The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-04 00:00:00

in a more comprehensive spirit. Indierk-youanaY sap.
that from the eye:to the heel there is aearcelytadistorder
that can visa our flesh which has not had—and fora con-
siderable period—in this country, some institution de-
voted to its; study, its cure, or its alleviation:--(Cheers.)
It is a very remarkable circumstance that until recently:
—I may say most recently—there was only one disease
—red(Ctoheceurrseo, alndh we
ehdi c
nhentoreomnehicdamyeeufotrhsca-atrilt
in this country which no one attempted to study, which
nt
ao
lleviate.—(Cheers.)
was a disease most prevalent in this country, if not pe-
culiar to it, and most general, of all other coun-
tries, in its influence—(Cries of " Hear, hear ")
—one, too, not only general in its influence.
but most heartrending in its results—(Hear,. hear.),
—one which I may say of all diseases most resembles
death, for it knows no distinction of class or condition,
but knocks at
and
earturertrsetoef the poor.—(Cheers.) But it.d palaces of kings equally with
the
is a curious question which, if one had time, one might
enter into, how it happened that in a country so alive to
the calamities of its creatures, where every levar in every
form and every type has been mado not only the sub-
ject of stutiv but the foundation of institutions for irs
cure,—one might be induced to stop to inquire how it
aas that a malady which, from the returns of our mor-
tality, unfortunately figures as the greatest contributor
to that dark record, should in a land so distinguished for
its sympathy pith suffering, for its tciernificacquisitions,
for the facility—the generous facility—with which
wealth is devoted to the cure cf the salami les of life,
should, as it were in despair, be considered as the only
visitation of Providence with v. hich we were not calleti
upon to contend, and to whose inevitable influence ww
were to bow without a snuggle.—(Cheers.) One would
have naturally supposed that as private txperiecc©
taught us that it was possible occasionally to a:res.t the
course of consumption, frequently to shorten, fre-
quently to alleviate the sufferings which it oc-
casioned, and that under any circumstances it
was wise, by some machinery, to aggregate its pheno-
mena, fr ,m which alone men of science can deduce rune-
dial results—that that spirit of association which has
always pervaded English society, as well as that chari-
table impulse which has always been its characteristic,
would have long ago brought about some result similar
to that happy effect which we are now met to-night to
and to aid.—(Cheers.) One would have ima-
gined, when we remember that there is no class of so-
ciety that is not perpetually reminded of the existence
and influence of this dire complaint, which rocks, as it
were, at the same time the cradle of the intall,t
and precipitates even age to the tomb, Which touches
all classes of society, which every one present in the
course of his life has had to deplore us a fatal agency
that has dusked the bloom of his existence, and darkened

the retrospect of his life—(Cheers)—one would have
supposed the active impulses of Englishmen would long
ago have induced them to see whether tkey could not
grapple with this cause of great calamity.—(Cheers.)
But that is not the case. Although this country is dis-
tinguished for its public charities, although, as I have
said, the hospital, the infirmary, and the refuge eftsster
in every part of this island, it was scarcely known but
a few years back—it is not known now to
the majority of our fellow-subjects, that the consump-
tive patient, the member of a class that suffers; most,
that suffers longest, and suffers in the greatest numbers,
was exactly that patient to which the doors of every
charity were shut.—(Cheers.) It is not for me—it is
not the wish of any one here—to question the properiety
of the regulations. They were made by men influenced
by feelings as high and as good as any of those present.
—(Hear, hear.) It was necessity that urged these regu-
lations and dictated these rules—(Cheers)—but as far
as public charity is concerned they were strict
and inflexible, they were the laws of the litdes
and the Persians to those whose hectic
cheek and faltering energies were refused admittance
into their munificent endowments.—(Cheers.) Because
this disease was always lingering, because it was usually
fatal—these were the reasons that for years were al-
leged why the victim of consumption should be received
only with closed doors.—(Hear, hear.) Now, appealing
to your sympathies—after all the freshest and most pe.
rennial source of those actions which remedy the evils
of life—these are circumstances which must from the
first have arrested the feejings cf man; but viewing it
not merely in the light of sympathy—viewing it in the
severer but not less loftier aspect of science, such a re-
sult ought to be greatly deprecated. It has been consi-
sidered that consumption is an incurable disease. It is
not for me, it would be the height of arrogance in me,
and in most of us present, to express au opinion upon
such a subject; but there is an opinion to me, as there
is au opinion to all of you—the philosophy of human na-
ture—which is our common portion. All of you must
reel that the secrets of nature cannot be atoned; and in
an age distinguished as the present for the application
of science to social life—living as we do amid marvels
so vast, daily produced by an agency so recent, he is in-
deed a bold man who can say that he is to fold his arms
in despair and sit down, and when he is to encounter
a calamity, can believe that the beneficent Providence
which surrounds us has not supplied man with some re-
medial resource.—(Loud cheers.) Not only, then,
because the natural sympathies of our kind would
make us advance to arrest the disease that
was always lingering, and often fatal, hut because we
muit have felt that in the establishment of an inetitu-
tution that would necessarily aggregate the phenomena
from which scientific results must accrue, it was the duty
and interest of us r.ll to establish some institution of that
kind which would produce such results, I am surprisel
that earlier than it occurred, so felicitous a conc,r,ion
should not have been afforded by society as that which
established the hospital for consumption and pulmonary
complaints.—(Cheers) And yet it is easy for me at
this moment, in our hour of success and prosperity, to ex-
press this feeling; but remember a period of time less
than eight years ago and such a principle was
not recognised, such an idea had not foumd
favour with society, and such en institution did not
exist.—(Cheers.) Is is only eight years ago—less than
eight years ago—that a public meeting, not very nume-
rously attended, was held at the Hanover-square Rooms,
and that those opinions which I have feebly expressed
were first develope?l to public notice. It is less than
eight years ago; but what an encouragement is it to a
man, animated by the consciousness of being the advo-
cate of a principle, what an inducement is it to public
exertion to those who are inspired by the consciousness.
