This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883 Excerpt: ... in Science and in Art, in Literature and Philosophy. But even in this comparatively wide survey, albeit really narrow, we overlook the abounding barbarism, ignorance, misery, and wretchedness in the midst of the abounding civilisation and well-being. Even in this happy country of England, may it not be truly said that ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883 Excerpt: ... in Science and in Art, in Literature and Philosophy. But even in this comparatively wide survey, albeit really narrow, we overlook the abounding barbarism, ignorance, misery, and wretchedness in the midst of the abounding civilisation and well-being. Even in this happy country of England, may it not be truly said that it is only the few, to a million, that participate in the civilisation we boast of, --that millions on all sides of us are sunk in ignorance and are in a state of social degradation? What are we to infer as to the social and the physical condition of a very large part of the people even of Scotland, when told (as we learn from the last Census statistics of that country), that in Glasgow alone 41 families out of every 100 families live in homes having only one room; further, that 37 per cent, beyond the 41 dwell in homes of only two rooms; that is to say, that 78 per cent, or nearly four-fifths, dwell in homes of only one or two rooms; and, still further, that in Scotland generally nearly one-third of the whole people dwell in homes of only one room, and that more than two-thirds, or 70 per cent., of the whole people dwell in homes of not more than one or two rooms! The truly deplorable state, physically and socially, of many parts of Ireland, and specially of the 'congested' parts in the West, is but too well known. What a tale does Mr. Forster's Education Act for England of 1870 tell! What but that millions of our fellow-countrymen were destitute of the prime requisite for their intellectual and social elevation. And so of France. In December 1880, M. Paul Bert, then Minister of Public Instruction, on bringing in an Education Bill, in the Chamber of Deputies, stated that, ' notwithstanding the progress made of late years, cneseventh part of t...
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