Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/484

* LONDON. 426 LONDON. I their supplies from the.ie markets. Euormous quantities of provisions and vciietables, fruits and llowers are still purchased by consumers at the markets; but retail stores are now found in all parts of the city, and the main trade of the markets is in supplying them with the commodi- ties they sell to householders. The Smithtiold market is the great source of meat-supply for central London. The buildinj; occupies about three acres. The Leadenhall market is the prin- cipal market for poultry and game. Billingsgate is famous as the largest fish market in the world. Covent Garden market is more important than any other in the sale of vegetables and flow- ers. At Islington is a large market exclusively devoted to domestic cattle, while foreign cattle are sold at Deptford. The coal market is the largest establishment for the sale of coal in the world. The poorer classes of the East Knd olitain nearly all their cheap vegetables and other sup- plies from street venders, the gross amount of whose annual trade is about $17,000,000. Population. The population of Greater Lon- don, in 1901, was 6,581,000. The population of the county and city of London was 4.537.000. Greater London contains more than one-fifth of the total population of England and Wales. More than half of the inhabitants were born in London, and the remainder in other parts of Great Britain and Ireland, excepting about 3 per cent, who are natives of the British colo- nies and foreign countries. Germans. French, Dutch, Poles, and Scandinavians are particu- larly well represented; the number of Jews is more considerable than in any other city of England, and near the docks in the East End are not a few representatives of the Chinese, Hindus, and other Oriental peoples. Jlost for- eigners who make their homes in London have gone there in search of better*bu3iness npjiortu- nities, but their number is proportionally not so large now as it was three centuries ago. The death-rate is smaller than in many of the large cities of the world. The average mortality in 1881 was 21.6 per 1000. or less than that o"f the twenty other largest towns of England : in 1899, with a total mortality of 88,063, in London County, the death-rate was lfl.4 per 1000. In the same year the births numbered 133.134. or 20.3 per 1000. The birth-rate largely exceeds the death-rate, and about three-fourths of the in- crease in London population is derived from this source. The death-rate has steadily dpcliiied since the beginning of the lOth century, when it "was first exceeded by the birth-rate. The number ■of marriages in 1899 was 41,876, or 18.4 per 1000 of the inhabitants — a little less than the mean rate in the ten years. 1870 to 1879. In 1889 the number of illegitimate births was 47^9, or 3,6 per cent, of the total. The paupers of all classes (1899-1900) numbered 120.912. One of the greatest conveniences provided by the Govern- ment for the conmion people is the numerois public baths and wash-houses, which are patron- ized by over 5.000,000 bathers and washers every year. EDrcATiojr. Over 500,000 pupils attend the common schools, 975 in number, which are scat- tered all over the city. These are the public schools of London, xmder charge of the School Board, and costing the taxp.ayers $1G.938.,330 in 1900. The courses of study include all the common branches and are intended to fit the pupil for the ordinary vocations of life. There are also a large number of middle-class schools, with more ex- tended courses of study, which are supported by churches, cor|)orations, societies, or endowments. Some ,of the endowed schools, such as Saint Paul's and Charterhouse, have existed for cen- turies. London is not a great centre of viniver- sity instruction like Oxford and Cambridge. The University of London, previous to 1900 merely an examining body, embraces more than a score of institutions of all kinds, at the head of which are L'niversity College and King's College. The lectures of the University Extension are well attended, and are a useful feature of the free- education system. A number of large industrial schools are supixjrted from the public fumls. Xo where in the world are there finer facilities for obtaining a thorough training in medical and surgical science than in the College of Physicians, the College of Surgeons, the other medical schools, and the hospitals of London. Medical students are attracted thither from all parts of the world. The study of law is pursued at the Inns of Court (q.v. ). Although London is not a gieat centre of imiversity education, it may justly lie regarded as the scientific and literary centre of the British Empire — a position given to it by its numerous scientific societies, with their large collections, its great publisliing hoviM-. which issue more books than all the rest of Great Britain, and its newspapers and periodi- cals, about 700 in number, which excel in influ- ence and in literary quality. CoiiMrxiCATioxs. Such immense multitudes as throng the leading thoroughfares of London during business hours are seen in vcrv few other streets of the world. From the spacious sta- tions of the iletronolitan and other railroads about 1.000,000 persons are emptied into the streets every morning. Every day over 100. Odo foot passengers and over 20.000 vehicles cros^ London Bridge, the chief means of communication between the north and south banks of tin- Thames. Such streets as the Strand, Chea])side, Ludgate Hill, Cannon, and Lombard streets on week-days appear to be filled with a mass of omnibuses, cabs, carriages, truck-wagons, and pedestrians. The omnibuses, though compara- tively slow, carried 265,500,000 passengers in 1900. Thousan<ls of cabs and carriages are also largely jiatronized. for fares are cheap. A whistli- blown on any door-step in London is likely to bring a cab immediately. The more rajiid means of communication are afforded by the underground railroads, which place all quarters of the town in communication with one another, and connect London with the great triuik lines which send trains to every part of the Kingdom. The undprgromd rail- roads have nuTiierous stations scattered tbrougli- out the larger part of London, and carry over 160.000.000 passengers a year. The trunk lin.- have most of their stations, some of them paln- tial structures, not on the outskirts, but in tli' very heart of the city. The chief of these arr Waterloo. Charing Cross. Victoria. London Bridge. Paddington. Euston Square. Saint Pan- eras. King's Cross. Broad Street. Liverpool Street. Bishopsgate, and Fenchurch Street. In 1901 there were over 101 miles of tramways and electrical street railroads in operation, through- out the metropolitan area, with several tniles more imder construction or authorized. Rapid I