in India, it had been proved that the capabilities of that country for producing cotton were quite equal in that respect to those of America, while the cost of production would be much less. Mr. DILKE called attention to the efforts which were made in the United States to open up means of communication, and mentioned that in the State of Pennsylvania there were three lines of transit across the Alleghany mountains, one made by the government and two by private enterprize. These lines of communication were partly by canal and partly by railway; the three lines of railway being in some places not more than 150 yards apart, and all had sufficient traffic to make them pay. The canals terminated at the base of the mountains. The boats used on the canals were of a peculiar construction; they were made in four or five parts, so that they could be taken to pieces, and each separate portion was run upon a truck for convenience of transport by railway. When travelling on one of these railways during the past summer, he had passed, on his journey down the mountain, as many as six or seven boats. The two or three horses used for "tracking" on the canal were conveyed in the front compartment of the boat. The CHAIRMAN said that the discussion tended to establish the fact, and make it more apparent, that there was a lamentable want of transit in India, and that, if care had been taken by the Government to construct adequate public works, the resources of that magnificent country might have been developed to a wonderful extent. He hoped that, as the constitution of that body was altered, and that as the Board of Direction was fewer in number, but greater in strength, the results for the future would be very different. A vote of thanks was then passed to Dr. Buist for his paper. The SECRETARY announced that on Wednesday next a paper would be read "On the Importance of a correct System of Agricultural Statistics," by Mr. Leone Levi, on which occasion he would be presented with the Swiney Goblet, awarded to him for his work "On the Commercial Law of the World." COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS. This collection having now nearly completed its first route, it becomes necessary to make known the arrangements which have been entered into for complying with the requests of the other Institutions, whose applications have been received subsequent to that route being made out. But before doing this it may be interesting to state what has been the success of the collection hitherto, as far as that is known. The first town to which the collection was sent was Woburn, where it formed part of a general exhibition held under the auspices of the Literary and Scientific Institution. This exhibition remained open three weeks, and the clear profit arising from it was £97 4s. 10d. After visiting Wellingborough, Welshpool, and Whitchurch, it reached Stirling. Here the honorary secretary to the School of Arts, Mr. Rae, took advantage of the collection to illustrate a lecture "On Photography, or the Production of Pictures through the Agency of Light." The Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution grouped round it a collection of photographic pictures by Scotch artists exclusively, sent in in competition for some prizes offered by the Institution: and the Tyldersley Mechanics' Institution incorporated with it some illustrations of educational apparatus, diagrams, &c., for a Christmas soirée. One Institution failed to forward the collection at the proper time, disappointing the next Institution on the list, and another Institution declined to receive the collection as its time approached, owing to the distance between some of the towns to be visited, and the necessarily increased cost of carriage. The very numerous applications now to be dealt with has rendered it necessary for the Society to procure a Deptford, Institution Greenwich, Society for the Alton, Mechanics' Institution tution *Yeovil, Mutual Improvement Exeter, Literary Society Brighton, Mechanics' Insti- *Lewes, Mechanics' Institution Knowledge Institution Tunbridge, Society of Lite rary and Scientific En- tific Institution ,, Aug. 27 Sept. 18 ,, Sept. 29 Oct. 24 Nov. 1 from April 17 to April 25 July 3 tute and Literary Society *Burnley, Mechanics' Institution *Preston, Institution for the Aug. 16 ,, Aug. 27 The asterisk (*) indicates Institutions which have agreed to the Interchange of Privileges. PHOTOGRAPHY AND WAR. macadamized roads have been laid down where required, canals extended, and in 1840 the first railroad was opened; It is remarkable to watch the development of any new art, and to notice into what unexpected channels it takes its the number of railways constructed and in operation up to the end of 1852 was thirty-four principal lines and course. Photography presents us with two very striking examples. At first it appeared as a philosophic toy, progressing branches, in length 442 German or 2,025 English miles, from day to day, till at length it has become an instrument of which three-fourths were laid down in single rails; in in the hands of the many, lending its aid to the every-day addition to the above 494 German, 227 English miles, are purposes of art and civilization. Hitherto