The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-24 00:00:00

were protected from it; next, the want of proper venti•
lation throughout the establishment, and the overcrowd-
ing; and I think, from the fact of the children's abdo-
mens being tumid and the extremities not so stout as
they should be, that the food may not have been suffi-
cient to keep them in that vigour of health which would
enable them to resist the evil influences I have men-
tioned.

Mr. Withall, registrar of births and deaths, in Toot-
ing, was next called—He had no deaths from cholera re-
gistered except those registered from Mr. Drouet's es-
tablishment; these were about 150 in all. The popula-
tion of the parish is above 3,000; the deaths registered
are about 50 a year,

Dr. T. B. Peacock—ln my opinion Johnson and Har-
per died of Asiatic cholera. Harper, within half an hour
of his seizure, was entirely pulseless at his wrists; the
hands and feet were deep blue ; the skin cold. 'A
thermometer placed under the tongue showed only 84
degrees. There was vomiting and purging, very slow
breathing, and rapid collapse. The children, generally,
were not so robust as in our charitable asylums.
Eighteen of the 71 girls who were not confined to bed
had cutaneous eruptions—either itch or eruptions cha-
racterising children not in good health, four had scrofu-
lous sores chiefly about the neck, three had ophthalmia,
and one chilblains. In those who died from cholera at
the hospital I believe the system (the blood) was im-
pregnated with cholera before they left Tooting. I
think, being in a low state of health, they more readily
suffered from the epidemic influence prevailing in this
country at present. Mr. Drouet's situation is not very
healthy, and there is very defective ventilation. The
girls who came under my charge in the hospital had not
been sufficiently clothed. The children did not appear
to me to have been well nourished. I should say that
the establishment could not safely accommodate the
number of children it contained.
Mr. T. C. Jackson, resident surgeon of the Free Hos-
pital—Eighty out of the 155 children who came to the
hospital were attacked by " the Tooting disease," and
four died. Others in the hospital, who had not been at
Tooting, were also attacked with the disease; one, a
nurse, died: and so, I believe, did a man who had been
backwards and forwards between the hospital and the
Holborn Workhouse. f Mr. Wakley—" And two took
the disease who slept at the workhouse in beds opposite
to or adjoining his."] I attended Quin. I have no
doubt she died from malignant cholera. When the
children came to the Free Hospital they were not in a
healthy condition. A great number of the boys had the
big belly so characteristic of scrofulous children. Their
muscles were generally lax; a vast number had erup-
tions, and some had sore feet. A great portion of the
eruptions were scabies or itch, and others were
of a class indicating a very low condition of
the system. I refer the outbreak to epidemic in-
fluence, which always makes its greatest ravages
among the ill-fed and ill-clothed. There was not
a particle of flannel about any of these boys when
they came to us. [Dr. Peacock, in answer to a ques-
tion—" Nor the girls, except two or three that were ill.]
The children presented the appearance of having had a
deficiency of animal food, and a large proportion of ve-
getable. Children require material for growth as well
as for nutrition.

