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The times of rising and of the morning prayer and medita-tion were the same as on weekdays, but the Mass was

followed by religious instruction. Work began at 7. It is un-

necessary, and it would be tedious, even to follow the hoursof study. The whole day, as Renan told his mother, was

spent in continuous pious exercises and the studies were

devoted to religion and the catechism, instruction was re-ceived and analyses were made on these subjects, and theseduties occupied the whole of the time except that which wasspent in learning by heart the Gospel and the catechism.Presumably the working hours at Saint-Nicolas were longerthan those at similar establishments in France at the time

and than those now prevailing in religious seminaries thereor elsewhere ; but it is quite possible that the length oftime devoted to study has counted for something in the

ineffectiveness of such institutions. Boys trained in this

way ought, if there were nothing radically wrong in the

system, to become the intellectual giants of the world. It

is notorious that this has not been the usual case.

THE BATTLE OF THE CLUBS: THE DISPUTEAT CHESTERFIELD.

THE Derbyshire Courier of Saturday, Oct. 11th, contains areply from the representatives of the friendly societies to thearticle by our Special Commissioner which appeared inTHE LANCET of Sept. 27th (p 895). The representatives ofthe friendly societies state that our article is I I a series of mis-

statements " ; that married women who have children should"be allowed to make an honest arrangement to protectthemselves against heavy doctor’s bills, which in many caseshave brought families to ruin and pauperism " ; and thatthey will " shortly introduce into Chesterfield a medical

gentleman who will be quite able to hold his own both asregards the qualification and social position." We may haveto refer to this funny document again ; for the present wehave only to say that we do not envy the medical man whotakes office under its writers.

THE CONDITION OF FLORENCE.

AN Italian correspondent writes, under date Oct. 6th :—" Competition, like every other incentive, has its bad as wellas its good bide, and the approach of the autumnal season,when the sun-traps and winter-cities of Southern Europebegin to attract the health-seeker from the north, is alwaysprolic of self-assertive rivalry between the many caterersfor that money-bringing clientèle. The Riviera Ponente,through the agents interested in its prosperity, is aptto advertise itself at the expense of the Riviera

Levante which in its turn, again through similarlyinterested agents, vaunts its special advantage over the

Neapolitan Riviera ; until, like Tennyson’s swallow flying,flying South,’ depreciation and disparagement (bothof them economists of truth’) alight with exhausted

wing on the Algerian seaboard or the banks of the Nile.Florence is at this moment chafing under a more than

usually severe visitation of this periodical scourge. Havingnothing to say against her sanitary or hygienic condition,her detractors, like the irate goddess in Virgil’s Æneid’—

’Flectere si nequeo Superos, Acheronta movebo’-

descend to politics and on the strength of a recent abortivesciopero generale (general strike) give out that she isthe prey of an aggressive Socialism,’ if, indeed, the

Anglophobe and the Anarchist have not marked her fortheir own. Like all ridiculous exaggerations this latest

specimen of self-interested misrepresentation has overshotits aim and fallen harmlessly-a telum imcbelle sine ictuinto the back of beyond. So far from being ’ honeycombed with revolution’ and ’ perfectly unsafe for the law-abiding Iresident,’ Florence, thanks to the monumental failure’ of

the general strike referred to and the discredit incurred byits promoters, is about the last place in Italy where theaggressor, anarchic or other, dares to enter an appearance,as may be seen by any visitor who paces its bright, cheerfulthoroughfares en route to its architectonic ekefs d’æuvre or

picture galleries already thronged with the votaries of plasticor reproductive genius. ’ Our Lady of Flowers,’ in truth, hasrarely been more attractive than in the day now passing,certainly has never been healthier since her mediaeval wallshave been replaced by ample viali or boulevards, andsince her streets can no longer be described, as they werea generation ago by the late Dr. King Chambers, as

mainly a series of Hanway passages bordered by Newgateprisons.’ Now that the agitation against the English prac-titioner and his professional activity has died a naturaldeath in Italy, Florence, like others of her Italian sisters,requires little more than a better organised, more punctualpostal service to be an ideal resort for the northern pilgrim,whether his presence be motiv6 by medical or by artistic,literary, or even social considerations. For the average

Englishman, however, residence in the most congenial ofcities becomes rather a chastened joy when he gets hischerished English newspapers at the good pleasure or

the private convenience of an undermanned and over-

worked postal personnel-a state of things which on theoutbreak of the South African war occasioned quite a

stampede of the English-speaking arrivals, eager to havenews from the front in their own journals and irritatedrather than satisfied by the meagre, ill-spelt, and not

always benevolent ’ despatches’ of the local press." "

THE PREVENTION OF BABY-FARMING.

IT is at least disappointing to find that notwithstandingall the trouble that has been taken to secure its abolition

the practice of baby-farming still continues to exist, even

though it be with an impaired vitality. That it can live atall is by no means creditable to our system of social

administration. We acknowledge that the energy put forthby local authorities for its prevention has increased and isincreasing. The officers of the Society for the Prevention ofCruelty to Children have also done much, and with no

small measure of success, towards the same purpose.Public opinion, too, is certainly better informed and moreawake to its duty in this connexion than it was some

years ago. We may quote in illustration of this fact the

recent finding of a Dublin jury which affords a significantexample of wholesome plain-speaking. The foreman, onhis own behalf and on that of his fellow jurors, expressedhis detestation of "this most inhuman practice of baby-farming, which was nothing short of murder," and hedesired to state their collective opinion that no respectablenewspaper should publish such advertisements as that

which appeared to have attracted the accused (and sub-sequently convicted) nurse. In this case, as in manyothers of the same class, the victim was a singly nursedchild and was therefore not protected by the defenceafforded by registration. Numerous protests have beenlevelled at this anomaly of legislation. By what cross-windof argument it was originally inspired we know not. Its

practical effect has too often been that of a mischievousconcession in favour of the wrongdoer. It is true that regis-tration does not provide a perfect remedy but it neverthelessmust act as a check upon malpractice. We trust that a

contemplated amendment which will make it operative inevery case without exception in which a young child is

nursed for hire will, before long, be embodied in the statute-book. Nor should those who honestly desire the extirpa-tion of this evil rest content at this point. Registration, inorder to he effectual, must be supported by a system ofregular and conscientious inspection. This we believe to be