The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENJ.NG, SEPTEMBER 5,

THE CHOLERA.
RETURN OF CASES. SEPT. 4.
THE METROPOLIS.
SUPERINTENDING REGISTRAR'S DISTRICT.
Deaths.
Attacks. Cholera. Diarrh.
fiolly,rn Union ... ... - 0 1
St. Giles and St. George ... 8 0
West London ••• ... 13 2
St. George, Southwark ... 15 0
Greenwich ... ... ... 5 2
Bethnal-green ... ... 8 0
St. Olave ... ... ... 3 0
Lambeth ... • • ... 40 2
Whitechapel ... ... ... 3 2
Stepney ••• ... ... 10 1
St. George-in•the-East ... 4 1
Newington ... ... ... 6 2
Marylebone ... ... ... 7 1
St. Pancras ... ... ... 4 2
Poplar ... ... ... ... 5 0
Strand ... ... ... ... 2 0

St. George, Hanover-square ... 2 0
St. James, Westminster ... 4 0
St. Luke 6 0
Camberwell ... ... ... 22 1

St. Saviour, Southwark ... 20 0

Hackney ... ... ... 3 2
Islington ... ... 5 1
Kensington ... ... ... 1 0
Wandsworth ... ... ... 3 0
Lewisham ... ... ... ---- 3 0
East London ... ... ... 2 1
Shoreditch ... ... ... 21 1

Rotherhithe ... ... ... --- 12 1
Chelsea... ... ... ... 0 1
City of London ... ..• 1 0
Westminster ... ... ---- 13 1
Bermondsey ... ••• ... 10 1
St. Martin-in-the-Fields ... 1 0
Clerkenwell ... ••• •... No return.
Hampstead ... ... ...

Total ...

262 26

very filthy, the roams small and over-p?opled, and the
walls and floors saturated with dirt und nastiness.'

" SOMERS TOWN.

"F. 58, widow of pawnbroker, cnolera, 7 days, August
21, Johnson-street.—Drainage, &c., good; at the back
part of Johnson-street there is a street called ‘Verring•
ton-street, where there are several vaults, which are
very injurious to health, as all manner of filth is con •
stantly thrown in them, 5,1A1 putrid fish, &c. ; the ground
on which the vaults stand is to let for building, and per-
sons of loose and oisorderly habits congregate therein
night and day.
F. 64, wife of market gardener, cholera, 7 days,
August 30, 23, Melton-street.—Drainage, &c., good; de-
cased, who was from the country, came up to attend a
sister at the same house, who died of the same disease,
after 3 days' illness, on the 20th of August, and kissed
her sister just before the funeral. She was in perfect
health when she came to London.

" ISLINGTON (East).
"F. 28, wife of labourer, cholera, 24 hours, Aug. 27,
45, Windsor-street.—Along the back of this street runs
a ditch or drain partially filled up; the privies of some of
the houses are warm from the coppers in the wsshhouses
being set next to them; this draws in the smell, which
is very offensive at times.
" ST. GILES (North).
" Mr. Simpson, the registrar of North St. Giles, reports
upon his district in the following terms:—` The deaths
in his district have increased from 9 last week to 17 this,
ending Saturday, Sept. 1, of which 11 were from cholera
and diarrbseA. Although the number of dt'aths from ell
causes is more than three times the number in the cor-
responding week of last year, yet the epidemic in
Church-lane, St. Giles's, is on the decline, and it is quite
certain that it arises from the sanitary efforts which have
been employed in cleansing and whitewashing, and the
feeding of the poor Irish families who inhabit these poor

lodging-houses. In Tower street several fatal cases
of cholera have occurred. The houses are densely
populated and badly ventilated, and the inhabitants
complain bitterly of a sewer, which receives the blood
and offal from a butcher's shop in the street, as also the
refuse from a tripe shop at the corner of Lumber-
court. It is constantly emitting the most poisonous ex-
halations to the whole neighbourhood. At 35, Great
St. Andrew-street, the wife of a fishmonger's porter died
from cholera ; the following day a child two years old
expired, and the nurse who attended on the wife is since
dead. The husband was also attacked with cholera,
and has been removed to the workhouse. The room the
family occupied was always close, with a strong effluvia
of stale fish, arising, no doubt, from the drying of soles
skin. The houses are densely populated, and the lo-
cality is not one of the most healthy, as it adjoins Dud-
ley•street and Seven Dials.'
" CLERKENWELL Goswell-street.
_ .

