The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-18 00:00:00

DERBY.

2 to 1 agst Lord Eglintun's The Flying Dutchman
4 to 1 agst Mr. A. Nichol's Nunnykirk—taken
5 to 1 agst Colonel Peel's Tadmor—take 6 to 1
7 to 1 agst Mr. Watts's Chatterer—taken
15 to 1 agst Sir C. Monck's Vanguard
18 to 1 agst Lord Eglinton's Elthiron—taken
22 to 1 agst Sir J. Hawley's Vatican—take 22 to 1
22 to 1 agst Mr. Bowes's The Knout—taken
30 to 1 agst Lord Clifden's Honeycomb—taken
30 to 1 agst Mr. Pedley's Old Dan Tucker
50 to 1 agst Mr. Farrance's The Old Fox—take
1,000 to 15
66 to 1 sgst Mr. Godwin's Hotspur.
By the death of Mr. Cloves, several bets, taken by him
in his own name, but on account of other parties, be-
come void.

OAKS.
5 to 2 agst John Day's lot
11 to 2 agst Mr. Payne's Glauca-6 to 1 taken freely
7 to 1 agst Mr. Grevillo's Clarissa—taken
15 to 2 agst Lord Chesterfield's Sister to Arkwright
—take 8 to 1
8 to 1 agst Mr. Wreford's Woodlark—taken
10 to 1 agst Mr. Whitworth's Lady Jersey—offered
10 to 1 agst Mr. F. Clarke's Lady Tryphena—taken
16 to 1 agst Mr. Wreford's West Country Lass
18 to 1 agst Count Bathyany's Eva.

ALARMING FIRE NEAR THE STRAND THEATRE.—
Last night, between
and which
eleven o'clock, a fire of an
alarming character,
with which at one period was feared
had
premisescarryingattended
belongingo n'business
fatal consequences, broke out on
to Mr. Sheard, a tailor and
sh next door but two to the
draper,Stkhetereawn
ed causeTheatre.
i n
the The
Frontli flames commenced from some un-
perdeohp, afnd before their existence
the premises was in a
became known that
blaze. Timely information havinge been forwarded to
expedition the tbe engine•stations, possiblew,ithLaeleldoe
and
abundance
dWa
neeset
of
en-
gines of the parish, Brigade,a
partfire waswas
England attended, and there being
water, the machines were set to work,
eventually extinguished, but not until the loat:eer
burned out, and the upper portion severely injured.
in
It
was at first believed that a woman had
pr
flames, but at one o'clock this morning it was
ascertainedthe
that such was not the case. The people in the theatre
at the time of the alarm being given made a precipitate
retreat from the building, but, fortunately, as far as
could be learned, no one was injured.
HOSPITAL FOR CONSUMPTION, BROMPTON.—Yes-
terday evening a very full Meeting of the board of
management was held at the above institution; Captain
Lyon in the chair. The usual routine business having
been disposed of, some reference was made relative to
the new chapel, after which it was stated officially by
the secretary that, in addition to the amount announced
at the recent anniversary festival, over which Benjamin
Diraeli, li,q., M.E, preside d, his Grace the Duke of
Norfolk has contributed 501., the Duke of Buccleugh,
31/. lOc., Thomas Lowndes, E-q , 501., and Philip Rose,
Esq., 501. Thanks having been voted to the gallant
chairman, the meeting was adjourned.
ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.--Sergeant Talfourd's
classical play of ion, which the learned author describes
as the phantasm of a tragedy, " not a thing of substance
mortalist,d into the !icing rack of humanity," and Morton's
admirable comedy of the Honeymoon, were produced
last night for the benefit of Mr. Anderson, whose engage-
ment at this theatre, in conjunction with that accom-
plished actress, Mts. Warner, draws near completion.
The interesting character of the entertainments, and Mr.
Anderson's excellence in the higher walks of the drama,
attracted a numerous, though not a crowded audience,
and Mr. Anderson's admirable delineation of lon, gave
universal satisfaction.

Be deaf to the quarrelsome, and dumb to the in-
gqi§itiio.--kli4a Cook's Journal.

