The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-21 00:00:00

men, holding the situation of country postinestera, whose "poverty,
not their will, conarnte." Government offices are generally held in
high estimation : the Post.odice is a miserable exception.—ACounray
PINITMAITIN.—N.vember 19, Me
DISCOVERY OF A SKELETON.—Yesterday to some
workmen were digging to make • sewer, in Surrey-row,
they discovered, about five feet under
the surface, a human skeleton, apparently that of a male,
but no clue could be obtained to the circumstances which
caused it to be deposited there. A coroner's inquest will
probably be held on
LIEUT. HOLMAN, "THE BLIND TRAVELLER," one
of the Naval Knights of Windsor, who received a dispensa-
tion to travel from her Majesty six years ago, during the
whole of which period he has been absent from England,
has returned to his residence at Travers College, Windsor.
r Date travels he visited Spain and Portugal, and thence
to the islands of Majorca and Manors, and to
He afterwards visited Tunis, Malta, and Greece;
Op capital of the Ottoman empire; *great portion of the Holy
Lend; Naples, and the Roman States. After proceeding to
Wallachia and Moldavia, through Hungary, Austria, and
Bavaria, to the Tyrol, he travelled through the south of
France and again visited Madrid, returning by the north of
Spain to Bayonne, and thence to France and England. He
has returned with his health greatly improved.
QUARANTINE.—Sir,—I am much pleased to observe,
by one of the leading articles in your paper of yesterday,
that you have taken up the important subject of quarantine
in reference to the plague. Will you allow me to notice
very briefly one passage in this article, with the view of pre-
venting the possibility of any mistake, on the part of the
public, upon a vital question connected with this matter ?
You justly remark that the recent Report of the French
Academy of Medicine is a very full and complete one, and
examines in detail all the facts with regard to the plague
that could be considered to have any bearing on the quaran.
tine laws. It is then added: "In this report plague is
stated to be sporadic and epidemic. The former as not
transmissible by contagion, but the latter is, and that within
certain epidemic foci. The contagious nature of the disease
is thus admitted." These statements are strictly and en-
tirely correct, if the terms "contagion " and " contagious "
be used in a generic sense, to designate the transmission of a
disease from one person to another, no matter how this
transmission has taken place. The doctrine hitherto almost
universally held, and on which the existing system of the
quarantine laws of every country has been foundcd, is that
direct and immediate contact with the sick, or with objects
which they had touched, is indispensable for the transmis-
sion of the plague. Now, one of the most important objects
'of the French report is to expose the utter fallacy of this
long-cherished, but absurd, idea. The second chapter of
Part 111. is expressly devoted to the consideration and solu-
tion of this very point. The plague having been shown to
be not transmissible by contact, even in epidemic foci, the
commissioners proceeded to inquire whether it is liable to
propagate itself by contaminating the atmosphere with
pestiferous miasma or effluvia, proceeding from the bodies
of the sick, and capable of producing the disease in those
who are exposed to their influence • in other words, whether
the plague is infectious? This is the question that is so
ably discussed in the fifth chapter of the same part, and the
answer given is to this effect: " In epidemic, oci, the plague
is transmissible by the miasma which emanate from the
bodies of the infected, and by the foci of infection thereby
produced." If the conclusions, therefore, of the French
report are admitted —and no candid man, I think, can
hesitate to do so—the result will be, that we must declare
that the plague is non-contagions, e., non-transmissible i
by contact, but that it is infectious, i. e., transmissible by
contamination of the atmosphere--GAviN MlLaoy, M.D.,
&c.—Fitzroy-square, Nov. 20.
PRIVATE COVERNF.SSES.—Sir,— If the "Retired
Governess," who writes in the Morning Post, be correct in her cal-
culation, that 15,000 ladies of her profes,ion receive salaries varying
from 201. to 3001. a year, the number of those whose annual salaries
vary from 201. to nothing, certainly cannot be fewer in the estimation
of a QUONDAM TVTOIL
THE SCHOENREIN GUN COTTON. The Professor
has addressed a letter to the Times from Bale, in which he
states, that " Some chymista have declared my gun cotton to
be Braconnot's and Pelouze's Xyloidine, and it was only the
other day that the same opinion was expressed in the French
Academy. I have more than one reason to deny the correct-
ness of that assertion, and the statement of a very simple
fact will be sufficient to bear me out in what I say. Pc-
louze's Xyloidine is, according to the (own) statements of
that distinguished chemist, readily soluble in acetic acid,
forming, with the latter, a sort of varnish. The same acid
has not the slightest action upon the gun cotton, however
long and at what temperature ',icier both substances are
kept in contact with one another. The gun cotton exhibits
its full weight and explosive force after having been treaded
with that acid for hours. There are, besides. other differences
between my cotton and Pelouze's Xyloidine, which will be
made known in their propertime."
ACCIDENT.—MORE RUNNING OVER.--About half-
past It o'clock,yeaterday, a respectable-lookino young woman,
waseroming the road at the bottom of Little Warner-st.,Cler-
kenwell, when she was knocked down by one of Pickford's
railway vans, and her clothes becoming entangled in the
wheel she was dragged along nearly fifty yards from where
she war first knocked down. The driver used every en lea-
your to pull up the horses, but the steep declivity down
which they were going, and the weight of the van behind
them. rendered his efforts unavailing. As soon as she could
be extricated she wax at once placed on a shutter and taken
to Bartholomew's Hospital, when it MLA found she had ex-
pired. Her name, or to whom she belonged, could not at
that time be ascertained.

