraordinaries. We find that an honorary subscription of £200 per annum would relieve from 4000 to 5000 persons, and therefore be sufficient for a population of 30,000."-COVENTRY REPORT.

Parish contracts for poor at £18..18..0 per annum.

Surgeons find medicines.

A North-west London Self-supporting Dispensary, 40, Manchesterstreet, was established in August last, under the patronage and presidency of the Bishop of London, and although quite new in the metropolis, 350 of the lower classes have already become ordinary members; 100 of these have received medical relief at their own houses. At present this institution is restricted to the district between the New Road and Oxford-street, the Edgeware Road, and Portland Place; and the duties are undertaken by four surgeons in ordinary, with the gratuitous aid of five consulting officers, and physicians and surgeons; but the numerous applications, made by the lower classes, in Paddington and Lisson Grove, render it highly desirable that branch establishments, with additional medical officers, should be formed in those districts.

The committee of this dispensary have appealed to the public for further subscriptions, to carry their desirable objects into effect, and the treasurer, P. St. Leger Grenfell, Esq., Upper Harley-street, will receive the same. The rules and every information, for the formation of a similar institution, may be obtained at the dispensary; and we earnestly hope we may succeed in calling attention to this highly-desirable, and truly-charitable method of relieving the real distresses and afflictions of suffering humanity.

Still works the Saviour; yea, he works in love

Through all his children. Thus the SICK are healed,—
The blind are taught to see-the deaf to hear--
The dumb to speak and utter praise: yea, more,

He still doth work in miracle. The blind

In heart are made to see--the deaf to hear

His voice within them,--and the very dead

In sin, arise, like Lazarus, to see

The Lord. Thy voice, oh Lord! still cries, come forth!

The joyous water of eternal life

Gushes from Thee; and from the spirit's eye

Scales drop, and on it glory beams. The same

Who stood, at Nain, by the widow's son,

Stands by the faithful even now.

Thou still

Dost rule the storm, and bid life's tempests cease-
Heard, felt, seen, known, adored, believed,

By all thine own. Thou visitest at morn;

At mid-day; in the silence of the night:

And in the bustling turmoil of the world

Mid vanity, and pride, and sin, and woe-
Walk'st with the self-same mien and pitying eye,
That old Judea knew.

REVIEW OF BOOKS.

Necessity of Popular Education as a National Object, with Hints on the Treatment of Criminals, and Observations on Homicidal Insanity. By James Simpson, Advocate, pp. 402.

THIS work is written under a deep and solemn conviction of the necessity of education being taken up as a national measure. The author has taken a bold step, and has entered upon education with enlarged and liberal views, both in its principles and practice; and ventured to propose a plan of popular education for public approbation and legislative adoption.

Mr. Simpson commences his work by taking up the position-that education, in its proper sense, is not yet understood by the public generally, and is utterly withheld from the body of the people; that it is unphilosophical in its means; and that therefore its failure, in the great work of humanizing man, and teaching him his true relation to external nature and to society, is not to be wondered at; that "ignorance still prevails to a horrible extent;" and that this, together with the imperfect methods of teaching abroad, are sufficient to account for the suffering, physical and moral, with which England abounds,-for the profligacy of our crowded cities, and for the sad demoralization of our neglected provinces.

The false education of the classes above manual labour, Mr. Simpson reprobates in the strongest manner; and a rather severe stricture is passed upon society in general.

"The region of mental and moral relations and the science of man, is not yet attained; controversy appears the business of the moral, and as assuredly of the religious world. If any measure affecting the public is proposed, there arises a perfect hurricane of opposition and denunciation, as if it were the most monstrous of errors and the most atrocious of crimes. No plan or project-civil, religious, economic, or even ornamental-can be proposed, without tearing to pieces the conventions of courtesy, nay, the feelings of common charity, and exposing a lamentable scene of inconsistencies and passion. Sects of men combine to attain, by their union, certain proposed ends; and these seem to be guided by principles which they all acknowledge, for there is no want of party array and skilful party tactics; but, when we find the spirit of party is violence and hatred, we must search the humbler region of selfishness for the bond of their union; for we cannot recognize among them any thing which is entitled to be called profound, philosophical, or high moral principle."

The cause of so small a harvest of good, in comparison with the means used to improve man, Mr. Simpson ascribes to our not being a MORALLY-EDUCATED PEOPLE; that the inherent selfishness of those who are expected, and who pretend, to promote moral improvement is such, that Christianity refuses to take root in it; and therefore the heathenism that prevails will prevail, till education is put beyond the pale of private interference and the discords of sect and party.

We are not disposed to join in this asperity generally, although we are quite aware that much of it is borne out in many instances. There VOL. I.-Jan. 1835.

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