The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-30 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 30. 1849,

CHEMISTRY OF THE KITCHEN.
ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE DIET.
(From Eliza CoJk's Jourhal)

Nol the least important of a human -being's daily
functions is that of eating. Physical man cats to live,
and lives to eat. The summary definition of the use
of eating is, to supply the waste that is constantly
going on in everybody. Before, however, any correct
notion can be formed -as to the nature of the food best
calculated to nourish the system, one must first know
of what elements the body is composed, and of what
the waste materials consist that have to be replaced.
The chief constituent pay is of our frame are certain
animal substances termed fibrine, albumen, gelatine,
mucus, and osinazome ; and the principal elementary
matters which escape from the system are carbon,
azote, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and lime. To
rc place this waste man must have a regular supply of
food, the elements of which, it will be found, mainly
consist of those just named; and the digestibility of
such food will generally be in a ratio to its containing
those elementary 'natters in a simple uncombined
form. On this account, animal substances are more
easy of digestion than vegetable products, and vege-
table products than inorganic bodies. Condiments
contain few or none of the elementary matters above-
named, but they act as stimulants to the organs of
digestion, and are thus of essential service.
The materials for the support of the system are
derived from the animal, vegetable, and mineral
kingdoms. From the first are derive azote, and a
portion of the other elements; from the second, carbon
and hydrogen ; and from the third, lime,
.salt, and
water.
Articles of diet :may be divided into three great
classes :-1. Those whist conta'n azote, carbon, hy-
drogen, and oxygen. 2. Those which contain carbon,
hydrogen,
and oxygen. 3. Those which contain
neither carbon nor azote.
The following substances are contained in the first
division :—Fibrine, albumen, gelatine, mucus, osma-
zonae, and gluten. The second class contains starch,
gum or mucilage, sugar, oil, and fat. The third con-
tains water, various earths, sea-salt, Sze. The three
principal elementary substances are—the saccharine,
the oleaginous, and albuminous, which are represented
by sugar, butter, and the white of eggs,
Fibrine is very nutritious; the great mass of the
solid matter of the muscles of animals is composed
of it.
Albumen is contained in the white of eggs, carti-
lage, oysters, mussels, &c. It is highly nutritious,
and easy of digestion.
Gelatine forms the principal ingredient of bones,
tendons, membranes, &c. It is also nutritious and
easy of digestion.
Osms,zome is found principally in fibrous organs.
The flesh of game and old animals contain a large
proportion.
Gluten exists in the vegetable kingdom, in all fari-
naceous seeds., wheat, flour, fruits, roots, leaves of
cabbages, &c.
Starch, which belongs to the second division, is
principally found in the vegetable kingdom, in fari-
naceous grains, rice, barley, and maize.
Gum is a vegetable product, furnished by many
trees, particularly the various species of mimosa; and
mucilage is derived from the esculent vegetables.
Sugar is extracted from the sugar-cane, maple-
tree, beet-root, &c., and is highly nutritious.
Salt, which belongs to the third division, is an in-
dispensable article of food ; and though earthy mat-
ter Corms no part of European c ating, there are some
uncivilized tribes with whom it forms a principal
article of diet.
The point is still much discussed, whether man is
naturally designed to live on animal or vegetable diet,
or on a mixture of both. There is a large, and we
believe an increasing portion of society, who have
altogether eschewed animal food, and confine them-