INQUESTS YESTERDAY.—FATAL FALL.—At the

Refiners' Arms, Commercial-road East, by Mr. Baker,
respecting the death of Elizabeth Brown, aced 50
scan, the wife of • labourer, residing in Charles-street,
St. George-is-the-East. On Saturday deceased went to the
shop of Mr. James Pownceby, a stationer, in High-street,
Shadwell, when she fell down a trap-door in the shop, which
was incautiously left open. She was immediately extricated,
and conveyed home in a cab, where site lingered in great
agoay until yesterday, when death put an end to her suffer-
ings. Verdict: "Accidental Death. '---SCODEN DEATH*.
—BY Mr. Baker, into three cases of sudden death, none
of which possessed any circumstances of interest, and
in each case the verdict was " Natural Death."—
ALLaOED DEATH PROM STARVATION.—By Mr. G. I.
Mills, at the Lord Wellington, Crawford-street Marylebone,
on the body of Louisa Mandant, aged 32. The body lay in
a miserable garret, No. S 3, Crawford-street, and on being
viewed by the jury mutated an appearance of extreme ema-
ciation. The deceased resided with hcrmother and sister at
93, CVsswford-street, and had up to last week been in the
receipt of half-a-crown a week from the parish of Maryle-
bone. On the deceased applying last week at the klarylehone
Workhouse for their usual pittance, it was refused. A thil •
ling and a loaf of bread were however substituted, with a
remark. that no more such outdoor relief would be granted,
and that the family were not to apply again, unless they
chose to come into the workhouse. The only means of sup-
port the family possessed were what the sisters could earn at
needlework or charing, but that was barely sufficient to pro-
cure subsistence. Sineethe stoppage of the half-crown per
week, the ether means of the family had also failed, and on
some days all the food the daughters and their aged mother
were able to obtain was one penny leaf among the three. A
few days since the deceased was taken ill, and expired on
Wednesday hut. The deputy coroner had felt it his duty to
order a put mortent examination of the body. The investi-
gation was adjourned till Thursday next, for the attendance of
the overseer and relieving officers of St. Marylebone.—
CHANGE OP DELAT IN DISPENSING MEDICINES.-By Mr.
Mills, at the Lord Nelson, Mary-street, Hampstead-road,
on the body of Charles J. Osboan, aged sixteen months.—
The atother of the child stated that it had died on Monday
last. On the previous day, it being attacked by diarrhma
and vomiting, she took it to the University College Hospital,
where it was seen by Mr. Wen, one of the house-surgeons,
and prescribed for. The prescription she took to the porter,
who told her the dispenser was at church and would be back
at see o'clock. She waited* until half-put one, but the dis-
pensernot coming by that time she went home; and sent
ertle boy, who waited, he said, at the hospital for three-
quarters of an hour, when the porter told him that the dis-
penser was not there, and that he must come again at five
o'clock ; the boy went again, but came home without any
medicine, saying that the dispenser was not at tke hospital,
and that the porter and a nurse told him the dispenser did
not like to be troubled on Sundays —Some contradictory
testimony was given by the boy and by the porter, but the
coroner and the jury seemed inclined to believe that the boy's
statement deserved the most credit—The jury, after some
peliheration, returned a verdict of " Death from natural
causes," saying, that though they did not attach individual
blame anywhere, they hoped the authorities of the hospital
would adopt precise regulations relative to the dispensing of
prescriptions so as to prevent the recurrence of any such
lapse, as that which had taken plate, for the future