its uses have been now in course of construction. The Savings Bank system those of peace, now it appears likely to aid the operations of is noticed as affording one of the criterions of the frugality the warrior. It is understood that the Government are and provident habits of the people. The Prussian system about to attach photographers to the expeditions proceeding of centralization has insensibly tended to encourage a deto the seat of war, both naval and military. Its importance pendence upon the Government, and to supersede that in these repects is obvious; and when once the authorities self-reliance and independence which are the characteristic Within the last thirty-five years, howhave tested its practical value, the results will assuredly of this country. exceed all that they expect. It is needless to point out ever, savings banks have been established, and institutions the various practical purposes for which, in a military in the nature of friendly societies for providing against point of view, it may be made available. A dispatch, periods of sickness, &c., and associations for purchasing in illustrated with photographic views, cannot fail to convey the winter time fuel and food in bulk, subscribed for far more accurate notions to the mind than a mere written during the summer by small weekly payments. The first document, however voluminous and graphic its descrip- savings bank was established at Berlin in the year 1818; tion may be. Headlands, lines of coasts, forts, fortresses, the example was followed generally in the other provinces, dispositions of fleets, armies, face of country, and military and in the year 1840 seventy-nine savings banks were in positions, may be instantaneously taken, and, if stereo-operation; from that time to the end of the year 1849, 132 new banks were established, in all 211 savings banks, scopically, with a model-like accuracy which would defy a verbal description to emulate. in addition to which there were thirty-eight branch banks attached to the principal institutions. The establishment of so many within the last nine years is a strong proof of the increasing economical and provident habits of the people, which are further exemplified by a return, showing the sums deposited, the number of depositors and the proportionate amount of the deposits, contrasted in the different provinces, arranged in the order of the density of their population, which also accords very nearly with the comparison of the higher amount of the deposits in the several provinces. The rapid, instantaneous collodion, process is the one peculiarly adapted for this service, and gun-cotton, though its explosive qualities have not been found so valuable as originally considered, will now, dissolved in ether, in the form of collodion, still hold an important position in aiding military and naval warfare. It is hoped that the Photographic Society, with whom the Ordnance Office are in communication, will find out parties competent to undertake the duty for the Government. It THE FACTORY SYSTEM IN PRUSSIA. From the report of Mr. Alexander Redgrave, on the Laws regulating labour in Prussia, it appears he did not confine his observations to that question simply, but took the opportunity of collecting information as to the state of manufactures generally in that kingdom and their progress, as well as the condition and habits of the employed. The vast increase in the amount of corn raised and iron consumed in the country are pointed out as an unfailing evidence of rapid progress. A table is given showing an increase within the last twelve years of cotton looms 57 per cent., of woollen looms 41 per cent., of linen looms 14 per cent., of silk looms 70 per cent. on the aggregate, an increase of 26 per cent. is worthy of remark that 5,018 power looms have been introduced since 1837, and that power had been applied to looms for weaving flax in the year 1849, an experiment which has only been attempted in Ireland within these few last months. The linen weaving appears, from the number of looms employed, to be the most important of all the textile fabrics; but it is by no means now so extensive as the cotton manufacture; although the number of looms is very large, the proportion constantly employed is small; it was estimated that in 1837 the whole of the linen manufactured in Prussia would require the constant employment of only 56,401 looms, while the table given in the report shews 322,480 looms occasionally engaged in that branch. A comparative statement of the imports and exports of raw cotton, cotton yarn, wool, woollen yarn, woollen goods, flax, &c., in the year 1837 and 1851, is given as affording evidence of the manufacturing progress of the country. Of the imports of raw cotton 84 per cent. was retained for home consumption; of cotton yarn 94 per cent. Wool and flax are largely produced, and are exported as raw materials, but of the woollen yarn imported 87 per cent., and of flax yarn 71 per cent., was retained for supplying the manufacturers of the country. The increased facilities of locomotion promoted by the Government of Prussia have been very remarkable within the last thirty years. Good It appears that there is a cavings bank to every 78,471 persons; on an average 1,240 depositors to each bank; that the average sum standing to the credit of each depositor is 63 thalers 8 silber groschen, representing 97. 