MISCELLANEOUS.

The Population of Switzerland, in a Religious Point of View.-By PROFESSOR BAUP. From Evangelical Christendom, vol. vi., p. 71.

In every 1,000 persons, 593 would be Reformed, 406 Catholic, and 1 a Jew; 3 Reformed to 2 Catholics. The proportion borne by the Reformed to the Catholic population remains much as it was, notwithstanding the accession of the Valais, Neufchâtel, and Geneva, in 1815, and the various degrees in which the population of the different cantons has increased. The Catholic population has decreased, and the Reformed increased, in the cantons of Berne, Glaris, St. Gall, and Argovie; while, on the contrary, the Reformed has decreased, and the Catholic increased, in the Grisons, Thurgovie, the city and canton of Bâle, Neufchâtel, and Geneva, especially in the latter canton.

Diminution of Roman Catholics and Increase of the Reformed.

Diminution of the Reformed and Increase of Roman Catholics.

80

100

At Geneva, from 1837-38 to 1850, a period of about eleven years, the Roman Catholic population increased , about annually; but the Reformed scarcely, being less than

The Roman Catholic population tripled itself in twenty-five years.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE STATISTICAL SOCIETY OF

LONDON.

SESSION 1851-2.

Third Ordinary Meeting. Monday, 19th January, 1852.

Lieut.-Colonel W. H. Sykes, Vice-President, in the Chair. The following Gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society :De Burgh Birch, Esq. M.D. Peter Hardy, Esq.

Harrington Tuke, Esq.

The following Papers were read:

1. Statistics of Coffee and the Coffee Trade. By John Crawford,

Esq.

2. On the Taxation and Revenue of Frankfort-on-the-Maine. Lieut.-Colonel W. H. Sykes.

By

Fourth Ordinary Meeting. Monday, 16th February, 1851. Sir C. Lemon, Bart. M.P. Vice-President, in the Chair. The following Gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society:Henry Edwards, Esq. Henry Sutton, Esq. J. Carrington Jones, Esq.

Henry J. Hose, Esq.

James George Stirton, Esq.

The following Gentlemen were elected Foreign Honorary Members:

M. Ramon de la Sagra.

Mr. J. G. Kennedy.

Dr. Friedlander.

Dr. Schleisner.

M. Visschers.

The following Paper was read:

On the Employment of Farm Schools or Agricultural Colonies, on the Continent, for the Education of Pauper, and the Reformation of Delinquent, Children. By Joseph Fletcher, Esq., Hon. Sec.

THE MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, AND DEATHS,

REGISTERED IN THE DIVISIONS, COUNTIES, AND DISTRICTS OF ENGLAND, For the Quarter ended 30th September, 1851,

AS PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL.

THIS return comprises the births and deaths registered by 2,189 registrars in all the districts of England during the Summer quarter ending September 30th, 1851; and the marriages in more than 12,000 churches or chapels, about 3,190 registered places of worship unconnected with the Established Church, and 623 superintendent registrars' offices, in the quarter that ended June 30th, 1851. The return of marriages is not complete; but the defects are inconsiderable, and approximative numbers have been supplied from the records of previous years. The marriages still exceed the average, but are less numerous than the marriages in the corresponding quarter of last year. The births continue to increase rapidly, and the mortality is below the average. The returns, therefore, present a favourable view of the state of the country.

MARRIAGES.—38,498 marriages were registered in the quarter ending June 30th. This number is less by 520 than the number registered in the Spring quarter of

1850, but more by 3,777 than the number registered in the Spring quarter of 1848. The marriages only amounted to 30,048 in the Spring quarter of 1842; they rose to 34,268 in the Spring quarter of 1844; to 37,111 in the Spring quarter of 1846; declined to 35,197 in 1847; and rose again to 39,018 in the Spring quarter of 1850. Every marriage is the establishment of a family, and is generally the result of some deliberation; it is not surprising, therefore, that the prosperity of the country and the prospects of the people should be expressed pretty accurately by the fluctuations in the marriage returns.

