as one marriage.
On the other hand, births are found to be most abundant in the first
quarters of the year; the number for the first three months of the
present year was 161,776. 'So many births,' says the Registrar, 'were
never registered before in the same time.' In the same period of 1851,
it was 157,374; and of 1848, 139,736. The deaths during the three
months were 106,682, leaving an increase in the population of 55,094,
which, however, disappears in the fact, that 57,874 emigrants left the
United Kingdom in the course of the quarter. The mortality, on the
whole, was less than in the ten previous winters, owing, perhaps, to
the temperature having been 3 deg. above the average; but the difference
was more marked in rural districts than in the large towns. According
to the meteorological table attached to the Report, it appears that
the mean temperature for the three months ending in February was
41 deg..1, being 4 deg..2 above the average of eighty years. On the 10th of
February, the north-east wind set in, and on seventy nights during the
quarter the temperature went below freezing. The movement of the air
through January and February was 160 miles per day--in March, 100
miles. Up to February 9, the wind was generally south-west, and rain
fell on twenty-three days, and on six days only after that date. These
periodical reports, and those of our Meteorological and
Epidemiological Societies will doubtless, before long, furnish us with
sufficient data for a true theory of cause and effect as regards
disease, and for preventive measures.

Gold is, and will be for some time to come, a subject much talked
about. Some of our financiers are beginning to be of opinion, that the
period is not distant when a great change must be made in the value of
our currency--the sovereign, for instance, to be reduced from 20s. to
10s. If so, there would be a good deal of loss and inconvenience
during the transition; but, once made, the difficulty would cease.
Others, however, consider that the demand for gold for manufacturing
purposes and new appliances in the arts, will be so great, that not
for many years to come will its increase have any effect on the value
of the circulating medium. It will be curious if the result, as not
unfrequently happens, should be such as to falsify both conclusions.
Connected with this topic is the important one of emigration; and so
important is it, that either by public or private enterprise, measures
wi