21 AUGUST 1847, Page 4

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A public meeting was held at the London Coffeehouse, on Tuesday, for the purpose of promoting a subscription for the widow and family of the late Dr. Jordan Roche Lynch, who recently died of typhus fever, a martyr to the cause of sanatory reform. The chair was occupied by Mr. Edwin Chadwick; who was supported by a large body of influential persons. The chairman paid an eloquent tribute to the talents and exertions of Dr. Lynch— "At the commencement of the inquiry into the sanatory condition of the la- bouring population, queries were sent out to the medical officers of the several unions. The answers received from Dr. Lynch displayed so much information and attention to the subject, that I entered into communication with him. He was a young practitioner, and I am informed that his income from his practice was about 7001. per annum. I found him ready at all times to bestow labour upon the subject of sanatory improvement, to the sacrifice of his professional time, for which he was aware I had no means of remunerating him. For the purpose of investigation, he was a repeated visiter of districts inhabited chiefly by the labouring classes out of the range of his duty as a medical officer. At my request he constructed a map, in which was shown the locality, the house, as well as the street in which every fever case had occurred, within a large district during a long period of time. This was a highly important service; being one of the first maps I could procure to trace the habitat ot typhus, to exhibit its close coincidence with the track of cholera and other epidemics, and their identity with bad drainage, filth, overcrowding, and bad ventilation. He had made observa- tions, and was preparing other contributions to the determination of the extent of the removable causes of disease, lie went out of his professional course, and got himself elected a member of the Court of Common Council. He had foreseen and foretold the recurrence and aggravation of epidemics within his district whilst it remained in its present physical condition. Some days before his death, he called upon me to inform me of the severity of the visitation of typhus in the old tracks, and the peculiarity of the type, a frequent attack upon the throat. Ile was then going out of his profeseional course, visiting poor people for the pur- pose of making renewed public representations, endeavouring to get the attend- ance of his Ward Inquest, preparing petitions to the Court of Common Council. When stating to me the intensity of the attack and the condition of these places, he also expressed to me a sense of the personal danger, but said cheerfully there was no avoiding it—it must be undergone." Only a clay or two after his last in- terview with Dr. Lynch, Mr. Chadwick received a letter from Mrs. Lynch men- tioning her husband's illness: she said—" After visiting about twenty cases last week, he was suddenly seized with shivering, intolerance of light, total prostra- tion, and dreadful pain over his whole body, and all the symptoms of the worst sort of typhus." Subsequently he suffered from inflammation of the entire wind- pipe, so nearly producing suffocation as to cause his medical attendants to stand prepared for the operation of tracheotomy. Death soon released Dr. Lynch from his sufferings.

The chairman went on to observe, that those who have entered closely into sanatory investigations have almost invariably experienced in their own persons the injurious effects of the bad atmosphere in which they have laboured. The danger of such practice equals that of military service in time of actual war.

Several had been carried off; among them, Mr. Dyes Guthrie, a surgeon who died of fever caught while visiting the lower districts of Belfast. Mr. Butler Williams an able engineer, had fallen a victim to fever; and Mr. John Johns, a member of the Town Mission of Liverpool, died of typhus caught in his visits to the poor. A subscription for his widow and family was entered into by the supporters of the Mission, who had sent him on his dangerous duty: it is now above 2,0001. Mr. Chadwick added a summary of the recent deaths in the ser- vice of alleviation. "At Liverpool, one minister of the Established Church died; one curate had a narrow escape; one Dissenting minister died. There are stated to have been eighteen Roman Catholic priests at Liverpool; the deaths of eight of them from fever have been registered; I believe that of a ninth may be added. Of twenty-five medical officers and their assistants, twenty have had fever, either in a mild or a severe form; and it was fatal in four instances: this is ex- clusive of assistants. Ten relieving-officers and assistant relieving-officers have been carried off there by fever. The captain of the Akbar hospital ship, and his assistant, have been cut off. In all, nineteen of the persons engaged in the ad- ministration of relief at LiverpooL At Manchester, Mr. Walker, a medical offi- cer, who had written a work on the diseases of the eye, and otherwise contributed to the advancement of medical science, had been cut off; also two relieving-offi- cers; in all fifteen officers engaged in the public service in the administration of relief. Mr. Noble, a medical officer who had written on sanatory improvement, has been attacked by fever. At Leeds, there have died the junior curate of the Leeds parish-church, and five Roman Catholic clerumen; one medical man who took the duties of the medical officer, who died from typhus fever, and 'three nurses. At Rochdale, one medical officer and two nurses died; at War- rington, one medical officer died; at Ashton-under-Lyne, one assistant at the Fever Hospital; at Bolton,. one medical officer; at Blackburn, one medical officer. At Birmingham, the district surgeon was killed; also the Schoolmaster and es- distant Governor of the Workhouse, and nine assistants and nurses."

