The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-10 00:00:00

Translated from the German of Dr. PICKFORD.

"Dr. Pickford is known to English readers by his frequent practi-
cal contributions to German medical literature. This is the first
ime, he informs us, that he has addressed himself to the non -mem.
cal reader. We trust this may not be the last, if he. shall
detect any other equally flagrant evil which it may be in his
.nwer to correct."—London Medical Gazette. May 30, 1851.
" We promised in a former number that we should recur to this
work, in order to exhibit its aim more clearly. The author lashes
with great severity the impostors who make a livelihood by preying
on the credulity of the public. The tribe of Quiet Sr nathisers,'
and ' Medical Friends,' are mercilessly exposed ; and if this book
could find its way into the hands of those who saffar from th com-
plaint of which it treats, we are satisfied that many hundreds would
be saved much needless suffering of body and mind, and that is of
less importance, though it is that which the quacks most prize—
much money.... —This volume is well quallfied.to put an end to the
empirical system of treating Spermatorrhcea, and to place the treat-
ment upon a more rational and physiological basis. It is, therefore,
likely to do much good."—Medical Circular, June 16, 1852.

No. 11.
livo., in cloth, price 3e. 6d., by post free, 45.,
THE CURE OF STRICTURE OF THE URETHRA, on Princi-
ples at once Simple, Safe, and Efficient, in even its moat Inveterate
and apparently Intractable Forms.

BY F. B. COURTENAY,
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
"In proof of his views he (Mr. Courtenay) has given
be history of a great many cases successfully treated, as bad
as any which Mr. Syme adduced, and on which he had operated.
Such are cases ix., xi., xil., and avail. No. ix. had res is led, for a
period of twelve years, the treatment by dilitation, and was finally
removed in as many weeks. But cases xviii. and xix. appear, both
in duration, severity, and complication of symptoms, of a more ag.
gravated character than any detailed by Mr. Syme, and yet th 2
treatment adopted by Mr. Courtenay proved eminently saccessfhl."
--Processor Lizars on the Treatment of Stricture

DR. CIILVERWELL'S NEW WORKS.
To be had of Sherwood, 23, Paternoster-row, , Carralho,
147. Meet-street; Mann, 39, CornhW. Price One Shilling each; by
post, is 6d.

ENJOYMENT OF LIFE.
"Health, Recreation, and Rational Use of Time."
CONTENTS : —Early Rising—Spring and Summer Mornings—Ex-
cursions about the Environs of London—The Parks, Lanes, Bills,
Forests, Fields, Iligh-roads, and other pleasant places —Cotmtry
Trips and Rambles—The Sea —London at Night—Evenings at Horne
Music—The Drama—Cn Eating, Drinking, sleeping, Bathing, Air,
Rest, Ease, Occupation, &c., &c.

FRAGMENTS FROM THE FOUNTAINS. Two 'Pols.
vISIT TO THE LAKES Vol. I.
SKETCH OF EDINBURGH, &a.
Vol. 11.
THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY ; REMINISCENCES OF
DUBLIN, &c. •
111.
WHAT TO EAT. DRINK, AND AVOID, 6. That three score years and ten our course may run."
Don lar review of almost every form (cause and cure of )harassesniathudayt,
andem
ttecamltanh sonfd
relneasfeeubrlee,dbcowininsetietsuor
the prostionitage
with tables and rules for the diet and Physical regu-
lation of every-daY
voAuslryduebiblictsaettesd

Iv.
THE PASSIONS.
What passions hurt the body—what improve
Truths as relined as Athens ever heard."

