liable to it as those of the older inhabitants. A melancholy instance of this exists in the entire family of the landlord of the Hôtel de la Tour, at Martigny, they being crétins, though neither he nor his wife are natives of the Valais. The parents in those places where the complaint is so general, who can afford it, send their children into the mountains until they are ten or twelve years old. But where no practice of this sort is adopted, as in most of the valleys of Tyrol, the number of these crétins is enormous. The writer heard of a family at Saltzburg, in which six out of the eight were crétins. The computation made for the Tyrol is two hundred crétins for every twelve thousand of the population, but the proportion of idiots increases the deeper we go into the valleys. A little isolated village, not far from Saltzburg, is said to contain none but crétins. As to the cause of crétinism, the author again rejects the vulgar impression of its being snow-water; neither does he show a better countenance to others which are suggested, namely, the drinking of stagnant water, living in a humid atmosphere, pent up between mountains, and acted upon by the sun. He does not dispute the operation of these causes in other ways, but his opinion of the true nature of crétinism is entirely to be ascribed to the influence of indolence, to the want of mental cultivation, to the powerful effects of hereditary transmission, and particularly where the parents use excessive quantities of spirituous liquors. Our traveller conversed with a master of a post-house at Sion upon this curious subject, and was informed by him that the women of the valley was particularly prone to drunkenness: potatoes form the source of poisonous beverage, it being distilled by some rude process with which they are acquainted, and which they consume in incredible quantities. Such are the principal contents of this highly valuable composition, in which one of the most luminous views of continental architecture, arts, and manners is presented that ever graced our literature. Industry and love of truth, impartiality and a sensible forbearance, or rather a superiority over prejudices, give to this book a character that will make it a lasting source of reverence to all tourists. An appendix of upwards of sixty pages is added, which contains copious lists of the paintings of churches, palaces, cathedrals, galleries, museums, &c. &c., of all the principal sites of these various works. This source of reference will be found of immense value to all continental travellers, as it is a careful selection of all the objects which a man of taste would desire to see. If we were to form our judgment of the utility of this work, from what we know of it in actual practice, we should certainly say that it contains as much assistance, as any written source of instruction could possibly convey. Music, however, is an art which no one will think of studying merely in its theoretical department, particularly as the facilities are so easily acquired, for pursuing it in a far better manner. Dr. Crotch lays down a very luminous and satisfactory plan for beginners in the art, administering his instruction by degrees, from the most elementary to the most complicated principles which he has to teach. . The whole is characterized by great simplicity, and a profound acquaintance with the art or the science of music. Not the least of the benefits to be received from this work, is the full exposition of the import of all technical phrases or expressions, employed by the profession. Music is a source of attraction, which takes in almost every class of the community as its admirers, and it would seem that the lan guage in which its principles are explained, should form a subject of very general curiosity. Dr. Crotch has done every thing that can be expected, for the natural anxiety which exists throughout society, upon this most interesting topic of social cultivation. THIS is the first of a new series of works on natural history, which no doubt owes its birth to the success of some speculations in the same line, which preceded it. The art and power, however, which have been displayed in this volume, are by no means of a rank, which will enable it to stand a competition with its rivals, for in every department it is certainly inferior to those. The engravings have nothing of the smooth delicacy, which is perceptible in Jardine's volumes of Ornithology, and of Monkeys: the colouring of the Parrots is likewise much below the standard of those volumes, and as far as respects paper, print, and the mere mechanical part of the publication, the same observation strongly applies. In considering the succession of such publications as the present, we are often at a loss to understand how the public is so easily led into the notion, that works like this are so essentially entitled to be considered as "cheap." There can be no doubt that the price of the number of engravings and the letterpress, as now compared with the price at which such value would have been up to a recent period demanded, is very low, and so much so, as to be an inducement to purchasers, who under former systems of dear publishing, would never have thought of such objects of amusement, as to the individual work itself, we may admit that it is a cheap one, but the question is, will it be cheap, if so much as is necessary for its being useful, be taken by the reader? We find that