preventive measures for fear it would have to be withdrawn. But then, in order to afford adequate security both to medical man and householder, the authority of this certificate must be allowed by statute, and not be made a mere municipal ordinance, revocable at the pleasure of the sanitary authority, as is the case in Edinburgh at present. If it should be objected that the poor householders cannot be trusted to give the information on account of ignorance, it is sufficient to reply that they now do so in cases of registration of births; that they daily effect purchases in shops without error; and that the tenant of the common lodging-house has for years made this very notification. A distinction between the social classes has already been recognised in several ways, as by Section 84 of the Public Health Act, which requires notification from the tenant-inchief of a common lodging-house; by a general order of the Local Government Board, which has the practical effect of law, whereby all district medical officers appointed after February, 1879, are required to notify; and by a similar onus being imposed on the tenant and lodgers in the lower class of tenemented houses in all towns to which, on their application for it, Section 90 of the Public Health Act has been applied. Probably means might be devised for extending the principle to public dispensary-practice. By these provisions, all of which might perhaps advantageously be made statutory, the sanitarily dangerous and reckless classes would be covered, while the respectable artizan and small shopkeeper, as well as the classes socially above them, would be protected from the annoyance of an inquisitorial surveillance and domiciliary visitation; and the confidential relationships between the private medical man and his patients would be left undisturbed. But we need not wait for extended legislation before acting. This is a work in which all can safely engage, for whatever our religious or philosophical creeds, we shall all alike agree in the desirability of those about us leading wholesome, pure and happy lives, and in the importance of doing our utmost to promote such a result. In some cities, such as Manchester, voluntary sanitary associations have been established which, by means of cheap lectures, leaflets, and district visiting among the poor, disseminate much useful knowledge on the subject of healthy living. In this we are certainly behind, for except the society started some years ago by the late Town Clerk, Mr. Rayner, a society which did not grow, even if it lived, no organised effort has been made in this direction among ourselves. Here I leave the subject, asking only for the careful consideration of every one of the responsibilities which it should and does entail. This Society first awakened the authority to a sense of its dangers and its duties. For forty years, through ill report and good report, through contumely, abuse, and difficulties almost insuperable, the good work of sanitary improvement has been going on. It is time that the Society recognised the greatness of the results already attained, and did what it could to strengthen the authority of the present day in its efforts to raise this city to a still higher level of health than it has even yet attained. 39 THE FAUST - LEGEND: ITS SOURCE AND SOME OF ITS EARLIER FORMS. By R. MCLINTOCK. UNDER the head of Faust-Legend I include all stories whose fundamental incident is the execution of a bond or making of an agreement between a man and the powers of hell, purporting that, in consideration of certain advantages to accrue to the man during the term of his earthly life, he promises that after death his soul shall be at the free disposal of the powers of evil. In Goethe's Faust, Mephisto's proposed treaty runs thus To do you suit and service HEre I bind me, In other versions of this story a different bribe is offered to suit the temperament of the human party to the bargain ; the final result is the same-the man's soul becomes the devil's property. What is the root out of which all stories of this class sprang? The earliest example of a treaty of this sort, proposed but not accepted, is contained in the New Testament, and the person to whom it is offered is the Founder of Christianity himself. We have all read how the devil took Jesus into an exceeding high mountain, shewed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said to him: "All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." To which Jesus replied: "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."" To the natural question, Who is this devil, named Satan, who thus elaims dominion over the kingdoms of the earth? the New Testament gives no answer, and the Old Testament one which does not seem to fit. For the word devil occurs only in very few passages in the Old Testament, and always in the plural. The name Satan also is of very rare occurrence, and, except etymologically, of very doubtful meaning. The clearest passages in which this name occurs are certain well known verses in the Book of Job, in which we read that there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan : "Whence comest thou ?” And Satan answered and said: "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." There is no need to quote any farther; every one will remember how Satan, before he can lay a finger on Job's person or property, has to get express and special permission from the Lord. How this pettifogging adversary, insignificant with all his acrimony, developed into the prince of this world and of hell is an enigma which the Jewish and Christian Scriptures leave unanswered. We learn from the New Testament that, at the time when the events which it narrates took place, it was a common thing for one or more devils to take up their abode in a man, to the destruction, suspension, or degradation of his mental or bodily faculties; and several devils of eminence were known by name, and were supposed capable of conferring on men the power of expelling the minor devils from whatever residence they might have entered into. The Old Testament knows nothing of all this. Whence then did the people of Palestine get their knowledge? From Babylon and Persia. |