ndred thousand, until the year 1841, when
it amounted to 1,948,369. Railways had by that time reached London,
after which its population increased at nearly double the former ratio.
In the ten years ending 1851, the increase was 513,867; and in the ten
years ending 1861, 441,753: until now, to quote the words of the
Registrar-General in a recent annual Report, "the population within the
registration limits is by estimate 2,993,513; but beyond this central
mass there is a ring of life growing rapidly, and extending along railway
lines over a circle of fifteen miles from Charing Cross. The population
within that circle, patrolled by the metropolitan police, is about
3,463,771"!

The aggregation of so vast a number of persons within so comparatively
limited an area--the immense quantity of food required for their daily
sustenance, as well as of fuel, clothing, and other necessaries--would be
attended with no small inconvenience and danger, but for the facilities
again provided by the railways. The provisioning of a garrison of even
four thousand men is considered a formidable affair; how much more so the
provisioning of nearly four millions of people!

The whole mystery is explained by the admirable organisation of the
railway service, and the regularity and despatch with which it is
conducted. We are enabled by the courtesy of the General Managers of the
London railways to bring together the following brief summary of facts
relating to the food supply of London, which will probably be regarded by
most readers as of a very remarkable character.

Generally speaking, the railways to the south of the Thames contribute
comparatively little towards the feeding of London. They are, for the
most part passenger and residential lines, traversing a limited and not
very fertile district bounded by the sea-coast; and, excepting in fruit
and vegetables, milk and hops, they probably carry more food from London
than they bring to it. The principal supplies of grain, flour, potatoes,
and fish, are brought by railway from the eastern counties of England and
Scotland; and of cattle and sheep, beef and mutton, from the grazing
counties of the west and north-west of Britain, as far as the Highlands
of Scotland, which have, through the instrumentality of railways, become
part of the great grazing grounds of the metropolis.

Take first "the staff of life"--bread and its constituents. Of wheat,
not less than 222,080 quarters were broug