SIIEJECT :—Life's pilgrimage, from infancy to old ago. The d-
vent of the passions. Chastity and its infringement. The casualtai
oflicentiousness and dissipation, with illustrations, graphic, narres
tive, and remedlative. Advocacy of early marriages.
V.
• --

THE MARRIAGE STATE.
"To be or not to be, that is the question."
FROGRANME :—Laws and obligations of nature, society, and reli-
gion regarding marriage, to be observed by either sex. Time and
choice, on both sides, as to age temperament, complexion, and
fignre, to secure healthy offspring, with the art of rearing them.
Physical defectiveness and its removal. Sterility and its conversion.
Cases, &c.
By R. J. C fTTNERNVELL, M.D. (1841), M.B.C.S. (1827), L.S.A.
(1824), Twenty-flve years Medical and Forensic Referee in these
matters. _

Price 14. each; by post, Is. 6d

To be had of Sherwood, 23, Paternoster-row ; Carvallio, 147,
Fleet-street; Mann, 39.-Comhill; or of M. R. Culvcfwell, M.D.,
10. Argyll-place, Regent•streeti who may be consulted daily from
Ten till Five, and Seven till Nine.

COMPARATIVE EXPENSES.

All Englishmen, and Londoners in particular,
nay draw, we think, a satisfactory kind of moral
from certain remarkable documents which we pub-
lished on Wednesday. The United States of
America, like a more ancient republic, appears to
be bent upon getting the greatest possible amount
of information from their Ministers in foreign parts,
and the " relations " of these gentlemen may be
almost matched with those of the old Venetian
Ambassadors for characteristic interest and exact-
ness. Not long ago the State Department of the
American Government addressed circular inquiries
to the representatives of the Union in foreign capi-
tals as to the cost of living at their respective sta-
tions. These questions were, of course, framed
with a view to the proper regulation of diplomatic
expenditure ; but the replies put on record in the
correspondence to which we refer present a compa-
rative survey of national advantages so very intel-
ligible and amusing, that we think it will consist
both with our own duty and the reader's gratifica-
tion, if we revive the subject for a little further re-
mark.
It will be readily understood that the position of
a foreign minister is peculiarly unfavourable to
experiments in domestic economy, and it was the
effect, perhaps, of these invariable conditions which
appears to have impressed every American envoy
with the not unnatural conviction that his own
station must inevitably be the very dearest spot of
the habitable globe. Still, the very universality of
this impression enables us to deal with it, for,
though every foreign minister may doubtless live
at higher charges than any native resident, yet, as
the ministers in every capital fare alike in this par-
ticular, the general expensiveness of their respec-
tive locations may be ascertained as easily from these
returns as from those of any other class, the only
difference being that the scale is somewhat higher
throughout. From London, then, we find Mr.
Abbot Lawrance writing that a house befitting the
position of the American Minister would cost from
7001. to 9001. a-year, and that carriages and horses
would require from 2251. to 2501. more. These are
the only items which it was thought necessary to spe-
cify in the British return. On turning, however, to
Paris, we observe that Mr. Rives, after enumerat-
ing very nearly the same charges in respect to
house-rent and equipages, proceeds immediately
to recapitulate certain other items of expenditure
almost as serious as the former. Fuel, for a house-
hold of half-a-dozen persons and their servants,
averages in Paris from 2501. to 3001 a-year—a
fact not perhaps astonishing to those who can re-
collect what they have paid for a few days' firing
at a Parisian hotel, but which will promptly sug-
gest to the untravelled reader a very sufficing
explanation of the value of woods and forest in
France. Be it remembered, too, that the country
thus enormously taxed for one of the chief neces-
saries of life is within an hour or two's voyage
of another country where the best coals may be
had at less than 1/. per ton. Passing from fuel,
Mr. Rives next reports the extraordinary price
of eatables, and remarks, with the true em-
phasis of an American, that ham, which his coun-
trymen would probably be glad to send into
France at 6d. or Bd. a-pound, is charged in Paris
at Is. 6d. or 2s. Fowls, too, at Bs. 6d. a-couple
are very properly recorded for the wonder of
posterity, though on that point we have not much
to boast of at home, for all the " poultry mania,"
to which the coming will testify, has not yet re-
sulted in bringing to London markets at less than
ss. or 6s. a-pair chickens which are certainly raised
in the country for less than half-a-crown. In