9s. 9d. of English money, while the total amount, divided amongst the population, would show a deposit of one thaler (3s.) per head. The statistics of savings banks in Great Britain and Ireland show for every savings bank in Great Britain and Ireland, 48,214 persons; 2024 depositors to every bank; the average sum standing to the credit of each depositor was 251. 19s. 7d., and the amount of the investments, divided amongst the population, would give 11. 1s. 10d. per head. In making a comparison between the two countries the Friendly Societies in England and Wales must not be forgotten. It is stated from returns made, that the whole number of known societies amounts to 15,953, at a moderate computation comprising a million of members, subscribing a million of pounds annually. At the time of Mr. Redgrave's visit, "the dearness of the prime articles of consumption was being felt. Black bread, instead of being one halfpenny per lb., was then sold at one penny per lb.; rye meal at rather more than one penny per lb. Meat was proportionally dear; varying from 8d. to 4d. per lb.; but of this the operatives do not generally partake above twice or thrice a week, the frequency and quantity of animal food, as a part of their meals, depending in a great measure upon their improvident or their economical habits. The animal food generally consumed is pork. Potatoes cost from 2s. to 2s 3d. per scheffel, rather more than a bushel and a half; butter, from 6d. to 7d. per lb.; milk, 1d. per quart. Bread and potatoes form the principal support of the operatives, and any enhancement in the price of these necessaries of life inflicts upon them a corresponding amount of suffering; and he was informed that there was much deprivation amongst the factory operatives. The wages of the adult are seldom less than 6s. per week, of young persons under 16 years of age, than 2s. per week; but the adult hand loom weaver in Elberfeld can and does At Erdmansdorf, Schmiedeberg, Landeshut, Waldenburg, and Freiburg, Breslau, and Glatz, there are various factories for flax spinning and weaving and the manufacture of woollen, worsted, and silk goods and pottery. Many of them have been established through the instrumentality of the government. In many instances domestic weavers are employed. One firm employs 8,000 hand-loom weavers. Worsted, yarn, handspun flax are obtained from Leeds and Belfast, being cheaper than any that can be obtained from the native manufactories; at Glatz are a steam cotton and flax spinning factory and a cotton spinning and weaving factory by water power, the only factories in Silesia wherein school-bound children are emploved. earn much more than 6s. per week; his earnings depend rooms, in which from five to ten workmen are employed, upon his own assiduity and the description of fabric upon and drives a small wheel, which gives motion to the interwhich he is employed; he may earn, at times, twice that nal machinery. There are elementary schools for the sum, and occasionally much more, but then his labour and children of the workmen, in which drawing is taught, application must be unremitting. In the power loom and there is a drawing school on Sunday for those young weaving factory, at Elberfeld, the wages of the wea-persons who no longer attend school." vers, all young women, were 6s. per week for twelve hours per day. The wages of artizans and mechanics are at a higher rate, being the remuneration of intelligence and skill, as well as manual labour. Considering the rate of wages paid in Prussia, compared with the price of provisions and clothing, and the expense of house rent, it would appear that the Prussian operative receives a remuneration sufficient to procure the simple fare and to supply the slender comforts to which he has been accustomed and with which he is contented; and hence that Prussian manufacturers may procure labour at a more moderate rate, comparing the cost of labour with the cost of the raw material to be worked, than in England; but, comparing the amount of work that can be turned off by an English operative, the skill and intelligence with which he performs his work, and his capability of adapting himself readily to mechanical improvements, it was admitted that, with the sole advantages of cheapness of labour, they could not compete with English manufacturers, and they feared the recent restriction of labour in Prussia would affect the power of production; for the Prussian factory operative labours at least ten hours per week more than his English competitor, and if employed at the loom in his own house his labour is not restricted even to those additional hours. But while the Prussian artizan lives upon his coarse fare and works hard, wherein his position is subordinate to that of the English operative, who enjoys many substantial comforts of life and many social advantages, his inferiority is in some degree compensated for by his ever finding near his home, and within his means, a well regulated school for his children, in which instruction of a sound, useful description is