The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-09 00:00:00

hillmless.
The CORONER—What did you say? Miss Mann—
I told Mr. Buckingham that I thought I might
require two-such stoves, one for the hall andfrinothet
for up stairs ; but I wished it to be ascertained, before-
any arrangement was made, thatthey were a descrip-
tion of stove which was perfectly safe. ,
By the CORONER--I was not aware that the whole
four of the young women were going to sleep in that
room together. Had I known it I should not have ---
permitted it. I told one of the servants, Fanny
Carter, I think, that she had better sleep_ with
Pritchett, as she was so poorly; but she objected; and - '
one of the others then consented to do so. I left the
room on account of illness myself, and retired to rest,
and therefore my attention was not attracted to any
bustle consequent on the removal of the boxes and
other things on whichithe servants made up their
second bed. When I spoke to Mr. Buckingham
about the stove, I said I was afraid of bad air escap-
ing. I said I was aware that fumes would escape
whatever fuel was burnt. I was fully aware of the
dangerous character of ordinary charcoal ; and I said
I could not allow such a stove to come into my house
until Air. Buckingham had either asked the maker of
the stoves, or obtained the opinion of some medical
gentleman as to their safety. The stove was brought
home, and I then put these questions to Mr. Bucking-
ham, and he said he had not made the inquiries I re-
quired. I then said I would not have the stove in the
place unless he got the opinion of a medical man, who
had examined the stove, that it was safe. Mr. Bucking-
ham took the stove away, and he brought the stove
back again in a day or two after, and stated that he
had seen the maker, and that, the fuel being prepared,
the stove might be used with perfect safety. I then,
feeling that there was security, had the stove, and it
was kept lighted in the hall. This is all I have to
say, and all I know about the sad affair.
Miss Mann here became deeply affected, and was
in that state led out of the inquest-room.
Mr. Donis Buckingham, ironmonger, of No. 6,
Bentinck-place, High-street, Portland Town, stated
that Mr. Carman assured him that the stoves were
quite harmless.
Mr. William Crellin, surgeon, of No. 16, Welling-
ton-road, St. John's ViTood, who had opened one of
the bodies, said he had found the immediate caused of
death to have been apoplexy from suffocation. He
had not the shadow of a doubt that carbonic acid gas,
from the burning of charcoal, was the cause of the
apoplexy.
The DEPUTY CORONER inquired if the manufac-
turer of the stove was in the room, or any person on
his behalf ?
A person came forward, and said that Mr. Carman
was unable to attend the inquest by reason of illness.
His name was Thomas Lampier, and he was Mr.
Carman's foreman. He begged to state that the
particular stove in question was one made with a door,
to burn in a hall, and was not intended to be used in
a small confined room.
The jury agreed to the following verdict :—" That
Elizabeth Pritchett, Eliaa Griffiths, and Frances
Carter were found dead in a small and ill-ventilated
room, and that their deaths were caused by the
poisonous fumes of burning charcoal, which had
been sold at an extravagant price, under the fraudu-
lent name of prepared fuel, and that these attempts to
vend charcoal under the name of prepared fuel, to
be used in Carman's or any other such portable stoves,
is a scandalous imposition on the public."
The DEPUTY-CORONER—Am I to understand you
to say, gentlemen, that you attach no blame whatever
to Miss Mann ?
The jury—Most decidedly so, sir; not the
slightest.
The inquiry occupied upwards of four hours.

MR. HOLM'S LECTURES ON
PHRENOLOGY.
On Thursday evening Mr. J. D. Holm, the execu-
tor of Dr. Spurzheim, the late distinguished phreno-
logist, delivered the first of an interesting series of
lectures on the science of phrenology, at the Western
Literary and Scientific Institution in Leicester-
square, to an attentive and respectable audience.
The lecture was directed to a consideration of the
necessity of studying phrenology, by beginning at the
beginning- of the brain as the organ of the mind, of the
temperaments, of the division of the head, together
with the brain, into regions—the three latter' heads of
the course being illustrated by the lecturer, as he pro.`.:
ceeded, by numerous casts, diagrams, and prepara-
tions. Among other things, he produced .a cast of
the head of Bishop the murderer, with another of the
head of Mr. Horace Smith, one of the authors of
"the Rejected Addresses," with the view of showing
twat we could not too much bear in mind the influ-
ence of temperament. He then went on to
say that a very small brain was incon-
sistent with the manifestation of great
talent, and that the quality of brain had a material
effect on the intellectual powers. He thought it
necessary, however, to caution his audience that
though these were essential conditions of talent, they
were not the only conditions, and they were to be
careful how they judged of a person's capacities by
the absolute size of his head. Physiologists consi-
dered the head in proportion to the body, and few
things could be more important than to keep that
consideration in view. Proportion was important to
the production of a fine form, but the principle of
proportion, like every other true principle, had its
basis in utility. What, for example, was there in
the foot of a Chinese lady to caovate any one save
her infatuated countrymen ? Ihe same false view
of the principle of proportion might be traced to
tight-lacing amongst his own fair countrywomen,
which he would take leave to characterize as the
straight-waiscoat of fashion.—(Great applause.) An
examination of the Egyptian mummies proved
that man was not different 8,000 years ago from what
he is at present, and an inspection of the statue of the
famous Venus de Medici would show our fair coun-
trywomen how erroneous were their notions of the
beauty of form and symmetry. Before be entered
on a more minute exposition of the several divisions
of the organs of the brain, he would make a few
observations on the heads of the two sexes. He had
found what a vast field they had yet to explore before
they could come to any settled conclusion on the sub-
ject. There was much of a terra incognita in all that
regarded the human species; but there was no portion
of that vast country which contained a tract so little
known as that portion which was called the female
world. It had been partially, presumptuously, and
ignorantly explored. Much regarding it had been
concocted, and much had
,been assumed ; but we
could know nothing :of it except from the in-
habitants themselves ; and he hoped to see the day
when women could speak for themselves, and silence
those who weakly and presumptuously pretended to
speak for them.—(Applause.) A man could not feel
as a woman, nor a woman as a man ; the sexes were
subject to the modifications of their respective cir-
cumstances, and neither properly comprehended the
natural or conventional conditions of the other. On
comparing the configuration of the heads of the two
sexes, it was found that the heads of men were
broader at the sides than those of women, that female
heads were more flattened at the sides, and there was
a larger portion of brain from the ear to the occiput
than in male heads. The lecturer pursued the com-
parison to much greater length, but we regret that
our space does not admit of our further reporting his
interesting observations. The lecture was listened to
with the greatest possible interest and attention, and
at intervals warmly applauded.