Dr. Southwood Smith bore testimony to the correctness of Mr. Chad- wick's tribute to Dr. Lynch's zeal and ability. He added some general remarks on what the public owe to those who fall in their service unknown and unrequited—

Of all the professions, the members of the medical profession are the shortest lived and the poorest. They are constantly exposed to a service of as much danger as the officers of the Army in the time of actual war; and it is a rule of the profession to give their labour and skill to those who need it, without waiting to consider their ability to pay. It is impossible for the medical man to attend

on the poorer classes without danger to his life. For example, during the past week he had been called upon to visit a person in one of the narrow close courts or streets which branch of from Rosemary Lane in Whitechapel. The day was extremely warm; the air was almost stagnant; and the room of the patient was dark, though outside there was the broad daylight. He was obliged to have a candle to see him; and the closeness and stench of the apartment were such as to induce the instant approach of sickness: and there the patient lay with a parch- ing tongue in a burning fever. When he was leaving the house, a poor woman came to him and implored him to see her husband, who was lying sick in the same court; and then came another to ask him to see her child. The air of the chamber in each of those places was similar to that which he had described: and only let them think what it was to pass a night in such an atmosphere. Though these things were generally admitted to be true, yet few could realize the picture in their own minds. Those only were fully aware of them who la- boured among the poor. Take for instance last year's experience of the London Fever Hospital. In the three earlier months—January, February, and March— there were admitted into the institution 87 patients. Daring the four subsequent months there had been admitted 641. But even the individuals who witnessed those scenes saw after all only what took place in isolated spots. But there was one man who had a comprehensive view of them, and a cold, perhaps, but still vivid perception of their results; and that was the Registrar-General. Let them hear, then, what was his account for this very last year. The excess of mortality, he said, in the twelve months ending June 10th 1847, was 66,712, and that only in one fourth part of the population of the United Kingdom. People might not flatly deny this, they might not be absolute =believers; but though they as- sented with the head, they did not feel it with the heart. They had no practical faith in it; for if they had, would the Corporation of London oppose the introduc- tion of a sanatory measure into that city? The Registrar-General said, "It 13 to be feared that, by the pertinacious opposition of .parish vestries, of corporations, and of companies, many times the number who have perished this year "—that is, many times 66,.712 lives—" will fall a sacrifice ere the towns of England are en joying, by the intervention of science, a moderate share of the health which Na . tare confers upon the country around them." If that be so, it was because the Registrar-General was not believed, and because faith was not placed in his arith - metic.