" common groceries," indeed, the contrast would
have been surprising, but Mr. Rives is content to
allude to this charge upon French residence without ,
entering into particulars.
From Vienna we get but few details, as Mr.
M'Curdy does not yet "know much personally
about the expenses incident to his residence."
From St. Petersburgh Mr. Brown reports that the
Russian capital "is emphatically and in every re-
spect an artificial city—artificially built and artifi-
cially sustained. It is dependent for all its supplies
on distant regions ; the necessaries of life are ex-
orbitantly high, while the tastes and habits of the
place are extravagant." Nevertheless, as Russia
possesses some railway communication, and is in
the way of getting more, St. Petersburgh, not-
withstanding this character, must be largely in ad-
vance of more ancient capitals. The description
given of Madrid is in the highest degree instructive.
" The great distance," writes Mr. Barringer, " of
this capital from the coast, the universal want of
good internal communication, the barrenness of
the immediate locality, the peculiar habits of the
nation, their general prejudice against everything
foreign, their indifference, and even content with
the stationary condition of
,their country, have all
had a most pernicious influence." Water, which
is brought to the house-doors on men's shoulders,
is exceedingly expensive ; wood, when it can be
procured at all, is sold by the pound ; coal, oil,
and other articles of daily consumption, are first
carried over hundreds of miles on mules' backs,
and then burdened with crushing duties at the
very gate of the city whose wants they arrive to
supply. As an example of the state of things, Mr.
Barringer mentions that one of his carriages, which
was brought for 121. from New York to Cadiz, cost
721. in coming from Cadiz to Madrid. It is
amusing to observe how closely the metropolis of
Turkey corresponds in these respects with the me-
tropolis of Spain. The same total want of internal
communications, the same uncertainty of supplies,
and the same extravagance of prices are reported
from Constantinople as were returned from Madrid,
and either account would nearly serve for a
description of Burmah or Affghanistan. Civilized
capitals have at least this advantage, that their re-
sources are known and unfailing at a current rate
of charge ; but at Madrid, no less than at Constan-
tinople, the latitudes of which are politically as
well as geographically the same, no supplies can be
reckoned upon•with certainty at any price at all.
We have not yet exhausted the list before us,
but we have probably said enough to make Lon-
doners tolerably content with their lot. To grum-
ble is not only an Englishman's privilege, but, so
longas obvious improvements are wilfullyneglected,
his duty too. Nevertheless, we may think more
comfortably even of our sewers and our water-rates
---of our narrow streets and our national " embel-
lishments," when we compare our institutions with
those of other capitals. .Free trade has already ac-
complished for us what Sir Robert Peel predicted,
in making London the cheapest metropolis in Eu-
rope. The tastes and habits of fashionable society
i still impose heavy charges upon such residents as
foreign ministers ; but even these visitors are ex-
empted from all those domestic and daily taxes
which perversity or ignorance maintain elsewhere.
All the necessaries of life are brought to our doors,
both from foreign and home markets, ,at a price
really regulated by the expense of production,

I and increased only by the very cheapest cost of
I transport. Bread, meat, butter, poultry, eggs,
sugar, salt, fuel, and water are cheaper here
then in any other European capital ; and, if the
expenses of foreign ambassadors are not propor-
tionably diminished, that is because such charges
in reality constitute only a small portion of their
expenditure. We may learn to value our own
clothes-markets by hearing that in Holland—that
land of thrift and economy" every article is dear,
but clothing particularly. so ;" and though, to be
sure, it seems hard just now to say even a syllable
for London weather, we may console ourselves by
reflecting on what Mr. Bayard reportsfrom Brussels,
that though in that capital " it rains, more or less,
every day for 240 days out of the 365," there are
few side pavements to serve as causeways in the
deluge. Altogther, then, we have fair reason for
self-gratulation. We cannot help our atmosphere,
or entirely neutralize the natural condition of a
population of 2,250,000 ; but we can take care that
no restrictions are placed upon that trade which
brings the produce of the country to the service of
the town, and we can freely apply our vast re-
sources
well-considered
of
improvement.—,-Times.
ital and ingenuity to purposes of

LONDON.