that they are performing a public duty, and working for
the advancement of universal man, when we contrast that
then almost unnoticed meeting with the consequences
that have accrued from it, and even with this assemblage
this day.—(Cheers.) Then the sufferer could not find a
refuge ; then it was held as an axiom that the sufferer
could nut even be relieved ; but what, proudly speaking,
dot inseehis brief period of time—a time hardly exceeding
the :erm of the shortest lease of a house that ahy man in
this room would grant to-morrow—what have been the
cons( quer.ces of a grand idea launshed into public life and
intrusted to public spirit?—(Cheers) Among those,
who came forward on that occasion, and to a certain
degree were favoured by the public sympathy of those
gathered around them on that occasion, I think my
Noble Friend on my right has the proud satisfaction
of reflecting that he was present at that meeting.—
(Cheers.) They were then emboldened to hire a tem-
porary apartment in a suburb, for the prudential prose-
cution of their plan ; twenty sufferers were admitted at
great cost and at a considerable venture ; but though
eight years have now elapsed, I can tell you that the
old lodgings in the suburb have been superseded by a
splendid and magnificent structure.—(Cheers.) That
dulling that term nearly 1,000 patients have received
within those walls every remedy which skill and solici-
tude combined could desire, that more than two-thirds
of them have left those walls greatly, and in many
instances completely, relieved.—(Cheers.) That
though 200 have indeed quitted us for ever,
they have quitted us under circumstances the most
alleviating to them, to us the most encouraging,
with the consciousness that they have received every aid
that the finest -Ain could devise, with the reflection that
they have received every consolation which spiritual
ministrations could afford—(Hear, hear)—with the con-
viction that their families, instead of sacrificing their aQ
to obtain for them some casual and comparative luxury,
have not been ruined by what must ever be to them a
great calamity—the loss of those they love—(Cheers)--
and with this great social consideration, that, in the
study of their cases they may have left a great scientific-,
legacy that may spare to their posterity the evils
from which they have suffered.—(Great and
prolonged cheering.) But I could not but listen
with great interest to the conclusion of the
report which we have just beard read, namely, an ab-
stract of the medical report, where I find, in a document
signed by a number of gentlemen of the highest character
in their professions, that from what they observe to a
degree amounting, to eight per cent. we have a right
to believe there have been positive cures through the
agency of this institution—(Cheers)—and though they
have not been able to trace the result of all these in-
stances to the end, from.having lost sight of the patients
after after they quitted the hospital, yet, evenallotwiantgat
least gp
per cent. of the patients have a c
the possibility of a relapse, we mayhraenl6ey
t h t 'by this
'thout being cu s or _
term of their lives wr Of fulfil i tl •
But it is not
re-
ceived within your walls, have been in a great degree
most. mysterious,.all
thabta
an etfhtiol,u
thousand
souniffneirpeortse nhta v
edebseteronyer.
relieved from their sufferings, and restored to society; it
is not all, that under any circumstances their disease,
instead of being the mere suffering of the individual, has
in the worst circumstances been recorded in;the annals of
science for the advantage of those who follow us ; this is
not all, but upwards of 11,000 patients have been minis-
tered to by your energies, and by the devotion of your
means upwards of 11,000 persons have been relieved
within the walls of your institution.—(Cheers.) It ap-
pears by the report of the medical attendants, that
they do not consider that they have themselves
examined or scientifically anul7z. d under those
circumstances much more than 4,000 wl 0 suffered under
pulmonary consumption. Many who came to them were
received simply because they thought they were Affected
with this disease. Bronchitis, morbid digestion, severe
influenza, diseases as remarkable for their depressing
effects upon the mind as from their physic 4 qpalities,
drove them for a remedy to this society; ba when to
more than 5,000 of our fellow-creatures we could teach
that they were not the victims of that fatal disease, be-
fore which they thought they were about to fall, can
you for an instant deny that you were at that moniefft
accomplishing as great a benefit to human nitture almost
as if you had cured them of the disorder of which they
thought they were the victims? They went home
from Brompton, where, under the auspices od your in-
stitution, their wants and necessities had been adminis-
tered to,—they went home that day with herfrts relieved
and spirits elevated ; and when science whispered to
dtouna not
you them that they were not—that they could not be-Tad-
mitted intobyyoura
:
almost because
uniformly
fatal, c)
they were ia
you suppose that you made many hearths happy tlt
day—(Cheers)—don't you suppose you renovated the
energies of many subjects of the queen, and that
that agency alone—which is apparently but a seconds
consideration on the subject before us—you were ad-