The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-03 00:00:00

/12

EVENING SUN•

richness of her soil, and the still greater richnoss of the
intellectual powers of her people, will render her What
nature has destined her to be, one of the most powerful
pat is of one of the most powerful empires that have yet -
existed on the face of the earth. _

After his Lordship had concluded his reply, Sir Wil-
liam Parke intimated that it was the ardent wish of the
people of Sligo to entertain his Lordship at a public
dinner, as a slight mark of the respect and esteem in
which they held his Lordship's political and private cha-
racter, as a statesman and a landlord. his Lordship ex-
pressed his deep regret that important business required
his almost immediate attendance in London, as.otherwLe
he would feel the greatest pleasure in accepting the kind
invitation of the people of Sligo ; he assured the depu-
tation that nothing would give him more satisfaction than
to comply with their wishes if it were possible.—Sligo
Champion.

TOWER OF LONDON.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
The interior of the Armoury is still burning, and three
engines are kept constantly playing on the mass of
burning a
Consisting as it does of such com-
bustible matters—gunstocks, molten barrels, lead,
clothing, and burning rafters, amongst which is an im-
mense quantity of old Ordnance records—there is no
doubt it will be many days before the fire is completely
ex ting,nished.
It is understood an inquiry of the most searching cha-
racter will be entered into by the Board of Ordnance,
and a preliminary meeting has been held to-day at
Tower. It is also rumoured that a Police Magistrate
will assist in the inquiry. The conduct of some part of
the military at the commencement of the fire on Satur-
day night demands the most rigid inquiry. Many of
them, under pretence of assisting the residents in the
Tower broke their furniture in the most wanton manner,
and actually forced open the desks both in Mr. Forman's
office and extracted a 51. note, as also Mr. Ferrier's dealt
at the Map Office, from which they took nine sovereigns.
They also stove in a cask of rum belonging to Mr. Allen,
after which their conduct for a short time was more
like men at the sack of a town than that of a force to
which the civil residents had to look for assistance and
succour, under the awful circumstances in which they
were placed. In justice we must say, that when celled
to their senses by their officers, and under discipline, their
exertions were most strenuous, and every thing was dons!
by them to prevent the conflagration, estendingio the
Terrace and Chapel, which, had the flames reolled, thees.,
can be no doubt but that the whole of the tower woUVI
have been burnt to the ground, and a number of lives
sacrificed.
The Morning Chronicle states, that Captain Davis, of
the Scots Fusiliers, saved the Duke of York's sword arid
sash, from the Grand Armoury. The fact is, that Mr.
Thomas Spinks, son of life. Spinks, of. the Surve4r-
General's office, rushed into the Armoury, and being 11II•
able to carry the glass ease which contained the sword,
&c., broke the glass, took out the sword and sash, awl,
wishing to remain to render any further assistance in
his power, gave it up to Captain Davis's servant, with
directions to take it immediately to a place of safety, and
he gave it to Captain Davis, who, with Adjutant Waller
rendered themselves conspicnous for their zeal and
activity during the whole of this melancholy affair.
The escape of Mr. Pett's house, which is the Develin
Tower, and is contiguous to the Grand Armoury, being
Separated only by a range of offices now erecting for
the Small Arms Department, was miraculous, as the
flames at one time were fast approaching it ; but fortu7
nately the wind veering at the critical moment, and the
roof of the Armoury falling in immediately after,
caused it to escape without any material injury. Mr.
Pett neither moved his furniture, nor was any of it in-
jured, as he had the precaution to keep the soldiers
from entering it. On the right hand side of the Ar-
moury, the house occupied by Messrs. Allen and Elder
caught three times, but fortunately wag got under before
much damage was done, or else the whole of the terrace,
consisting of the official residences of many of the civil
officers of the Ordnance-office at the Tower, would have
been destroyed. The troops stationed at the Tower are
the Royal Artillery and the Scots Fusilier Guards, many
of whom showed themselves most efficient, and acted in
a most praiseworthy manner. It is to be hoped that
those men who disgraced their comrades by acts of pil-
lage will be discovered and severely punished.
The loss is computed at 500,0001., independent of the
various interesting relics of by-gone "deeds of glory"
destroyed. The fire, no doubt, originated in the Bowyer
Tower, in a workshop called the Round Table, used by
the viewers and others employed in the small-arm de-
partment, and supposed to have been caused by the flues
of the stove getting over heated. Of course, at present
all is conjecture, but this appears the most probable cause
of the calamity.