imparted by trained and intelligent masters, and what is equally important to him and to society, that opportunity must be made use of. Though Mr.Redgrave observes on the Factory system in Prussia generally, yet from the time at his disposal he was compelled to confine his inquiries, inasmuch as he was by his instructions required more particularly to visit the manufacturing districts of Silesia. He reports at some length on the present condition of the manufactures of that province, and the labourers employed therein, and received much authentic information from Herr Von Minutoli, Regierungs Rath of the district. "At Liegnitz and Goldberg there is a considerable trade in coarse woollen goods, principally for exportation to America; at the latter town power looms have been introduced, and more are being erected. The manufac turers complained that their immediate neighbours, the Bohemians, being under no restrictions, kept the factories at work during the night, while they did not run for more than twelve hours per day; but at Goldberg, where the water is the moving power, under the plea of making up time lost in dry weather, *** the mill generally worked during the night by a double set of hands-men, women, and young persons. The wool was nearly all of Silesian growth." * * "Hirschberg is a central town for the purchase of linens, surrounded for miles by the cottages of hand spinners. hand loom weavers, and by bleaching grounds." At the "Josephinehütte glass works, situated upon the hills the boundary of Bohemia, * a large quantity of Bohemian glass is manufactured for the London market. These works give employment to between 400 and 500 hands; the chief materials for the glass are found in the neighbourhood; the furnaces are situated in the centre of the district, and the hill-sides are studded with the shops and homes of the workmen. Wherever there is a stream of sufficient power to turn the machinery for cutting and engraving the glass it is conducted to one of these work No children, and rarely young persons under sixteen, and no females are, employed in the iron works and mines of Breslau. "Silesia, rich in coal and iron, and containing extensive forests, produces also large quantities of corn, wool, flax, and hemp. Each product formerly gave sufficient and profitable employment to its population, mines were worked, iron was wrought, glass made in the forests; the meadows and bleaching fields received not only native, but Bohemian and Saxon linen; flax was cultivated, and its manufacture was the chief occupation and support of its peasants. Linen formed the chief article of exchange, but the revulsions of trade, affecting all its productions, have withdrawn the demand for the manufactures of flax fabrics more especially to other parts of Prussia and to other countries. "The linen manufacture of Silesia, seated in a large agricultural district, was essentially and necessarily a part of the agricultural system of the country: the material was sown as seed and reaped as a harvest, was prepared in the fields, and was wrought in the agriculturists' dwelling, being spun at one cottage and the yarn woven into linen at another, was then bleached in the neighbouring meadows, and the manufacture of linen cloth thus became entirely dependent upon and as it were a subsequent process of the previous opperations in the field. "The production of the cloth, from the first operation to the last, was conducted upon a principle of barter; but little capital was required to commence and to continue the system; none was applied to improve it. That which their fathers had done the children continued to practise. They knew, and sought to know, nothing of the consumer, of improvements occupying the attention of other manufacturers, or the wants of the great marke s; they made for the trader who collected their goods, and by whose intervention the cloth was transported to other parts of the country and exported abroad, and who paid them by the direct exchange of other goods for their productions. Thus these agricultural manufacturers knew and thought not how to make their goods acceptable to the world, and continued to manufacture as they had done; the demand of course lessened, the value of the goods decrea ed, and the trade gradually fell from them; their markets were no longer frequented by foreign merchants, and their condition has been thus reduced to a state somewhat similar to that of the hand loom weavers in this country upon the introduction of machinery. "Such a system of farming and manufactures combined was doubtless well adapted to render a simple and unenterprizing population in a large inland country, at a distance from the capital, and possessing but few main roads, contented and happy, but was altogether unfitted to cope with the advance of invention and the increased demand for goods of a different or of a cheaper description; without improvement and the exercise of intelligence it must fail in a competition which is promoted by the ap plication of every resource which science and industry can bring to hear. A few facts will prove this, and show the effect of foreign competition upon the linen industry of Silesia very strikingly: : "The exportation of