Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/476

 45(5 ITALY [STATISTICS. returns tor 1879 it appears that there were 97,855 patients in the kingdom by far the greater proportion being in Lombardy, the Veneto, and Emilia, where they actually formed 31 &quot;70, 30 52, and
 * 23 66 per thousand of the agricultural population. The disease

has many forms, and not unfrequently ends in insanity. And to what are its ravages to be ascribed ? To insufficient and unwhole some food, and more particularly to the use of maize in a state unfit for human consumption. 1 When such a state of matters exists among the rural population of some of the most prosperous regions of the country, there is little wonder that the number of conscripts who have to be rejected on the score of physical incapacity is a large one 20 per cent, in Lombardy and 18 per cent, in the Veneto in 1878. 2 The interest of the Italians is gradually being aroused in the sanitary condition of their cities and towns. Many of the provin cial capitals and cathedral cities are portentously filthy. Drainage and sewage works, however, are becoming matters of concern to a number of the more important communes ; and such cities more especially as Naples and Catania are bestowing much attention on the subject. A society of public health, Societd Italiana d iyicne, was established at Milan, one of the most advanced of Italian cities. in 1877 ; it publishes a valuable journal. 3 In Milan, Bologna, Genoa, Rome, and some other cities attention is being paid to the question of cheap houses for the working classes. On the general health conditions of Italy compare the elaborate study by Giuseppe Sormani, Geografia nosoloijica dell Italia, Koine, 1881. Commerce. The extent of its coast and the number and excellence of its ports and harbours, the relation which it holds to the other countries of the Mediterranean seaboard, and the railway communi cation which it now possesses with the Transalpine lands combine to give Italy an important place as a trading-country, a place which would have been more important if all departments of activity had not fallen into so sad a state during the long period of its political de cadence. In a country with a population comparatively so dense, and with so large a number of considerable cities as we have seen 1 taly to possess, it is evident on the face of it that the internal trade must amount to no small aggregate; but the simple agricultural life which is led by a large proportion of the inhabitants, the capacity which many regions possess of satisfying the demands of local consumption, limited at once in volume and variety, and the lack in many cases of free and frequent means of communication tend to restrain the scope and complexity of this interchange. That both the internal trade and the foreign commerce of Italy are in process of rapid de velopment it is impossible to doubt. Of the former movement some idea may be obtained from the railway statistics, which, however, owing to the incompleteness of the system, furni: h a less accurate representation of the facts than similar statistics in the case of older nations. That the foreign commerce is on the increase is shown by the following statement of the exports, imports, and transit trade from 1871 to 1880 (Table XX.): Imports. Exports. Transit Trade. lire. lire. lire. 1871 963,698,441 1.085.459,567 128.350.140 1872 1,186.611,328 1.107,201,119 121,172,403 1873 1,273.044,646 1.162,153,012 174,551,904 1874 1.275,206,783 985,458.532 215,277,553 1875 1,201,963,663 1,03:3,681,104 78,928,1(14 1876 1,313,841,108 1.216,844.813 10-2547.875 1877 1,1-51,2-22,78-i 979,162,785 92,182,912 1878 1,070,637,230 1.045,301,302 80,950,387 1879 1 ,26 1. 651 .423 1, 100,!) 19. 278 96,986,244 1880 1,225.644,170 1,132,289.192 &quot; In 1873,&quot; says Dr A. Brunialti, the author of &quot; Legrandi vie did commerciointernazionale,&quot; published in Sttidtj sulla Geograjia del/ Italia (Florence, 1875), issued by the Italian Geographical Society, &quot;Italy, with a total of 2,400,000,000 lire, was eighth in the liht of commercial nations of Europe, being exceeded by Great Britain (17,000,000,000 lire), Germany, France, Kussia .Belgium, Austria, and Holland, though Belgium is less than one-tenth of Italy in area, and has not more than one-fifth of its population, and Holland is not much bigger than Belgium, and has one-third less of a population. In 1877 it was still eighth on the list, and some of the smaller coun tries had made greater advance. The Italian trade with France and with Switzerland has