been beaten, and are beaten, to this day, in
many of the most important of these branches,
by the French, German, and Belgian
manufacturers, as the Great Exhibition of 1851 will,
in all probability, most fully demonstrate.

In the sciences of chemistry and engineering,
however, we are rich in great names, and
in other names of well-deserved eminence.
With respect to chemistry, if we except
Faraday and Graham, our own country may
be somewhat outshone by the extraordinary
labours and discoveries of Liebig and Orfila;
nevertheless, as we have already shown, we
possess many professors of first-rate excellence;
and although the metropolis may lay claim
to by far the greater number, we must not
forget our provincial celebrities, whose
energetic efforts have done much to promote the
study. Foremost among these we should
mention Mr. Herapath of Bristol, Dr. Musprat of
Liverpool, and Mr. Daniel Stone of Manchester.
In the engineering sciences, we are fully
entitled to take the highest place among all
nations; and though we are well aware of the
great things done in Germany and France,
and (in steam science) in America, we may
still assert with safety, that the great works
of a Brunel, a Babbage, and a Stephenson (we
are only mentioning the living) justly place
England at the head of all those, of whatever
country, who have contributed to the
engineering works of this most engineering age.

To sum up the gist of this concise, but
comprehensive view, of the top favourites of
the present time—for though there is "A time
for all things," the world never takes to them
all at once, but in succession—we should say
that Periodical Literature, Foreign Music,
and the sciences of Chemistry and Engineering,
were the chief objects of practical study,
and extensive patronage by the public at large,
in our own country.

Having placed our great civil engineers at
the head of all others, in this most extensively
employed department of science, a few words
should be added concerning the most
important works, which the combined powers of
the country have been long called upon, both
by the people and by parliament, to perform.
Need we say that we allude to the Sanitary
regulations, affecting the interment of the dead,
the removal of fever-breeding nuisances from
crowded thoroughfares of the metropolis, the
provision of a constant supply of pure water
for every house, and a new and efficient
system of drainage for London, and its environs.

Why have none of these things been done?
A Tunnel under the Thames is called for—
and it is accomplished. A stupendous iron
Tubular Bridge is called for—and it is
accomplished. An enormous Exhibition
Palace for the Industry of all Nations is
called for—and it is accomplished. But there,
lie our over-crowded burial-grounds,
generating a poisonous atmosphere in the thick of
the living and loathing people! There, runs
the polluted Thames, of which we are
compelled to drink! There, stands Smithfield and
other nuisances! And there, sit the Corporation
of London, and the Metropolitan Commissioners
of Sewers! Why are none of these evils
removed? Why do these great and universally-
demanded national works stick fast in
the mud of obstinacy and imbecility, and
leave us all in the "Slough of Despond."
We will answer why, in few words. Dr.
Southwood Smith may work early and late,
and devise, and exhort; Mr. Chadwick may
issue report upon report; the best science
may be employed; the best surveys, and the
clearest statements, made and proved: the
Press may denounce the Board of Health;
the country may shout and wonder; Lord
Ashley may uplift his hands and smite his
forehead;—but so long as men so incapable of
all great action as the Metropolitan
Commissioners of Sewers (whose deepest anxiety,
for a long time past, has been to escape out
of office by a quiet back door, without even
attempting to commence, or even lay down
definitely, any really comprehensive system of
drainage) are allowed to twaddle away so
much money and time; so long as any
nobleman, or gentleman, holds an authority
for running wild in "woods and forests" to
qualify himself for controlling the Board of
Health, precisely because it is known that he
will do nothing efficient himself, nor permit
anybody else under his authority; so long as
the Treasury is allowed to adopt every
subterfuge for delay and evasion; and finally, so
long as the people of England will endure
all this, no one of these most desirable and
universally demanded works will ever be
accomplished. There is a time for all things;
the time for these has absolutely come; but
if the country has not strength and perseverance
to insist upon them, we shall never
obtain them, nor shall we really deserve them.

THE MODERN HAROUN-AL-RASCHID.

IN the district of Ferdj' Onah, Algeria, (which
signifies Fine Country) lives a Scheik named
Bou-Akas-ben-Achour. He is also distinguished
by the surname of Bou-Djenoni (the
Man of the Knife), and may be regarded as a
type of the eastern Arab. His ancestors
conquered Ferdj' Onah, but he has been forced
to acknowledge the supremacy of France, by
paying a yearly tribute of 80,000 francs. His
dominion extends from Milah to Rabouah,
and from the southern point of Babour
to within two leagues of Gigelli. He is
forty-nine years old, and wears the Rahyle
costume; that is to say, a woollen gandoura,
confined by a leathern belt. He carries a
pair of pistols in his girdle, by his side the
Rahyle flissa, and suspended from his neck a
small black knife.

Before him walks a negro carrying his gun,
and a huge greyhound bounds along by his
side. He holds despotic sway over twelve
tribes; and should any neighbouring people