market value. It will be most interesting to watch the progress of these co-operative establishments, and the part taken in them by the working classes, to whom a new field is open which may have most important consequences to their well-being and their independence of character.

“An examination of the report and balance-sheet of the Leeds Industrial Society, for the half-year ending December, 1859, shows that the business done amounted to £19,516, or about £750 per week, and the profit was £1,012, which, after paying the working expenses, allowed a distribution amongst the members of 2s. per sack on flour, 2s. 6d. in the pound on grocery, and 8d. per pound on clothing. The Leeds, Pudsey, &c., Society is just struggling into prosperity after a first year of loss, its balance-sheet for 1859 shows a profit of £360, and a prospect of great future success. There is a store in Manchester with three branches, and two others just opening. Its report for the quarter ending June, 1860, shows a business of £3,457, or about £266 per week. There are 600 members, and they have a news-room at the central and another at one of the branch stores. They divided, for the last quarter, 1s. 8d. in the pound, and carried a small balance forward. There is a second store in the Hulme township of Manchester turning over about £130 per week in a shop where an ordinary tradesman would think he did well if he took £20 per week. At this store also they divide quarterly about 1s. 6d. to 1s. 9d. in the pound. The practical result of these establishments appears, therefore, to be to enable the members to secure unadulterated food at the prices generally charged for the adulterated, and to give also from seven and a half to ten per cent. discount; in other words, they put the poorest man upon a par with the richest, so far as the purchase of food and clothing are concerned; they do for the articles of the workman's daily consumption what freehold land and building societies have done for land and houses, they sell by retail at wholesale prices; but they do also more than this, by offering 5 per cent. interest on £1 and upwards in the shape of shares, and giving a voice in the management of the concern, they stimulate to prudential investments, and they educate in self-government the most important as well as most numerous class of society; and the co-operative manufactories carry on this education by increasing the workman's interest in the quality of his productions, promoting a high sense of duty along with the feeling of independence arising from the fact that the man is working for the character of his own establishment, for his own ultimate competency as well as for present wages."

Having no more space for extracts from Mr. Watts' most valuable paper, I will just say that in the discussion which followed, I became strongly impressed with the applicability of the principle to female labor. A business managed on co-operative principles is deprived of half its strain. If twenty people club together to purchase

food or clothing wholesale, and agree to repurchase what they personally require at the ordinary retail price which they would pay in any other shop, it is evident that they create a business which will pay a profit besides employing a manager, clerks, &c., according to the scale on which it is established. I will conclude by summing up thus in a most practical manner: If twenty ladies in any town would club together £5 a-piece, they might open a stationery shop, to which, if they gave all their own custom, they might secure a profit after employing a female manager, and if the business increased, female clerks also. B. R. P.

XXX.-NOTICES OF BOOKS.

The Physiology of Common Life. By George Henry Lewes. In Two vols. Blackwood and Sons.

It is the gift of Mr. Lewes to impart knowledge in so genial and pleasant a manner that the driest subjects become transformed beneath the magic of his pen. "Seaside Studies," with all its technical detail and philosophical minutiæ, is interesting as a romance, and "The Physiology of Common Life" tells us all about how we breathe, and eat, and drink, in so fascinating a manner that these necessities of our being, hitherto performed without a thought as to their why and wherefore, suddenly assume an interest which grows and grows with the skilful unfolding of the wonders by which we live, and move, and have our being. There are two ways of reviewing a book: one, by which the reviewer shows his own ingenuity and skill; the other, by which the author is allowed to speak for himself, and we shall, in this instance, choose the latter. No one can tell what he has to say so well as Mr. Lewes, and if his ventures in the new field of literature he has of late years entered upon be open to the charge that they are at times also ventures in the field of science, it is not here that we shall break a lance with him on the subject, or weigh with nicety the disputed points which he may or may not have settled upon sufficient evidence. For much that is highly instructive and valuable, we must refer the reader to the book itself; we extract a most useful and suggestive passage:

The Digestive Process, with Reference to Every-day Life.

"V. Causes of Indigestion. In unfolding the various stages of the digestive process, we have at the same time unfolded several of the causes which may disturb that process, and afflict human beings with a slight or terrible attack of Indigestion.

"It is certain that if the food be not well masticated and saturated with saliva, we must have the powerful gastric juice of a dog, or a lion, to compensate this deficiency; otherwise a larger proportion of the unchanged food will be transmitted to the intestines than they can well manage, or will lie like a load oppressing the stomach. The starch will descend in lumps, and although much of it will be dissolved by intestinal digestion, some will pass away undigested.