selves to vegetable products. There are certainly
numerous instances on record of persons who have
prolonged their lives by abstaining from:animal food;
of these we may name Colonel Thompson, the present
member for Bradford, who for some years past has
lived entirely on vegetables, greatly to the improve-
ment of his health, as he himself has assured us;
Mr. Brotherton, the Member fur Salford is also
a strict vegetarian. Still, it is possible that these
are only the exceptions to the general rule, and that
the principle deduced from the consideration of their
cases, may not be applicable to mankind generally.
Very much depends on the nature of the climate in
which a person lives, as well as on the kind and ex-
tent of his physical labour. In tropical climates, men
are led by their natural tastes to prefer a vegetable
diet ; in cold climates, again, they prefer animal food,
and they seem to require it. The nearer the Arctic
circles, the more animal food do men consume. This
seems to us an exceedingly wise provision of nature,
enabling man to inhabit all climates, and to adapt him-
self to the condition of all countries. The structure
of man's digestive organs also, we think, points out
very clearly that his nature is essentially omnivorous,
and that he has been created so as to be capable of
subsisting on aliment of every description.
Those who are compelled by their avocations to
work hard in the open air, and to take a large
amount of physical exercise, require a large amount
of animal food to sustain them. Those who spend
much time on horseback, generally eat largely. The
natives of the Pampas, who almost live upon the
saddle and ride great distances, are in the habit of
eating what is called jerked beef, which consists of
the muscular parts of cows or oxen, which, after
being cut into thin slips, are dried in the sun. This
is said to form a highly nutritious kind of diet. Sailors,
who are compelled to work hard and are often up all
night, require a large allowance of food. The less
sleep men take, the more food do they require.
11r. Mott gives the following as a fair estimate of
the proportion of food requisite to support human
life in a sound and healthy state :--Ist. For a person
of moderate health and constitution. but using little
exercise or exertion, the daily allowance of food
should be from 12 oz. to 18 oz., in nutritive matter
equal to a daily average of 10 oz. 2d. For persons
of good health, accustomed to moderate labour, as
sailors or soldiers on ordinary peace duty, or
agricultural labourers, or mechanics at their usual
work, the daily allowance should be from 18 oz. to
24 oz. ; in nutritive matter equal to a daily average of
16 oz. ad. For persons subject to hard labour, or
other violent exertion, in good bodily health, from
24 oz. to 30 oz. of food, equal to about 22 oz. of nutri-
tive matter.
Generally speaking, persons in comfortable circum-
stances in this country, eat too mach. The wealthy
classes cause themselves a large amount of pain and
disease by overfeeding. The perusal of a Lord
Mayor's bill of fare reminds one of gout and the
doctors. A celebrated physician, inquiring of a
person who was remarkable for the health which he
enjoyed at an advanced period of his life, what
regimen he followed, was answered, " I make but
one meal a day." " Keep your secret," said the
doctor ; "if you publish it to the world you will
utterly ruin the practice of medicine." It has been
facetiously observed by some one, that there exists an
alliance between the cooks and the physicians. Indeed,
another physician, when visiting his patients, rarely,
failed to pay his respects to the cooks. "My friends,'
he would say to them, "accept my best thanks for all
the kind services which you render to us physicians ;
were it not for you and your pleasing poisons, the
faculty would soon find themselves inhabitants of the
workhouse."

