STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c.

THE ENGLISH CENSUS.

It appears from the English Census of 1851 that the total number of persons forming the people of Great Britain on the night the Census was taken-the 31st of March, 1851-was 21,129,967. After stating this chief fact, the census takers say, with great truth:

It is difficult to form any just conception of these large numbers, for men are rarely seen in large masses, and when seen their numbers are seldom known. It is only by collecting, as in other cases of measuring, the units into masses, these masses into other masses, and thus ascending progressively to a unit comprehending all others, that the mind attains any adequate notion of such a multitude as a million of men. Thus, from a file of ten persons, which the eye takes in at one view, the mind readily conceives ten such groups, or a hundred, and again ascending to ten hundred or a thousand; to to ten thousand or a myriad; to ten myriads or a hundred thousand; and to ten hundred thousand or a million-arrives at the conception of the twenty-one millions of people which Great Britain contained within its shores on the night of March 3, 1851. Another way of arriving at this conception is, by considering the numbers in relation to space; as 4,840 persons might stand without crowding on the 4,840 square yards in an acre, 3,097,600 persons would cover a square mile, (equal to 640 acres ;) and the twenty-one millions of people in Great Britain, allowing a square yard to each person, would therefore cover seven square miles.

Doubting whether this statement conveys a complete idea of the number of people in Great Britain, the Report attempts another mode of illustration:

The building of the Great Exhibition in London inclosed 18 acres, and 50,000 or 60,000 persons often entered it daily; on the 9th of October 93,224 persons filled its floor and galleries, and could almost be surveyed by the eye at one time. Of 100,000 persons a general notion can be formed by all those who witnessed this spectacle at the Crystal Palace; it is a greater number than ever were, at one time, in a building covering eighteen acres, but somewhat less than the greatest number (109,915) that ever entered in one day, October 7th. The population, then, of Great Britain, including men, women, and children, exceeds 211 hundred thousands; and at the rate of a hundred thousand a day, could have passed through the building in 211 days; the English-as they are 169 thousand-in 169 days; the Welsh, 10 hundred thousand, in 10 days; the Scotch, 29 hundred thousand, in 29 days; the 143,126 islanders in the British Seas, in less than a day and a half; the 162,490 soldiers and seamen absent from the country when the census was taken, in less than two days. The population of Great Britain in 1801 amounted in round numbers to 109 hundred thousands; and 102 of the 211 hundred thousands in 1851, or as many as could pass through such a place in 102 days, would represent the increase of the people of Great Britain in half a century.

COLORED POPULATION NORTH AND SOUTH.

The Richmond Examiner publishes an interesting statistical article, contrasting the physical condition of the free blacks of the North and the slaves of the South. The Examiner says:

In Maine there are 1,355 free blacks, of whom 94 are insane-1 to 14! In Louisiana there were 45 insane out of 193,194 slaves-1 in every 4,310. In Massachusetts the ratio of insanity among the free negroes was 1 to every 43. In Virginia, 1 to 1,286. In Missouri, 1 to 979. In Illinois, 1 to 47. The census of 1850 showed that there was 1 blind person to every 2,445 whites, 1 blind to every 2,645 slaves, whilst among the free colored persons of the North there is 1 blind to every 870. There is 1 idiot to every 1,040 slaves, and 1 idiot to every 436 free blacks at the North! The total of afflicted, of blind, deaf, dumb, idiotic, and insane, among slaves at the South, is 1 to every 1,057, while these maladies are endured among the free blacks of the North in the ratio of 1 to every 311.

POPULATION OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.

The population and extent of the British North American Colonies, will be seen by the following statement, prepared in the office of the chief superintendent of educa

The School Census of Cincinnati, Ohio, has just been taken by authority, as a basis for distribution of the State education fund. The Cincinnati Atlas, from which we derive the returns, says:-" It is a remarkable fact-if it be really a fact that with the increase of the population for two years, the number of children is two thousand less in 1853 than in 1851. It will be noted also as remarkable, that in the eighth district there is a decrease in numbers of one thousand and ninety-six! There certainly must have been some mistake in the collecting together this census."

SCHOOL CENSUS-YOUTH BETWEEN FOUR AND TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE.

The returns for the fifteenth district have not been received, it is therefore estimated

at the same as last year.

JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES.

SILVER AT THE COPPER MINES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

The Hon TRUMAN SMITH, United States Senator from Connecticut, has written a letter announcing an important discovery in respect to our mineral interest on Lake Superior, which he made by the agency of an accomplished metallurgist recently from Europe. Mr. Smith has spent most of the summer on the Lake, actively employed in attending to the interests of several companies in which he is concerned. It has not been known, or even suspected until recently, that there is in the matrix of some of the mines, if not all, an ore of silver. Mr. Smith gives a statement of four parcels which were reduced with the results (we quote from his letter) as follow:

No. 1. From Northwest Mine, yield after the rate of 56 oz of silver to 100 lbs. of ore -equal to 1,120 oz. per ton; value, $1,355 21.