"If the secretion of Gastric Juice be languid, or if that fluid be not sufficiently acid, chymification will be laborious and painful. If the bile rise in the stomach, digestion will cease; if the secretion of bile be too scanty, the food will lie like a burden, and produce diarrhoea or sickness; and so on to the end of the chapter. Let there be only a little less acid, or a little more alkali, each of which depends on complex conditions, and Digestion, which to the young and healthy is as easy as it is delightful, becomes the source of misery. "Ill-selected food is one source of these evils. Want of fresh air and exercise is another source. The action of the liver is particularly affected by exercise; and all who suffer from biliousness should pay their fees to the livery stable and waterman, horse-exercise and rowing being incomparably the best of prescriptions. A walking excursion, especially in mountain districts, and with resolute avoidance of walking too much, will be of great service to the dyspeptic. It is important to bear in mind, moreover, that although sedentary habits are very injurious to the Digestion, they are less so than bad ventilation; those who sit long, and sit in bad air, are sure to suffer. We shall touch on this point in the chapter on RESPIRATION AND SUFFOCATION. "The influence of the Nervous System is perhaps even more prominently manifested than that of any other cause of Indigestion. It is comparatively rare to meet with Indigestion among artisans, in spite of their ill-cooked food, their exposure to all weathers, and other hardships; and it is as rare to meet with good Digestion among the artisans of the brain, no matter how careful they may be in food and general habits. Protracted thought, concentrated effort in the directions of Philosophy, Science, or Art, almost always exact a terrible price. Nerve-tissue is inordinately expensive. But it is worthy of remark, that mere intellectual activity, when unaccompanied by agitating emotion, never seems to affect the Digestion, unless the effort be of an unusual intensity. Our passions are destroying flames. Anger, Ambition, Envy, Despair, Sorrow, and even sudden Joy, immediately disturb the digestion. A letter bringing bad news, the sight of anything which painfully affects us, a burst of temper, or an anxious care, will sometimes render the strongest of us incapable of digesting a meal. If the food be swallowed, it will not be digested, or digested only at a vast expense. And herein may be learned a lesson against a very common mistake committed by very sensible people. When a friend is overwhelmed with grief, we try to force him gently to take the food he obstinately refuses. Do try and eat a mouthful; it is necessary for your strength; you will fall ill.' Perhaps our entreaties succeed; he takes a little food as a support.' Error! the food will weaken, not strengthen him. In such cases Instinct may safely be relied on. When a man is hungry, he will eat. When he will not eat, he should be left in peace until hunger prompts. If in compliance with the entreaties of friends he takes a meal, it will do him harm rather than good. There are, indeed, people who think that to eat in times of sorrow is a proof of want of feeling, and that their appetite is a sign of disrespect; as if appetite were subject to the will. Such people must be reasoned with, and told that it is as foolish to refuse food when the appetite demands it, as to eat it when the system rebels against it.

"There is another direction in which the Nervous System influences Digestion, although it can only be briefly alluded to here. When we come to treat of nervous phenomena, we shall more particularly examine the nature of Reflex Action; at present it is enough to say, that certain parts of the organic mechanism are so intimately allied in action, that they are said to sympathise with each other. All parts of the alimentary canal sympathise. Whenever the saliva is profusely secreted, the gastric juice 'sympathises,' and is also secreted; and any irritation of the mucous membrane of the stomach increases the flow of saliva. This is a fact to be borne in mind, the more so as few persons seem thoroughly aware of it, although it serves as a simple indication of an irritated state of the stomach, which they might well note. In my own person I have frequent experience of it; and the presence of an

unusual flow of saliva is always a warning to me that the mucous membran of my stomach is affected.

"The deduction from these facts is simple and important. All who are troubled with a deficiency of gastric juice should be careful to let their food be as full of flavor as possible. Tasteless food, by leaving the nerves of taste comparatively quiet, leaves the secretion of gastric juice proportionately feeble. Food which has a relish can be more easily digested. Every one knows that we can eat a variety of dishes with less labor in digestion, than a smaller quantity of one kind of food, simply because the variety of ‘relish' makes the digestive process more active.

"It is, I conceive, from the same law of sympathetic action that smoking, after a meal, assists digestion. There has been much discussion respecting the injuriousness of smoking, ever since Tobacco was first discovered; but as Physiology was-and still is in most circles little understood, a very considerable amount of nonsense has been, and continues to be, uttered on this question. It is a positive fact that the gastric secretion can at any time be produced by simply stimulating the salivary glands with tobacco; and, as before stated, whatever stimulates the secretion of saliva promotes that of the gastric juice. Smoking does this. A cigar after dinner is therefore to that extent beneficial. Not so before a meal.

