Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/646

 great city—any more than he would select a steak from the coarse beef whose proper destination is the stock-pot. Let any one compare the facilities which exist in most foreign towns for obtaining the three important articles of diet just named, with the parallel conditions afforded by London, and the inferiority of the latter will be so manifest as to become matter of humiliation to an Englishman. I do not raise any question of comparison between our own markets and the Halles Centrales of Paris, covering as they do nearly five acres of closely utilized space, with enormous vaults beneath, in direct communication by tram-road with the railways; nor of the well-stocked Marché St. Honoré, and others of less note. To many among the thousands of tourists who frequent the public buildings of Paris, an early morning survey of the fish, flesh, dairy produce, vegetables, fruit, and flowers, which the Halles Centrales display, and the scarcely less remarkable exhibition of Parisian and provincial life brought together there, present one of the most interesting and truly foreign spectacles which the city affords.

To the long list of needed reforms I have ventured to advocate in connection with this subject, I must add the want of ample and accessible markets in various parts of London, for what is known as country produce. I do this not only in the interest of the millions who, like myself, are compelled to seek their food within the limits of Cockayne; but also in the interest of our country gardeners and housewives, who ought to be able to supply us with poultry, vegetables, and eggs, better than the gardeners and housewives of France, on whom at present we so largely depend. We may well be grateful to these small cultivators, who by their industry and energy supply our deficiencies; but the fact that they do so does not redound to the credit of our countrymen.

No doubt, as regards security, liberty, locomotive facilities, etc., Cockayne is a tolerably comfortable and pleasant place to live in; nevertheless, it is certainly true that greater intelligence, more enterprise, and better organization—perhaps of the coöperative kind—are much required, in order to improve not only the sources and quality of our food, but also some of our manners and customs in relation to selecting, preparing, and serving it.—Nineteenth Century.



To the Editors of the Popular Science Monthly:

N the April number of your Journal for this year (1879), I discussed the subject of coincidences as one of the six sources of error in experimenting with living human beings, and stated in substance that this department of logic had been most imperfectly studied, and that the