It is pretty clear, we think, from the nbserva-
dons which we published on Saturday, that not-
withstanding the inveterate delusion about " un-
taxed foreigners," London, for people with the
habits of Englishmen, is the cheapest capital in
Europe. Men who divide their leisure hours be-
tween cafés and thea,tces—who are content to warm
..thernsPlves.at publiftbove in winter, and rent a
garden chair by the evening in summer—may no
doubt find greater accommodation in Paris. In
outdoor luxuries the French excel us, but for per-
sons who value comfort and independence, and who
wish, as all Englishmen do, to keep a house of some
sort, whether great or small, there is no capital city
so cheap as our own metropolis. All the necessa-
ries of ljfe are procurable at charges which, if still
above the means of indigence, are at any rate in no
case augmented by gratuitous legislation. We get
bread, so Protectionists declare, at a less price than
it costs to grow the corn, and at any rate we get it
at about half the price of former days. We get
meat and other provisions as cheap as they can be
made by the competition of Europe. We get sugar
and other tropical productions at charges within
reach of the poorest mechanic ; a good fire may be
kept for 15d. a-week, and if the water supply is not
what it should be, it is at least better than in any
other city of nearly the same extent. Neverthe-
less, London is stigmatised as an unhealthy plaCe
to live in ; and how, then, under these favourable
conditions of life, is such an imputation to be ac-
counted for ? We think the matter can 'be made
tolerably plain, and with some advantage to boot.
In the first place, the unhealthiness of London is

partial—partial not to quarters, but to classes.