There is reason to believe that many of our best
dishes are overcooked, and thus rendered unwhole-
some. Believe us, reader, that cooking requires
sense and discretion like other operations. In poor
men's houses, for want of early training, there is also
a great deal of unnecessary waste. The preparation
of food, neatly, unwholesomely, and economically, is
really a matter of such importance in every household,
whether rich or poor, that it ought to form part of the
education of every young woman. The happiness
and health of a household are far more affected by
the way in which the mistress thereof dresses the
family dinner, than by the manner in which she
dresses herself; yet, most young woman are perfectly
competent to do the one, who, up to the day on
which they assume the management of a household
tbr themselves, have not given the slightest considera-
tion to the other. how many are the couples, whom
God has joined, but whom family dinners have put
asunder ! Let our female readers look to this!

Food, well and properly cooked, is half digested.
On the other hand, many severe cases of indigestion
have ensued from eating meat improperly prepared.
How much are our domestic comforts thus at the
mercy of those who preside at the kitchen fire. All
over-done meats are indigestible. Boiled meat is
easy of digestion, but not so nutritious as others. If
too long boiled, however, it becomes very indigestible.
Over-roasted beef or mutton is much less digestible
than when moderately or rather under done. Veal
and chicken are more wholesome and nutritious when
roasted; this may be said of all meats. With reference
to poultry, it may be observed that the flesh of chickens
or young fowls is more easy of digestion, but not so
nutritious as that of old.

Fish is easy of digestion, but not so nutritious as
the flesh of animals. Its nutritive property, and
digestibility, are in proportion to the oleaginous
matter it contains. Owing to the absence of all
stimulating properties in fish, it forms a good article
of diet for invalids and persons of weak stomach. The
least heating, and more nutritive of the fish species,
are turbot, cod, whiting, haddock, and sole. If, after
being cooked, the fish have an opaque and flaky
appearance, it may be pronounced to be good. Salmon
is the most nutritive of our fish, but it is heating and
oily, and does not agree with persons of weak
digestion.
We are surprised that fish, which forms so whole-
some, and might be so cheap, an article of diet, is so
little used. There is, we believe, a prejudice against
it among the people generally. The Irish will only
eat fish when they cannot get seaweed. Yet their
coasts are swarming with fish, which they will riot
take the trouble to catch. As the English railway

system has become developed, fish has become more
an article of diet in the inland towns, though the
working classes still decline to make uss of it to any
large extent, except in a salted state. The trade is,
however, rapidly increasing, and we trust before long
to see it as general an articla of food as bread or
butcher's meat.

Gentle exercise before meals is salutary, but too
much exercise will not only destroy all inclination
for food, but weaken the powers of digestion. Cheer-
fulness at meals should be encouraged. " Better is
a dinner of herb 3 where peace is, than a stalled ox
with contention." All depressing or engrossing
thoughts should be banished from the mind ; there is
so direct a nervous communication beta ern the
brain and the stomach, that if the former be effected
by any mental excitement, the latter is sure to suffer.

KEN TISI-1 TOWN LITERARY
INSTITUTION.
On "Wednesday evening we had the pleasure of
being present at the first concert of the Choral Class,
held in connexion with this institution, on v, hich
occasion Itaydn's famous oratorio, The Creation, was
performed by a band and chorus consisting of up-
wards of fifty individuals. The principal vocalists
were Mrs. Temple, who sang some of the solo parts
with admirable taste and feeling ; Mr. Wilkins, and
Mr. Harper; and the band was composed chiefly of
young men, most of whom were amateurs connected
with the institution. Mr. E. Noyce acted as
conductor of the orchestra, and evinced considerable
skill and judgment in its management. The whole
piece was gone through in a manner highly creditable
to a company of performers principally young ama-
teurs, and was listened to by a respectable and nume-
rous audience, members or friends of the institution,
or living in its vicinity. We avail ourselves of this
opportunity of noticing this promising institution,
which was established at the beginning of the present
year in a populous suburb of this metropolis, with the
laudable object of facilitating the intellectual and
moral improvement of the working community,
through the medium of classes, lectures, and a library
and reading-room. The lectures, embracing matters of
science, literature, and the fine arts, are delivered at
intervals. Already twenty-five have been given on
various interesting topics since the institution was
begun. These included, among others, an " En-
tertainment," by the celebrated actress, Miss Clara
Seyton ; one on " Germany and the Germans," by
Mr. B. Dawson ; four on "Heraldry," by Mr. Part.
ridge; one on " Electricity," by Mr. Sansome; two
on "Pneumatics," by Mr. Geary; one on "Fossil
Shells," by Mr. Sowerby ; one on the " Life of
John Howard and Prison Discipline," by Mr.
Elvyn ; one on " Greece, and its Influence on the
Civilization of the World," by the Rev. Mr. Red-
path ; one on the " Botany of the Bible," by the Rev.
James Hamilton, of the Scotch Church, Regent•
square ; and one by the Rev. Dr. Jenkyn, of Coward
College, on " Mind, and its Powers." There are six
evening classes in operation, namely, for writing (for
adults) ; discussion ; vocal music (elementary) ;
choral music (vocal and instrumental) ; French
(elementary and conversational, conducted by M.
Arokues) ; and drawing. A manuscript magazine,
composed of contributions from the members, and of
from fifty to eighty pages in length, is produced
monthly, and circulated among the supporters of
the institution. The number of members now amounts
to nearly 350; and the library, which is a circulating
one, contains nearly,9oolvolumes, amongst which are
several valuable standard works. The reading-room
is also supplied with the principal morning and even
ing newspapers, thus lending an additional attraction
to the institution. Books and discussions on contro-
versial points in religion and politics are expressly
prohibited by a rule of the society. The institution,
as we have said, was set on foot principally and
avowedly with the view of diffusing knowledge among
the working classes in the district, and affording them
the means and facilities of an innocent and rational
recreation. But we were sorry to learn that as yet
but a very small proportion of that class—not more
than half- a- dozen—are found availing themselves of the
privileges of the institution, though the cost of doing
so is so inconsiderable as to be within the means of
most of them. We fear that this is not owing so
much to any want of disposition or means towards
joining the society, as to a deficiency in that elemen-
tary instruction necessary to enable them to appreciate
and use its advantages. The society seems to have
anticipated that circumstance, for we observe they
have wisely established a class for adult instruction j
in writing and other elementary learning, which such
of the working men in the vicinity as feel themselves
deficient in these respects would at least do well to
join, though they might not in the first instance be
in a condition to avail themselves of the higher bene-
fits of the institution.

