Science and Arts.

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1858.

"They certainly were, miserable woman,' cried I indignantly. Have you anything yet more upon your mind?'

'Hush!' whispered she, pointing towards the door; 'she's listening; they always does it, bless you-I knows 'em so well. Once-only once, as I'm a sinful woman-I smothered a sick man with his pillow; that was for his money; he would have died any way, because he had the lock-jaw. Now,' added she, with a long-drawn sigh, and after a pause, 'I feel somehow better and more comfortable like, thanks to you, sir.'

The patient had sunk back from her sittingposture, as if exhausted with this terrible narration; but I read in her yet anxious eyes that she had still something more to say. Presently she again broke silence, and this time the emphasis with which she spoke was mingled with a tone of gratitude. She desired to recompense me, I suppose, for my prompt attention and interest, and delivered herself of this advice instead of a fee:

'When your time comes, doctor, and your friends send for the nuss, don't let them pay her by the job.' The revelation of these crimes, which had been, without doubt, in reality committed, filled me with horror; and the reflection that she who had executed them would, in a few days at furthest, be out of the world, and no longer harmful, alone comforted me. My feelings, therefore, may be imagined by the sensitive, when, upwards of a fortnight after I had received the above confession, A. B., whom I had supposed to be far 'otherwhere,' as the poets say, called one morning at my private residence, in tolerable health, and also slightly in liquor. She had been priming herself to act rather a difficult part.

'I am come,' said she, 'to thank you, doctor, for your care and trouble about me when I was ill. I was very ill indeed, was I not, doctor?'

'You thought you were going to die,' remarked I with meaning.

'Yes,' answered she ingenuously, and without heeding the slight discrepancy between her two statements, and that is what I am come about to you, doctor. You knows as well as me what a parcel of nonsense folks do talk when they are delirious, and thinks they are in particular notice. [I afterwards discovered this expression to be A. B.'s rendering of the phrase in articulo mortis.] You must not be hard upon what a party says who has got the trembles. You must let bygones be bygones, doctor.'

I don't know whether it was weak of me, or whether it was strong-minded-whether I thought a confession upon a death-bed ought to be sacred, or whether it was to save myself trouble; but I let the old woman go, with a caution to the effect that she had better not let me hear of her attending any sick folks in future, which she took in exceedingly good part.

Case II.-I became acquainted with H. M. in the wards of St Barnabas, a young man who was by profession a prize-fighter, and who had come into the hospital with a dislocated knee, the consequence of kicking, violently and without due calculation of distance, at a personal friend with whom he had had a disagreement at a public-house. His habits had been very much the reverse of temperate, and the case which at first seemed simple enough, soon assumed a serious aspect: after many weeks of almost incessant suffering, it became necessary that the poor fellow should lose his leg by amputation, if he would preserve his life. The lopping of this limb was to him an especial grief, inasmuch as, next to the loss of one of his 'mauleys,' it was the saddest thing that, to one of his calling, could possibly happen. His occupation as a favourite of the public,' 'a pet of the fancy,' would, of course, be gone for ever, and

no other line was open to him, since the talents of a prize-fighter, however rare and valuable in themselves, so far from being of universal application, are an absolute hinderance to success in almost every other walk of life. There was, indeed, about as bad a look-out for poor H. M., when he was carried into St Barnabas' theatre to be acted upon, one April morning, as can be conceived. Still, the brave young fellow never winced or grumbled; he made his bow to the great semicircle of students-the rows of unfamiliar faces reaching from floor to roof-as though they were his ancient patrons of the ring. There was no chloroform in those days; but he looked on at all the proceedings which concerned him without one twitch of the mouth or knitting of the brows; and when the thing was over, and that limb, which he had been so long accustomed to consider his own, became the property of the scientific gentlemen around him, he said: 'I thank you, gentlemen,' in a cheery voice, and wished them joy of their acquisition. I confess that, in spite of his disrespectable calling, I had a sincere liking for H. M., and pity for his misfortune; and as one of the dressers in his ward at that time, I had opportunities of doing him, occasionally, a little kindness, and speaking an encouraging word. We struck up quite a friendship, founded upon the basis of mutual respect, but, I feel bound to admit, without any great mixture of sentiment. He confided to me several particulars concerning the fancy and its patrons, which are not generally known, but which the same honourable feelings that kept me silent with regard to the delinquencies of A. B., prevent me from here disclosing. When the day came for the young prize-fighter to depart-with the exception of his left leg-from St Barnabas, he addressed me in these terms:

'Doctor, you have been a regular stunner to me all along since I have been here, and no mistake; I should be sorry to leave this here hospital without letting you know what I think about it. Most like, you imagined that a poor chap such as me had nothing to give you in return-which only makes it the more brickish-but I am not so bad off as I seem, doctor, by no manner of means.'