"But the action of tobacco is not confined to this-it has other influences, some beneficial, some injurious; the amount of injury depends on the nature of the organism; and therein each person must judge for himself. There is only one caution which it is right to place before the reader. When tobacco is said to be not injurious, but beneficial, it must always be understood to mean tobacco in small quantities. Excess in tobacco is very injurious; so also is excess in alcohol; so also would be excess in mutton-chops. All excess is dangerous. All stimulants should be used sparingly. Yet the man who never thinks of exceeding his half a pint of wine, or pint of beer, daily, makes no scruple of smoking a dozen cigars. From my own experience, rendered vigilant as I am by a delicate digestion, and an easily disturbed organism, I can conscientiously say that two cigars daily, always taken after, and never before, the chief meals, have proved themselves to be decidedly beneficial in many directions; but I should no more think of increasing that quantity, than of increasing my daily quantity of coffee or beer. Other organisms could of course endure greater quantities. Each must determine the proper limit for himself, and having determined it, abide by it.

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Among the many slight causes of impaired digestion is to be reckoned the very general disregard to eating between meals. The powerful digestion of a growing boy makes light of all such irregularities; but to see adults, and often those by no means in robust health, eating muffins, buttered toast, or bread-and-butter, a couple of hours after a heavy dinner, is a distressing spectacle to the physiologist. It takes at least four hours to digest a dinner; during that period the stomach should be allowed repose. A little tea, or any other liquid, is beneficial rather than otherwise; but solid food is a mere encumbrance: there is no gastric juice ready to digest it; and if any reader, having at all a delicate digestion, will attend to his sensations after eating muffin, or toast, at tea, unless his dinner has had time to digest, he will need no sentences of explanation to convince him of the serious error prevalent in English families of making tea a light meal, quickly succeeding a substantial dinner.

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Regularity in the hours of eating is far from necessary; but regularity of intervals is of primary importance. It matters little at what hour you lunch or dine, provided you allow the proper intervals to elapse between breakfast and luncheon, and between luncheon and dinner. What are those intervals? This is a question each must settle for himself. Much depends on the amount eaten at each meal, much also on the rapidity with which each person digests. Less than four hours should never be allowed after a heavy meal of meat. Five hours is about the average for men in active work. But those

who dine late-at six or seven-never need food again until breakfast next day, unless they have been at the theatre; or dancing; or exerting themselves in Parliament; in which cases a light supper is requisite."

The chapter "On the Structure and Uses of our Blood," gives a death-blow to the numerous vendors of patent medicines for purifying the blood :—

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...

Many quacks seize on this notion, and in sublime ignorance of the nature of the blood they profess to purify, and of the means by which their drugs could possibly purify it, make fortunes out of the credulity of the public. I would warn my readers at the outset against this notion of 'purifying' their blood. . . It rests on a misconception of the laws of Nutrition. Because the organs are nourished by materials drawn from the blood, and because, unless blood be duly supplied, the organs will decay, it has been supposed that the point of departure of Nutrition was in the blood itself, and that the blood formed the organs. It is not so. The organs are, many of them at least, in existence before blood appears; and even afterwards the process of Nutrition always consists in the assimilation of certain materials from the blood by the organs; not in the organization of this blood itself. In vain will you carry generous food to a sick stomach-it cannot digest the food; in vain will you carry young blood to old organs-they cannot draw their youth from it. The blood is always young, for it is always being renewed. The organs get daily older, and different. Between the blood of an infant, and the blood of a patriarch, no appreciable difference can be found; but how great is the difference between their organs! That which is true of old age, is likewise true of disease. The tissue which is in an unhealthy condition cannot be made healthy by bringing to it a 'purer' blood (were such obtainable); it can only be brought back to its healthy condition by the cessation of those causes which keep up the morbid action, and these are not in the blood."

The chemical composition of the blood is an attempt at precise analysis highly ingenious and suggestive. Mr. Lewes is fully alive to the difficulty of the attempt, and, while presenting an elaborate table "of the substances which form the immediate composition of every one thousand parts of human blood," he is careful to impress upon the minds of his readers, that "our present knowledge is only approximative-a rough estimate, and that is all." elaborate details of this table are thus happily hit off:

:

The

"At every moment of our lives there is something like ten pounds of Blood rushing along in one uninterrupted throbbing stream, from the heart through the great arteries, which branch and branch like the boughs of a tree, the vessels becoming smaller and smaller as they subdivide, till they are invisible to the naked eye, and are then called capillaries (hair-like vessels), although they are no more to be compared in size with hairs, than hairs are to be compared with cables.

"In this ceaselessly-circulating stream forty or more different substances are hurried along: it carries gases, it carries salts, it carries metals—nay, it carries what may be called soaps. The iron, which it washes onwards, can be separated; and Prof. Bérard used to exhibit a lump of it in his lectureroom-so that one ingenious Frenchman was led to suggest that coins should be struck from the metal extracted from the blood of great men! Lest this statement should mislead the reader, I will add that the quantity of iron in the blood is extremely small; but as the quantity of blood is large, and is perpetually being renewed, it affords the chemist the means of extracting a lump of iron from it."

We could multiply extract upon extract from this charming and