MR. DOVER'S PLAN FOR PRESERVING
THE THAMES FROM POLLUTION,
AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
BRITISH GUANO.

On Tuesday evening a meeting was held at the
Western Literary and Scientific Institution, in
Leicester-square, for the purpose of listening to n
lecture delivered by Mr. Richard Dover, of New-
street, Spring gardens, explanatory of his plan for
preserving the Thames from pollution, by intercepting
and deputrifying the sewage, and for converting the
residuum thus obtained from the sewage into British
guano. The chair was taken at eight o'clock by J.
Bamfylde Daniell, Esq., M.D., Fellow of the Royal
College of Physicians. Among the scientific gentle-
men present we observed, G. Wells, Esq., of the
Admiralty, S. Richards, Esq., M.D., A. C. Ross,
Esq., M.D., Edward Murphy, Esq., M.D., Thomas
Cahelle, Esq., M.D., G. Grindle, Esq., the celebrated
chemist, and Hopgood, Esq., of the City Commis-
sion of Sewers.

After a short address from the Chairman,

Mr. DOTER proceeded to deliver his lecture. In
his preliminary observations he called attention to the
fact that 120,000 persons died annually in this country
of consumption, and that, of the 125 who died daily
in London, only 9 died of old age. He was prepared
to prove that the great majority of lives were sacri-
ficed in consequence of the filthy and pestilential accu-
mulations which found their way to the Thames—
accumulations, be it remembered, which, according to
the plan he proposed, would be converted into guano
to fertilize the farms of the agriculturist, after the
water from which it had been taken was purified.
That process would not only be without expense, but
it would yield a revenue sufficient to keep up a system
of proper sewage in the metropolis, and afford its
inhabitants an abundant supply of water, without any
additional taxation whatever. Having glanced at the
statistics of cholera, Mr. Dover proceeded to
exhibit his experiments. He poured a quantity of sew-
age taken from the Northumberland-street sewer into
a receiver, into which he had previously poured a
small quantity of his disinfecting agent ; after a short
time a precipitate was thrown down, and the super-
natant fluid was allowed to flow off by a glass tube
communicating with the vessel, the discharge being
controlled by means of a cock ground into it. The
tube is bent into the form of the letter C, with square
corners, and terminates in a small filtering apparatus,
containing animal charcoal, closed at the bottom,
where the tube is connected with it, and open at the
top, over which a pieces of canvass is firmly stretched.
The fluid descending from the receiver above perco-
lates through the canvas, and filtration takes place by
ascent. The matter precipitated in the receiver by
the action of the disinfecting agent, is collected
upon a cloth, and after undergoing a process of ex-
siccation, or drying, yields a dark-coloured
granulated substance, to which the name of
" British guano" has very properly been given.
The above experiment, which was satisfactory in the
extreme in producing the results above mentioned,
exhibits on a small scale the operations of actual prac-
tice, which is this :—The contents of a sewer, at any
convenient point, are diverted by a dam, revolving
bulk-head, or partition, capable of falling down when
a greater hydrostatic pressure is exerted against it
than that which would be produced by a high tide, so
that there can be no danger of an overflow. They
then fall into a well or cistern, whence they are
pumped into a series of tanks by means of a steam-
engine, the fluid filling them successively. Here
the disinfecting agent does its work, the residuum is
collected at the works, and the floating fluid escapes
into the river, deprived of all those impurities which
at present render it a source of disease. If the
sewer be a large one, several of these works may
be so constructed as to carry off from the
first works the fluid which it cannot act upon, and
send it to the second. From the second the excess
would flow to the third, and so on, until it would
finally enter the river. The works required to take