This was exceedingly gratifying to me, and even very exciting. I was trying to recall to my mind some of those instances which I had heard or read of concerning millionaires in the guise of scavengers, angels under the earthly form of crossing-sweepers, who have been, as Mr Lamb says, 'entertained unawares' by benevolent surgeons and others, and pondering whether H. M.'s fortune was more likely to be in the funds or in railway-shares, when that grateful young man resumed as follows:

'Here,' cried he, drawing a coin or medal, wrapped up in whity-brown paper, from his breast-pockethere is, if not money, at least money's worth: to one in your station and with your opportunities, sir, a matter of-ah-a pound a week for life, at the very least. Even in my humble walk, it has been a pretty penny to me already.'

'Why, my good man,' cried I, in unaffected disappointment at the discovery, 'this is only a halfpenny!'

'Only a half-penny!' repeated H. M. with a delighted chuckle, as he hobbled away on his crutches in order to preclude any thanks for his generous behaviour. That's what you'll be trying to persuade other folks to believe before the day's out. It is only a half-penny; but it is a half-penny with a couple of tails upon it!'

H. M. opined-so little does one-half of the world guess how the other half lives-that the respectable profession of medicine demeaned itself like his own by the practice of tossing for half-crowns; and, seriously, if things continue as they are much longer

with me, I think I shall try my luck with that headless half-penny, the only pecuniary fee I have ever received.

Case III.-Once-and that day will not easily be forgotten-I was sent for to attend a lady at a fashionable hotel, and that lady a member of the aristocracy. She was a woman of strong force of will, and had made a point of having the nearest doctor summoned, or else they would have sent for Dr Croesus to a moral certainty. For my part, I wish from the bottom of my heart-but I am anticipating.

The Lady Letitia Beebonnet was Scotch, and a wee bit crackit.' She was violent and impetuous upon all subjects-a monomaniac,' as was said of a greater lady, 'about everything;' but inflexibility of purpose and contempt for conventional practices and opinions | were her forte. Her present idea was, that so long as she chose to remain in any hotel, no matter for what term of months or years, she never need settle the bill till she went away. She had come to the Fleur de Lis without any intention of staying beyond ten days or so; but as her ladyship's account had been sent in somewhat peremptorily at the week's end, she was now staying on, out of spite, and for the express purpose of declining to settle it. Under ordinary circumstances, a person of Lady Letitia's rank might of course have resided in an inn for half her natural life without being troubled by the host; but in this particular case, the hotel belonged to a company, whose accounts were audited every week, and to whom the manager was responsible. He also, plebeian though he was, had that quality in superabundance upon which her ladyship so justly prided herselfpigheadedness. Upon the reiterated refusal of his aristocratic lodger to loosen her purse-strings, he had given to her some pieces of his mind which were not only unpalatable, but had disagreed with her to the extent of sending her to her bed; she was ill, and very ill, absolutely through sheer rage and obstinacy, and threatened to become worse with opposition. The manager had sworn that, upon the morrow, which was the end of her third week's sojourn with him, the Lady Letitia Beebonnet should settle her bill or leave the house; and her ladyship prepared for battle by sending for the nearest doctor.

I gathered these particulars from herself at the first interview, narrated with a garrulity such as I never heard equalled, and with an amount of accompanying action such as I had only seen examples of in establishments devoted to the insane.

'What I stand for,' concluded she, with vehemence, 'is the law-the law. I have plenty of money, hundreds of pounds, in that dressing-case yonder, but he shall never have one farthing of it upon compulsion, nor until I choose.'

As soon as I had recovered her ladyship out of the hysterics into which she had gradually worked herself during this recital, I took my leave. On my arrival the next afternoon, I found that the exasperated manager had refused to let her ladyship's bell be answered, or to supply her with food.

