e no
greater; and pure air is of the same price as foul air. Light costs
nothing.

A healthy home, presided over by a thrifty, cleanly woman, may be the
abode of comfort, of virtue, and of happiness. It may be the scene of
every ennobling relation in family life. It may be endeared to a man by
many delightful memories, by the affectionate voices of his wife, his
children, and his neighbours. Such a Home will be regarded, not as a
mere nest of common instinct, but as a training-ground for young
immortals, a sanctuary for the heart, a refuge from storms, a sweet
resting-place after labour, a consolation in sorrow, a pride in success,
and a joy at all times.

Much has been done to spread the doctrines of Sanitary Science. There is
no mystery attached to it, otherwise we should have had professors
teaching it in colleges (as we have now), and graduates practising it
amongst the people. It is only of recent years that it has received
general recognition; and we owe it, not to the medical faculty, but to a
barrister, that it has become embodied in many important Acts of
Parliament.

Edwin Chadwick has not yet received ordinary justice from his
contemporaries. Though he has been one of the most indefatigable and
successful workers of the age, and has greatly influenced the
legislation of his time, he is probably less known than many a
fourth-rate parliamentary talker.

Mr. Chadwick belongs to a Lancashire family, and was born near
Manchester. He received his education chiefly in London. Having chosen
the law for his profession, he was enrolled a student of the Inner
Temple in his twenty-sixth year. There he "ate his way" to the Bar;
maintaining himself by reporting and writing for the daily press. He was
not a man of an extraordinary amount of learning. But he was a sagacious
and persevering man. He was ready to confront any amount of labour in
prosecuting an object, no matter how remote its attainment might at
first sight appear to be.

At an early period in his career, Edwin Chadwick became possessed by an
idea. It is a great thing to be thoroughly possessed by an idea,
provided its aim and end be beneficent. It gives a colour and bias to
the whole of a man's life. The idea was not a new one; but being taken
up by an earnest, energetic, and hard-working man, there was some hope
for the practical working out of his idea in the actual life of
humanity. It was neither more nor less than the Sanitary Idea,--the germ
of t