No. 2. Isle Royale Mine, yield after the rate of 26 oz. to the 100 lbs.—equal to 520 az per ton; value, $627 20.

No. 3. From the same mine, yield after the rate of 40 oz. to the 100 lbs.-equal to 800 oz. per ton; value, $968.

No. 4. Cliff Mine, yield after the rate of 12 oz. to the 100 lbs.-equal to 240 oz. per ton; value, $290 40.

I am informed by Gen. Villomil, the very able Minister from Ecuador, it is considered in South America that an ore which will yield from 4 to 6 ounces will pay all expenses, including, of course, the mining expenses. It should be borne in mind that I brought forward these ores, adhering as they did to the copper, without the slightest suspicion that they were argentiferous, and therefore it cannot be said that they were selected specimens. But I must believe that these results will prove greatly above any average that can be obtained by practical operations. That the ores are likely to add much to the value of our mines, i strongly believe. The mining expenses are all incurred in taking out the copper. Hence, whatever may be obtained in the form of silver, will be an addition to our resources.

The questions may be asked-What is the amount of these ores? Are they likely to become a matter of national importance?

I am not prepared to answer these inquiries. My belief is, the quantity will prove to be very considerable, and perhaps large in some of the mines, and large in the aggregate. I shall take measures to have this subject investigated, so far as it can be done at this late season of the year, and I may make a further communication thereon. I feel it to be my duty to caution the public against wild speculations based on these revelations. I am engaged in the business of mining, which I hold to be useful, legitimate, and proper; but I abhor stock-jobbing-it has been the greatest curse of Lake Superior. Let us keep cool, ascertain the facts, and act accordingly. I make this statement because my experiments are on the streets, and I deem it best to have the case in an authentic form.

RE-OPENING OF A SILVER MINE IN PENNSYLVANIA.

The re opening of an ancient silver mine in Pequea Valley, Lancaster county, has caused some excitement. The mine is said to have belonged to English capitalists, who, on the breaking out of the revolutionary war, buried their tools and closed up the shafts and tunnels. Since then the existence of the mine has been forgotten, or only remembered as a traditional fable, until recently, when some traces were found of it, and operations were commenced under the superintendence of Mr. E. Bowen. He has succeeded in clearing out one tunnel or adit level, 100 yards long, 7 feet high, and 5 feet wide; a shaft 50 feet deep, and the beginning of another adit level. Assays that have been made of the ore (argentiferous galena) show that it contains over $500 worth of silver to the ton, and yields about 80 per cent of lead. A letter from Mr. Bowen, dated October 26, 1853, states his conviction that the mine was

abandoned hurriedly, not from its proving unprofitable, but solely on account of the war; that the tools will be found buried in the mine, and that a large quantity of ore, previously mined and cleaned, is deposited also with them. He adds, that one month's experience proves that the mine, as now exposed, will pay the interest of $1,300,000 on a working capital of $100,000, and with a capacity equal to 100 men. He publishes, also, a letter from Hon. James Cooper, who states that his father, who was born in 1764, in the Pequea settlement, had spoken of hearing from his father, of the existence of these mines, and of their having been abandoned and filled up by the English operators, on account of the war, There seems to be no doubt either of the former history or the present value of the mines, and their re-discovery will make a great addition to the already vast mineral wealth of Lancaster county.

QUICKSILVER IN CALIFORNIA.

(TRANSLATED FROM THE COURIER DES ETATS UNIS.)

The annual production of mercury at the mines of Almaden, (Spain,) Idria, (Frioul,) Hungary, Transylvania, Peru, etc., is valued at from thirty to forty thousand quintals, (ewt.) China and Japan also produce an equal quantity of mercury, but, I believe, do not export the article. Notwithstanding this large production the supply is by no means equal to the demand, and many gold and silver mines have ceased to be worked on acepunt of the scarcity and high price of that metal. The mystery which yet envelops the operations at the mines of New Almaden, has prevented me from obtaining accurate returns, but we can to some extent supply that want from our own observations, and enable your readers to appreciate the value of these mines in California. The richest minerals of Europe are those of Almaden and Idria; the first contain 10 per cent of metal, the latter 8 per cent. The other minerals are less rich. I have analyzed several samples of cinnabar, taken from different spots in New Almaden, and they have yielded from 29 to 72 per cent. The general average was about 50 per cent; that is to say, the cinnabar is from 10 to 11 times richer than that of Europe.

