in Ireland in the week ending 24th April last, was
3498—in workhouses in the same week, 186,453;
showing a decrease, as compared with the corresponding
period of last year, of 70,261 paupers, or 27 per cent of
the whole.

A meeting has taken place to Promote the Erection of
Improved Dwellings for Married Soldiers. Prince
Albert has given the project his warmest support, and a
few officers of the Guards have been able to commence
operations which may hereafter be extended. The
scheme is to be entirely self-supporting, and, it is hoped,
may be so remunerative as to induce capitalists hereafter
to embark in a similar praiseworthy object. Funds to
the amount of about £4000 have been already subscribed
for, and the names of the Prince Consort, Prince Edward
of Saxe Weimar, Lords Ellesmere, Strafford, Verulam,
F. Fitzclarence, and others, afford some proof of public
opinion upon a question that affects the moral and
social condition of a class in whose welfare the public
cannot fail to take concern. More than usually
restricted in their circumstances, they are often driven
into the lowest society, forced, as they are, to seek
within certain limits for a habitation. The meeting
was well attended, and resolutions appointing trustees
and approving of the object were passed.

The official report of the Health of London during
the week ending the 10th instant, contains some
interesting particulars respecting the heat of the weather,
and its consequences. The week (says the report) that
ended last Saturday, brought a considerable accession to
the mortality of London, which rose higher than it had
been in the eleven weeks preceding. In the week
ending July 3, with a mean temperature of 59·7 degrees,
the deaths registered were 987; in last week ending
July 10, with a mean temperature of 70·9 degrees, they
were 1080, showing an increase of nearly 100. In the
ten corresponding weeks of the years 1842-51 the
average number of deaths was 889, which, with a
correction for increase of population, will be 978. The
present return therefore shows a mortality greater than
the estimated amount by 102. The average temperature
of the corresponding weeks was 62 degrees. From
these facts it seems reasonable to draw the inference
that a sudden increase of heat above the average, to the
amount of 9 degrees, has shortened the lives of more
than a hundred persons. A comparison of the returns
of the last two weeks appears to show that extreme
heat has been unfavourable to the young and the old,
while with regard to the middle-aged its tendency has
been beneficial, except to such of these as were labouring
under consumption. In the week ending 3rd July,
416 children died under 15 years, last week the number
rose to 505, exhibiting an increase of 21 per cent.; in
the previous week 187 persons of 60 years and upwards
sank under disease, last week the number was 203,
showing an increase of about 9 per cent.; whereas the
deaths among the middle-aged decreased from 383 in
the former week to 349 in the last. But it will be
observed that the number of fatal cases of phthisis
amongst persons between 15 and 60 years rose from
110 in the preceding week to 127 recorded in the present
return. Still, comparing the facts of the last two
weeks, it appears that there is an increase in the
epidemic class, arising partly from scarlatina, and partly
from a greater prevalence of diarrhœa; that diseases of
the brain and nervous system numbered in both returns
131, while those of the digestive organs rose from
59 to 74, and those of the respiratory organs from 91 to
122. This important increase in the last-mentioned
class is due to a greater fatality of bronchitis and
inflammation of the lungs among children, for while only
39 of the young died in the previous week of these
diseases, they carried off 63 in the last. At the Royal
Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height of the barometer
in the week was 29·845 in. The mean temperature
of the week was 70·9 degrees, which is 11 degrees
higher than that of the previous week, and 9·2 degrees
above the average of the same week in ten years. The
highest temperature occurred on Monday, and was
90·3 degrees; the mean of that day was 75·6 degrees.
The highest in the sun, on the same day was 116 deg.
The reading of the thermometer in air was higher this
day than on any day since the 5th of July, 1846, and
the mean temperature was higher than on any day since
the 5th of July, 1836. The highest temperature on
Friday was 89 degrees; the mean of that day was 70·9
degrees; and the highest in the sun was 121·5 degrees.
The mean daily temperature was 14·1 degrees above the
average on Monday, and 11·9 degrees above it on
Tuesday, and it was never less than 6 degrees in excess
throughout the week. The wind blew from the south-
east on Sunday and Monday, and from the north-east
and east during the remainder of the week.

The Royal Agricultural Society has held its yearly
show of agricultural live-stock and farming implements,
at Lewes. The general election and oppressive heat of
the weather tended to make the attendance of visitors
thinner than usual; but there was a very excellent
show of stock, and a show of implements unprecedented
either in quantity or quality. The advance in the
display of instruments is ascribed to the stimulus given
to this department of the show by the Great Exhibition
in Hyde Park last year. Notable improvements have
been made in all sorts of steam-engines for agricultural
purposes, and in reaping machines. Nearly a score of
improved reaping-machines entered the competition.
At the grand dinner of the Society on the 14th, Earl
Ducie presided; and Sir John Pakington, Lord Palmerston,
the Earl of Carlisle, Chevalier Bunsen, and Mr.
Laurence, the American Minister, addressed the meeting.
Mr. Thompson, one of the "judges," wound up
with satisfactory facts about the good influence on
agricultural practice which the yearly improvements in
agricultural machinery are exercising.

An election of seven children into the British Orphan
Asylum, at Clapham Rise, took place on the 19th inst.
It appeared by the report presented to the meeting
that, during the past year, sixteen children had been
elected by the subscribers and three admitted by
purchase. The average number of the children in the
asylum during the year was 100. The report of the
examiner to the schools, the Rev. James Hill, expressed
in strong terms the improvement in the schools both of
the boys and girls, and stated that they never presented
more unequivocal signs of general good health. Their
industrial training kept pace with their literary
progress; while their cheerfulness, their fondness for
voluntary exercises, and the good feeling subsisting
between the instructors and instructed, and among the
pupils themselves, was highly gratifying. The receipts
during the year amounted to £2,835 18s. 4d., and the
disbursements to £2,482 15s. 8d., leaving a balance of
£352 2s. 8d.

The annual general meeting of the governors of the
Charing Cross Hospital was held on the 20th. The
report of the committee gave a very favourable account
of the progress of the institution during the year. The
number of patients had been 17,995; of these 1200 were
in-patients. The number of accidents admitted during
the year was 2238. Of the total number of patients,
16,498 had been cured or relieved; 57 had died; and
240 were under treatment. 204,858 patients had been
treated since the opening of the institution. The funds
received during the year amounted to £3,554 13s. 2½d.,
including a former balance of £318 8s. 2¼d., and the
expenditure had amounted to £2,490 11s 2¾d., leaving
a considerable balance. The committee were very
anxious to complete the upper portion of the building,
which still remains unfinished, and for that purpose
had opened a separate building fund, the total amount
of which was at present £1,751. As soon as this desirable
end should be accomplished they would have 50
more beds at their disposal, and would be enabled to
accommodate from 500 to 600 more patients yearly.

Mr. Mechi, the spirited agricultural improver, had
his Annual Gathering at his farm, Tiptree Hall, on the
21st inst. The company numbered above 300; among
whom were Earl Fortescue, Viscount Ebrington, his
Excellency Abbott Laurence, American Ambassador;
Baron Bentinck, Netherlands Minister; Col. T. B.
Lawrence, Le Viscomte Curzay, the Hon. J. L. White,
and H. S. Routh, Esq., Commissioners from the United
States; Sir James Duke, Bart., M.P.; Sir E. E. Baker,
Bart., Sir J. P. Wood, Bart., Sir Thomas Tancred,
Bart., C. Du Cane, Esq., M.P., R. Greaves, Esq., MP.,
Sir A. Macdonald, Bart., Professor Henslowe, Professor