She had comforted herself for some time by pulling

at the rope at her bedside, under the idea that

she was at least creating a disturbance, although nobody came; but the domestics had placed a worsted stocking over the clapper. She was very unwell, indeed, by this time, and her complaint was not improved by the fact of her having had nothing to eat since the preceding afternoon; but she was considerably more obstinate than before, and quite prepared to starve rather than surrender what she imagined to be her legal rights.

Upon my remonstrating with the manager, he protested that she might starve, and welcome, but that he would put up with her nonsense, and be accountable for her expenses to the company, not an

hour longer. The company was of more consequence to him, he irreverently observed, than all the Beebonnets over the border.

'But,' urged I, if the Lady Letitia dies in your hotel, it will hurt the company seriously; and she will die, if she does not have sustenance shortly.'

Upon that view of the matter, some very weak gruel-with a cinder or two accidentally dropped into it-and a few slices of burned toast, were sent up to her ladyship's room.

The next day, I found my noble patient much better; invigorated by her food, but especially invigorated by her victory in having obtained it, and by an unlooked-for success of another kind. She had detected, as she lay in her bed, with nothing to do except to watch, like Robert the Bruce, the spiderwebs that began to adorn the cornices, a second bell-wire running round her apartment, and had established a communication with it by combining her own useless rope and the handle of her parasol. As I entered, unannounced-for attendance was rigidly denied her-and she had, singularly enough, no maid of her own, she was sitting up in bed, engaged in tolling solemnly at this wire, which, indeed, exceeded her most sanguine expectations, for with every jerk she gave, she rang the alarm-bell. It was placed at the top of the house, so not easily accessible, and the wire, which pervaded the hotel, being of too great importance to be cut, she was mistress of the situation.

'I have been tolling,' observed she with satisfaction, ever since daybreak, as though for morning-prayers." The Lady Letitia was only at last induced to pay her bill by a pious fraud. She was informed that one of the directors of the company had offered to take the risk on his shoulders, and understanding thereby that she could annoy her foe, the manager, no longer by stopping, but would rather benefit him than otherwise, she left the hotel immediately, although in a very unfit state to be moved.

When she recovered, she wrote me a pretty little note, with a coronet on the top of it, expressing her grateful sense of my attentions; my services had been, she was good enough to say, above all price, but she should nevertheless decline to pay me anything, upon principle. According to law, she had been led to understand that a medical man could not exact remuneration for the performance of his duties: she might be right or she might be wrong; but at all events she preferred, she said, to have the matter tried in court, before running into any unnecessary expense.

SCHOOLING IN INDIA.

Ar a time like this, when our armies are struggling against terrible odds in one of the fiercest contests that ever shook India to its centre, it is by no means out of place to inquire more closely than we have been wont to do, into the actual condition of that country and its people; and as a means of doing so,

we cannot turn our attention to a more fitting subject than their schools.

From official inquiries into the state of education amongst the masses of the population of the Bengal presidency, it would appear that in five districts in which the state of indigenous education is most favourable as compared with other divisions, the proportion of adults who have received any degree of instruction is 6 per cent. of the entire population, so that there remain ninety-four persons in every hundred wholly destitute of education. In the least favoured districts, the proportion is above two educated persons in every hundred.

The entire population of this presidency-that is, of Upper and Lower Bengal-may be taken at thirtyeight millions, of which above fourteen millions may be set down as children, and of these we may fairly assume two-thirds to be of an instructible age, seeing that in India children mostly commence school when five years old. Now, inasmuch as the data collected on this subject shew that of the children of an instructible age only 7 per cent. receive any kind or amount of education, it follows that there are upwards of nine millions of children throughout Upper and Lower Bengal alone of an age to receive instruction, yet totally without it. Taking in the same way the adult population of twenty-four millions, and deducting from these the proportion of educated persons-namely, 5 per cent.-we find there remain nearly twenty-three millions of the adult population entirely without instruction.

