EMETIC

EMETIC (quid, to vomit), a medicine that excites vomiting by a specific action on the stomach, independently of its taste or odour. The emetics most in use are ipecacuanha, the tartrate of antimony and potash (tartar emetic), sulphate of zinc, and sulphate of copper.

EMIGRATION is the act of leaving the country or Definition. place in which one has previously resided, in the view of residing in some other country or place. Persons so leaving the place of their residence are called emigrants; and latterly the term immigrants has been employed to designate persons arriving from a distance in some place or country with the intention of settling in it. Persons leaving a country for a while, to which they intend to return, are not reckoned emigrants. This term is appropriated to those who leave their present habitations to establish themselves permanently elsewhere.

The motives which lead to emigration are various in Motives the extreme; but, whatever its immediate cause may be, which lead to emigration. all emigrants expect either to avoid some considerable evil, or to improve or amend their situation. The natural multiplication of man and of the animals which he domesticates, and the tendency of both to increase beyond such means of subsistence as may be easily made available for their support, have been in all ages the great cause of emigrations. When the flocks and herds of the occupiers of particular districts began to be so numerous that pasture became deficient, it was an obvious resource, in the event of any unoccupied lands being in their vicinity, for a portion of the tribe to emigrate to them. The Book of Genesis affords a striking illustration of what is now stated. The herds of Abraham and Lot, it is there stated, had so greatly increased, that, there not being room for them both, contests took place between their servants. Whereupon Abraham said to Lot, "Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east; and they separated themselves the one from the other." (Chap. xiii. v. 8-11.) And what happens to herdsmen hap-

pens to agriculturists. It would be easy, indeed, to show, by entering into historical details, that this was in fact the way in which population was extended over all countries. But the thing is so very evident that this would be quite unnecessary—a mere accumulation of proof in a case where none is required.

Many of the emigrants from the Greek states of antiquity consisted of citizens forced by the violence of contending factions to seek new settlements in other countries. But Greece also sent forth emigrants, impelled by the difficulty of maintaining themselves at home, or allured by the glowing descriptions of the comparative abundance they would enjoy in distant lands. Both these classes of emigrants established themselves, for the most part, either in countries with a scanty population, or whose inhabitants were in a decidedly lower state of civilization. And the greater refinement and ingenuity of the Greeks, and their industrious habits, enabled them to make a rapid progress, so that several of these colonies became, in no very lengthened period, populous and powerful states.

But few voluntary emigrants ever left Rome. The colonies which she sent forth were intended to bridle subjugated provinces, and should be regarded rather as the outposts of an immense army, the headquarters of which were at Rome, than as establishments of individuals who had bid adieu to their mother country, and who intended to maintain themselves in their new residence by their own industry.

But in their wish to amend their condition, emigrants have not always been contented to establish themselves in unoccupied or thinly-peopled countries. Sometimes, as in the case of the irruption of the northern nations into the Roman empire, they have attacked countries that were densely peopled; and, having subdued the inhabitants, have seized upon the whole, or upon a greater or less proportion of their lands.

Pastoral nations, inasmuch as they can carry with them the flocks and herds from which they derive their subsistence, may emigrate in very large bodies; and previously to the invention of gunpowder, and other improvements in warfare, were very dangerous neighbours. The danger was further increased, or rather was perpetually kept up, by the fact that the emigration of one tribe or nation, by making more room for those that remained behind, gave a corresponding stimulus to population, so that the vacuum being soon filled up, the motive to fresh emigration became as great as ever. On this principle we are able to account satisfactorily for the successive swarms of barbarians that, issuing from the countries in the north of Europe, first attacked and ultimately overthrew the colossal fabric of Roman power. It admits of demonstration that these countries were then not nearly so populous as at present, that they had not more, perhaps, than a fifth or a sixth part of the inhabitants by which they are now occupied. But as they depended principally on pasturage, their numbers were often in excess compared with their means of support. And the pressure of want, that is, the necessity of finding additional room for their flocks and herds on the one hand, and, on the other, the prospect of vast wealth and riches of which they might hope to possess themselves, precipitated them into those expeditions in which, though often defeated, they were in the end successful. The lines of Gray, in reference to these irruptions, are as true as they are beautiful:

The prostrate South to the destroyer yields
Her boasted titles, and her golden fields:
With grim delight the brood of winter view
A brighter day, and heavens of azure hue;
Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose,
And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.

