The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-31 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA.

The cholera still goes on decreasing, although
Jowly. On Wednesday the deaths from cholera were 22,
and from diarriluea 22. On Tuesday the numbers were 31
and W. The following is the classified returns :
West districts
Cholera. Diarrhoea.
North districts ...... ..... 1
Central districts .... .....
Fast districts 22
South districts 6

Total in London

Yesterday the Mansion-house committee was specially
convened by the Lord Mayor to meet the Bishop of
London, who, as the principal almoner of a large fund
collected under his auspices for the relief of the distress
consequent upon the visitation of cholera, bad invited a
conference withMansiondiouse authorities upon a matter in
which they and the committee of which the right rev. pre-
late is at the head, were supposed to be equally interested
in administering the public bounty ; the Lord Mayor
occupied the chair.—The Bishop of London said an im-
portant point had arisen in the administration of the fund
at his disposal, via, whether some portion of the money
should be expended for the benefit of convalescents. It was
a great reason for thankfulness that the disease was
subsiding, and they trusted that by God's blaring it
would continue to subside. La order that he might
be in possession of the feelings of the clergy of his diocese
on the subject of convalescents, he had written to many of
them who had been hard at work in relieving the distress
in the districts where cholera had prevailed. One or two
preliminary questions seemed to suggest themselves. First
of all, it had been asked whether it was necessary to take
any steps at all with reference to convelescenta, or whether
when a man who had had cholera and was recovering, on
being discharged from • hospital, would not be able to go
about his work in • short time. One of the clergy who
had interested himself in a hoepital at Wapping, stated
that by the kindness of the parochial authorities there, the
patient. had generally remained so long that they were
really cured when they left the institution, and that in
point of fact the hospital might be supposed to provide for
convalescents, as well as for those actually suffering from
the malady. That, however, appeared to be the feeling
of one clergyman alone. He gathered rather from a state-
ment of a gentleman connected with the London Hospital,
that when persons recovering from cholera left the hos-
pital they were not in a condition to return to their ordi-
nary work, and that it was necessary to provide against a
mooed attack of the disease. Miss Marsh had done a
great deal of good in connexion with the London Hospital,
in taking convalescents from the institution to • tempo-
rary home in the country. Those who were of opinion
that it was necessary to make some provisions for con-
, ?elements on leaving the hospitals seemed to be divided
I in opinion as to whether or not it was better that that
should be done by individual efforts, that was, by persons
who were interested in convalescents paying their expenses
and sending them down to the country to friends, or
finding here and there • cottage in which they could
be received, or whether there should be some com-
bined effort to provide a large building in which
some considerable number of those convalescents could be
accommodated. He thought he was right in stating that
these who advocated the latter course were influenced, not
so much by the exigency of the present emergency, as by
a feeling that on similar visitations, whether of cholera,
typhus fever, or any other of the scourges so frequent in
London, • great want was always experienced of the means
of providing for convalescents. The existing accommoda-
tion was by no means adequate to meet the wants of the
more destitute parts of London in that respect. He found
there wa: a strong opinion among the clergy that it would
be • great blessing if a large hospital could be established-
for the reception of convalemente from cholera in the first
instance, and afterwards generally for convalescent. from
other diseases. He had only to add that he and the gen-
tlemen with whom he acted wished to be guided by the
best possible advice. Unlike the Mansion-house commit-
tee, they had not opportunities of consulting medical men
or of eliciting the opinions of the local authorities who came
there from day to day. One plan had suggested itself to his
mind as perhaps, the most practical. Many benevolent in-
dividuals were interesting themselves in this matter. One
lady in particular, Miss Marsh, has secured accommoda-
tion for a limited number of convalescents at Walton-on-
Thames, and at other plates. Another lady, Mrs. Glad-
stone, had taken a house at Clapton, where convalescents
had been already, and were still being received. Other
movements; of the same kind were on foot, and perhaps
the wisest course for his committee to adopt would be,
without troubling themselves about establishing any insti-
tution for the express purpose, but allowing the zeal of
those various benevolent persons to take its course,to grant
a certain sum of money in proportion to the number of
convalescent cases that might be brought forward. (Hear,
hear.) But all those were points upon which this com-
mittee would be glad to have the advice of that of the
Mansion-house.—The Lord Mayor thanked the bishop for
his presence and speech.—After other gentlemen had
spoken on the motion of Dr. Clark, a resolution was passed
in effect that it was expedient for the Mansion-house com-
mittee to make some special provision for the temporary
relief of convalescents from cholera. It was also resolved in
substance, on the motion of Sir Mordeunt Wells, seconded
