The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 13, 1858, DEATH AND DIRT are depicted by Dr. Buchanan in two tables which speak with a painful eloquence. He compares Little Coram.street, a street of for the most part very poor people, in which the mortality is at the usual high average of the surrounding die trict, with Dudley-street, Seven-dials. Both are streets of seven-roomed houses,, none of them com mon lodging-houses. In Dudley-street there are 82 houses and 1,720 men, women, and children. In Little Coram•street there are 33 houses and 370 men, women, and children. The proportion of children in each street happens to be exactly the same, 41 per cent. In Dudley-street there is an average of 21 persons; but in Little Coram•street the average is only 11 persons to a house. Of the houses in Dudley street one-half are dirty and the kitchens are closely-tenanted ; the houses in Little Coram-street are good and clean. What follows? There died last year in Dudley-street a proportion of 38 people to 1,000 ; but in Little Coram-street not 30. Of those who died in Dudley•street the children under five years old bore a proportion of 58 to 100, in Little Coram•street but 27 to HX); the proportion of deaths among little children in the street little more than half as crowded as the other was even less than half as great. Deaths from zymotic dis ease in Dudley-street were more than twice as many as are usual in London, but in Little Coram-street there was not one. THE PUBLIC GAMING•TABLES AT SPA, the privilege of which has just been renewed, gained this season, it is said, 1,040,000 f. THE RAGLAN TESTIMONIAL numbered 1,550 sub scribers, and the total amount of subscriptions was 12,5401. 14s. Bd. ; interest thereon, and balance of profit and loss upon Exchequer Bills, purchased, 5191. Bd.; total, 13,0601. 2s. Bd. This sum has been expended in the purchase of a house and land in the neighbourhood of Raglan Castle, as a residence for the son and heir of the late lamented field-mar shal, at a cost of 7,8021.25. Bd. The cash paid to Lord Raglan's agent for the repair of, and additions to, the house, and improvement of the land, was 4,0211.; law costs and incidental disbursements, (1271., and balance to meet a draft payable to solicitors, 101.; in all, 13,0601. 2s. Bd. THE CHURCH OF GENCH, in the province of Lim burg (Holland), which has just been rebuilt at a cost of 79,000 f., fell to the ground with a tremen dous crash. Several men were severely injured. A PARTY OF DORSET GENTLEMEN recently went out to America on a sporting tour, and to see the country. From the last letters received, we under stand that Lord Richard Grosvenor, Lord Frederick Grosvenor, the Hon. L. Ashley, and Mr. Danby Seymour, have arrived at Minnesota. All the party were well, and were about to depart for the Red River for hunting buffalo, elk, &c., for a month or six weeks. THE PALACE OF KING JOHN on Stepney-green, which has stood for eight centuries, and is now in thorough repair, is, it is said, about to be demolished. It is on record that a Parliament was held in it seven hundred years ago. A SCOTCH BAILLIE presided the other day, for the first time, on the bench. One of the earliest cases brought before him was that of s servant girl who sued her mistress for her wages, which were refused on the ground that she had allowed a favourite squirrel to escape from its cage. The worthy magistrate, after hearing the parties, said, " That although he lass was maybe to blame for leaving the cage door open, yet the mistress was mair to blame than her, for she sud hae clippit the beast's wings, sae that it cudna flee awa' ! " A PUBLIC DRINKING FOUNTAIN is to be erected on Holborn•hill ; energetic efforts being made to obtain the consent of the proper authorities for the pur pose. It will be the first public drinking fountain in London. PRINCE LUCIEN BONALPARTE, who is in holy orders, is, according to the Semaine Relig ieuse, busy in re establishing the order of St. Bernard in France. THE APPETITE OF A LANCASHIRE LADY is thus exemplified by an ungallant correspondent of the Preston Chronicle, who at a convivial meeting among the working classes, to which the ladies were gallantly invited, was promoted to the office of carver. "My attention," he unhandsomely discloses, " was more particularly arrested by a modest-looking and neatly-attired female ; and when I state the quantity of food this lady quietly disposed of, it will not cause any wonder that my amazement should be excited. The following was supplied to her by my own hand .