A resolution was passed confirming the proceedings of a provisional sub- committee which had previously taken charge of the subscription; and the following names were added to its list of members—Lord Ebrington, Lord Ashley, Mr. Richard Taylor, Mr. Deputy Obard, Mr. R. A. Slauey, Pro fessor Owen, Mr. John Abel Smith, and Dr. Farr. Donations were an- nounced to the amount of upwards of 1501., including the following—the Duke of Bucclench, the Earl of Ellesmere, Lord John Russell, Lord Mor- pedi, Lord Ebrington, Lord Ashley, and the Bishop of London' 101. each; the Chairman, Mr. James Anderton, Mr. G. A. Walker, Mr. R. Taylcir, Mr. B. Fowler, and Mr. Burchfield, 51. each; Mr. R. Cooke, Mr. John Sar- gent, Mr. T. H. Jolley, and Mr. Bottrell, 2 guineas each.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, Mr. Alexander Thomas Munro, formerly a Lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards, was tried for killing Lieutenant- Colonel David Lynar Fawcett in a duel. The particulars of this unfortunate case are too well known to need repetition. Colonel Fawcett and Lieutenant Munro had married two sisters; and the dispute arose out of the sale of a house in which both the ladies were interested. Lieutenant Munro had been very anxious to make up the quarrel; but the treatment he had received from Colonel Fawcett was of a nature usually held to render a hostile meeting inevitable unless some apology were made by Colonel Fawcett, which the Colonel did pot offer.. On the 1st of July 1843, the meeting took place at Chalk Farm: Colonel Fawcett was shot in the side, and died in two days. After receiving the wound, Colonel Fawcett shook hands with his opponent; and he declared to a Policeman that it was an accident. The seconds were tried soon afterwards, and acquitted. Mr. Munro , fled the country; but recently returned and surrendered. By his flight he lost his commissien, his only means, for he had raised himself from the private ranks. The witnesses for the prosecution clearly proved the case: the deceased died by the prisoner's hand. The counsel! for the defence wished to ask Major Cuddy if officers in the Army had not been dismissed the service for not resenting an insult; but Mr. Justice Erle would not permit the question to be put. Nor would he suffer counsel to ask whether there had not been an alteration in the Army-regulations since this unfortunate duel. For the defence, Mr. Clarkson took the usual line of argument in these cases: the feelings of society, and especially of the Army, compelled men to do that which the law denounced—fight duels; even judges on the bench had intimated that if insulted they would resent it by an appeal to arms; the Great Captain of the age had exposed himself to a charge of felony by obeying the laws of "honour" rather than those of his country; the highest Court in the realm had acquitted a duel 1st—the Earl of Cardigan. Many gentlemen, brother officers and others, spoke of the high character borne by the accused as a humane and amiable gentleman, unaddicted to quarrelling. The Attorney-General, who conducted the prosecu- tion, admitted the prisoner's high deserts; and the Judge, Mr. Justice Erie, re- ferred in his charge to the very excellent character universally accorded to Mr. Munro—" Such a one indeed as he had seldom heard given to any man." These tributes of respect considerably affected Mr. Munro. The Judge, however, told the Jury, that they must stick to the law and the facts, and not be swayed by extraneous matter, which, however important in a doubtful case, should have no weight where the charge was clearly made out. In a quarter of an hour the Jury pronounced a verdict of "guilty," with a strong recommendation for mercy. The prisoner seemed astounded at the verdict; but he quickly recovered him- self, and patiently awaited the sentence of the Court. A pause of some minutes ensued; during which the Judge and the Attorney- General held a conference. The officer of the Court had commenced the formal proclamation for silence, and was about to put the usual question why sentence of death should not be passed; but was stopped by the Judge, who told the prisoner, that although the capital sentence would be recorded, he felt it his duty to say that the recommendation to mercy would be attended to. On Thursday, i Mary Anne Hunt was tried for the murder of Mary Stowell, an old woman who lived n a kitchen at Adam Street West, Marylebone. The parti- culars of this case were mentioned in our paper of the 12th June. The evidence was quite conclusive. Stowell's ribs were crushed in—fourteen were broken—which fatally wounded the lungs. The ribs were broken most probably by the mur- derer's kneeling on the woman. For the defence, it was attempted to be proved that the accused was not in her right mind at the time: she was subject to low- ness of spirits and violent fits; her mother was subject to fits, and her brother had been insane; and it was suggested that a recent derangement of her health had unhinged her reason: but the proof of these things was deficient. After a trial which lasted fourteen hours, the Jury returned a verdict of "Guilty," but with

the strange addition of a recommendation to mercy on account of previous good character. Sentence of death was pronounced. The prisoner's situation as four months gone with child will prevent its being enforced within the usual period.