"F. 70, widow of a geneial dealer, cholera 30 hours,
28th of August, 6, Spencer-place.—Her general habits
were cleanly ; but she was lying on a bed the head of
which was against a wall saturated with moisture from
an adjoining privy or water-closet. I was informed that
this had been the case for a long time, and although com-
plaints had been made to the landlord nothing had been
done to remedy the nuisance, the stench from which was
at times intolerable.

" EAST LONDON; St. Botolph's.
" M. 6. son of a charwoman, diarrhea, cholera 17
hours, August 29, 16, Seven-step-alley, Gravel-lane,
Aldg ate.—Close, ill cleansed, and unfavourable to health;
a locality in which there have been so many deaths from
cholera within the last month that nothing but a re-
modelling or rebuilding of the houses on this spot can
possibly remove the baneful effects of disease, to which
the crowded and dirty habits of its inhabitants render
them a prey.
" SHonEnncE; Hackney-road.
" M. 58, hawker, cholera 24 hours, not certified, 14th
of August, 2, Charlotte-court.—A very close, crowded,
and ill-drained court. [A parish case, buried without
being registered. The name and the street being fur-
nished, I, with some difficulty, found the person attend-
ing the deceased, who informed me of the particulars
registered.]
" ST. OLATE's; St. Olave and St. Thomas.

" F. 38, wile of a hatter, premonitory diarrheas, 3
days, cholera one day, August 23, 9, Webb. street.—
The medical attendant, Mr. Challice, of 4, Alscot-place,
adds on the certificate—' The state of the drainage in
this house is pestilential, and the water is in the same
state.'

The disorder has exhibited some indiCations of a de-
cline at Devonport. The deaths for the weeks n(ling on
the 30th of August were 65. against 109 on the 24th, and
154 on the 17th. The deaths, daily, tor the last week
are, 25th, 10; 26th, 11; 27th, 8; 28th, 15; 29th, 8;
30th, 6; 31st, 7. Several uninfected families have been
placed on board the Leda hulk off Mutton Cuve. Thsir
ingress to, and egress from the ship, is very properly
placed under regulation.
At Stonehouse the deaths for the week ending on the
Ist of September are 4, against 13 for the week ending
on the 25th and 16 for the week ending on the 18th of
August. The cholera hospital has not been used. From
the commencement of the disorder, on the 2d of July,
to the Ist of September, the total deaths have been
121,, of whom 23 belonged to the Plymouth division of
Royal Marines.
The navy, during the week, bas been unaffected.
There are no patients in the cholera hospital in the
dockyard, but nearly 200 artisans are out on the sick
list for diarrhee3, giddiness in the head, and sick sto-

The Royal Marines are perfectly healthy, the average
number only of casual sick being in the Royal Naval
Hospital.
Royal Artillery.— One death during the week. Bom-
bardier Johnson, a respectable man, was removed from
the Plymouth citadel, on Tuesday, the 28th, and died
at the Royal Military Hospital, Stoke, on Wednesday,
August 29.
The 28th Regiment in the Citadel, and the 82d at
Mount Wise, are all well.
The cholera visits with extraordinary severity the
smaller towns and villages which are attacked. Caw-
sand and King.and, adjoining fishing towns, to the
south of Mount Edgecombe, containing together about
700 inhabitants, have lost 61 during the last 10 days.
At Beeralston the disorder has been even more fearful,
and the miners who work in that vicinity have, through
fear, fled the place.