—Four plates of beef and potatoes; one plate of veal pie; one plate of plum pudding ; one plate of apple tart ; and one plate of celery and cheese ! During the mastication of all this she drank one glass of water." Oasuirs DAUGHTERS have been taken charge of by the eminent barrister, Jules Favre, member of the Legislative Body for a district of Paris, who has arrived in the Frenoh metropolis from a tour through Italy. Earl of Ducie, and a few pheasants and hares pre heated by the Earl of Carnarvon, Under Secretary of State for the Colonies. A GANNET, a remarkable bird, whose home during the summer months is on the Bass rock, was found in a field near Gamblesby a week ago. It was seen by a female working in the field, and was mistaken for a goose until it made an attack upon her. She secured it, and kept it for two days, when it died for want of proper food. It is a remarkably fine bird, weighs about six pounds, and measures from tip to tip six feet. A STRANGE EPISTLE FROM CENTRAL AFRICA has just been received at the office of the Illustrated London News. It was placed in the hands of the acting British Vice-Consul at Mourzook, the chief town of Fezzan, by a native who had arrived there from the Soudan. This singular paper, which is dated " Yonda, Central Africa, March 25, 1856," contains the following request:—" Should this ever fall into the bands of any white man, please publish it in the Illustrated London News." It bears, also, a list of the prophets, and is signed, " W. H. Clark, missionary, U.S. America." These are all the con tents of the paper, which, though in places somewhat mouldy, is in a tolerable state of preservation. THE TERRIBLE CALAMITY AT BRADFORD has elicited some startling information on the manufacture of the cheap deleterious compounds sold under the name of "lozenges." It is stated in a communication from a firm of wholesale confectioners, that the adultera ting article called duft, duck, stuff, derby, plaster, or by some more classically named terra alba, is used in the manufacture of lozenges to the alarming extent of 25 to 35 per cent. This article is very injurious to the system, being indissoluble ; it precipitates in the body and forms stone, especially if taken in large pantities, as in the case with the lozenges that mused this calamity. It is used in the cheap lozenges which are largely consumed by children. Its existence may be ascertained by dissolving three f the lozenges in a wineglass of water, when the terra alba will precipitate to the bottom of the glass ; and precisely in the same manner will a large pro portion remain in the body, producing gravel or stone. The temptation to use it arises from the fol lowing facts :-1. It makes the lozenge much harder and whiter. 2. It enables the manufacturer to sell a cheaper article than his neighbour who con scientiously refuses to use it. 3. The price. Terra alba may be procured at 7s. per cwt. or less, while the price of fine powdered sugar is 03s. per cwt.; the great difference in the above prices allows a larger profit to the dishonest manufacturer. THE RECTORSHIP OF GLASGOW UNIVERSITY brings three candidates into the field—namely, Sir E. B. Lytton, Lord Shaftesbury, and the Lord Justice Clerk, all of whom have active committees. The law and medical students intend to support Lord Glencorse. SNOW fell heavily at Strasburg on Saturday night, anu continued the whole of the next morning. There has been no fall in that city so early in the season for many years. At Milan heavy snow fell on the 4th, a most unusual circumstance in that part of Italy at this season. THE MEDICAL COUNCIL, under the new act, is now completed, with the exception of that of the repre sentative of the College of Surgeons of England. Legal difficulties exist as to whether the right of election belongs to the executive council or to the entire body of fellows and members. The following is a list of the council :—Sir James Clark, Bart., Sir Charles Hastings, Mr. Wm. Lawrence, Mr. T. P. Teale, Dr. Christison, and Dr. Stokes, who are nomi nated by the Crown ; Dr. Watson, College of Phy sicians of London; Mr. J. Nussey, Society of Apothecaries; Dr. Acland, University of Oxford; Dr. Bond, University of Cambridge; Dr. Embleton, University of Durham ; Dr. Storrar, University of London ; Dr. Alex. Wood, College of Physicians of Edinburgh ; Dr. Andrew Wood, College of Surgeons of Edinburgh ; Dr. James Watson, Glasgow Faculty; Mr. Syme, University of Edinburgh and Aberdeen; Dr. Lawrie, University of Glasgow and St. Andrews ; Dr. Ag. Smith, College of Physicians of Ireland ; Dr. R. C. Williams, College of Surgeons of Ireland ; Dr. Apjohn, University of Dublin ; Dr. Corrigan, Queen's University in Ireland ; Dr. Leet, Apothe caries' Hall of Ireland. According to the act the council have the right of nominating as president one who is not a member of their body. Should they elect one of themselves to the presidency a vacancy would arise in the representative seat held by the member so elected. Great diversity of opinion exists as to whether the president ought or ought not to be a member of the medical profession. When the measure was before Parliament it was stated that in all probability some of the nominees of the Crown and of the universities would be laymen. It has turned out otherwise, so that there is a chance of the council being exclusively professional. - - CAN A HARE Swim ? is answered by the Lincoln, Times, which says :- 4 ' Only yesterday we saw one disturbed by a dog, take the water as gallantly as a duok, and so escape across one of our broad drains." 