The Sun.
London, England, 1825-09-01 00:00:00

ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL.

A- dolieral Meeting of the Goveinors of (lie
above flospieal took, place yesterday, for. ti,e purpiiie of r?
sinning the Inirestigation ttfio the &Argo preferred_ against
nurse Arolstrong, and the patient A:ion. The chair -4as
by.llln. flutcittris.
13A.onrE .opened the •bt. Titres:: by _I-tailing the corres-
fondence wh:ck, had pawl:A betwcen them and Ml'. lliggs, th?,
Coroner, on the subject, copies of which are. subjoined.
will be seen therefrom, that several witne.ores were examine,'
before the 'no:lrd' on the occasion of the last n;te4nl,-....and 'that
all of them concurred in declaring• that tine nurse • Armstrong
never did, to their knowledge, the Alece.?tied (U.. Taylor
that She wotird continue the poultice tipoli his hand,. \in, order`
,
to bin), or Ant 'woros to thateffect ;. bat that, on the
contrary, she behaved with uniform kindness to :the deceased
and all others of her patients.. •
Two patients ladonging toThe t: and 'in- which the deceased
died, were yesterday brought forward to. be examined on the
.same subject. The first, it turned oat, ,Ynew , nothing of' the
affair. I-le, however, was tittle to speak to the general kindness
and attention of the accused nurse.

' The Second witness, a yOurig Matt of the name of Cree,
eel, that he was . present at the quairel between the nurse and
the deceased's wife. That at the rst the deceased was walk-
ing about the Hospital,;*hen the man Allen came up to
'and desired him to assist-in carrying the coals...into the • ward,
Which. he refused doing, alleging that he was unable, and, re-
tiring into his room, got into bed. Allen followed him and
abused him, m calling hint a lazy scant and swearing at him--;
The deceased's,
wife, Who was present, interfered, and while.
she was quarrelling with Allen for a.busing.her bur;band, •nurse
Arm Strong came up, and Insisted ea the deceased's wife quit-
ting the room, which she refusing to do, the nurse forcibly
turned her out. The man quitted the hospital the.sarne.even.
ing,
.Witness never heard the deceased complain about a
poultice, nor did he ever hear the nurse t,.11 him that she would
punish him by making him keep the dry poultice on six hours
longer. \Witness ir.d.always been Well used by the nurse. lie
had never paid her a sixpence whatever, nor 1 ud he ever beeni
called upon so to do. • •
CfrantuAff.••••-If you have witnessed any. instance of rnis.
conduct
.or neglect, we should IA extremely obliged by your
pointing it,out. • '
.Witness.—l know of none since Nurse Heyrington left the
have seen her ill-use three patients. . •
(31/4111.MAN.—She was only a supernumerary, and has beeri
discharged this month on account of her misconduct.
Colonel Hardinge.—ls Allen in the house still ?
CHAIILMAN.—Yes, but not in the same ward. He is now
confined to his bed, in cOnsequence of an attack of erysipelas in
his ariir. _ _ .. .

Mr. hour`,- undesruntrng that there were no more wit..
nesses in attendance, proposed that a deputation should go
round the iss.rd, and inquire of each of the• patients, whether tie
could give auy information on the.subject. •
The motion was immediately agreed to, and Messrs. Hol-
land, Slee, and Hawkins, deputed to make the necessary in-
quiries. During their absence, DB r. rodie observed -that it
had been stated in a.Morning Paper,.that the nurses of the various
übliG HO4pitals were in the ;iabit of lending out tea-pots aml
cups and saucers to the patients, and compelling them to pay
for the accommcdation ; and it was also stated, that if a pa-
tient wa.. too poor to ply fur tea mid sugar, he was obliged to
f2p without that refreshing beverage. Neither of these -state-
ments were correct, as- regarded this institution; the nurse
being expressly prohibited from receiving any money fur to
accommodation they maraffritd, anti tea and every other com-
fort being always ; flowed* where the patient was found • to be
too poor to pay fur them himself. •
The CHAIrtlifAN confirmed this accOunt. and added, that
at the present time they !tad 15 patients, who were provided
with tea, &c. out of the Hospital funds.
The deputation now entered the room, and Dr. Holland, at,
their spokesthan, stated, that they had questioned every pa-
tient, and not one remembered hearing the nurse use the harsh
expressions attributed to her.
.On the contrary. they all :11-
peared to be perfectly satisfied. with the 'attentions she had
Shown them. One patient of tht name of Goatirtifie told hit.:
that the deceased AO himself often used to tails together, and
that the latter on no occasion complained to ' hint of the treat-
ment he had received.
_ .

Mr. BRODIE pointed out chat in the Copy of the derositicns
supplied to him by. the. Coroner there. was no, mention made
about the nurse refusing to renew tlfe poultice. • •
- Dr,. noLLANp. said it was tiwAt probable that .thiw mow
from the Coroncr's not considering ,it necessary to
.insertthat fact in the record he had taken of the evidence given be-
fore him. • • . .

Several Governors-here expressed their concurrence. io this
opinion.
Mr. StrlE was of opinion that the charge Made against the
nurse had not been sustained in evidence, • - •
Mr. hEwT said, that the deceased, during the time he
.was
Under his care, had shown.himnlf to be very obstinate and Self-
, willed, and was continualiy acting in opposition to'the advice of
his attendants.
Mr. BitolllE 3VVecopinion'that the charge had failed. The
threat, if it had been used, was a most inhuman one.
Dr. ii01.1.A,r41) IlOpel the Court would bear the Case in mind,
and should any further evidence be obtained, .give to it every:
consideration ; for if the charge were to prove to be true, the
nurse ought certainly ,to -be • dismissed.•
The CIIAIRMAN assented to this opinion, and added that
the inquiry would be resumed if any fresh witnesses came for-
ward.

Several of the- flovernors successively expregscd their convic-
tion that the cbargCs againt the. nurse ouglikto be declared to
he unproved.
This appearing, to. be the general feeling of the Governors
preient, Dr. Bawl:fl . ygse, and' culrni;ted a:letter
had prepared for their' adoptinn addressid to the Coroner, and
stating the ground
,on•which they had aequitted the nape from
the charges naatle *aim.. her, .and which was agreed to . un-
animously. .

V'Eq ETABLE TA 1.T.011.—A vegetable tallow ex-
tracted by boiling from the fruit of the Yeateria
Indica tree, growing in Canara Province and-else-
where on the western coast of-the Peninsula of
India, which sells iu Mangatore at abotifti pence
,per lb., has lately been brought .14rilon, in a.
very hard and tough cake, and .e.N•pgrinnent.ed
upon by Dr. B. Babington. 'is •ea.siTy made
into mould 'candleS, which afford as bright alight
as the- best animal tallow, and without any un-
pleasant sinelt; even when hlownqtt.
Between the 10th day of Abe :present month
and the 10th of October, at, three .-o'clock in the
morning, the rare and interesting conjunction
will he effected (near Regulus, the first star. of
the Lion) of three of the most luminous planets,
Venus', Mars, and Jupiter, which Will,contritrite
to the light and heat,• and,:procure as beautiful
autumnal- mornings.