The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-21 00:00:00

(Signed)

ROBERT DAtiti, M.D.

For the past week, from the 11th to the 18th of No-
vember, according to the official reports, twenty persons
have died at Sunderland of malignant cholera, three of
common cholera, and two of diarrhoea. These are
chiefly, if not wholly, of the lowest class of the
community. Whether there have been deaths not re.
ported in the higher class I am not prepared to say,
but I know that there have been cases of cholera in re-
spectable families that have not been included in the
returns. The surgeons appear to make a difference be-
tween public and private practice; the poor seem to
belong to the former, while the rich are comprised in the
latter definition. We are kept as much as possible in the
dark. At the commencement of this disease, and for
some time afterwards, we had particular and authentic
information daily of its ravages, but the people of Sunder-
land having discovered that for this we were indebted to
the correspondence of Mr. Bernard Ogden with the
Mayor of Newcastle, they raised such a clamour against
him that, for his own quiet and comfort, be was
obliged to desist from sending away more letters.--
They complained that his communications had contributed
to the embarrassment to which the trade of the port bad
been subjected. Nothing could be more absurd. The
placing of their ships under quarantine was plainly to be
attributed to the representations of their own medical
gentlemen, confirmed no doubt by the Commissioners sent
down by Government. The unreasonableness of their
objections, however, is immaterial; the effect is not altered.
By a system of terrorism or intimidation we are excluded
from the best sources of information, and are obliged to
collect it as we can, and are probably led naturally to suspect
that the true state of the place is worse than it is repre-
sented. The medical gentlemen themselves appear to be
veering round to the opinions they originally expressed.
Mr. Mordey, for instance, in a letter to the Sunderland
Paper, contradicts the statement made in it that, on the
11th November, he denied the complaint was continental
cholera. He says, " I stated, the symptoms during life,
with the post mortem examinations, fully confirmed the
identity of the disease with that on the continent." Mr.
J. M. Penman, another surgeon, also states that he said,
" the disease amongst us was similar in its symptoms and
circumstances to the disease which was then spreading
over the continent, and that I could not perceive any
reason why two things exactly like each other in every
point should have different names; and it is matter of
the utmost concern that subsequent facts have tended to
substantiate that opinion. I moreover stated that it could
be communicated, but not by means of shipping or mer-
chandize—not by infection, but simply by inoculation, of
which I have positive proof." This is remarkable.
Surety Mr. Penman cannot mean inoculation by puncture ?
Yet this is the obvious interpretation to be put on his
words. If it is only to be spread by inoculation of this
description the community generally, I should suppose,
insist be pretty safe. But Mr. P. says of this he has
positive proof. Does he mean that some person has
suffered himself to be inoculated by puncture, and has then
taken the disease?

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
A MEMBER OF THE NEWCASTLE
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nov. 19, 1631.

CHOLERA MORB US.

(From the Times.)