SPIRIT OF MODERN SURGERY:
Now that the spirit of which we are to speak is
somewhat less truculent than it has lately been, we
may condemn it more thoroughly without fear of being
deemed personal. It cannot be denied that the sur-
gery of the last few years has been marked by
more rashness than ever before disgraced it.
There has been more of art and less of science,
more of dexterity and less of judgment, more
of zeal and less of discretion, more of action and
imitation and less of deliberation, than in any period of
the history of surgery to which we can refer.
To prove this let us adduce an example. Diefftc-
hacl,, by way of experiment (for the scientific
induction in which tl e proceeding was said
to be founded was too hollow to bear the
most superficial examination, and could not have led
so reasonable a man as Dieffenbach has proved himself
nu other occasions to be, to undertake the operation)—
by w.y of experiment, we say, determined to cut a
la ge slice out of the middle of tl e tongue far the pur-
pose of curing those who stars me-. Long before
the real result of the operation could be knows,
the news of its having been performat
spread to France and Engles d ; and in best,
countries there were found surgeons who, without
thought (to speak most charitably), imitated the pro.
ceeding, and even claimed credit Ice their speedy adop-
tion and recommendation of the supposed improvement.
But what has been the result of the invention and
the imitation ? Why, as far as we can learn, that not
a patient has been cured ; that three, confessedly, have
been killcd ; and that one or more have lost the greater
part of the tongue by sloughing. Now things like these
might have been excusable if they had happened in the
performance of an operation which long experience bad
proved to be, in general, successful ; or in one Which,
though not tested by experience, had offered a reason-
able prospect of success ; but in a case where expe-
rience had not had time to give its decision, and where
the probabilities, as calculated by many well capable of
judging, were against success, they are utterly disgrace-
ful ; and, as signs of the times, they
.stamp the cha-
racter of the surgery of the day with an indelible blot.
Nor can we say much more of all the other opera-
tions for the same disorder, multiplied and varied as
they have been with a recklessness and want of calcu-
lation which would have been discreditable had the sub-
jects been dogs instead of men.
Shall we, to show yet more plainly the spirit of our
modern surgery, turn from this to any other subject like
it cast ur.timtly from the womb of rash experiment ?
Shall we look to the few months' history of the opera-
tion for squinting? to see how, before the first patient's
wound; were yet healed, others were submitted to
it ; boa', before the result, which of necessity
TC-•
quired mouths that it might be safely seen,
was yet nearly evident; hundreds more of experimcr ts
were tried ; how, before the general issue of the plan
was known, all who squinted were stopped in the street
and almost kidnapped to have their recti cut ; how
m' n disputed who had first invented, who had first irn-
potted, the new plan, when the subject of their dispute
might in plainer terms have been, who, on the least
evidence of right, had dared to do the most ; haws in
the end, numbers have been found uncured, bur-'
hers damaged, and numbers cured, though 0°
one knows exactly how or why they fared
Letter than their neighbours; and how, at the present
time, the real pathology of strabismus is as obscure as
it was five years ago, before a rectus had been severed.
All this might be dwelt on, perhaps
with profit, to
show how the inventions cif the surgery of the present
day, though they may be sometimes beneficial, arc so
.foxy n,
only as the remedies of quacks are, being fr dedb
on vague surmises, and practised with tas °l
experience has proved why or in what cases
applicable.—Medical Gazelle.
eoi e
they are

FORTUNE AMASSED BY A MENDICANT.--
An old woman, who has withstood the cold northern
blas o more sevent winters, named Mary nor-
ner,ts mif gratedthan from this toy wn to America, last spring,
charity, and had from
on account of the depressed state of the times. This
circumstance created much surprise amongst those who
knew her, she to all appearance having to combat against
raseckVed a small weekly allow-
hard fortune in ail its hideous forms, invariably living
powerfully
township of Piumpton
she w '
- -fed with td. to assist her in her Atlantic ex as
pre.sol.
at"wi:Lee:ein:lsomt'll:lesrhtebtileilel!ennggl ,rlijbagbl:l ri
lo' gn her departure
P &-
firm. From intelligence lately received, this trip across
on the
system of the old lady, who was now no longer the vast ocean, seems to have acted
beggar, for immediately on her arrival in the new
a
world, she shook off the hapless mask of misfortune,_
new
purchased a small estate, whereon she erected' ortuner
a corn"
life in
tortable dwelling, where she now leads a happy
the midst of plenty, her means drainetl
from a generous and feeling public at Kt as charity,
t
York Courctnt. aresbUrough.--.
THE LATE FATAL BOAT-RACE
sr ClMSEA.—Yesterday the body ACCIDENT:
who lost her life at the rowing matchof Miss Coombes
was picked up off IVestminster-b on the 20th ult..,
work in the Sharpshooter ballastridge by the men at
o'clock-part of a gown engin
was e. About tweo
brought '
bucl-ets , . , and about file o'clock up in one of the
e
itself, in a dreadful state of the body of the poor girl
attached to the buckets and cdecomposition, came up
removed into the barge, and
~..t.hains. It was eapefully
deceased, being made U 'olllbes, the brother of the
removed the "body toacquaintedhi with the circumstance,
years of age, and her brother was The deceased was 1G
which terminated in so er was the winner of the race
The friends and melancholy a catastrophe.
eminent tragedian, Mr. theatrical admirers of that
a strong desire to wit Charles Young, have expressed
again, and have met f witness his chief characters once
formal reeptcst to h.
or the purpose of addressing
411. on the subject.