The inquest on George Gross, the man who was suffocated at Langley Court, Long Acre, was resumed on Monday. Much evidence was given as to the bad state of the sewerage throughout the neighbourhood. Mr. Le Breton, solicitor to the parish and a Commissioner of Sewers' stated that Long Acre itself was with- out a sewer: the Mercers Company were the principal proprietors of the houses iu the street, and they had neglected to make a sewer: by an act passed last session, the Commissioners of Sewers were empowered to act in such a case, and they in- tend to do so here. Though the foul state of the drains was the ultimate cause of the man's death, a more immediate or proximate agent was discovered. There is a pretty good drain in Langley Court, but it runs into one on a higher level in Hart Street; the latter was stopped, and this produced a great accumulation of filth in the Langley Court drain: to purify the air, the landlord of the house in the court had been in the habit of throwing lime down the privy, which also ac- cumulated on the day of the disaster, a man at a drysalter's in Long Acre threw into the drain about three quarts of old vitriol; observing an effervescence, he poured down a large quantity of water; in a short time the whole neighbourhood was poisoned by foul exhalations. Apparently, the sulphuric acid had acted on the lime in the drain, and large quantities of sulphuretted hydrogen had been liberated: this gas killed Gross. It does not appear that the drysalter's man had any notion that he would create such a nuisance by throwing away the vitrioL The Jury found, "That the deceased died from inhaling sulphuretted hydrogen gas, caused by a quantity of vitriol being poured into a defective and foul dram."

The Commissioners of Sewers had a meeting yesterday, at which the Langley Court case was discussed; and a resolution was adopted instructing the Surveyor to prepare plans and estimates for the proper sewerage and drainage of Long Acre.

An adjourned inquest was concluded yesterday on the body of James Camp- bell, a young child three and a half years of age, who died in Hay's Court, Glass- house Street, Rosemary Lane. In the course of the proceedings it came out that the child's death had been accelerated by the impure state of the neighbourhood. Although the verdict was "Natural death," the Foreman said that the parochial authorities ought to be informed as to the state of the neighbourhood; and Mr. Hughes, one of the Overseers, promised to report the matter.

rillerhy, the youth who was punished about eighteen month ago for sending threatening letters to some people and packets of poison to others, for which pranks he lay twelve months in prison, has again got into trouble. At South- wark Police-office,. on Monday, he was charged with sending letters to a Mrs. SFiggs, threatening to murder her daughter: upon which the mother was so frightened that she sent the girl from home; but ICillerby declared, in a letter, that he knew where she was; adding, "before another month has passed away, your daughter shall be in her grave." In presence of the Magistrate, the accused expressed regret: he never intended to execute the threats. He was committed for trial. Under an act recently passed to punish the senders of threatening letters, Killerby, if convicted, will probably receive a more efficient deterrent than simple imprisonment: a portion of the penalty consists of three whippings.

The soi-disant nephew of the Duke of Wellington, " Ellam," has again figured in the newspapers. He summoned Esther de Villars to the Bloomsbury County Court, for the sum of 15L, money lent: but failing to make his appearance, the noble youth has been found liable in costs, including IL to the lady for her attend- ance.

Mark Lane has been the scene of a most determined attempt at murder and suicide. Mr. George Crawley, a wine-mercluint, carrying on business near the Corn Exchange, had proceeded against John Ovenstone, an upholsterer of Great Titchfield Street, as the assignee of a bankrupt's estate, and bad obtained judg- ant ; and a seizure bad been made at Mr. Ovenstone's. On Saturday afternoon, Ovenstone called at Mr. Crawley's: Mr. Crawley was out, but his clerk sent for him, and he came back. After a few words respecting The law proceedings' Oven- stone drew a pistol from his pocket and fired it at Mr. Crawley; the bullet passed through the cheek and lodged in the roof of the mouth. Mr. Crawley ran out of the room, crying "Murder!" whereupon the clerk locked Ovenstone in. Pre- sently, another report was heard; and on the Police entering, they found that Ovenstone had discharged a second pistol into his own mouth—the bullet had lodged over the left temple. Both the wounded men were conveyed to the hos- pital; where the bullets were extracted. It is said that a letter was found on Ovenstone declaring why he intended to murder Mr. Crawley, and his resolution to destroy himself, being tired of life from the misfortunes he had encountered.

An extensive fire broke out about midnight on Tuesday, on the premises of Mr. Morgan, a builder, near the canal in the Old Kent Road. From the nature of the materials, the flames spread rapidly; and, despite the exertions of the firemen, who obtained plenty of water from the canal, the manufactory was destroyed. The adjoining premises of a stone-mason were also nearly consumed.

In playing at quoits the other day, at the Brecknock Arms, Islington, Joseph James Watkins was struck on the bead while stooping. He was removed to Uni- versity College Hospital, and died there.