SUNDERLAND, Nov. 18.—Through the medium of the
press the current of public astonishment is daily pouring
in upon the doctors of Sunderland. Since the case of Sir
Theodosius Boughton, there has probably not been such
cause for instituting an inquiry into the grounds upon
which medicine has founded its claims to be considered a
department of science. Persons are dying daily here of
cholera, and others are attacked by the disease, yet opinions
remain unchanged, and cases are quoted in abundance to
sustain the reputation of both sides. Having hitherto
pursued the line of strict impartiality, and having endea-
voured, in pursuing this course, to weigh the evidence
justly, I shall continue to do so until the time arrives
when to doubt would be to sacrifice the most probable fact
to the most shallow possibility.
A considerable time (compared with the rapidity of the
distemper) has in general elapsed before a resident practi-
tioner is called upon to attend a patient in cholera, and a
further opportunity will have been lost before notice can
be sent to a second attendant. To obviate thin, the hos-
pital which has been prepared is of little service. It was
formerly a school, and the upper floor would afford good
accommodation for about twenty patients ; but even the
poorest of the inhabitants are strongly prejudiced against
the hospital, and of five cases which have been as yet ad-
mitted, not one was received in the primary stage. They
have been either in the stage of collapse, or iu the period
of reaction. The medical gentlemen, however, in imme-
diate attendance, assured me when I visited the hospitals
that as far as knowledge of the early symptoms could be I
had through an inquiry of the patients' friends or physi-
cians who had attended them before admission, that they
corresponded with those of the Indian cholera.
The following is a copy of the letter of the Bishop of
Durham, which I mentioned in my last :
" Auckland Castle, Nov. 15.
Sia,—l have again received complaints that carriers and
other public conveyances are suffered to pass unre.tricted to
other parts of the county, giving occasion of apprehension that
the infection of the malignant cholera may be thereby spread to
a dangerous extent. Having already intimated to you, about a
week ago, my hope that this would be interdicted, I must re-
quest that you will immediately lay this communication before
the Board of Health, with my earnest request that it may be at-
tended to; and some competent measures immediately be taken
to remove the general complaint.
" At Barnard Castle, and other places in that district, the
Magistrates have issued public orders for preventing carriers
from Sunderland passing through those places ; and I have inti.
mated to them my approval of their proceedings. Similar com-
plaints having also been made from the town of Stockton-on.
fees, I have written to the Mayor to the same effect ; and I
have also written to the High Sheriff, requesting his attention,
and that of the Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, to the sub'
ject, with the assurance that, in my official station, as custos ro-
tulorum' I shall he ready to authorise any legal measures tha-
may be adopted for carrying the orders of the Privy Council intot
full effect.

-------
" I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
" W. DUNEL.II.
George Stevenson, Esq., Secretary to the
Board of Health, Sunderland."
I stated to you, that in consequence of this letter, a de-
putation had been sent to the Bishop from Sunderland.
The document subjoined will show at once the object
which the deputation had in view, and how far they suc-
ceeded in the attainment of that object :

" MINUTES OF A CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE
LORI) BISHOP OF DURHAM AND A DEPUTA-

TION FROM SUNDERLAND, ACCOMPANIED BY
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL CREAGH AND 1)R. DAUN.
" November 16.
" On the introduction of the deputation, when the object of
its coming was distinctly understood, the Bishop entered into an
explanation respecting the measures of precaution which had
been adopted to restrain the conveyance of goods from Sunder-
land by the carriers. He stated that these measures did not ori-
ginate with him, but with the Mayor of Staindrop and Stockton,
and with the Magistrates of Barnard Castle ; that other Magis-
trates had written to him on the subject of the intercourse of
Sunderland carriers with all parts of the country in the strongest
terms, and that holding the responsible situation which he did
in the county, he could not, without neglect of his duty, refuse
to sanction the restraining measures already taken or contem-
plated with respect to this intercourse ; which measures, in tact
would have been, or would be taken, without this interference.
" With respect to these measures, however, relating to the
carriers, lie suggested, that if the Board of Health sent to him
officially a statement, that the restrictions imposed were unne-
cessary, he would forward it to the Magistrates, who must act
thereon according to their judgments; or if the Board would
adopt a regulation towards the carriers similar to that of giving
a clean bill of health for a ship, he thought that this would tend
to the removal of the restrictions now adopted by the Magis-
trates without further trouble. With respect to other measures
of precaution which might altogether close the trade of Sunder-
land on the land side, or the free intercourse of its inhabitants
in the rest of the county, he did not intend to originate any.
He had not received any specific order from the Privy Council
respecting such further measures, and the idea of a sanatory
ii•ordon being drawn round the town of Sunderland had never
been contemplated by him. Indeed he considered it to he useless.
" In consequence however of the agitated state of the country,
he had thought it his duty to request the High Sheriff to call a
general meeting of the Magistrates, to take into consideration
such measures as they might think advisable ; and he recom-
mended that the Board of Health should immediately open a
communication with this meeting, and lay before it a statement
which might be judged likely to have weight with the High
Sheriff' and the other Magistrates.
" This is the substance, and almost the very words of the con-
ference. " ROBERT DAUN M.D.
" THOMAS WILKINSON,
" M. CREAGH, Lieutenant-Colonel,
" ROBERT GRAY,
"JOHN P. KIDSON."