I have analyzed the refuse which came from the furnaces at New Almaden, and found 8 and 10 per cent of mercury. Thus have they thrown aside a mineral as rich as that of Idria and Almaden. The loss of 8 to 10 per cent, combined with a equal loss by evaporation on account of defective apparatus, is a most deplorable waste of the riches of the earth. There are at New Almaden ten furnaces for roasting, more or less imperfect in construction, and which, nevertheless, furnish, if in constant operation, from thirty to thirty-five thousand pounds of mercury weekly. To obtain that amouns of metal one hundred thousand pounds of cinnabar are consumed, and from eighteen to twenty thousand pounds of mercury lost from bad management. The following calculation will serve to show at what weekly expense these mines could be worked, under a proper system of management:

The above outlay would produce 50,000 lbs. of mercury. This would be working with a very limited capital, and it would be easy to double the product by increasing the capital from eighty to one hundred thousand dollars. I need not say that these calculations are not founded upon any results obtained at New Almaden; I neither know the receipts nor expenses of working those mines. I only wish to render apparent to all the importance to which that branch of metallurgic industry can be raised. But to return to New Almaden, the only important work which exists there is a "rift," or inclined plain, which conveys the mineral to the works. Do they find collections of pure mercury in those mines? We do not know, but think it ought to exist in considerable quantities, and that it would be discovered by well directed researches. The deposits of cinnabar appear very extensive in the neighborhood of the mines now worked, and we may safely predict that hereafter new and extensive works of a similar character will be established there.

D. D'HEINY.

STATISTICS OF THE SHOE MANUFACTURE.

This has become a great business-and though everybody is aware of this, very few are aware of the actual extent to which it is carried on.

In the State of Massachusetts it is the second in importance, agriculture being the first. It has not only a greater number of persons engaged in it than any other handicraft, but it probably pays better. The Andover Advertiser has an article giving the statistics of this business, from which it appears that the aggregate value of boots and shoes manufactured in the State is estimated at $37,000,000, which equals the manufacture in all the other States combined, and exceeds that of any other manufacture in this commonwealth, the item of cotton goods of all kinds amounting to but $12,103,449. Of the above value, $12,000,000 worth are annually shipped to New York, where there are 250 boot and shoe warehouses, many of which sell from $100,000 to $1,000,000 a year, and three of them even exceed the highest sum named. The remainder, that are not used at home, are sent to the South and West, to California, the West Indies, South America, Australia, the Sandwich Islands, to England, and the continent of Europe.

The sale of "findings," which does not include leather, employs thirty-eight firms in New York, and amounts to $600,000 a year. Most of the pegs used in this immense business are made in New Hampshire, and one firm, it is said, manufactures fifty bushels daily. The pegs are cut by machinery. A machine has been invented recently to drive them in an incredibly short space of time, and another machine for sewing and stitching has come in use.

With a

Lynn is engaged in this business more extensively than any other town. population of 14,257, the number of manufactures is 144, and of operatives, 3,787 males, and 6,422 females; and the number of pairs made annually, 4,633,900; from 1810 to 1850 there were 707 dwelling houses built, and the number of rateable polls doubled. Danvers, population, 8,109; manufacturers, 35; operatives, 1,184 males, 693 females; pairs made, 1,123,000; dwelling houses increased from 479 to 1,020 from 1840 to 1850, and the number of rateable polls in a similar proportion. Stoneham, population, 2,885; manufacturers, 24; operatives, 415 males, 376 females; 850,000 pairs of children's shoes made annually. There is more than one male shoemaker to each family. In Grafton, one manufacturer uses 100 bushels of shoe pegs per year.

The whole number of persons engaged in the business within the State, by the census of 1850, is 39,944.

MINERAL WEALTH OF EGYPT.

WILLIAM C. BRYANT, in one of his letters published in the Evening Post, says:― When I was in Upper Egypt, I fell in with an Italian who was employed to obtain sulphur from a mine among these mountains. They are incredibly rich, said he, in beds of ore of various metals and other mineral productions; but these cannot be worked for want of fuel. Egypt has no mines of coal-all that is used in her steamers and her manufactures is brought from England. She has springs of mineral oil, the indication of beds of coal, and wherever they are to be found, the government has made excavations to a great depth and at a great cost, but without success. An Arab, in wandering among the mountains at the Red Sea, not long since, found a little pool of quicksilver where it had flowed from the rocks. He attempted to scoop it up with his hands, but it slid through his fingers. He then drew it up in his mouth, filled with it the leathern bottle in which he carried water, and brought it home. He was taken ill immediately afterward and died, probably from the effect of the quicksilver he had swallowed, so that the spot where he found it is still unknown, though diligent search has been made for it.

CAPITAL INVESTED IN MANUFACTURES IN THE UNITED STATES.

The entire capital invested in the various manufactures in the United States, on the 1st of June, 1850, not to include any establishments producing less than the annual value of $500