BRISTOL, SEPT. 4.
Notwithstanding all the precautionary measures
adopted, and the very zealous efforts of the medical offi-
cers employed by the corporation of the poor the cholera
is decidedly on the increase. The following is the re-
turn this day from the cholera hospital provided:—
" St. Peter's Hospital, September 4.—Diarrheez, 96 ;
approaching cholera, 5; cholera, 24; deaths, 10." Thedisease is spreading in Lewins Meade, a populous place,
principally inhabited by Irishmen and the lower orders.
It has likewise made its appearance at the Hotwells,
there having been 2 cases at Avon-crescent, and 1 at Ca-
roline place.
From the district of Bedminster our accounts are also
unfavourable, as will be seen by the subjoined report
from the cholera hospital for the last two days:—Bed-
minster, Sept. 3—diarrhoea, 10; cramp, 4, cholera, 5;
death, 1. Sept. 4—diarrhm.s, 12; cramp, 2; cholera, 3;
deaths, 3.
In t. Philip and Jacob it is still prevalent, and three
deaths are reported to-day, one of which took place in
Marsh-street and one in Gloucester-lane.

In Stapleton workhouse there have been 27 new cases
of diarrhea, 3 approaching cholera, 6 cholera, and 6
deaths. _

The weather continues very unfavourable.

MERTHYR AND NEIGHBOURHOOD.

Our accounts from this district are not quite so fa-
vourable as they have been. At Merthyr the disease
has increased, and likewise at Dowlais. The following
is the official return for Monday, Sept. 3—Merthyr, at-
tacked 10, dead 7; Dowlais, attacked 4, dead 2; Aber-
dare, attacked 4, dead 2. Total number of cases from
the commencement—attacked, 3,381; dead, 1,412.

THE HEALTH OF LONDON DURING
THE WEEK.
(From the Registrar-General's Return.)
The deaths registered in London in the week end-
ing Sept. 1 were 2,796, of which 1,663 were by
cholera, 234 by diarrhoea. The mortality exceeds
that of any previous week. The greatest number
ever registered before in any week since 1840 was
2,454 deaths, in the week ending Dec. 4, 1847, when
the last epidemic of influenza prevailed. In the
cholera epidemic of 1832, parish clerks, in the old
bills of mortality, returned 1,021 burials for the week
ending Aug. 28 ; which, allowing for the defects in
their returns, and for increase of population, are
equivalent to 2,450 deaths at the present time. The
burials after that week in 1832 declined.
The mortality is nearly three times the average of
the season, and is sensibly felt all over the metropolis;
but the inhabitants of the north and west districts,
and people in the distance, can yet scarcely form a
notion of the suffering on the south side the Thames,
and since the middle of August, in the east districts,
" the 12th, 13th, and 14th of August," says one of
the registrars of Bethnal-green, "will long be remem-
bered in this neighbourhood, the outbreak of this
fatal disease being without any adequate preparation ;
surgeons were wanted in many places at once; the
hurried passing. and repassing of messengers, and the
wailing of relatives, filled the streets with confusion
and wo, and impressed on all a deep sense of an
awful calamity."
Cholera has already destroyed, in this epidemic,
9,129 lives in London.
As it is one of the purposes of the Registration
Act to ascertain the "causes of death," and of the
weekly tables not to gratify idle curiosity, but to
point these out to the public, the registrars have been
n quested to give all the information they can re-
specting the state of every part of their districts.
This many of them have taken considerable pains to
do, and their notes will, it is hoped, be found service-
able to the guardians and medical inspectors, now and
at future times. For it is important to bear in mind
that cholera only brings into a strong light the
localities which elaborate calculations in the annual
reports prove are at all times fatal to the health and
life of the inhabitants.
After the perils of this terrible week we seem to
see land ; but as many thousands of lives may be
lost in an epidemic by negligence, so many thousands
may be saved by skill, vigilance, and energy—by
more ample supplies of water—by the rapid removal
of nuisances from the houses and streets—by the
prompt administration of medical appliances and other
comforts, by the active cooperation of the medical
profession, of the boards of guardians, of employers,
of every householder, of every individual, with the
Board of Health, and health officers.
Of the 9,129 deaths from cholera, 4,731 occurred
on the south side of the Thames.

