The Sun.
London, England, 1847-08-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1847.

Efforts have been commenced among the bene-
volent and enterprising inhabitants of the metropolis
to afford some testimony of the estimation in which
the character of the late JORDAN ROCHE LYNCH.
M.D., was held among his fellow citizens. It is well
that a mark of gratitude should be spontaneously af-
forded to the survivors of a man so exemplary in his
private relations and so eminently deserving in his
public activity. It is well, inasmuch as it evinces a
capacity on the part of the general community to ap-
preciate its true benefactors; and it is especially well,
as it forms a species of encouragement to those who
disregard their own individual advantages in the
ardour with which they strive to benefit the entire
population. Not that we would, by any means,
imply the possibility of such movements a.
this in behalf of the widow and children
of Dr. LYNCH, infusing any sordid and self-
interested motives into the hearts of unaffected
philanthropists. That their own disposition would
render impracticable. But the origination of such
subscriptions as this, in behalf of the relict of a mat,
who was beginning to distinguish himself among the
most prominent of the agitators in favour of sanitary
improvement, will necessarily be an encouragement
to those who might otherwise be deterred from
devoting themselves to the public service, from a fear
of some disastrous consequences ensuing therefrom
to their nearest and dearest.

At the interesting meeting, which was convened
judiciously ed
yesterday in the London Coffee-house, g
the first resolution was veryte hill,
the and
appropriately confided to the eloquence of the
most eminent authority and advocate of the
establishment of a sanitary code. Without
disparaging the labours or the enthusiasm of his
colleagues in the cause of this important reform, we
conceive ourselves to be fully justified in giving
priority to the name of SorTnwooo SatlTli, M.D.
He has assumed, indeed, a position so distinguished
among the various advocates of a sanitary system,
that he might be particularised by a title indicative
of his prominence : as RICHARD COBDEN is called
the Apostle of Free Trade, and as TnnonanD MA-
THEW is termed the Apostle of Temperance, SOUTH-
WOOD SMITH might, with equal justice, be designated
the Apostle of Sanitary Improvement. To the
Apostle of Sanitary:lmprovement, therefore, to Dr.
SOUTH WOOD SMITH was confided the first resolution
at the meeting assembled in aid of the bereaved
widow of the late Dr. J. R. LYNCH. And
the purport of that resolution was that
the deceased physician, having devoted himself for
a considerable period with an extraordinary, degree of
ardour and perseverance to , the development of
means for the prevention
of disease, and to the im-
provement of the condition of the labouring popula-
tion," and having, in the course of these gratuitous
exertions for the amelioration of the miseries and
maladies of his fellow-creatures contracted a disease
which terminated in his own untimely dissolution, it
is considered advisable that a public subscription
should be raised for a widow and children totally un-
provided for, as an acknowledgment of his " extra-
professional, extraordinary, and important public
services." Of itself this would be a sufficient
and impressive appeal to tile impulses of the comm more generous
unity ; but coupled with
the touching descriptions and illustrations of Dr.
SOUTHWOOD SMITH it is altogether irresistible.
It was a mournful and moving truth which
was uttered by this eminent physiologist, when he I
observed that " of all the professions, the members of