While the marriages increased rapidly in some parts, they were stationary or decreased in others. In London, 6,515 couples were married; which exceeds the number married in the summer of 1848 by 1,106. In Surrey, out of London, in Sussex, Kent, and Berkshire, the marriages were nearly stationary; in Hampshire they decreased. In the South Midland, the Eastern Counties, as well as in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Devonshire, marriage was stationary or decreased; in Cornwall and Somersetshire there was an increase. In Gloucestershire marriage was stationary; in Herefordshire and Shropshire the numbers married were unprecedentedly low; in Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire-including the chief seats of the Midland iron trade—the marriages increased. The marriages rose from 383, in 1848, to 487 in Birmingham. In Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, and Lincolnshire the marriages were below, in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire above, the average number; the excess occurring chiefly in the districts of Nottingham, Chesterfield, and Hayfield. The marriages in Cheshire and Lancashire decreased. The decrease was considerable in Liverpool, and greater still in Manchester. In the West Riding of Yorkshire there is an excess; and this is most conspicuous in Sheffield, where the marriages in the five Summer quarters ending June 1847-51 were 283, 273, 289, 339, and 404! In Leeds the marriages were 351 in the June quarter of 1848; 530 and 487 in the corresponding quarters of 1850 and 1851. In Hull the marriages increased from 147 in the June quarter of the cholera year 1849 to 175 in 1850, but have fallen again to 158. marriages decreased in the North Riding of Yorkshire, in Northumberland and Cumberland; increased in the coal districts of Durham. In Monmouthshire and Wales marriages were less frequent than in 1850.

The

It has been observed that the marriages increase after a fatal epidemic; and in the present return the marriages, it is seen, have been in excess generally where cholera was most fatal in 1849.

BIRTHS.-150,584 births have been registered in the quarter ending September 30th, 1851. This is the greatest number of births ever registered in the same season of the year, and exceeds by 23,411, and 15,361, and 3,614, the births in the September quarters of 1847, 1849, and 1850. The births of 467,096 children have already been registered, and it is probable that in the year the numbers will not fall short of 600,000. The increase is distributed over all the divisions of the country except the South Midland.

INCREASE OF POPULATION.-While 150,584 children were born and registered in the Summer quarter, 91,600 persons died; leaving an excess of 58,984 in the population. The excess of births over deaths in the first 9 months of the present year has been 170,411, which is probably more than equivalent to the actual increase of the population.

IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION.-It is well known that up to a late period there has been a constant immigration of the Irish and Scotch into England, which appears to have been fully equivalent to the emigration of the English into the colonies and to foreign parts; but no exact statistical information on this subject exists.

85,603 emigrants left the ports of the United Kingdom at which there are government emigration officers in the quarter ending September 30th, 1851. This is at the rate of 930 a day; 6,510 a week. 13,963 sailed from Irish ports, 4,378 from Glasgow and Greenock, and 67,262 from three English ports; namely, 10,062 from London, 2,799 from Plymouth, and 54,401 from Liverpool. Many of the Irish emigrants are returned at Liverpool. Of the total number 68,960 emigrants sailed to the United States, 9,268 to British North America, 6,097 to the Australian

Colonies, and 1,278 to other places. The emigration has hitherto been greater in 1851 than it was in the corresponding quarters of 1850*.

The present movement of the population is in many respects remarkable. The free admission of grain, fruit, and meat, since the scarcity is equivalent to an addition to the country of a vast tract of fertile soil, which calls for cultivators, and, as the land is abroad, for agricultural emigrants who prefer the cheap though distant lands of America to the high-rented farms of Ireland, no longer possessing a monopoly for its produce in the English market. The fact deserves attention, that while the United Kingdom has been importing food in unprecedented quantities, it has been sending out swarms of emigrants from the population, of which the marriages and births promise to keep up a perpetual and increasing supply.

Prices of Provisions, &c., in the Quarter ending September 30th, 1851.

STATE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH.-The health of different parts of the country differs widely, and the difference is greatest in summer. In the 10 summer quarters of 1841-50 the mortality in 506 districts, comprising, when the census was taken, 10,126,886 people, was at the rate of 18.15 in 1000 annually; while in 117 districts, comprising the chief towns, and 7,795,882 people, the mortality was at the rate of 25 in 1000 annually. Thus, at least, 7 in every 25 deaths which occur in towns are the result of artificial causes. The mortality in the quarter ending September 1851 was at the rate of 23 and 17.93 in 1000 in the two groups of districts; it was a little below the average in the country, and considerably below the average in the towns. The annual rate of mortality per cent. in all England was, on the average of 10 summers, 2.099; in the summer quarter of 1851 it was 2.020.

Population and Mortality per cent. in the Summer Quarters of 11 Years,

1841-51.

* Return with which the Registrar General has been favoured by the Emigration Commissioners. At the time the Return was made it was not quite complete.