1107 SECOND EDITION• SATURDAY AFTERNOON. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. PORTUGAL. THE KING'S SPEECH. The following letter was received by the Times correspondent at Liverpool last evening, dated Lisbon, Nov. 5 : The King, accompanied by her Majesty the Queen, opened the Cortes yesterday with a very short speech, containing the following reference to the recent sur render of the Charles et Georges : Friendly relations shave not, since last session, been interrupted with the nations with whom we are allied. A. serious misunderstanding, however, arose between my Government and his Majesty the Emperor of the French, in consequence of the capture of the French ship Charles et Georges in the waters of Mozambique. This question being taken from the field of right, in which my Govern ment sought to maintain it, my Government, having ex hausted the resources in which the letter of treaties authorized it to have confidence, was obliged to cede to the peremptory exaction of the delivery of that vessel and the liberation of the captain. All the documents relating to this deplorable conflict will shortly be laid before you, and upon their examination I hope you will approve the proceedings of my Govern ment, anti relieve it from the responsibility it was forced to incur. I understand the French Minister has not yet received any communication from Paris in reply to the Portuguese despatch relating to the delivery of the Charles et Georges, nor has any account been yet presented for the indemnification. Her Majesty's steam corvette Racer, Captain Pakenham, from Plymouth, called at Lisbon on the Ist, and left on the 2nd for Gibraltar ; and on the oth the Victor Emanuel and Racoon were left anchored in the Tagus, as also the French war steamer Coiigny. PRUSSIA. The following telegram has been received, dated Berlin, Friday, 6.51 p.m.:— The elections took place to-day. More than half of the electors of the first instance (Uriodhler) were present. The result was almost entirely in favour of the new Minister. RUSSIA. The following telegram has been received, dated Petersburg, Friday evening : The Neva has been closed with ice since this morning; the navigation is consequently stopped. INDIA.- - The Calcutta mail arrived last night.. The rumour of Jung Bahadoor's treachery is not confirmed. The news published by our morning contemporaries has been anticipated by the summaries which the tele graph has already presented. The Queen's procla mation was expected to be immediately published in Calcutta. CHINA. Lord Elgin is at Shanghai, waiting, it is said, the arrival of the Chinese Commissioners. At Canton matters are assuming a favourable position. THE PRINCE OF WALES. Last night's Gazette announces that the Queen has been pleased, by letters patent, under her royal sign manual and the Great Seal of the Order, to give and grant the Prince of Wales full power and autho rity to wear and use the Star of the Order of the Garter, and also to wear and use the Collar and all other Ornaments belonging to the said Most Noble Order, and to sit in the stall assigned to the Prince of Wales, in the Royal Chapel of St. George, at Windsor, and to exercise all rights and privileges belonging to a Knight Companion of the said Order, in as full and ample a manner as if his Royal High ness had been formally installed. RICHARD ROPER, the corn-chandler who is charged with arson and attempted fraud, underwent his final examination before the Greenwich magistrate yester day. The prisoner, who was committed for trial on both charges, on bearing the decision of the magis trate, made a low bow, and said " Thank you." THE PROCEEDINGS against certain parties con nected with the cemetery of St. Martin, Camden Town, charging them with the improper removal of human remains, were answered at the Clerkenwell police-court yesterday. It was urged by the pro secution that the faculty authorizing the exhu mation had been obtained by fraud and deception, and that the summonses would be withdrawn, as a sufficient penalty could not be inflicted in this court. On behalf of the defendants it was stated that the charges were groundless, and that they courted the fullest investigation. he summonses were theq discharged.