Hogwarts, & the Magic World (was:... students ARE there at Hogwartz?)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 191593



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Margaret Dean <margdean56 at ...> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 3:03 PM, <sigurd at ...> wrote:
> 
> > Steve:
> > And in a sense, aspects of the (more or less) ancient world, we a lot more magical than they are now, so I suspect the heyday of magic was several centuries ago. ...

> > Otto:
> > ....
> 
> But I don't think that's quite what Steve is implying.  What he's
> saying sounds more to me like another SF writer, Larry Niven, with
> "The Magic Goes Away."  Steve, yes or no?
> 
> 
> --Margaret Dean
>   
>

Steve:

No, I'm not a scholarly are you are, but with a general knowledge of history, we know that in medieval times Witchcraft and magic had a very high profile, what with witch burnings and such. 

Now the number of witches and wizards might have been generally small, but it a somewhat fiction interpretation of history, they were a higher percentage of the overall population, which accounts for their high profile. 

However, in modern times with 65 million people in the UK, the wizard population as a percentage must be much smaller.

I think that is true. However, what the actual absolute numbers are is difficult to determine. 100's? 1,000's? 10,000's? Again, it is difficult to determine. 

However, the populations must be similar to that of a modest town or small city at least, in order to have the size of bureaucracy of the Ministry. They have a shopping district, assorted industries to support the shopping district. Mrs Weasley has a stove, furniture, clocks, clothes, and other assorted goods that could not and would not be found in a normal muggle shop. 

Further, they have produce (fruit & veg, etc...), meat, ice cream, potion ingredients, which implies wizard farmers and international trading. 

I've used this example in previous discussions, but consider JUST Fortescue's Ice Cream shop. He need ingredients - milk, sugar, fruit, flavoring. Then he needs displays and refrigeration fixture, tables, chairs, assorted containers for eating ice cream out of, glass for the window, paint for the wall, pots and pans, ladles and spoons, assorted cutlery, drinking glasses. Tables to work on, and on, and on, and on. Where does all that stuff come from if not from a substantial wizard industry, international trade, and trade between wizards and muggles? 

This does relate to the size of the wizard world as each shop is merely the tip of an iceberg, there has to be many many many more wizard behind the scenes in order to keep any one shop running. 

Further, they have sufficient population to support a pretty good size school. The town I grew up in, had a population of 300, and the school enrollment was over 300. Figure that one out. 

But, we DO SEE large segments of the school currently unused, many empty classroom, even unused wings, which implies that at one time those classroom were used, which implies that at sometime the wizarding population was higher than it is now. 

But this only illustrates my original point, no matter how you slice it and dice it, the numbers don't add up. To have the various pubs and High Street shops, and the necessary industry to support those businesses, implies a very substantial population.

Steve/bboyminn