up and disinfect this sewage were neither complex
or large, and could be established at the exit of each
sewer into the Thames ; or in any other part of
London or its environs more convenient. The sewage
should be pumped up by steam power into tanks, or
vats, of from one to three thousand gallons each, and
disinfected progressively while filling; so that by the
time the tank was full its contents would be ready for
filtering ci l'Egyptien. The residuum should then be
removed from the premises for conversion into an
inodorous guano. Thus all the offensive and putrid,
or putrifying matter, now running into and polluting
the Thames with so many fearful and fatal results,
could be made available for agricultural purposes,
with vast sanitary benefit and national profit.
With regard to the best method of carrying out
the plan, Mr. Dover observed, that model works
(belonging to the Government of course) at the exit
of a sewer, on a small manufacturing scale, would be
the most satisfactory, because they would demonstrate
not only the pecuniary profits this system of working
the sewers could produce to Government and the
country, but afford instruction also to all patties
making tenders for them. Such " model works,"
judiciously constructed, might require the advance of
one, but could not need two thotp.and pounds, which
they would more than repay in a very few months,

with all incidental expenses. By the Sanitary and
Sewers Commissioners placing before the public a
proper system or prospectus for the manufacture of
guano from the 15,000 tons of sewage daily discharged
into the Thames, " they could restore its natural
salubrity of character." Within three mouths
" model works" could be put in advantageous de-
monstrative operation ; and this system of treat-
ing the " sewage of London" will produce the
greatest and most valuable benefits, at the smallest
cost, and without charge to Government, or tax, rat-,
or assessment to the public ! It will also be found
the most expeditiously efficacious system for annihi-
lating the cholera yet published. The chemical agent
to deputrify could belong to the Government and the
Sanitary and Sewer Commissioners had thereby the
power of. requiring every sewer in these kingdoms to
be cleansed for national, sanitary, as well as local
pecuniary benefit. And from this several gains would
result, as he would show by tables, with which he
intended to trouble the meeting. Mr. Dover then
proceeded to read a number of tables, showing that
within the range of the late Westminster Sewers
Commission alone the revenue and income-tax to the
Government would be at once upwards of 50,0001. a
year. The tables proved also, he said, that there would
be a net profit of 200,0001. a year to the parties or
companies working these twelve sewers, besides
the additional revenue and profit from sales
of disinfected water ; all of which advantages
were now wasted with such fatal consequences.
Mr. Dover exhibited several specimens of British
guano, manufactured according to his plan, and read
letters from several eminent agriculturists and horti-
culturists who had tried his British guano, and spoke
in the highest possible terms of its fertilizing proper-
ties. But it is not the guano alone which is a source
of profit, the " super-natant water" of the disinfected
sewage is available and of value for sundry purposes,
viz., bleaching, washing, and purifying floors and
rooms in houses or hospitals; also linen and clothes
used in cases of typhus and other fevers, or where
cholera is or may have been raging, as well as for
washing slaughter-houses and injecting daily into
every drain, in every house, street, city, or populous
place, having sewerage, in Great Britain and Ireland,
where the cholera is, as many hundreds of gallons of
this disinfected super. natant water as would fix awl
precipitate every noxious gas now escaping therefrom
so offensively, and too often fatally. And if sold for
one shilling only per ton, it would yield many addi-
tional thousands of pounds sterling per annum profit
to the companies, as well as income-tax to the Govern-
ment.

