The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-05 00:00:00

TEE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S REPORT,

That particular branch of the national accounts
which falls under the superintendence of the Regis-
trar-Geeeral is kept with great ability and success.
Items are promptly entered, returns scientifically
digested, and a balance struck at very short dates.
Already wo know the rate at which births and
deaths proceeded in Euglana up to the 30th of last
Sept, and we have an accurate statement of mar-
riage transactions up to the 30th June previous. It
happens, too, that the results are generally favour-
able, and that the coedition of the country, rela-
tively speaking, is such as to inspire satisfaction.
The marriages exceed the average of the quarter for
the last ten years—a sure proof of popular prospe-
rity and well-doing. The births exceed in number
any previous return for the like period, whi'e the
deaths amount to less than the average mortality
of the season. If we add to these announcements
that the price of wheat is 17 per cent., of beef 812
per c.mt., of mutton 4 per cent. below the average
of the two summer quarters last past, we shall have
said enough to establish the agreeable character of
the return before 114. As our readers were pre-
sented with the details themselves in our columns
of yesterday it is unnecessary to enter upon any
recapitulation of items ; but one or two points of
peculiar interest deserve attention.
The season has been a remarkable ono. So very
modern is the science of statistics that trustworthy
records of temperature do not extend to a remoter
period than the year 1771, but the 86 years which
have elapsed since that date present very few exam-
ples of greater heat than prevailed last quarter. In
the whole of that interval 13 years only have been
fund in which a July was hotter than the July of
1857, and six years only in which the September
xceeded in temperature the September of the pre-
sent year. As to our ramth of August, it carries
eft' the palm without a rival, so warm an August
having never ben known. Taking the three
months together, the average temperature prevail-
ing is exceeded by that of one year only out of all
the 80—viz., the year 1818. It may surprise some
of our readers to learn that, as a general rule,
there is no month out of the twelve in which a
thermometer placed with its bulb upon the grass
does not show a fall of the mercury below the
freezing point at some moment or other ; but it is
now recorded as a notable fact that during the
quarter last past this never happened at all—or, at
leas,, did not occur atthe place where observations
were taken. The rainfall does not appear to have
been excessive ; indeed, it seems to have been re-
ser-red for the present quarter. July and Au.fue-
together were not so wet as usual—September
somewhat wetter, but not much so.