Professional men, tradesnien, clerks, mechanics, or
artisans, with incomes of wages sufficient to pro-
cure daily comforts--and nowhere can such com-
forts be procured more cheaply—live as long and as
heartily in London as in any part of England ; in
fact, some of the finest specimens of the longevity
have been furnished by citizens born and buried
within sound of Bow Bells. No person who has
over visited a really unwholsome town and marked
the appearance of the population could walk from
Temple-bar to the Bank, and from the Bank to the
Docks, without assuring himself, from the coun-
tenances and carriages of the passers-by that the
city must be essentially healthy. The real truth is
not that the well-to-do classes suffer from London
residence, but that death's doings among the very
poor and miserably swell the gross mortality of the
metropolis to its higher average. If certain locali-
ties which the officer of health could promptly enu-
merate were set aside for returns of their own, the
remainder of the town would probably bear a fair
comparison with most English boroughs.
In the next place—as follows, indeed, from what
we have said already—the actual noxiousness of
London atmosphere is not natural, but artificial.
Such as it is, it is wholly ~ our own making, and
waits for' our own remo ~, !. There is nothing in
the soil, or the air, or the Water of our metropoli-
tan stream, which should be otherwise than con-
ducive to the health of our population. Thames
water unpolluted is as good as water need be, and
if any person desires to know what soil we stand
upon he has only to walk along the new excava-
-1 tions between St. Paul's and Cannon-street, where
he will see the finest gravel in the kingdom. No
doubt our atmosphere would bear some purification,
but smoke is already described as an abatable
"nuisance," and against any disadvantage in this
respect we may set the notorious accessibility of
means to counterbalance it. Wholesome food and
medical aid are procurable with far more certainty
here than in the country. It is quite a mistake to
imagine that the virulence of disease is confined
wholly or even principally to places crowded with
habitations. The worst outbreaks of fever are seen
in roadside villages, where there are hundreds of
yards perhaps between the houses, but where the
true elements of pestilence---undra
and unventilated rooms—are more conspicuous
than in any city quarters. In town we have at
least the vigilance of able officers to assist us in 1
abating these sources of evil,
ined dwellings
in the hard-worked and ill-paid union,
there is no control from authority, and no hope but
whereas in the country
15 miles off.
The obvious moral of these considerations•
London as healthy, comparatively is that
nothing but our own resolution '
is .
wanting to make
doctor Some
is cheap. We cannot, of course - - the identi-
cale create . air of the Brighton Downs
Cheapside any more than vely speaking, as it
over the chimneys of
cheap as it is in Wales, or
pit's mouth ; but exactly coal
we_ can. get
. mutton as
as it is sold at the
as we have brought down
to 7d. the loaf instead of is ,
fuel from twice the price to 17s. a ton, and bread
streets into habitations not inf.
con-
sidered, to country houses. sos: we may turn. our
inferior, all things
.tion which must be first attended t
ee n
tene-
ments among the poorer classes,
ments of the indigent should be substituted othae-
wretched, ill-drained, comfortitleithhaen.9dhioce.ofstsly
lodging-
houses on the most approved • •
principles of salubrity
and economy. We should not be inclined, for
teilrtutateecdororthis purpose, to extend the present limits of the
large enough, in all con-
science, olisal.reaLdoyn;doin i
ndesed,
it
is
not one of our
smallest inconveniences that half everybody's friends
live at least three miles off. What we should re-
commend is, that the ( surface already covered
ised. Acre upon acre
mshaoyuldbebfeounbedtteirn
of building, the same
ill-contrived houses,
wcrhoewrdeased, Vithbetlotewr,prriamnebilionega,
much larger number
superficial ppeer fio
pcliea li
n areao ol
nwpoa
ulradtivloiedlguxe ura y
of covering every inch , ground with brick and
• There is no need
mortar—squares and ~ -, or even gardens, con-
duce to the health ~Li . ' locality, by promoting
a free circulation of :re , and they might easily,
by a scientific proce ST construction, be suffered
to remain. A good . . . ng-house, well built, and
furnished with all prop
_appliances' would provide
the best accommodation for forty families on less
than one-third of the ground covered, as things
now go, by forty miserable dwellin—
g... If reforms
like these could be carried into execution, if the
long-pending drainage(of the metropolis could be
effectively consummated, and the water supply
put on a proper footing, we are perfectly persuaded
that London would ino longer be reputed un-
healthy. Nor is thete any one of these measures
which is beyond the scope of very moderate enter-
prise. Nothing impedes the water supply but the
cupidity of the great companies ; nothing stops the
drainage but an imperfect apprehension of the
means required ; and nothing, we fear, but indiffe-
rence stops improved building at an
'.
We have
already proved the truth of these propositions by
actual experiment. }laths and wa.shouses answer
every one of the pu oses predicted even beyond
expectation, and mod 1 lodging-houses have been
erected and occupied just sufficient numbers to
show that they may be increased to any required
extent without fear-o4failure. The poor, however,
cannot act for themselves. They have neither the
means nor the knowledge, and the obligation must
necessarily be discharged by others. But as others
and all will reap the common benefit of a purified
atmosphere and a contented population, it is surely
not too much to ask for active co-operation in a
work of remunerative charity, which, if it does not
exactly begin at home, will most infallibly end
there.—Times. •

- , 41
NARROW ESCAPE.-11 wit week Mr. Spencer, of Wood-
croft, near Peterboro',' and Mr. Pratt, of Greatford,
were proceeding in a d-eart from Helpstone to Maxey.
They had crossed the Midland Railway, and had
lap-
proached the edge of t e Great Northern line, when a
fast down train was p rceived close upon them. The
two gentlemen immedi ely jumped out of the convey-
ance, and had just tim to remove their horse's head off
the rails, when the engine and carriages whizzed by
them. Had not both been very active, they must have
been ozna4hed to atoms 4