The experiment was most successful, the guano
was deposited, and the supernatant fluid filtered in a
very short space, and the water hus filtered off was to
all appearance perfectly pure—it was as clear as the
purest spring water, was perfectly inodorous, and
perfectly tasteless, and bore a greater resemblance to
distilled water than to any other fluid, and we under
stand that, like distilled water, it will keep for any
length of time without undergoing decomposition or
becoming offensive. This plan of Mr. Dover's ap-
pears to us the most feasible that has yet been pro-
posed for preserving the Thames from pollution, as
while it retains the use of the present sewers, it does
not require any very great outlay to bring it at once
into practice.
At the conclusion of the lecture, Mr. Hop-
, good, of the City Commission of Sewers, put
several questions to Mr. Dover, the whole of which
were answered satisfactorily, and pledged himself to
do his utmost for procuring from the City Commis •
sioners of Sewers an opportunity for Mr. Dover to
carry out his plan.
A vote of thanks was then proposed to Mr. Dover
for his interesting lecture, and another to tho Chair-
man for his conduct in the chair, after which the
meeting separated.

THE WELSH CHURCH.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUS.
LETTER 111.

SlR,—The following facts may tend to illustrate
the pernicious system of ecclesiastical government
which has for many generations been practised by the
successive English bishops of our four Welsh sees :
In the diocese of St. David's there are 419 bene-
fices, and 297 of them without habitable glebe-houses.
In the diocese of Llandaff there are 247 benefices,
and 126 of them without habitable glebe-houses.
In the diocese of St. Asaph there are 149 benefices,
and 42 of them without habitable glebe-houses.
In the diocese of Bangor there are 128 benefices,
and G 2 of them without habitable glebe-houses.
Mr. Lingen, one of the Commissioners of Welsh
Education, in the Appendix to Part 1., pp. 40G-7,
states of the county of Pembroke and hundred of
Themess—" In the whole of the country between
Fishguard, on the north, and the Preielly mountain,
on the south, . . . the state of the churches
exlmplifies the neglect in which the population of
these parishes is left. Churchwardens are never
appointed. The churches of Llandulo and Maen-
chlochog are in ruins," &c.
Of Llanychlwydog he says, at p. 407—" There
were no Church people in the parish."
Of Ilasguard he adds, at p. 444—" There had been
no churchwardens in the parish for the last ten years,
nor, it was believed, for a much longer period."
To the Second Report Mr. Symonds appends the
following particulars, ascertained by his assistants,
concerning certain Brecknockshire parishes. Of
Llanafan-fechan it is said, at p. 131—" Divine ser-
vice is very seldom performed here, unless there are
banns to publish, or a wedding or a funeral to take
place."

Of Llanfihangel Abergweissin it records, at p. 135
—" There is no service performed in the church
during five out of six Sundays, for want of a con
gregation."