Now, the question is, what effect was produced
by these atmospheric conditions on the public
health, and it certainly does not appear, on the
whole, to have been 'an unfavourable one. The
Registrar-General, indeed, distinctly enunciates the
doctrine that "a summer of unusual warmth in our
European climates. not only promotes the growth of
corn and wine, but is p obably salutary to the
human frame." This proposition however, is &-
pendent on car ain conditions. Perhaps we may dis-
cern some evidence.of its general truth in the feet
that the deaths of •the quarter really were below the
average, but we are told that they exceeded the
rates of the two previous summers, and it appears
beyond doubt that diseas es were prevalent indi-
cating an unusual action of the sun. To deprive
solar heat of its injurious powers we need only
pay attention to the rules of cleanliness. The
sun's rays have no noxious properties in them-
selves ; they are fraught naturally with vital
warmth and comfort only ; it is when they are
permitted to act upon undrained soil or decaying
refuse that pestilential exhalations are produced.
The Registrar-General takes more account of our
shortcomings than our performances in the way 'of
sanitary irnprovement4, and records with a moni-
tory severity the avoidable loss of lire during the
last quarter. According to his figures, upwards of
17,000 of the deaths in England during this periol
may be regarded as untimely. Probably war never
cost us so much in the same space of time.
If something hesebeen done, therefore, much
more remains for ns to do, and we are urged, above
all things, to establish pure water supplies and good
systems of drainage. These are the first rules of
sanitary science, and we may well be shamed into
wisdom by the Chinese, whose' waters, even amid
the population swarming on their banks, are still
kept uninfec'ed and wholesome. It is impossible to
(NCO .stiwate the iml 'Wane° of these observances.
The deadliest scourges of humanity are not, as we
have repeatedly observed, those tremendous
demice which expend their fury in short periods and
at considerable intervals. What we have most to
fear is the quiet incessant march of death under
ordinary forms, but in default of sanitary precau-
tions. The Lew wasting fever in its varieui
types, the marry shapes of agues, and the thousand
• phases of general infirmity resulting from impuri-
ties of air and water—these are the agent.,
which, without always operating immediately to the
destruction of life, infallibly curtail its duration and
truremit ingly impair its vital powers. The Reyis.
trar-General speaks with a terrible cemprehensive-
ness in enforcing the maxims of Cleanliness. "if
says he, " the English race could lose strength,
dbeauty,wel
dwelling-places
-hpelaalctehs,
witha nd
impunity, life i the
the imagination impurities ofo
itsf
Swift alone could conceive—his pencil depict—the
depth of 'degradation ti which the nation might
fell." There is more truth ita thiskind
than in most such prophecies. It isa common thing
enough for enthusiasts of all sorts to connect na-
tional ruin with inattention to their own sayings ;
but we need little reflection to assure us that the
destinies of England must indeed depend upon the
vigour of Englishmen, and the vigour 9f English-
men upon the conditions ef-English life.
The acuteness of modern observers has brought
the fruits of the year into immediate connection
with the subjects of the Registrar-General's re-
turns ; so completely so, indeed, that the pi ices of
various articles of food are recorded with as much
interest as Vie numbers of mat r,ages or 13Xths. We
have already said that wheat and butcher's me 0
have become cheaper than they were, but, on the
o her side, there is a serious decrease in the potato
crop. Potatoes are now costing nearly half as much
again as they did two yeas ago, the difference being
no less than 42 per cent. in' favour of 1855. Nor is
the loss merely one of aliment, simply considered.

The fact is that the potato discharges a very impor-
tant and necessary function in the nourishment of
m ,n. It is an excellent anti-scorbutic, and unless
its action in this te-pect can be replaced by that of
some other vegetablo, the greatest abundance of
I real and meat will not mike up for the deficiency.
Fortunately the crop of apples has been plentiful
in the extreme, and the cheapness of this wholesome
fruit may help to establish the wholesome equili-
brium in our elements of food.
The actual increase of the population in the
United Kingdom may probably to computed at
1,000 souls a-day, but against this must be set the
elliux of people by emigration. The returns from
the ports at which Government emigration-offices
are stationed show that somewhat above 50,000 ,
emigrants, left these shores during the period under
review, but ir, is calculated that of these only some
20,000 wore of English origin. The tide still sets
towards the United Sates, but by no means so
s.rorig'y as in former years. Not quite half of the
Engli,h emigrants betook themselves to the terri •
tories of the Union, while almost half-8,947
proceededlto Australia, and 1,707 to our own North
American colonies. Such are the principal features
of tho last return, and if there is still much in our
sanitary position to be deplored and amended there
is also much to be thankful for in the actual state of
In reality, we have done and are doing a
respectable amount of work in the way of sanitary
improvement, but the arrears of past years were so
vast, and the tendency of people to inaction or in-
dfference except under immediate pressure, is so
strong, that the Registrar-General performs a very
prudent part in keeping our omissions and our
obligations prominently before our eyes.—Times.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

WORCESTER AUTUMN MEETING.

Handicap Plate of 25 soya. Entrance half a soy, to go
to the second horse. Five furlong... 19 subs.
vtr. Bates's Jane by Mickey Free, 3 yrs, 7st 31b (Bray) 1
Mr. Mellish'e Rotterdam, 3 yre, 7st 21b ...(Cuetance) 2
Mr. Evans's Amorous Boy, 3 yrs, 7st 2lb (Crewmen) 3
Mr. Webb's Eardrop, 4 yrs, Bst 121 b (Prior) 4
The following also ran :—Mitraille, Keneidy, Earth-
stopper, Stormy Petrel, S D'Arcy, Chaperone.
Betting.--4 to 1 agst Jane, 6to 1 agat Eardrop, 7to
1 agst Kenerdy, 7 to 1 apt Amorous Boy, 8 to 1 net
Rotterdam, Bto 1 agst Mamas. Won by a neck,
half a length between the second and third; good fourth.
Autumn Flying Stakes of 5 Bova each, with 40 added.
The second to save his stake. About half a mile.