linen goods from Landeshut amounted 5,100,000 mark banco 1,800,000 "The competition with which the Silesian linens have had to contend is from Ireland; as the manufacture increased there, so the complaints arose from Silesia that their trade was decreasing." Mr. Redgrave notices the similarity between the state of things and that which at no very distant period existed in England. "The linen manufacture has existed chiefly along the valley of the Riesengebirge, the range of hills which separates Silesia from the kingdom of Saxony and Austria, and watered in its whole length by numerous streams, forming meadows well adapted for grass bleaching. The centre of the province is traversed by the Oder, navigable from nearly the extremity of the province to its mouth. Thus favoured by nature, the producers of flax and manu facturers of linen long enjoyed the advantages of their simple and inartificial mode of trading. Their inability as small independent proprietors, each trading upon his own account, performing their own particular operations without variation or improvement to meet the competition of other manufacturers of greater energy and intelligence, and the increasing demand for cotton goods, appear to be the main causes of their present depression." "Flax is still grown by the small proprietors, and is either prepared by them or at preparing factories established by the aid of the Government, for steeping and pre paring the flax, where the flax is better prepared than by the ordinary processes of the growers. The flax so prepared is bought by the cottage hand-spinners, who sell the yarn to a "Sammlunger," whose occupation is to travel round the country places to collect the yarn, paying for it sometimes in money, more frequently in goods, prepared flax, &c., who in his turn disposes of it in the smaller towns, where it is sorted in numbers and again delivered out or sold to the cottage weavers. When the cloth is made, if the weaver be employed directly by the trader from whom he received the yarn, he returns the cloth and is paid in money or in goods for his work; or if he has purchased the yarn he delivers the cloth to the Sammlunger," who repays him part in money, part in yarn or other goods. In effect, this continues to be a system of barter; the unfortunate spinner or weaver rarely receives money, and even when he does the numerous profits which the produce of his labour must satisfy before it reaches the merchant reduce his remuneration to the very lowest amount. I was assured that the earnings of these hand spinners and weavers, employing their families to help them, would not exceed 3s. per week. In summer they seek employment upon the fields, but the greater portion of the year they have nothing more to depend upon than a miserable and fluctuating remuneration; even taking into consideration the value of the money as compared with the paucity of their wants and their easily satisfied necessities, these families are painfully impoverished. Their food is black bread, rye "suppe," or gruel; some times potatoes and even potato parings, without salt; meat and beer never; butter and milk occasionally. Their clothing is also of the poorest kind; still there are many who cling to this mode of life. Proprietors of small parcels of land, peasant owners, whose plot is not sufficient for their support under economical cultivation, who are ignorant of tillage, and yet refuse to part with their encumbering possession, or to occupy themselves industriously in handicraft; but lacking physical and intellectual energy, they prefer to retain their land, their habits, and their prejudices against any improvement. The establishment of spinning factories moved by power, has doubtless effected much for the amelioration of both hand spinners and weavers. The hand spinners formerly produced yarn for the hand-looms and for exportation; but now, notwithstanding the increased production of yarn by machinery and a demand also for hand-spun yarn, which can be produced of a finer thread than by machinery, and is therefore best adapted for the weft of certain classes of goods, there is a considerable quantity of yarn imported from Leeds and Belfast, inasmuch as those yarns are brought to Silesia at a cheaper rate than similar goods could be produced in the country. All these spinning factories are employed in the manufacture of yarn for local handloom weavers, and it appears that the hand-loom weavers employed by the proprietors of these factories may, by steady work, earn wages double the profits of the independent weaver. They must work regularly, and in many cases in factories provided by the proprietors; yet, in the midst of these regularly paid operatives, the small master weaver, hating control, clings to his poverty and his independence. "The cottages of these weavers contain, in the general sitting and cooking room, the loom or looms, placed at the window so as to block out the light, a huge stove, a table, and a seat. The stove is heated for cooking; the weavers are at work, and the only ventilation is that which cannot be avoided when the door is opened for ingress or egress. In such a room there can be little comfort, either as a room or as a workshop. The close and