GREAT FIRE AT GRAVESEND.
FIFTY-THREE ROUSES CONSUMED.

We yesterday gave an account of this calamitous
fire. Annexed is the official statement of the damage :
Novae's' 20, 1646-10 minutes past 12 a.m.—A fire broke out
in Westsstreet, Gravesend; cause of outbreak unknown. The damage
done Is as follows :—West.street : Mr. Garrett, grocer. house burned
down, stock in trade and fixtures destroyed; Mr. Pettitt's eating-
house destroyed and contents consumed ; Mr. Gould, the Pope's ltesd,
totally destroyed; Mr. Dixon, beer shop burned down ; Mr. Lambert,
dining-rooms consumed : Mr. Everslield's wharf and sail warehouses
burnt down ; Mr. Carlin, hatter and general dealer, house dessroyed ;
the old brewhouae wharf burnt down to the water's edge ; Mr.Vollow's
coteerage burnt down; the Heehwe tavern, belonging to Mr. W.
Par6t, ditto; Mr. Choetts, fishmonger, ditto, and three small house,,
let out in tenements; the Talbot lintel, the clubroom burned down,
and the fittings of Preemamons' Society lost ; the Privateer Hotel, be-
longing to Mr. Tilden, destroyed; Mrs. C7rowhurst, greengrocer,
ditto.—The Pier : the Pier Hotel, Mr. Lovell, premises nearly burnt
out; No. 6, ditto; Mr. W. Rowe, outfitter, premises gutted; Mr.
Tuffnell, fishmonger, ditto; an empty house ditto.—West-street
(south side) • Mrs. Torrington, ironmonger, burned down; Mr.
Ilobnes, chemist, upper part of house gutted ; Mr. Clarabut, draper,
upper part of house burnt; the Gravesend Bank consumed; Mr. G.
Taylor, baker, ditto; Mr. Goodall, hairdresser, ditto; Mr. Owen,
chemist, ditto.—Suttie's Alley . two houses burnt down belonging to
Mr. Lenten sad Mr. King.—West-street: Mr. Pettit, eating-house
consumed; Mr. Beard, butcher, ditto; Mr. W. F.dwards, grocer, do.;
Mr. W. Hillier', greengrocer, ditto; Mr. W. G. Edwards, grocer,
ditto; Mr. G. Rackstraw, ditto; the Trinity offices destroyed; 'Ar.
Roxberry, fishmonger, ditto; Mr. Hatton, fishmonger, ditto.—'Sew
Court: nine small houses, occupied by Meisel. Jones, FirideArell,
Brinkley, Wakefield, 1•oblie, Ealing, and Rowe, destroyed.--fMapel-
lane : two houses gutted. Several of the owners were insured in the
Kent, Atlas, and other offices.
The excitement. in the town is neeessarilv very r,reat, and
the utmost sympathy is evinced in behalf of re any unfor.
tunate creatures who are rendered perfectly des'atute by the
calamity, whose number is said to exceed two T.undred. We
are happy to say that no lives were lost.
During the day loud were the complaint', against the in-
efficient state of the fire protective force, especially after the
fearful conflagrations that have occurrAl in and near the
town within the last two or three year.. It appears that the
so-called " firemen" are scarcely ever instructed in the duties
of such an office, and the consequence is, that when they are
called out to act, the greatest confusion ensues amongst
them ; no superior officer, in fact, being in attuttlance to
direct them,