- Uf Llanfihangel Bryn Pabuan, also at p. 135
" Divine service is not often performed here, ex-
cept a wedding or a funeral takes place. The vicar
rides by on the Sunday afternoon, but seldom has
occasion to alight and do duty, from the paucity of
the congregation."
The same Commissioner's notes on Candiganshiro
testify, at p. 163, concerning Llanfair-tref-llelygen,
that—" The parish church was in ruins many y ears
ago. The oldest inhabitants in the neighbcurhocd did
not remember it standing."
An additional circumstance, which I am about to
mention, rests upon excellent, although private au-
thority. Not long ago, the incumbent of one of
these desolate parishes having requested a clerical
friend to publish banns for hint in the church, that
friend, a pious and active Welsh parson, drove to the
place in a gig, accompanied by his wife, on the Sunday
specified. Finding the churchyard gate fastened up,
and no person being within call, the clergy man
secured his horse to a railing and walked to a neigh-
bouring cottage. A woman, whom he met with,
looking earnestly at the strangers, instantly inquired
in IVelsh, whether they wanted to be married ; and
after the clergyman had explained matters, and waited
for the breaking up of a Dissenting congregation, a
few of them kindly consented to accompany him to
the church, for the purpose of legalizing by their
presence his announcement of the banns !

The gross neglect of parochial ministers, of rural
titans, and of other officials is manifested in there
things. It is likwise notorious that the four arch-
deacon! ies of the diocese of St. David's have long
been held as sinecures, and still continue virtually
such, in spite of legislative enactments to the con-
trary.

Thus is the 'Welsh Church neglected, misgoverned,
and corrupted by her English prelates !
A remarkable case, in which the lapse of the whole
population of a large parish into schism can be
directly traced to a single act of episcopal power,
shall be noticed in my next letter.
I am Sir, &c.,
GORBONIAN.

NATIONAL BENEVOLENT SOClETY.—Yesterday the
annual general meeting of the members of this institution
was held at Freemasons' Hall, Sir James Duke, Bart.,
M.P., in the chair. After some prefatory remarks from
the chairman, the report was read by Mr. Lateille, the
secretary. It stated that the institution was founded in
1812 by the late Peter nerve, Esq., for granting pen-
sions to aged tutors, governesses, artists, and other
worthy but distressed members of the middle classes of
society, of whatever country or persuasion. At Christ-
mas, 1848, the number of persons receiving peusions of
201. or 30/. a year was 232, of whom 14 were males
and 218 leznales, their average age being upwards of 72
years. The total sum disbursed in pensions since the
formation of the society was 119,685/. 11s. 7d. The
entire receipts trim September 30, 1848, to September
30, 1849, it cludit.g a balance from the previous year,
were 8,775/. II s., and the total disbursements 7 535/.
4s. Id., namely, pensions, 5,021/. 55.; investments,
1,6861. 18s. 9d.; and expenses, 827/. Os. 4d. The report
was adopted, and 21 aged persons were elected pen-
sioners. A vote of thanks to Sir James Duke for his
couitcsy in presiding, and the officers of the society,
closed the proceedings.
TILE FIRE AND Loss OF LIFE IN WILD-STREET.

.
—Yesterday an inquiry was made by the brigade autho-
rities with a view of ascertaining how the calamitous
fire occurred which destroyed the greater porti.,.n of
Mr. Sullivan's premises in Great Wild-street, Lincoln's
Inn-fields, and which was attended with fatal conse-
quences to one of the inmates. The result of the in-
vestigation went to show that the disaster originated in
one ut the rooms on the first floor, but not in that occu-
pied by the pour awn who unfortunately peri.ihed in the
flames.

AFFRAY WITH POACIIERS.—On Tuesday a con-
filet tuoli place between three gamekeepers in the service
of Mr. Leche, of Carden-pack, and Mr. Aldersey, of
Aldersey hall and a band of poachers, supposed to
be six iu number, in the course of which one of the
latter lost his life. An inquest has been summoned to
sit on the body, end the inquiry is adjourned.