Thanks, however, to the progress of science and of arts, the civilized world is now secure against being again over

run by barbarians. Those who overcome the armies, the fleets, and other means of defence of refined and polished nations, must themselves be to a considerable extent refined and polished. The brute force of mere barbarism can no longer contend with the tremendous energies which civilised nations can press into their service. If the sun of Europe is destined to be again obscured, it will not be by a fresh irruption of barbarians.

In modern times America, and, more recently, Australia, have formed the favourite outlets for the emigrants from the Old World. When first discovered, these vast continents were wholly or almost wholly occupied by the scanty population of hunters, hardly more advanced than the wild animals which they made their prey. Europeans consequently had very little difficulty in subjugating and occupying the most extensive territories on the other side of the Atlantic and in the Southern Ocean, while their propitious climate and extraordinary fertility (of America at least) held out every encouragement to draw to them not only the poor and needy, but also the aspiring, the industrious, the discontented, and the rejected population of this and other old settled countries. To these America has truly been a "city of refuge." The hosts of paupers and outcasts that have fled or been driven to her hospitable shores have become citizens of free and independent communities, and have mostly attained to a state of comfort or it may be of independence. And the benefits of this emigration have not only been, but they continue to be, of a gigantic description. Besides the gain to humanity by the establishment of arts, science, and religion in the vast wildernesses of America and Australia, and the advantageous asylum they afford to all who resort to them, the endless variety and abundance of their animal, vegetable, and mineral products, supply the means of carrying on a commerce which is becoming every day more and more important, and which has already done more than anything else to stimulate the inventive and productive energies of the English and other nations of Europe.

And it is satisfactory to know, that notwithstanding the rapid progress of population in America, a long series of years will have to elapse before the temperate portions of that great continent will have accumulated anything like an average number of inhabitants. Owing to the general inferiority of its soil, Australia is not so well fitted to support a dense population as the extra-tropical regions of America. But what with its vast size, its prodigious mineral wealth, and other resources, it is not easy to anticipate to what a flourishing state it may arrive, or how long it may be a favourite resort of industrious emigrants.

We are not, however, of the number of those who suppose Capacity of that the field for emigration is to be restricted in all time to Asia Minor and the countries round the Black Sea. We believe that the events which are now in progress, whatever may be their results in other respects, will most probably assist in opening the extensive countries in south-eastern Europe and western Asia to the enterprise of European emigrants. It is not possible to imagine that the great peninsula of Asia Minor, once the favoured seat of arts and industry, and of many flourishing and powerful states, should be destined to crouch indefinitely under the loathsome despotism which has so long weighed down and extinguished all its energies; and if it and the countries on the west and north shores of the Black Sea were once opened to settlers from the more civilized European States, their great extent, genial climate, and superior soil, would make them be eagerly resorted to by emigrants. At all events, it must be sufficiently obvious to any one who takes up a map of the world, that many generations may be expected to pass away before parties desirous of emigrating from the older European states will have much difficulty in finding localities in which they may advantageously establish themselves.

Emigration. Hitherto most emigrations that have taken place have consisted of individuals who have emigrated at their own risk and expense. Sometimes, indeed, it has been attempted to hinder certain parties, such as skilled labourers, from emigrating, from an apprehension that they might, by instructing foreigners in their peculiar arts, enable them to become successful competitors in those arts with the countries which the emigrants had left. But such restrictions are at once oppressive and inefficient: oppressive because they hinder individuals from attempting to improve their condition by emigrating, and inefficient because the arts which they practise may be learned in a great many ways—by written descriptions, by foreigners sending emissaries to the countries in which they are practised, by their smuggling away a few individuals, and so forth. And we are glad to have to state that the justice of this reasoning is now generally admitted; and that, for some years past, all classes of artificers have had full liberty to leave this country.

Emigration may sometimes be advantageously assisted by government, &c. But besides giving free leave to individuals to emigrate, there are many occasions in which it may be highly expedient for government and public bodies to come forward to assist them in leaving the country. Wherever there is a surplus population, that is, wherever the population is not wholly employed, or where, though employed, wages are so low as not to afford work-people a sufficient supply of necessaries and conveniences, emigration may be advantageously resorted to. The sum required to maintain an able-bodied labourer for twelve months or thereby in a work-house would suffice to carry him to Upper Canada, or to some other part of America, where he would find immediate employment, and from being a pauper, would forthwith become independent. It is not easy, indeed, to see how the money of parishes could be more profitably laid out than in enabling such parties to emigrate. By doing so they relieve themselves at a trifling cost of a permanent burden; and while they greatly improve the condition of the emigrants, they also improve the condition of the labourers who are left at home, and raise up customers for our manufactures in foreign and distant countries.