by Mr. Tilsion, that it was desirable that the Mansion.
house and the Bishop of London's committees should co-
operate with the local committees and clergy in carrying
out the object proposed.
Dr. Saunders, the superintendent medical adviser to the
City of London Union, has reported to the board the result
of a house to house visitation in the union by medical
visitors, for the fortnight ending the 23rd August. The
chief portions state :—Between the 11th and 25th of the
present month 457 houses have been inspected by
the four '• medical visitors" appointed in accordance with
the provisions of the 4th clause of the regulations of the
Privy Council, dated 20th July, 1866. These houses are
inhabited by 3,046 adults and 2,204 children, giving a
total of 5,2./0 persons living in 2,185 rooms, being an
average of 2 3-5 to each room. The daily statements sent
in to me are of so startling a nature—revealing as they do
a condition of things which ought to be known and reme-
died without an hour's delay—that I am constrained to
lay before you an epitome of the facts brought to light by
the zeal and indefatigable exertions of the gentlemen to
whom has been committed this fatiguing and dan-
gerous duty. If any argument needed to justify
these appointments, it will be found in the
circumstance of the appalling amount of filth and
disease-engendering neglect which is seen to pervade
house after house in some districts in the very
heart of the City of London, and which appears totally
unknown to the authorities for removal of nuisances
within the City, so far as I can learn from a report
presented to them by their medical officer, dated the 14th
August, 1866, wherein no mention is made of the existing
state of the said houses, although we are informed that
480 houses have been inspected during the last fort-
night ;" this leads to one of two conclusions—either that
the so-called "inspections" hare been of the most super-
ncisd and useless character, or that the said house in•
spection, as understood by the nuisance removal autho.
nties, is a very different process to that thorough
and real investigation which has been so fearlessly
and efficiently performed by your own medical visitors.
You will observe also that overcrowding exists to • fright-
ful extent in several instances : thus, the returns show 53
person* in 8 rooms. 40 in 7 rooms, N in 2 rooms (7,
Curriers•-row), 15 in 2 rooms (Huggin-lane), 21 people in 6
rooms, where s school is kept, luring 10 children in addi-
tion during the daytime, am., and so on, in the proportion
of 6 persons to a room. Since my appointment on 31st
July last, nine cases of cholera, of which three died, and
612 cases of diarrhoea, all of which recovered, have been
reported. These numbers include not only paupers and
all persons applying to your district mediral officers for
relief by night or day, in conformity with instructions
issued by my advice, but also the returns of private melt.
cal practitioners within the City of London Union. Re-
verting to the subject of disinfectants, I desire to acknow-
ledge an error in toy first report, dated 4th August, 1866,
in which, in my instructions for making chlorine gas for
the purposes of fumigation, &e., I omitted to direct theaddi-
tion of the black oxide of manganese to the chloride of sodium
and sulphuric acid. In a report issued by the Commis-
sioners of Sewers, of 14th instant, it is further objected
that the deodorising agent I have suggested is not disin-
fectant ; but as the argument against its use, as possess-
ing the latter quality, is based upon pure hypothesis, of
which not a scintilla of tangible evidence can be adduced,
and nothing but the dogma of speculative philosophy ad-
vanced in support of such statement, I prefer relying upon
my own common sense and attest experience, fortified as
it is by the published opinions of the most eminent physi-
cians and chemists of Europe. One advantage I claim for
Condy's Fluid is indisputable, viz., that it is much safer
to be entrusted to illiterate persons than any other known
agent of its kind. It is, moreover, entirely harmless to
person or material,whilatthechloride of iron isdeatructive,
and the carbolic acid, from its suffocating and disgusting
smell, is unfit for indoor use, and excites nausea and vomit-
ing. In conclusion, I would earnestly direct your serious ers-
te:aim to the state of things disclosed, which demands
instant and peremptory action on the part of the Commis-
sioners of Sewers, who have ample powers, under 29 and
30 Viet., chap. 90, to remedy all the evils thus exposed,
the existence of which, I do not hesitate to say, disgrace
our common civilisation, and reflect little credit upon the
vaunted excellence of the machinery hitherto put into
operation for their prevention and removal. The revela-
tions the returns make open up a sickening picture of the
fate of the City of London, should any disease of the ry
motic or miasmatic class fix its deadly grip upon either of
the localities indicated, and foreshadow, in such an event,
results too awful to contemplate.
Cholera, which it was thought had died out of Dublin,
has reappeared in that city with alarming virulence, the
fatal cases recorded being of the true Asiatic type. In
*aunty Mayo fifteen oases of cholera have occurred within
three days, of which eight proved hied.
It was reported to the Liverpool Health Committee yes-
terday by Dr. Trench, the medical officer to the Liverpool
corporation, that during the last week the deaths from
cholera were 146, • decrease of about 12 compared with
the previous week.

On Saturday Mr. Wigglesworth, farmer, Brad-
ley, near Huddersfield, toned 71 electro-plated tea-spoons
amongst some kay in his stack-yard. The spoons are all
marked vithan initial, and wore sent to the county polio.-
cam, Huddendiskl.