secular priest, he takes precedence of the primate of the realm; allows no papal bull to be circulated without his sanction; and tries, as vicargeneral of the Apostolical Legation, all ecclesiastical causes, which in other countries are referred to the judgment of the papal court.

CHAPTER X.

THE TWO SIICLIES PAST, PRESENT, AND TO COME; STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE COUNTRY.

Having brought down the history of the two divisions of the country to the present time, it may be well to cast a retrospect on the chief objects of interest that have come under observation. Of these we may particularly notice four, namely, Increase of Population, Advance of Industry, Changes in the Government, and Vicissitudes in Public Instruction. Each of these great objects deserve special consideration.

I. The inhabitants of both the Sicilies have much increased since the accession of Charles the Third.

They have therefore increased about 2,000,000 in 106 years, being at the rate of about one-half per cent. per annum.

The Sicilians amounted in

1735 to about

1798 to

1840 to

1,000,000

1,600,000

1,800,000

They have, therefore, increased about three-quarters of a million in 105 years, being at the rate of about four-fifths per cent. per annum.

II. In both the Sicilies every branch of industry was in a decayed or drooping state at the era of the Spanish conquest. Husbandry was backward, and trade was stagnant; manufactures were stationary fisheries were neglected, and mines were abandoned. Improvement took place under the reigns of Charles the Third and Ferdinand his son. The plough, the loom, and the anvil, became busy throughout the land. Trade with foreign countries sprang up by degrees, and the coral fishery rose and prospered for a season. The mining industry of Sicily first became active under the reign of the present sovereign. In a word, all the useful arts have risen, slowly but steadily, from insignificance to importance during the past century.

III. At the accession of Charles the Third, the legislative functions of government were vested in the Crown: the powers of the executive rightly belonging to the sovereign, as lord paramount, were shared by him with the barons and the clergy, as lords paravail. This anomaly in government was soon rectified in one division of the kingdom. In the realm of Naples the power of distributing justice was taken from the feudatories, and given to the royal judges in the beginning of the reign of Ferdinand. In the realm of Sicily, the barons and clergy retained the judicial administration until 1812, when, upon the general reforma

tion of political abuses, it was vested in the king's person. This important change was followed by another of a doubtful character. The faint influence exercised over the Neapolitan government by the Deputation of Nobles was wholly extinguished, when that junta was superseded by a corporate body at the close of the eighteenth century. In Sicily, however, the great nobles retained their political power until 1812, when the constitution of parliament underwent a total change. By these and other acts, a mixed form of government has been converted by degrees into an absolute monarchy.

IV. The vicissitudes of instruction have been no less remarkable than the changes in government. In both countries the tuition of youth was entrusted to the Jesuits, by whom it was conducted with skill and assiduity. Transferred to the regular and secular clergy, upon the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, the task of education was discharged by priests exclusively, until 1808, when, upon the general establishment of schools in the Neapolitan dominions, it devolved upon laymen and churchmen in common, by whom it is still exercised with lukewarm zeal. In Sicily the duties of tuition which, as in Naples, were transferred from the Jesuits to the clergy in 1768, were restored to the reinstated order in 1804; from which time to the present, the Jesuits have been the principal instructors of the Sicilian youth.

At the era of the Spanish conquest, the Neapolitan clergy formed a thirty-sixth part of the whole population, and owned about two-thirds of the continental territory, and the Sicilian clergy were scarcely less numerous and wealthy. A reform was fast approaching, the effects of which were destined to be permanent. Seven convents were suppressed in Naples, and 28 in Sicily by Ferdinand the First about 1770. The general suppression of Neapolitan convents was reserved for Joseph Buonaparte, by whom it was undertaken and effected in 1808. În Sicily the monastic orders are still numerous and powerful, but are shorn of their ancient splendour. The Neapolitan clergy formed in 1826 a 151st part, and the Sicilian constitute at present a 100th part of the respective populations of Naples and Sicily. The wealth of the church in Naples at least is believed to be of moderate amount, and in Sicily, where it is proportionately larger, it is far from being excessive, considering the number of the regular and secular clergy.

Such have been the fortunes of popular education and religious worship during the past century. In neither of the Sicilies have ignorance and superstition been put to flight by the spread of sound principles in knowledge and religion.

If we examine what effect these changes have produced upon the condition of the people, we shall find that they have in part wrought evil, but good upon the whole. If the result has been unfortunate in the release of the court from popular control both in Naples and Sicily, it has in all other respects been happy. The nation is no longer divided into demesnal and feudal populations, but constitutes one people. The commons are no longer subject to nobles and churchmen, but are governed by a single ruler. Justice, no more dealt out by baronial dependents, is administered by the king's judges. Privileged orders have ceased to exist, and civic equality prevails in full force. Voluminous statutes are compressed into a single code. The burthen of taxation, once thrown upon the middle orders, is now shared equally by all classes

of society. We may therefore assert that the condition of the people is materially improved, and that the improvement bids fair to proceed, if it be accompanied by an amendment of the executive power, according to which its progress will be faster or slower.

It would not be difficult to point out the changes most required in the present system of government, but the present would not be a fitting

occasion.

With regard to the relative condition of the two divisions of the * kingdom, and the comparative prospect of improvement in each, it may be anticipated that the progress of both will be simultaneous, and for this opinion several reasons may be offered.

The Two Sicilies have, externally and internally, advantages and disadvantages, conveniences and inconveniences, common to both, and peculiar to each, that require to be carefully investigated in order to be rightly understood.