Emigration from Ireland. The late extraordinary emigration from Ireland (1846-1854) has done more perhaps to improve its condition than anything else that could have happened. In consequence of the diminution that has been effected in the population, employment is more easily obtained, and the rate of wages has increased; a considerable progress has been made in many parts of the country in the consolidation of small patches of land into something like farms of a reasonable size, and susceptible of a better system of cultivation; the towns and workhouses have been, in part at least, relieved of their pauper population; and agitation, crime, and outrage, are less prevalent. Nor is there any reason to fear, that either in Ireland or anywhere else, emigration will be, or indeed can be, carried to excess. The rise of wages and the brisker demand for labour, which it invariably occasions, are insuperable obstacles in the way of such a result. The danger, indeed, is all on the other side—that emigration will either stop or decline too much and too soon. It may yet be carried much farther with infinite advantage to Ireland. From the want of coal, Ireland is ill-fitted for manufacturing industry; and from the nature of the soil and the humidity of the climate, it is much better suited to pasturage than to tillage. And such being the case, the population is still (1854) so much in excess, that an emigration by which it would be farther reduced by one or two millions, would contribute most materially to its well-being.

Emigration from the Highlands. The emigrations from certain parts of the Scottish Highlands, in regard to which so loud a clamour was raised, have been highly advantageous to all parties directly or indirectly connected with them; to the emigrants who were carried from narrow, barren, and over-peopled districts, to countries of boundless extent, rich, and under-peopled;

to the proprietors who were enabled to turn their estates to the best account; and to the public who are always interested in having lands occupied in the most beneficial manner. Unluckily the emigration has stopped far short of the point to which it ought to be carried. Many estates, both in the mainland and in the islands, continue to be overstocked with a half-employed, beggarly population.

Owing to causes which are too obvious to need being pointed out, the greater number of emigrants, especially of those who go to new settlements, consist of males; and the sending out want of a proper proportion of females is often productive of the worst consequences. Inasmuch, too, as the female portion of the population in old settled countries is generally that which is most in excess, it is plain that every facility and encouragement should be given to the emigration of women. Nothing, therefore, can be more consistent with sound policy than the efforts which have recently been made by government, and by private individuals, to send out well-conducted females to Australia; and it is to be hoped that they will not relax in their benevolent labours till the wide disproportion which now (1854) exists between the sexes in that continent be materially reduced.

Emigration. The application of steam to the propulsion of vessels and the other improvements that have been made in the art of navigation, have greatly diminished the cost, risk, and time spent in distant voyages, and have given a proportional extension to emigration. Notwithstanding their great distance, the emigration from Europe to America and Australia, but especially the former, has latterly attained to a magnitude which, previously to the employment of steam in navigation, would not have been conceived possible. For a lengthened period the United Kingdom has furnished the largest supply of transatlantic emigrants; but of late years the emigration from Germany has become very extensive, and promises at no distant period to equal, if it do not surpass, that which is carried on from this country. The vast majority of the German emigrants are destined for the United States, where (in Pennsylvania principally) they occupy extensive districts, and have established themselves in great numbers. The States have also become, since 1835, the principal resort of the emigrants from the United Kingdom, more particularly of those from Ireland; though large numbers of the English and Scotch emigrants, with a smaller number of Irish, continue to resort in preference to Canada. Since the discovery of the gold-fields of Australia, great numbers of emigrants have gone to that continent. But its much greater distance, and the consequent length and cost of the voyage, make it difficult for the poorer classes to find, without assistance, their way to this new El Dorado. And we may add, that to the natural difficulties in the way of emigration to Australia have been superadded those which arise from an extravagant minimum price of 20s. an acre having been set on all waste land in that continent, even though it should require three, four, or five acres to depasture a single sheep. But it is not to be supposed that this mischievous or rather insane regulation will be permitted much longer to disgrace our colonial legislation. It is abundantly certain, that its repeal will do more than anything else to promote the emigration to, and the settlement of, our great south-eastern colonies.

Next to the United Kingdom and Germany, China furnishes the greater number of over-sea emigrants. A Chinese population has long been settled in large numbers in many parts of the Eastern Archipelago, where they are distinguished by their industry and good order; and recently many thousands of them have found their way to California and Australia. We beg to subjoin an account of the number of emigrants from the United Kingdom in each year from 1815 to 1853, both inclusive, specifying the countries for which they sailed, and the numbers that sailed for each.