Such being the state of native education in this one division of the Indian empire, it would not be very difficult to arrive at a tolerably accurate conclusion as to the total number of individuals, adult and juvenile, of the entire population of British India wholly devoid of any instruction whatever. We do not believe that on a general average there would be found above four per cent. of the entire population able to read or write in the smallest degree, seeing that the whole of the female population-with the exception of the nautch-girls-are altogether and habitually left without any attempt at education. This being the case, the result would be, that there are in the Indian territories of Great Britain not fewer than one hundred and thirty-four millions of totally uneducated persons! A fearful amount of uncounteracted ignorance, superstition, and vice in the hands of the fanatic priesthood and the evil-minded chieftains, to work upon to their own bad ends.

The extent of private tuition among the Mussulmans or Hindoos is very small indeed, if we except the chief cities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, where of late years a few of the leading natives have availed themselves of private instruction for their children, both male and female. The public educational establishments of the Mofussil of indigenous growth may be divided into the common vernacular schools, and schools partaking more of the character of colleges. In these latter, Persian, Arabic, and Sanscrit are taught; seldom the three in any one establishment, but usually the schools are either Persian, Arabic, or Sanscrit.

The teachers of these are mostly of the Brahmanical caste, many living in extreme poverty, and supported mainly by presents of money and food. The scholars consist of boarders and day-pupils, who, in exchange for the learning imparted, supply their instructors with the daily necessaries of life, and also perform for them many little household duties. The age at which pupils attend these institutions ranges between eight and twenty, though there are some who remain to their twenty-second year. The instruction imparted consists of general literature, rhetoric, law, logic, medicine, and astrology.

In these high-class schools, the income in money of the pundits, or professors, varies very much, ranging, indeed, from the merest pittance to a very liberal amount. It has been stated that the average monthly income of three hundred of these learned instructors

is not less than L.6, 10s.; but the correctness of the figures may very well be doubted, as this class of men are extremely tenacious of giving information concerning their mode of living, property, &c. If, how shews that the cost of educating the pupils of these ever, we assume this amount to be about correct, it establishments is extremely high, far beyond the real value of the learning imparted, for the average number of students at each college does not often exceed seven.

If, however, we inquire into the quality as well as the cost of the education taught by these Brahmanical that they do little enough to elevate the character of pundits, we shall assuredly arrive at the conclusion, improve the condition of the people. There is, indeed, no lack of indigenous literature in India. A late official return went to shew that during the last fifty years, there had been not less than five hundred and fifteen persons engaged in literary publications in Bengal. The same document tells us that in the in the native languages published in the city of year 1853-4, there were two hundred and fifty works Calcutta alone.

The works on grammar, logic, and law-may pass without much comment; but the absurdly fabulous and disgustingly immoral recitals contained in nearly all their most popular dramas, poems, and histories, leave little room for surprise that the people for whose edification these are published should prove false, base, and cruel to the last degree.

the little of really practical knowledge they inculcate The schools of medicine are less hurtful, though is so blended with absurd quackeries and strange fallacies, as to excite our pity. In those colleges where astrology, mythology, and philosophy are taught, we find the wildest fantasies, the greatest infidelity, and the grossest licentiousness mixed up with the daily teachings. Truly has it been said in one of the and Behar, that the followers of these schools of government reports on indigenous education in Bengal philosophy are intemperate and licentious in their habits and manners, not only believing that intoxicating liquors, and other vicious indulgences, are permitted, but that that they are enjoined by the system they profess.

class of native schools, what shall we find prevailing If such be the system and the morale of the higher among the hundreds of village schools and inferior institutions of towns, the teachers of which receive emoluments in the shape of fees, and presents of money to the monthly value of from two shillings to two pounds, with an uncertain addition of donations of rice, fruit, fish, &c. It would be well if we could than a negative evil that they simply effected no flatter ourselves that these schools were no worse good. It can scarcely be said that the acquisition of reading and writing is an advantage, as the adepts employ their powers to little good purpose, more frequently for evil ends. The instruction in these schools, beyond the mere forming and deciphering characters, is of the loosest and grossest description -a mere learning by rote without any attempt at instruction.

scholar during a month after his first entrance to The course in these seminaries is to place the young practise the formation of the alphabet, which he does by writing on the loose sandy floor of the schoolroom with one of his fingers or a small stick. From this initiatory stage he is promoted to the next class, where he is taught to construct words and short style. Thence he proceeds to use the finer leaf of sentences by writing on a palm-leaf with an iron the plantain; and finally, when well advanced, he is

in Bengal. 1855.
* Returns Relating to Native Printing-presses and Publications