rector lost his wife, his daughter, and the gardener
who had used the poisoned earth for manure. The
patron's gardener, who had dressed his flower beds
with human manure, was also attacked; in short,
wherever tho earth was taken to, the fever fol-
lowed.—(l.lear, hear.) The children of the Sunday
schools caught fever, went home and died, but they did
not communicate the disease to their relatives and at-
tendants—those only suffered who had been exposed to
the cause of its development. Seventeen deaths are re-
corded as having taken place from this cause alone; and
Dr. Smith states that nearly 200 cases of scarlet-fever
and measles, with anomalous and peculiar eruptions,
followed, all in his opinion from the sama cause.
"Ia ancient Egypt, the plague was unknown so long as
the sepultural rites of civilized heathens were continued,
but the barbarous practice of interment was introduced,
and the land of mummies became what it now is—one
vast charnel-house.—(Hear, hear.)
" During the decomn isition of the human bady, after
death, certain principles denominated morbid poisons
are thrown off. The stsgc in which these are eliminated
is called putrefaction. Besides sulphuretted hydrogen
and carbonic acid gas, there aro other peculiar animal
principles, hitherto not reduced to
palpable existence,
which do their deadly work. The manner in which
these morbid poisons act on the living frame has been
well explained by Baron Debi* According to this illus-
trious chemist, the effects of morbid poisons are ana-
logous to fermentation—that is, a similar process to that
which takes place when yeast is placed in contact with
sugar or glutinous matter."
A protest against the burial of the dead in churches
and in graveyards in populous towns, is no new thing.
In an admirable volume from the pen of Mr. Walker,
now present, entitled " Gatherings from Graveyards," I
find a most interesting document, in the shape of an or.
dinance of the Archbishop of Toulouse on the interment
of the dead in churches. This was at a very early period.
On the side of this excellent cause, which is one of the
highest public importance, we have our respect for the rites
of our religion, our regard for the feelings of the bereaved.
the importance of health to the dwellers in towns, the
diminishing of local burthens, the diminution of general
pauperism, and the checking of gross immorality.—
(Cheers.) Against it we have prejudice'
the love of burial fees, and the and custom, and
Dean and Chapter of
Westminster—.(Laughter)
_and the ministers, sextons,
and gravediggers of other religious edifices ; but these
may and will be overcome
When the intelligence and re-
ligious feeling and domestic affections, and the anxiety
for the advancement 'of sanitary measures throuhout
the kingdom are enlisted in the cause. Let Usg
then
boldly face the impediments which exist in our way,
and we shall finally reach the goal of our desires—the
entire removal of this flagrant and most pernicious abuse.
—(Loud cheers.) Too much credit cannot be awarded
to the gentleman who bas devoted the most precious
portion of his life, whether for pleasure or profit, to this
humane and beneficent work.—(Hear, hear.) I trust he
will not look in vain for the encouragement and support
to which he is entitled, and which his cause so impera-
tively demands. Let him, and all others who are simi-
larly engaged, gather hope and confidence from the
contemplation of past victories in enterprises for
the good of their fellow-creatures.—(Cheers.) Let
every reformer here, whatever be his object—if it be a
good one—listen to the words of a simple but sweet poet,
whose muse is consecrated to the cause of the people—l
refer to Eliza Cook—(Cheers):—
" If ye see afar off that worth winning,
Set out on the journey with trust;
And ne'er heed if your path at beginning,
Should be among brambles and dust.
" Though it be but by footsteps ye do it,
And hardships may binder the way,
Keep a heart, and be sure you'll get thro' it,
For where there's a will there's a way.' "
—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. G. A. WALKER rose to propose the first resolu.
tion. He said, if a man from a far country, a stranger
to our manners and customs, an Egyptian, for example,
could take his stand on the top of St. Paul's in this city,
he would be surprised at the view that presented itself.
If he were told that within the immediate circuit of
his view there lived some two millions of people—
that the living swarm beneath him would be
gathered to their fathers, would require graves with-
in about thirty-five years, he would probably inquire
how and where those two millions of people would be
buried. And what would be the humiliating answer?
Why, that the inhabitants of this the most magnificent
city in
people rich and powerful, had,
during
centuries,
by experience and unite-
the universe,
untaught a
strutted by misfortune, committed the sad and lament-
able error of burying the dead in the very midst of the
habitations of the living. In the 19th century of the
Christian era, temples dedicated to the worship of the
Most High were, by the sanction of law, and by the per-
converted into "mlssion of our forms of pent-
housesreligion, for the living. The rich, interred at the price of
gold, aro allowed to corrupt the atmosphere of our
churches and chapels. The poor and the middle
classes are stacked in graves, in deep pits, one
upon the other, and side by side, as was the case in
the very neighbourhood—in the Golden. lane Cemetery,
to his own knowledge, the uppermost coffin frequently
not being more than a few inches below the surface.—
(Hear, hear.) There were divisions in death as well as
distinctions in life—
" Here lie I. beside the door,
Here lie I, became I'm poor;
Further in the more they pay;
Here lie I as well as they.'