27 snb4.
Mr. La Mert's Admiral of the White, by the Flying
Dutchman, 3 yrs, 64t 91b (Ducker) 1
Mr. Dray's Little Gerard, 6 yrs, Est 131 b (car. 7.t)

(Prior) 2
Mr. J. Dawson's Agra, 4 yrs, 7st Blb (Snowden) 3,
The following also ran :—Olympus, Presthury, Lord
Nelson, Prince's Mixture, Ella, Raven, Captain Wed-
derburn, Lass of Richmond Hill, and Magnus Troil.
Betting-3 to 1 agst Captain Wedderburn, 7to 2 agst
Olympus, 4 to 1 agst Lord Nelson, 7 to 2 agst Little
Gerard, 8 to 1 agst Magnus Troll. Won by a head ;
half a length between the second and third. Raven was
a good fourth.
Worcestershire Steeplechase Handicap of 20 sows. each,
h ft, and 5 only if declared, ac., with 100 added; the
second to save his stake. About four miles. 17 subs,
four of whom declared.
Mr. B. Land's Theodine, by Them, aged, 9,t 41b
(Nightingale) 1
Mr. Pringle'sForest Queen, ages.l,lost 81b(Waddington) 2
Mr. S. Williams's Omar Pacha, aged, 9st 71b (Green) 3
The following also ran :—Minor, Evington Lass, _
Hindley, Al ltrshott, Bellman, and Peacock.

Betting-3 to 1 apt Forest Qneen, sto 1 agst Omar
Pacha, sto 1 agst Minor, 6to 1 agst Bellman. Won
by a head ; good third ; the ethers beaten off.
The Selling Steeplechase, a Sweepstakes of 5 Novi each,
with 40 added. About two miles. 3 subs.
_ _ _ _ _

Mr. Black's The Farmer, aged (301.), li.st...(iieaver) 1
Mr. B. Land's Vestige, 6 yrs (300,115 t (B. Land, jun.) 2
Mr. Dart's Innkeeper, aged (30/ ), list (G. Stevens) 3
Betting— sto 4 aget Vestige. Won by two lengths.
The winner was sold for 90 guineas.
The Worcester Hunt Stakes, a Sweepstakes of 5 Boys
each, with 25 added. Two miles. 4 subs.

Mr. J. B. gtarkey's Laverne, 4 yrs, list 111 b (Mr. Dart) 1
Mr. Price's Brongpton, 6 yrs, 12st 4!b (Owner) 2
Mr. Halford's Kingfisher, 4 yrs, 12st 4lb (Mr. Edwards) 3
Ciowee's Conrad, aged, 12st sib (Mr. Woodhouse) 4
Betting-5 to 4 each agat Kingfisher and Laverne.
Won by a length ; bad third. On returning to scale an
objection was lodged agst Lavern% on the ground that
she had gone the wrong side of a post.

Country Markets.

EDINBURO-11 RAY AN
3.
D STRAW MARKET
Nov.

Supplies of all kinds these last six days large.
Oat straw, from 8s Od to 9s Od per kemple of 16 stones
trou ; wheat do., 6s Od to 7s 6d ; barley do., 51 01 to 7's
Od. Hay from 10d to 12d.

EDINBURGH MEAL—Nov. 3. •
There were in the market to-day 14 sacks oatmeal, each
weighing 2801 b imperial, which sold at 38s Od and —a.

RKET—Nov. 2.

•dsy 13 bags of oatmeal, 0 of
Sales dull.