vitiated atmosphere is stifling to one unaccustomed to so confined an air, but then there is independence-freedom from certain hours and certain regulations imposed by the employer, forgetful of the chains they fetter upon themselves; for the half-day idled, they must work half the night, burn fuel and light, and even with the most unremitting labour they cannot earn anything like the wages of the factory hand-loom weaver. I speak from facts. I have visited well-ventilated factories (for handlooms) were the weavers were under proper and necessary regulations only, and I have visited the homes of those who preferred their independence." The number of linen looms in constant work for the whole of Prussia has increased from 35,877 in 1837, to 48,384 in 1849; the number of linen looms in Silesia at these two periods was, respectively, 12,347 and 15,865. The number of cotton looms for Prussia was, 45,013 in 1837, 70,693 in 1849; the number in Silesia at the same periods, 20,320 and 30,552 respectively. In the district comprised in the Government circles of Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, and Dusseldorf, including, besides those towns, Elberfeld, Barmen, Crefeld, Gladbach, Eupen, Duren, &c., the number of school-bound children, who did not frequent school, varied from 2.28 to 2.90 per cent.; in the whole of Silesia the per centage varied from 2.18 to 4.65. The proportion of illegitimate to legitimate births, in two of the districts of Silesia, was At Breslau, 1 illegitimate to 7·26 legitimate births. Liegnitz, 1 6.40 the lowest state of immorality disclosed by the returns; while the manufacturing districts of the Rhine contained the highest proportion of legitimate births : At Dusseldorf, 1 illegitimate to 27-47 legitimate births. Aix-la-Chapelle, 1 37.63 These latter facts are also gratifying proofs that the Factory system may exist without more danger to the education and morals of young workpeople than may be found amongst a population of varied occupations living in scattered hamlets. The Government appears to have tried various means to mitigate the distress among the hand-loom weavers, and the principal efforts at first were directed to the alleviation of the immediate distress, and to prop the declining linen trade by pecuniary assistance to individual tradesmen and mechanics. Assistance of this nature produced no good results; it was too restricted, too shortsighted, and benefited only the starving man so long as it relieved his hunger; it effected no change in his condition but to render him less independent, less active than before; as the Government applied pecuniary aid directly to individuals, so the people expected the Government would continue the charge, without exertion or care on their part. "The Government, therefore, convinced that the linen trade could only be revived and maintained by making goods to suit the demand, and such as should defy competition, commenced the system which has been continued to the present time. They established a school for teaching the best systems of growing and cultivating flax, a model institution for exhibiting the best methods of steeping and preparing it, and as there was a considerable demand for hand-spun yarn, they supported a school for teaching the hand-spinning of flax, whence teachers issued to instruct in local schools; they invited manufacturers from other districts to settle in Silesia, introducing new employments and new habits, and lastly, they promoted, both by undertaking the erection of buildings and by the gift and loan of valuable machinery, the spinning of flax by power as the chief means of enabling the linen manufacturers of Silesia to compete in the markets of the world, and of raising the spinners and the weavers from their forlorn and destitute condition. Up to the end of 1849 upwards of 700 persons had passed through the school for the cultivation of flax; steeping and preparing factories had been erected in several districts; and twenty-seven spinning schools were in active operation; ten flax spinning factories had been established, moved by steam power, and fitted with new and improved machinery, containing in the aggregate 44,050 spindles, giving regular employment within their walls to several hundred workpeople, and in the surrounding villages constant occupation to many thousands. These factories have nearly all been established within the last twenty years; in 1837 there were seven flax spinning factories, containing 10,444 spindles, the number of which is now increased above fourfold. "They have, notwithstanding, been openly and covertly opposed; openly, by the class of middle merchant, small tradesman, and "Samınlunger," who, as I have before stated, exist upon the poverty of the cottage spinners and weavers, and of course endeavour to perpetuate the system most adapted for increasing their profits; and covertly, by that spirit of inactivity and unwillingness to exertion in a new path, which has been the chief original cause of the transfer of the linen trade to other markets. As one of the objections to the factory system, it was gravely urged by its opponents that the yarn spun by power must be inferior to that spun by hand, because in the spinning