The advantages enjoyed in common, are extent of territory, number of inhabitants, happiness of position, healthiness of climate, beauty of scenery, and fertility of soil. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies, larger and more populous than any of its neighbours, situated midway between Central Europe and Northern Africa, and favoured with a pleasant temperature and fruitful territory, offers an abundance of animal and vegetable substances, together with marine and mineral productions, in exchange for the commodities and merchandize of northern and tropical countries. The conveniences peculiar to each of its divisions, are the proximity of Naples to the Ionian Islands, and the neighbourhood of Sicily to Malta. With these military and naval stations, an active trade is carried on, much to the benefit of the kingdom at large.

The disadvantages, under which the Two Sicilies equally labour are the dryness and sterility of certain provinces in both countries, the want of navigable rivers and perennial streams, the height and direction of the Apennine chains, the insecurity of ports and harbours, and the frequency and destructiveness of eruptions and earthquakes. Many extensive districts, parched up for several months in the year, are perpetually barren. The rivers are for the most part shallow and rocky streams, and the water-courses, fed by mountain snows, disappear in the height of summer. The lofty and unbroken Apennine, running through both countries parallel to the coasts, renders the construction of cross-roads difficult and expensive. The chief ports are not safe at all seasons, and the only good haven is the harbour of Syracuse; eruptions of Vesuvius, and earthquakes on both sides of the Faro happen almost every year.

The inconveniences peculiar to each division are the openness of Naples to foreign invasion, and the exposure of Sicily to epidemic disorders. Naples, unprotected by frontier fortresses or internal lines, has neither natural nor artificial means of repelling an invader. Sicily, on the other hand, lying nearer to Barbary and the Levant, is more exposed to the plague, which scourge has on more than one occasion depopulated her cities, crushed her industry, and destroyed her

commerce.

Since then it appears, upon close examination, that the balance of good and evil is pretty fairly adjusted between the Two Sicilies, it may reasonably be expected, as it must assuredly be desired, that the future. improvement of the kingdom will be common to both of its divisions.

Notice on Periodical Phenomena. By Professor A. QUETELET, Foreign Member of the Statistical Society of London, &c. &c.

[Read before the Statistical Section of the British Association, 3rd August, 1841.] AMONGST the variable phenomena which come within the scope. of Statistics, there is one class that appears to deserve particular observation, consisting of those phenomena which undergo periodical fluctuations, and are subject to changes so regular, that it has been found practicable to determine the laws by which they are governed..

Hitherto these facts have generally been studied separately, and have been classed in distinct branches of science, in conformity with the particular views of the individuals who have directed their attention to them. It is, however, easy to perceive that this kind of division tends to impede the progress of science, and to retard the discovery of the general connection which exists among all periodical phenomena.

In this manner statistical inquiries have been carefully directed to the examination of the influence of the seasons on deaths, births, crimes, insanity, suicides, commerce, consumption, &c.

From meteorology have been obtained indications of the temperature and laws of the atmosphere: from the science of medicine we have sought the results of observations on the nature and intensity of diseases. Information not less valuable is derived from the natural sciences, and from agriculture, as to a multitude of interesting facts; but these facts are generally collected and classed in separate tables, and a simultaneous observation of them has been neglected.

The idea of filling up this gap in science, made me sensible of the necessity of enumerating all periodical phenomena; and I considered that it would be desirable to submit this idea to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, with the view of showing more forcibly the importance of a study which has for its object not only the investigation of general laws hitherto little known, but also of supplying the means for a better consideration of climates, and for a comparison of them one with another.

I have deemed it advisable to confine myself here to a concise summary; but to the section of Natural Sciences I have communicated a note of M. de Selys Longchamps, which will point out more fully the developments of which each of the heads I have given is susceptible.

In Belgium there has been instituted a general system of simultaneous observations, and many learned foreigners have been good enough to undertake to carry on the same elsewhere, so as to allow of the comparison of different climates with respect to the same periods and the same phenomena.

Observations on meteorology, the temperature and magnetism of the earth, on the budding season, &c., have been made for many years at the Royal Observatory at Brussels; and since the commencement of 1841, the periodical phenomena of nature have been also observed in the principal towns of Belgium: by MM. Cantraine and Richx, at Ghent; by MM. Martens, Crahay, Schwan, and Van Beneden, at Louvain; by MM. Moeren, De Selys Longchamps, and Dumont, at Liége; by MM. Wesmael, Du Bas, Robyns, Stas, and Dr. Gastour, at Brussels, &c.

The study of the influence of the seasons on diseases, and the sanitary state of the country in general, has not yet received the same attention:

but everything concurs to inspire us with the hope of receiving the assistance of active and learned physicians, who appreciate the advantages of a system of observations, which would lay a foundation for the complete medical statistics of the kingdom.

Periodical Phenomena: Annual and Diurnal Variations.

Meteorology and
Physics.

Chemistry.

Temperature of the air, water, and earth. (Thermometer.)
Pressure of the atmosphere. (Barometer.)

Humidity of the air. (Hygrometer.)

Quantities of rain, hail, and snow, &c. (Udometer.)

Electricity of the air. (Electrometer.)

Direction and force of the wind.

Magnetic declination and power.
Radiation of light.

Botany and Agriculture.

Zoology.

Man.

Royal Decree, dated 20th Oct., 1841, for the Regulation of the Functions and Operations of the Central Statistical Commission of Belgium, appointed by a Decree of 16th March, 1841.*

LEOPOLD, King of the Belgians, to all present and to come, Greeting:

Whereas, by the 5th article of our Decree of the 16th March last, it was ordained that the manner of executing the functions and conducting the labours of the Central Commission of Statistics should be detertermined by special regulations, to be drawn up by our Minister of the Interior, in concert with the heads of the other departments, and to be submitted to us for our approbation;

And Whereas such a code was prepared by the Central Commission of Statistics, at its meeting of the 1st Sept., 1841:

*See vol. iv. p. 226.