RETURN OF DEATHS FROM CHOLERA IN THE WEEK
ENDING SEPTEMBER 1.
London (population 1,948,369 t), 1,663.
WEST DlSTRlCTS.—Kensington (74,898), 34; Chelsea
(40,243), 29; St. George, Hanover-square (66,657), 10;
Westminster (56,802), 75;
_St. Martin-in-the-Fields
(25,132), 10; St. James, Westminster (37,457), 11.
Total, 10.
NORTH DlSTRlCTS.—Marylebons (138,383), 41; Pan-
cras and Hampstead (140,078), 56; Islington (55,779),
15; Hackney (42,328), 11. Total, 123.
CENTRAL DISTRICTS.—St. Giles (54,378), 30; Strand
(43,667), 15 ; Holborn (44,532), 9 ; Clerkenwell
(56,799), 18; St. Luke (49,908). 22; East London
(39,718). 22; West London (29,188), 45; London, City
(56,009), 33. Total, 194.
EAST DlSTRlCTS.—Shoreditch (83,564), 139 ; Beth-
nal-green (74,206), 128; Whitechapel (71,879), 74; St.
George in the East (41,416), 15; Stepney (90,831), 64;
Poplar (31,171), 27. Total, 447.
SOUTH DISTRICTS.—St. Saviour (33,027), 65 ; St.
Olave (19,869), 41; Bermondsey (35,002), 70; St.
George, Southwark (46,718), 77; Newington (54,693),
93; Lambeth (116,072), 181; Camberwell (39,931), 56;
Rotherhithe (13,940), 20; Greenwich (81,125), 89;
Wandsworth (39,i18), 31; Lewisham (23,051), 8.
Total, 730.
The following remarks on the weather during the
month of August, 1849, are by Mr. Glaisher:—Till the
12th the air was in very little motion, from the 12th to
the 16th it moved rather quickly, and from the 17th it
was frequently in a calm state. At the beginning of the
month the sky was frequently cloudy, but at times it
was free from clouds; during the latter part of the
month, it was nearly always overcast, accompanied with
a very hazy atmosphere; at times the haze and mist
were so dense as to cause a great gloom. Within the
last seven or eight days of the month London was not
visible from Greenwick Park, it was hidden by a dense
fog-like mist which hung over the city. After the first
few days of the month the temperature ranged high, and
towards the end the air was close and oppressive;
scarcely any rain fell, the atmosphere was dry; the
reading of the barometer, at the height of 159 feet,
ranged from 29'46 in. on the 13th, to 30•22 in., on the
22d; the temperature of the air varied from 42.4 to
82•5, thus exhibiting a difference of reading within the
month of 40.1; on some days at the beginning of the
month the difference of temperature on the same day ex-
ceeded 30 deg., the average difference of day and night
from the 22d was 17 deg.
From the tables prepared, it appears that the reading
of the barometer exceeded the average by 0.066 in., and
that the water mixed with the air counterbalanced a
column of mercury of less than its average height by
o'o3o in., and therefore the pressure of dry air exceeds
its average value by the sum of these two quantities, viz..
by 0•093 in., the temperature of the air exceeded the
average by 2 deg. 1 min. The
in which
average valuethe afvreorma
g7eos
years is 60 deg. 8 min., the years
For August have been as high as in this year, are 1778,
1800, 1802, 1807, 1818. 1819, 1826, and 1846. Notwith-
standing this high temperature of the air those of evapo-
ration and dew points were below their average value,
and consequently there has been less than the average
weight of water mixed with the air; the additional weight
of water required to saturate a cubic foot of air was 1•8
grains; the average quantity is 1 grain; this implies
great dryness; the degree of humidity in the air was
0 727 only, its average value being 0.110 more. No
August in this series of years has been so dry; the sky
has been :more clouded than usual; rain has fallen
on
three days only, and the amount collected is less than
an inch; so small a quantity of rain has not fallen in
August since the year 1819. The number of days on
which rain fell in August, 1848, was 29, and the amount
collected was 4+ inches. The amount of electricity iu
the atmosphere was small throughout the month.