by hand the thread is moistened by the saliva of the spinner, who must keep his fingers moist to enable him to seize and twist the fibres of flax as he forms the thread, and thus imparts to the thread a firmness and compactness which would be wanting in the yarn spun by the aid of simple water. An objection, like many others, as my informant, an intelligent manager of a spinning factory, observed, alike groundless and im probable, for in the bleaching of the linen, the daily processes of alternate saturation with water and evaporation upon the field and under the sun would leave little of the human moisture supposed to have communicated such strengthening qualities. "The manufacture of shawls and velvets has been introduced at Schmiedeberg to supply the linen trade; of watches at Lähn; and the art of plaiting straw has been taught to the weavers of the hills. "In stating some of the principal measures adopted by the Government, it is also no more than just to point out that many of their officers in Silesia have laboured inde fatigably in the same direction. At Leignitz, Herr Von Minutoli has gathered a variety of specimens of the industrial arts, more especially as applicable to the wants of the province, and arranged them in a museum, which is open to the student and the workinan. Specimens are here to be studied of the results of skill and art upon all the products of the earth: iron work, porcelain, pottery, glass, leather, textile fabrics, &c., and the progress of workmanship and handicraft may be followed out from the rude utensils of the earliest ages to the highest degree of perfection exhibited in the works of the best masters; and such a study is facilitated by there being also specimens of the implements used by them. In one of the circles within the regency of Leignitz, that of Hirschberg, containing sixty villages, the Landrath, Herr Von Graevenitz, has induced the local authorities in twenty-eight villages to establish schools, in the nature of our ragged schools, for the children before they arrive at the age at which they are bound to attend the elementary school of their village. These children, under six years of age, are employed in summer to collect mountain strawberries, helping in the fields, &c., during the rest of the year they have no other occupation but begging; and the establishment of these schools within the last four years has been the means of relieving from immediate want and training to industrious habits about 1000 children annually, who are instructed in reading and in the spinning of flax, and receive one meal per day. It is not intended to restrict the instruction to "spinning," but, as one of the chief occupations of the circle, it was considered best adapted as a commencement. "But of all these measures, the introduction of spinning by power appears to have been more successful than any of its predecessors, although still far from meeting the whole of the evils. Prejudices have to be broken down, idle habits eradicated, self-dependence inculcated, before the people can recover and retain the position of an industrious self-supporting population. "It will be apparent, from what I have already stated, that the factory laws of Prussia have been framed with the primary object of securing to factory operatives a sufficient amount of schooling, equal in effect, though perhaps not in quantity, to that to which all children are subjected; and that they act upon an extended system of compulsory education, being directed to secure the maintenance of a long established principle, not to enforce the universal observance of an original obligation; and although a perusal of the laws would lead one to imagine that the regulations are stringent and must bear hard upon the employers of labour, it is nevertheless undeniable that hitherto no difficulty has been felt, whatever difficulties may be anticipated from the law of 1853 in the employment of children in cotton and woollen-spinning factories; the generality of the school obligation and restriction of labour in so many employments places all upon an equality, and the manufacturers of one class of goods cannot withdraw, by the attraction of increased wages and the absence of school attendance, children from a neighbour's factory, where reasonable hours and school attendance are enforced." Mr. Redgrave, after pointing out that the great demand for the labour of children in this country, and the constant complaints made by schoolmasters that no sooner has a child attained the power of reading and writing than it ceases to attend school, and that his efforts are damped and thwarted by the never-ceasing changes in his school, proceeds to say:-" The law of Prussia requires that no child shall be employed in a factory unless it shall have attended school for three years, or can read and write, and then it is required to combine school attendance with labour. This appears to be sound policy; when a child begins to earn wages, it ceases to be a mere child, it labours as a man, and receives the wages of its labour; this is a position which it covets and prizes; it is frequently in all but strength and size equal to the adult labourer in the same employment; if that child has never |