enormously increased since the unification of the kingdom ; and the same may be said of the trade with Russia. Since the opening of the Suez Canal advantage has been taken of the new opportunities of trade with the East. Table XXI. gives the geographical distribution of the Italian trade during 1869, 1873, and 1879. In 1880 the whole value of the imports (excluding transit trade) was 1.225,644,170 lire, and the corresponding number for the exports 1,132,289,192. The Italian exports, as a natural consequence of the undeveloped state of the industries and the preponderance of its agriculture, mainly consist of such products as wine, oil, fruit, cattle, &c. TABLE XXL E,&amp;gt; po, &amp;gt;.&amp;gt; and Imports, 1869, 1873, and 1879. Exports from Italy. Imports to Italy. Countries. 1S69. 1873. 18J9. Countries. 18!i9. 1873. 1879. America, except I mted States.... Austria lire. 26,162.000 105,933,000 5,545,000 5 550 000 lire. 57,444,000 221,640,000 4,866,000 19,827,000 447,649,000 13,815,000 17,481,000 110,553.000 15,077,000 16,697,000 7.049,000 29,624,000 1,578.000 159.677.000 3806,000 6.733,000 lire. 31,308,000 206,778,000 6,616,000 1 0,265,000 473,067,000 23,800,000 14,164,000 96,5(3,000 5,635,000 24,702,000 11,080,000 51,396,000. 2,345,000 107,409,000 4,094,000 17,937,000 6.853,000 America, except United States... Belgium lire. 24,637,000 156,619.000 10,090,000 3,702,000 264,424,000 10,107,000 7,712,000 232,269,000 35,277,000 30,448,000 3,893.000 37,992.000 4,607,000 49.442,000 lire. 52,658,000 225,371.000 14,457,000 18.137,000 386,862,000 23,710.000 . 6,222.000 002,306,000 44,889.000 48,502.000 9,535.000 49,726.000 2,112.000 40.977.000 18,566.000 43,623.000 lire. 28.862,000 194,364.000 14,195,000 31,551,000 301.098.000 45,618,000 10,154,000 256.090,000 11,442,000 102,249.000 10.510,000 71.823.000 5,186.000 32,436,000 4,362.000 6(^,076.000 52.645.000 France aucl Algeria 166,979,000 3,021,000 3,899,000 116,995,000 13,096,000 38,232,000 5.120,000 &quot;) 5-&amp;gt;3 000 &amp;lt;&quot; Greece England Holland Holland Russia Spain and Portugal Sweden, Norway, and Denmark... 3.916,000 121,771,000 5,079,000 12.424,000 Sweden, Norway, and Denmark... 3.941.000 Turkey Turkey 47.604,000 TAIJLK XXII. Export* of Sundry Important Articles, 1865-79. Butter Cattle. Sheep. Years. ine in Olive Oil. Fresh and 1-rcsh Meat Eggs. Gloves. Marble. Sulphur. Horses, and (ioats, and Salt. Asses. Pigs. gallons. quintals. quintals. quintals. quintals. 100 pairs. lire. quintals. 1865 5,819,264 657,132 6,603 4,481 19,844 3,488 5,671.779 1.453,166 31,019 56,881 1866 7,653,130 647,980 4,871 15,225 32,583 3,580 7,405,313 1.795.443 55,079 159,327 1867 6.291,472 377,941 5,263 26,093 49,148 5,296 5,819.573 1,925,928 123,900 199.026 1868 5,035,932 522,808 7,138 29,476 41,401 8,335 7,005.187 1.764,256 85,264 214,290 1869 6,011,016 776,180 6,071 30,659 65,5&amp;lt;i5 10,941 28:657.408 1.705,304 62,987 162.904 1870 4.947.514 578,347 9,076 26,574 48,768 8,931 10,237,020 1,743,180 75,237 169,047 1871 5.010,852 841,106 10,039 25,349 46,190 13,451 9.573,133 1,724.710 164,332 359,314 1872 12,805,068 673,593 11,505 24,007 45,064 19,715 10,111.005 1,826,550 127,212 284,563 1873 6,386.440 602,605 9,998 25,258 54,770 9,545 11.995,943 2.030,510 77,263 213,778 1874 5.90S.604 476,832 14,056 27,424 87,239 5,977 13.190,527 1,745,620 49,792 192,455 1875 7.748,290 926,673 12,433 30,681 90,710 14,985 13,480,935 2.166,750 60,146 225,346 1876 10.960.664 812,897 16,082 30,530 247,070 26,263 14,853,675 1.952,800 96,368 313,876 187 7 7,803,708 602,301 21,677 44,267 210,340 29,244 12,351.436 2.101.177 159,732 386,420 1878 11,551.254 514,127 23,703 44,792 228,322 26,270 15,215,430 2,183.264 170,141 464,413 1879 23,388,508 886,555 20,067 56,5.24 231,857 15,886 29,6!)6,.V2-i 2.422,706 129,730 387,727 1 See Annali &amp;lt;ll Atjricoltura, Xo. 18, &quot; La Pellai^ra in Italia, 1879 &quot; (Rome, 1880). The statistics of the hospital of St Clements at Venice, for example, are suffi- ienfly startling, as indicating the extent of what the Italians graphically call il delirio del/a miseria. The first column gives the number of the lunatics eceived in eaeii year, the second column Jhose whose mental condition is the result of the peltaf/ra, that is. of poverty. 1874 558 178 1876 666 175 1878 859 294 1875 ... ... 595 153 1877 ... ... 802 215 1879 ... 924 337 Ilie to al number of pellagra lunatics in Italy, which in 1874 was 945, had increased by 1877 to 1348. 2 Compare Laveleye, L Italie actuelle. Loud., 1880. 3 Compa e tlu; accounts given by Gallenga in his Italy Rfrisitetl.
 * Austria