PRESERVATION OF LEECHES.—Many of the readers
of your journal may be unaware of an extremely simple
method of preserving leeches clean and healthy, which I
have found to answer exceedingly well. It is as fol-
lows:—At the bottom of the jar containing the leeches
place a layer, about half an inch thick, of common sand
(such as is used for domestic purposes), after washing
it in several waters to remove any soluble or extraneous
matter.—Cvnispoudot of Pharnumulical Journal.

MORTALITY in the METROPOLIS.
NUMBER OF DEATHS FROU.ALL CAUSES REGISTERED IN
THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, SEPT. 1, ,1849.
Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious Diseases —4'2069
Diseases of Uncertain Seat ;-52
Tubercular Diseases ... ... 165
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves, and Senses... ... 135
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 33
Diseases of the Lungs, and other Organs of
Respiration ...
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs
of Digestion... ... 72
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c.
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, & 9
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and Muscles
Diseases of the Skin, &c. 1
Malformations...
... 2
Premature Birth ...
••• ••• 25
Atrophy ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ... 32
Old Age
Sudden ... ••• ... 15
Violence, Privation, Cold, or Intemperance ••• 27
Causes not specified ... 2

2,796

Average weekly Deaths
Deaths, 1644-8 in the
Five Summers. Week.
. 147 ... 353
, 191 ... 309
, 183 ... 386
227 ... 712
260 ... 1,036

... 1,008

... 2,796
... 1,321
... 1,475

1849.

AGAZINES, &c.—(CONTINUED.)
COLBURN'S NEW MONTWLE
The opening paper of the present number will be
read with a melancholy interest by all admirers of
genius ; it is entitled "Posthumous Memoirs of Mysel r,
by Horace Smith, Esq." It is introduced by the fol-
lov%ing note from the editor:—
" Accidental circumstances prevented the appearance
of this tale during the lifetime of its gifted and lamented
author, but the proofs were corrected by him. Taken
in connexion with the melancholy event which so
speedily and unexpectedly followed its composition, the
article presents a singular coincidence of title, and be-
comes invested with deep and peculiar interest."
We find in another portion of the magazine a bio-
graphical account of the two celebrated brothers
James_and_ Horace Smith, the authors of the "Re-
jected Addresses." The following will, perhaps, be
tiew to many of our readers :
" Shelley and Horace Smith were intimate friends. He
always spoke with high regard both of that lofty poet
and his writings. Ile did not, however, applaud the
mistaken theories of that enthusiastic genius in his
youth ; theories which Shelley himself subsequently
modified. Though Shelley is my particular friend,'
said Smith, I regret the imprudence of his publications
on more points than one; but as I know him to possess
the most exalted virtues, and find in others, who also
promulgate the most startling theories, the most amiable
traits, I learn to be tolerant towards abstract specula-
tions, which, not exercising any baneful influence on
their authors' lives, are still less likely to corrupt
others. Truth is great, and will prevail; that is my
motto; and I would therefore leave everything un-
shackled, for what is true stands, and what is false ought
to fall, whatever the consequences.'"
Mr. Skene continues his valuable series on the
" Spirit of Change in Southern Europe," and in hislpre-
sent contribution furnishes us with much valuable
information on the state of public opinion in Greece,
and in the lonian Islands ; and we have also an ela-
borate review of Lamartine's recently published "His-
tory of the Provisional Government." Mr. Robert
Harris gives us an interesting account of " A Day
passed at Syracuse in September, 1847 ;" and Mr.
Blundell continues his admirable description of the
"Eastern Settled Districts in Australia." Soapey
Sponge continues his sporting tour with spirit, but
he must certainly yield the palm to M. Casimir
Blondeau, the Frenchman, whose " Account of the
Sights of London " is the most amusing compound
of vanity arid shrewdness, sense and absurdity, wit
and philosophy, that has of late years been presented
to the public.