Dr. W. Marsden, one of the surgeons to the Royal
Free Hospital—l do not consider that the disease was
Asiatic or malignant cholera, but a species of asphyxia.
I observe, first, that the locality of the Tooting estab-
lishment is low and damp. Next, a north-easterly wind
there contains a London atmosphere. [Mr. Wakley—
"We live in that."] It is not so bad to live in it.—(A
laugh.) The residence altogether is inadequate for the
number received—the diet included too little solid mat-
ter, and far too much fluid. I examined the boys when
brought to the Free Hospital, and found the abdomen
large, limbs spare, complexion pale and sallow. I com-
pared 25 of them, taken indiscriminately, with 25 boys of
the same age at the Welsh School, and found the following
results :—The 25 Welsh boys weighed 1,5161 b. 12 oz.
—the 25 Tooting, 1,3321 b. 8 oz.; measure of the thick
part of the arm in the Welsh boys, 1791 inches—in the
Tooting, 1614; round the abdomen, the Welsh children,
567 i inches—the Tooting, 595. This would indicate
that the Tooting children had been living too much on
fluids rather than solids. I have ascertained that the
total atmospheric contents of tho 44 dormitories at Toot-
ing amount to 196,705 cubic feet; deducting 1-20th for
bedsteads and the children, there would be not quite 136
cubic feet of respirable air for each child, or an amount
equal to what would be contained in a box 5 feet 2 inches
every way. This quantity, with doors and windows
closed, would not support life for more than eight hours,
because every expiration yields 4 per cent. of carbonic
acid. In the boys' schoolroom, occupied for three hours
twice a day, there would be 37 feet to each boy. There
would be no sufficient ventilation unless there was some-
thing to establish a current; and carbonic acid gas
would produce precisely the same external appearances
as cholera. In this way cattle brought over from
Holland in the hold of a vessel suffer. Two children
died lately who hid themselves in a corn-bin; and men
who have gone down into deep vats have also perished.
A great mortality in the Maternity Hospital at Dublin,
some years since, and another at Norwood Charity
School, were found to be owing to the want of proper
ventilation. The witness proceeded to say that the prin-
cipal symptoms of Asiatic cholera were incessant vomit-
ing, purging, and extreme thirst. Of forty cases which
ho had seen among those children in the Free Hospital,
there had been vomiting in four cases, and only one of
those cases had been fatal. In these cases stimulants and
food had been given to the patients, while in cases of
Asiatic cholera it was useless to attempt to give food; the
stomach would at once reject it. Witness also considered
that this disease was not Asiatic cholera, because not one
ease had he en reported at Tooting out of Mr. Drouet's
establishment, and the average number of cases reported
in Loudon during the last two months, among one
million of inhabitants, was only two a day. He had, in-
deed, great doubt whether any cases of real Asiatic
cholera had occurred in London, for he believed that
cases where severe diarrlicea had existed had frequently
been reported as cases of cholera. He might observe
that in the Royal Free Hospital, where many patients
who were most likely subjects for cholera were admitted,
not a single case of that disease had occurred. Only four
of the children removed to the Free Hospital from Toot-
ing had died, and those had died within forty-eight hours
after they were brought to the hospital. He did not
believe the disease of which the children died at the Free
Hospital was communicable.
Tie CORONER—How do you account for the nurses
dying? Witness—l can only say that the nurses who were
sent to the Royal Free Hospital were a very bad set.
I was obliged, on the first night of their arrival, to send
one of them away drunk, and if she had been attacked
with diarrhces it is very probable she would not have
recovered. Witness considered the predisposing cause
of the disease to have been improper and insufficient
clothing, low temperature, and the humid state of the
atmosphere; and the immediate cause, the defective con-
dition—or want of vital principle—of the atmosphere in
which the children were living. He thought it was as
well that the children had not been allowed to have as
much water to drink as they wished, for he believed that
had that been the case they would have beeu in an in-
finitely worse condition.
Dr. Garrod, assistant physician to University College
Hospital, deposed that he had made a post mortem ex-
amination of the bodies of Andrews and Harper, and
read a statement detailing the appearances presented by
the bodies. He had no doubt, from his examination,
that the cause of death was cholera. The witness pro-
ceeded to state, that to establish more clearly the nature
of the disease, he made a minute chymical analysis of
the blood, the result of which he detailed to the jury.
He thought there was no doubt that what might be
ealled the " cholera influence" was now prevalent in
this country. In ordinary cases it had very little power
on healthy individuals, who were able to resist it; but
persons who were in an ill-conditioned state of body,
either from previous disease or from insufficient diet
especially when they were exposed to the influence of
malaria arising from the decomposition of animal or ve-
getable matter, were very likely to be affected by its
agency. He thought overcrowding, especially during
the hours of sleep, would be one predisposing cause of
cholera. He should think the immediate cause of cho-
lera at Tooting was the overcrowding, but at the same
time he believed that the same causes would not have
produced the same disease the previous year. From
what he had heard the witnesses say of the food at
Tooting it appeared to have been a poor diet, but it must
be remembered that the quantities of food given were
not mentioned.

The minute book kept at Mr. Drouet's establishment
for the entry of remarks by the visiting guardians was
then put in evidence, and numerous entries made in it
since January, 1848, and signed by guardians of the
Holborn Union, were read by Mr. James, clerk to the
hoard of guardians. The general effect of these minutes
was that the guardians, having inspected the establish-
ment, Here perfectly satisfied with the general condi-
tion of the children. In some cases the visitors ex-
pressed their " unqualified approbation" of the general
management of the establishment.
Mr. Ballantine said it might be satisfactory to the
jury to know that Mr. Drouet's establishment was visited
not only by the guardians of the Holborn Union, but
by the guardians of all other unions which had children
there. The consequence was that the establishment was
visited by the guardians of some parish every two or
three days.

Mrs. Dimond, matron of the Holborn Union Work-
house, who was recalled, stated
Faterdee Hospital
toswpihteani
mostthe children
were were brought to the Royal
were in a very bad state; they had sores on the feet—
about the toes and heels, which did not appear to have
been dressed. Witness did not know to what the sores
were attributable; it might be to chilblains. Witness
thought if some of the children had continued in the
same
3siany state much longer their toes would have dropped
off.
of them were very pale and thin. They had
had very good diet since their return—mutton for din-
ner,
beef-tea for supper, and for
glass of mulled wine after
adrindninern.er. The children had
now half a pint of porter
after
as to the number of
Mr. Grainger wished to observe, with
with reference to a
statement made on a former occasion
that lie
children in whom premonitory symptoms of diarrhoea had
been discovered at Mr. Droners establishment,
had received the information embodied in his report
from Mr. Kite, and had now the statement in his posses-
sion
signed by Mr. Kite.
Mr. Kite explained that he hail not examined the chil-
dren himself, in order to discover premonitory symptoms,
and the information he had furnished to Mr. Grainger
was obtained from the gentlemen who made the exami-
nation.
Mr. Grainger then stated, that in company with Dr.
Ferro, he had examined 554 children belonging to the
Holborn, the St. Pancras and the Strand Unions, who
had been at Mr. Drouet's establishment, and of that
number 239 laboured under various affections, princi-
pally cutaneous, while 315 were healthy. Among
the children affected with the itch, many had
the disease in the most severe pustular form. Dr.
Farro and himself had also visited Mr. Aubyn's
establishment at Norwood, where there were now 1,114
children, The medical officer of that institution told