--(Laughter.) Now for himself, speaking as an indivi-
dual, he would have no objection at all to those divisions
in graveyards—they had their rich man's ground, their
poor man's ground, and their pauper's ground, but then it
resolved itself into a:most important sanitary question. It
had frequently been his lotto endeavour to demonstrate—
more especially in writing, and latterly by speaking—
that the dead man required so much material, so much
earth in which he should decompose. According to a
calculation which he had long since made, an
adult body would require thirty-two superficial
feet for its burial ; that was the body would pass off, it
would be resolved into its original elements, into gaseous
matters and animal compounds, which must enter into
the lungs and corrupt the blood, and produce va-
rious forms of disease. Now, let any man show him, as
times went, a better investment than this ; a man took
a plot of ground, or rented a house, and there might
perchance be a cellar underneath, and be forthwith com-
menced burying the dead. He (Mr. Walker) was not
at all desirous of pressing hardly upon any individual or
upon any locality, but there was a place which he had
in his memory, Enon Chapel, in Clement's-lane, Strand.
—(Hear, hear.) Now he would adduce that as an in-
stance, demonstrating the truth of what he had
asserted to the meeting. In that place, merely fifty-
nine feet in length, by twenty-nine feet in
width, many thousands of bodies were interred—that
was, they were put away somehow or other—(Hear,
hear)—which was another name for the same thing. In
that place, measuring, as he had said, fifty-nine feet by
twenty-nine, many thousands of bodies were buried, and
the sum derived during six years by the proprietor of
the place for burials in that cellar—for cellar it was—
(Hear, hear)—merely the usual j‘sists supporting a floor,
covered by boards. and not even a lath and plaster de-
fence—(llear, hear)—in that place—that manufactory of
malaria—there were deposited many thousands of bodies,
and the sum received by the proprietor amounted to
9511. ss. during six years for burials in that cellar.—
(Hear, hear.) Now, those facts were taken by himself
(Mr. Walker) from the book of the proprietor of the place,
the figures written, he believed, in the hand of the man
himself, and therefore there could be no mistake about
them. Ile proposed, however, that night dealing rather
with the dangers than with the immoralities of the system.
He did not know whether it was with, them as it was
with himself; but in his case he had looked at that mat-
ter so frequently in its various aspects, it had come so
often upou him, that he felt it was like the
thrice told tale,.
Vexing the dull ear of drowsy man."
coounldthteellohtheeekm
of
ff
tenoogrimishitmieesotahoadt
ub bl Hul
ish
ce would permit such a state of things to
long
aautl
his eea. )p
how— should(A—(Applause.)
English women. He had long and frequently wondered
go on. It was now some 14 years since he commenced
his inquiries. From 1839 up till now the question had,
however, progressed; and by the meeting that night, and
by other meetings, he thought they might judge that at
length public attention had been roused to its euormit
(Applause.) There were learned men who would Ygive
them, perhaps, the most minute, the most elaborate
histories of the methods and modes of interment prac-
tised in the earlier ages—men who would write them
very good books on that subject, yet those men, perhaps
knowing better, as he feared too many of them did, yet
hesitated to deal with a question which must eventually
be dealt with, and the sooner it was dealt with the
better.—(Applause.) It would seem that men could
only be brought to the recognition of great truths
and of simple facts through the paths of suffer-
ing and of sorrow ; and yet what had a series
of such experiences taught us ?
Why, that they had
made scarcely a move in the prevention of so fruitful
a source of disease, of immorality, and of death. It was
true that during the last session of Parliament a few
measures had passed the Legislature; but what had they
done in this? He must say, even at the eleventh hour,
that they had done nothing on this, the greatest question
of all.—(Applause.) Yet they had paid most scrupu-
lous, the must deferential attention to every other known
cause of disease. The City Sanitary Act talked not of
the width, not of the superficial surface of the graves
and graveyards of this metropolis, notoriously over-
crowded as they were ; but talked of depth
only, of five feet from the surface. How was
it that they did not talk of the width as
well? ir, as he had told them, a dead body
must require thirty-two feet to give it sanitary burial,
hew was it that the City authorities, knowing, as they
must know—for they had had sent among them books,
not by ones or twos, but. by tens, and fifties, and hun-
dreds, at the expense of the individual then addressing
them—displayed so: much indifference ?—(Loud ap-
plause.) He said, therefore, that they had a right
to expect better things. The City authorities, in
their corporate capacity, should be the leaders of the
nation in this matter.—(Hear, hear.) If all that he
(Mr. Walker) had stated was true, it was time, not that
they should regulate the depth of the graves, but
that they should shut up the graveyards altoge-
ther.—(Loud applause.) There is a period in the history
of nations when the common succession of events in the
material world passes unnoticed,—when. Governments
and Legislators cease to regard with due concern sub-
jects of esaential importance to the welfare of the mass
of the community,—when ordinary occurrences lose their
interest, and nothing has power over attention but facts I

TEE SUN, LONDON, VRIDAY EVENING, MAY 18, 1849,