Last week a woman named Sarah Dobner, aged 56, died
suddenly at the Great Western Station, at Paddington, after hav- ing travelled by the Underground Railway from King's Cross. The medical evidence was that she had died from disease of the bronchial gland, accelerated by the suffocating air of the Under- ground Railway. This is possible, as in a complaint of the kind only comparatively small changes of air and temperature may be. attended with serious results ; but the Coroner thought it neces- sary to make some highly sensational remarks on the subject. He had "experienced the depressing effects of that railway, and, therefore, avoided it as much as possible." There would never be proper ventilation, he said, till some shocking loss of life had occurred. Now, as rather more than sixty millions of persons had passed over the line since it was opened, without a casualty of the kind and without complaint, it seems likely to be some time before the "shocking loss of life" occurs to which the Coroner evidently looks to secure the ventilation neces- sary to enable him to make use of the Underground Railway. We fancy it will be some time before the Company find it necessary to remodel their excellent arrangements in order to avoid the possible risk of such a calamity as the experience of a "depressing effect" by the sensitive coroner. The sad occurrence of last week may have been attributable in some degree to the journey, but it was clearly not a case that by itself warranted such language as that of Dr. Lankester. To judge from its violeece, and the public importance he attached to his private ideas of discomfort, a few trips by the Underground Railway might possibly, according to his own theory, restore him to a quieter and less aggressive frame of mind.
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