in each of the publications just spoken of, no more than a single family out of some thousands in the same class of animals, forms the subject of illustration; thus, a student of Nature, may acquire in one of these books, a full knowledge of the birds called Parrots, or the Humming Birds, or the Monkeys, but he must make up his mind, that in order to follow up the pursuit, his financies must be in a condition to supply him with a great deal more books. Now, supposing the completion of these works to be prosecuted on the scale which is now adopted, there is no calculating the amount to which the expense must necessarily arrive. Either of two consequences must then follow-the purchaser who commences the series, must either proceed or at once stop short; and we need only remind him of those consequences in order that he may estimate them justly. Why is it then, when a ligitimate opportunity for studying, not detached departments of natural history, not mere genera of races, but the whole of the animal kingdom in all its various modifications, that such an occasion should not be abundantly made use of by those who take an interest in this branch of knowledge? The "Animal Kingdom" of Cuvier, now in course of publication, in English, is a work which, in the true acceptation of " tion of "cheapness," deserves to be held up to public attention. It is a publication which offers to the public a complete system of science, and which, therefore, is entirely distinct from those that deal only with fragments of the great subject. Not only are all the interesting facts, and the scientific principles connected with them, belonging to the Parrots, Humming Birds. and Monkeys, fully and accurately set forth in the " Animal Kingdom," but the whole of the classes in each division are fully developed in all their mutual relations to one another. Thus, then, the smaller series of the volumes, now issued by Sir W. Jardine, and Sir T. D. Lauder, may do well for those who are to be gratified merely by embellishments that affect the senses, whilst they afford no sort of hope that the diffusion of science will, in the smallest degree, be assisted by them. THE MONTHLY REVIEW. FEBRUARY, 1834. ART. I.-Statistics of Mortality in the various Countries of Europe. By M. MOREAU DE JONNES. Paris. 1834. In surveying the common operations of nature, we are frequently struck with cases in which we perceive that a series of particular events are constantly occurring in a manner that appears to us to be desultory, irregular, and consequently, subject to no orderly system. Thus, if we look, in any given district, to the succession of generations of the human species, we shall find that the relative number of males and females born every year varies very considerably in the proportion of one to the other; and that this proportion never is governed by the same law. Again, if we contemplate the changes of the atmosphere, the intervals of sunshine or rain, heat or cold, we shall conclude that the power we possess of counting upon the moment when any of these intervals will return, is by no means to be relied on. But in these, and in all the like instances, if we so conduct our inquiries as to take in in our calculation the whole of those changes, that seem to us, in our narrow sphere, so erratic and uncertain, we shall then discover that, instead of being a series of accidental circumstances produced by some momentary impulse, they are appointed specifically as a part of a regular system, which, in its extended course, becomes the very model of unvarying order and regularity. The seasons, for example, and the weather, will be found, taking one year with another, to be subject to laws which fix their times with unerring certainty. A similar state of per manence can be proved to exist in the law which applies to the mortality of the human species. Countries, in respect of their situation, and of the moral condition of their population, are generally believed to be more or less healthy, and there is no doubt that very different causes produce death in nearly the whole of them; but VOL. I. (1834) NO. II. L that the same amount of mortality, as compared with that of the population, is equal throughout, is by no means the case, although it is true that the sources of death are carried into operation in all parts on an eternal law. In going over the statistics of the mortality to which several of the nations of Europe are subject, we shall find the difference in the number of deaths, in reference to the number of the inhabitants of a given country, to be by no means inconsiderable; and as the subject has been illustrated in a curious and instructive manner by the author of the paper before us, we shall avail ourselves of the facts and observations which it contains. The following table presents an account of the number of deaths, as compared with the amount of the population : The results, then, from this table, may be stated as follows:That 1 out of every 28 inhabitants dies yearly in the Roman States, &c.; 1 in 30 in Italy generally, in Greece and Turkey; 1 in 39 in the Netherlands, France, and Prussia; 1 in 40 in Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, and Spain; 1 in 44 in European Russia and Poland; 1 in 45 in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden; 1 in 48 in Norway; 1 in 53 in Ireland; 1 in 58 in England; and 1 in 59 in Scotland and Iceland. Thus we see that the fewest |