The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-30 00:00:00

THEt SUN. LONDON WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 30, 1863.

have been innumerable proofs afforded during the
discussion of this vexed question that incalculable
advantages would accrue to all parties immediately
connected with the affair, and that no detriment
could occur to the colonies that are in so much tri-
bulation at the notion, owing to the immense dis-
tance that lies between, and the other impediments
that bar the passage of the unwelcome visitors from
one place to the other. A passage is quoted from a
letter of the Crown Solicitor to the Colony, who
once resided in Adelaide, and he states that he gives
it as his decided opinion, after mature reflection and
ample opportunity of forming a judgment, that the
transportation system to Western Australia is a great
advantage to both the convicts and the population,
and that he also believes the plan to be innocuous
so far as regards the remaining Australian Colonies.
Nothing that can be adduced in the way of testi-
money, however, seems to have been of any avail,
and the consequence is that, as usual, the
cause of improvement has been checked, and the
services that might have been rendered to a class
which pre-eminently require all the adventitious
aids that can be given them, are lost for the present
at all events, and the kindly wishes and energetic
schemes thrust churlishly back on their propounders.
It seems a cruel wrong to inflict upon the convicts
themselves thus to debar them from a great privi-
lege, and to shut the door upon all efforts to amelio-
rate their position and deprive them of the benefit
of entering into a new sphere of action, and seeking
a new world, as it were, where they might more
easily put off the sins that so readily beset
them in the old one. This is a sad reflection to
d well upon, and it seems desirable to consider
whether it cannot be contrived that something
should be done to mitigate the evil, and thus lessen
the extent of the disappointment which such a
decision as that referred to must inevitably occasion.
If the spot that was selected is not to be permitted
to remain the trial-ground of the system to the
degree proposed, why not seek a fresh sphere, and
discover new opportunities for carrying on the good
work that has been checked and stopped in the
desired localities. There are vast tracts of fertile
country in the north-west and ncrth of Australia, as
yet but partially explored, but enough of these
parts is already known to inform us of their value.
Why should not convict labour open up the resources
of these districts the same way that it developed
those of New South Wales, Tasmania, and Queens-
land ? Why should the colonists of New South
Wales and other districts remote from Swan River
act the part of the dog in the manger ? Govern-
ment have restricted the number of convicts to the
old quota. Let them be satisfied with this, and
remain quiescent for the future, and let the Govern-
ment turn to account the district above referred to.
'The life may be hard perhaps, and the results may
not be appreciated for years to come, but one great
object will have been effected, England will be
freed to some extent from long-service criminals►
and the foundation of new empires will have been
laid.

The statistics of the Registrar-General are no
less interesting than important. The thousands
who die annually from preventible causes are con-

tinual reproaches to our social reformers, and afford
but too conclusive evidence that much remains to
be done in spreading education among the masses,
and also in enforcing the observance of sanitary
laws. Tb.e rapid increase of the population renders
the observance of such precautions especially neces-
sary among us, seeing that the increase in London
alone is reckoned at 121 daily, or, taking merely
the excess of births over deaths, at 72 daily.
The English registration shows an addition
to its numbers of a population equal to
the present inhabitants of London and York-
shire, and this within the comparatively
short space of time that elapsed since the establish-
ment of the registration sy stem of 1837. It is cal-
culated that in every five years there is an increase
of a million, and in the middle of 1861 the popula-
tion of England was reckoned at 20,110,496. There
is, therefore, little reason to fear any diminution of
oar numerical strength, but the wise man will look
not only to the actual number of the population
but to its vigour and endurance. Health and
power are not less important considerations than
the number of individuals that form the State. The
quality of the water consumed is known to have a
powerful effect on the general health, and Dr.
FARR, in the report we have been speaking of,
attributes disastrous consequences to the habitual
consumption of impure water. He says, " The ova
of worms and the seeds of various diseases are thus
diffused among children ; while great numbers of
men and women in the prime of life also suffer, and
often die of the maladies which are the inevitable
consequences of violations of natural laws." Dr.
ACLAND, the Regius Professor of Medicine in the
University of Oxford, in writing on the subject,
also speaks strongly as to the evils attending im-
pure water and its effect in encouraging fever of a
typhoid kind. The Registrar wisely and kindly
adds a warning to his list of the deaths from this
source, in which he insists upon the necessity of
cleanliness and ventilation in the dwellings of use
poor, if the ravages of typhus under its many
various forms are to be kept within moderate
limits. Such advice is specially needed by the
poor, pent up in close workshops or small and un-
healthy homes; but, in truth, the dwellings of the
rich are not altogether free from blame in such re-
spects, and people teem to be almost as much
afraid of a breath of fresh evening air as of typhus
itself. In many other cases much lies within the
power of the public, such as in the instance of
smallpox, which is now said to exist only by
sufferance, though unfortunately the ignorant pre•
judice of many of the lower classes hinders much
of
.the good that might be done in this respect.
There are several other points of interest in this
report as affecting the condition of the national
education, the peculiarities of the marriages, &c.,
but, these points which affect the public health
concerns us all more nearly.

CHAMPAGNE should be not only cool but cold,
and, if it be not kept in a temperature sufficiently
low, it must be iced. In a hot room, even in winter, the
coolness is pleasant; but when the bottle is allowed to re-
main in the ice-pail until the wine becomes nearly as cold
as the ice itself, it is wasting fine champagne to give it in
that state,: for flavour atel taste become what wine-mer-
chants call " locked up." Ten minutes' iceing, or, as the
French call it, frappe, does not deteriorate the wine; but
even then it is not equal to that which is fresh brought out
of a cold cellar, where it has lain long undisturbed. The
practice of putting pieces of ice into the wine itself shows
that a cool refreshing drink is wanted, but it is destructive
to the quality.—Thaw's Wine, Vine, and Cellar.

THE OLD MAN'S ARCH, Arcus Sinilts —A
white ring on the outside of the pupil of the eye so
known to physicians and anatomists. The nature and im-
port of this sign of senility has only been lately understood.
This ring, ou being submitted to the analysing powers of the
microscope, shows itself WI be composed of fatty matter in
the substance of the cornea. The ring itself seems to be of
This
'ilk. consequence ; but it is found to be an indication of what
8 generally going on in the body. Modern research has
l'hown that one of the ways in which old age reveals itself
hl t
iscoor_earnseio.o. into fat gradually diminishes the integrity
113 body by the fatty degeneration of the tissues.
of the
des anon
their functions.
it occurs—and at last leads to the
ilrstfstmetione. Where this process of fatty
one organ, it is found generally to
degeneration e
indicate that the samine
going on in other organs.
of this
scomes to the physician an indi,
other organs of the body.samlte kind may be going on in
cation
tthhaetacrhcauna
gee
schbange is
is a secret sign not to be
dby judicious treatment the neglected. This condition of the system is not without
remedy—an the disastrous effects
maybe averted.
- of a fatty degeneration of the tip