The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-12 00:00:00

CAMBRIDGE.

We beg to direct the attention of our readers to a letter,
and to a few remarks on this subject which we made
last week, and which some of our London contemporaries
considered not unworthy of a more extended circulation.
There is, we think, much truth and one or two useful
hints in the letter of our correspo►►dent ; and when the
valuable doctrines of agricultural chemistry come to be
better understood, we believe that agricultural improve-
ment and sanatory reform will go hand in hand. Thrift
will protect us against pestilence. Much has already
been accomplished in this important province. Our
cities are no longer absolute accumulations of the filth of
centuries. Years, as they roll on, do not, as they once
did, deposit in our streets successive strata of unwhole-
some soil. We know one or two cases in which it has
been actually ascertained that causeways had risen in
the course of successive ages till the ground-floors of the
houses on each side had actually sunk down in cellars.
This is no longer the case. The scavenger has in some
measure superseded the doctor. Much of the refuse of
our towns enriches our fields. And it must be con-
fessed that though not practically carried out to any
great extent, juster ideas on this subject are beginning
to prevail. Still there is much to be accomplished. Much
that is valuable is still thrown away. It is not only lost,
it is permitted to contaminate the atmosphere which we
breathe, and to pour down a tributary pestilence into the
streams which we drink. How many millions of money
are thus annually wasted 1 Why should a source of na-
tional treasure, equivalent almost in annual amount to
the interest of the national debt, be permitted not only
to lie waste—to remain unproductive, but even to poison
the very air and water—to foster disease—to destroy, in-
stead of nourishing life ? Those very substances which,
in a state of decay and putrefaction, exhale a periodical
plague and destroy millions, might, in the hands of skill
and science, and good husbandry, sustain millions. There
is an old Scotch proverb which says, and who can deny
it ?—that " muck is the mother of the meal-chest."
Manure is a treasure. Why should this treasure be per-
mitted to accumulate around us—to stagnate under our
houses—to disgust us in our streets—to smite us down
with disease—to generate an everlasting, though insi-
dious plague, by actually and constantly diffusing death
around us, and swelling our tables of mortality, when a
little thrift, a little common sense, a little wise pre-
caution, and very little science, would transform it into
the golden fruit of an overflowing harvest ? Guano in-
deed I We have guano in our sewers—we are guanoed
to death ; and yet we traverse the ocean to import what,
in another form, is killing us daily and by inches in
revenge for being neglected. Thanks to our corres-
pcndent for this hint. We shall have more to say upon
this subject, and on the subject of baths. Let it not be
imagined that Cambridge is positively a pig-sty. It is,
we presume, much upon a footing in point of cleanliness
with other English towns, though labouring, of course,
under the peculiar disadvantage of being located in a
dead flat. - Though a classical city, it wants the Acro-
polis of Athens and the seven hills of imperial Rome.
Its learned atmosphere is little disturbed by the invigo-
rating sea-breeze. The more public streets are tolerably
swept, and though the Castle-hill has been incarcerated
for some time within the county prison, the college walks
and one or two pleasant pieces (so-called) discharge
pretty well the functions of public lungs. But the pes-
tilence is beneath. It is a subterraneous calamity which
we lament ; and we must agitate the institution of a
sewage company to pump up this pestilence, and, with
the touch of Midas, to convert it into national wealth
and the staff of life.—Cambridge Advertiser.

SEAL.—On Saturday last, the sth inst., the most
noble the Marquis Camden gave a treat to the whole of
the men and their wives (between 70 and 80) employed
on his Lordship's estate at the Wilderness. The men,
after having played at cricket in the park, with plenty
of ale to cheer them, repaired with their wives to the
front of the mansion, where a most excellent dinner was
provided for them, consisting of roast beef, plum pud-
ding, &c., and nothing spared to render them happy.
Among the persons who visited the spot were the
Marquis and Marchioness Camden, Lady Homesdalc,
Colonel Gore, R. Murray, Esq., the Rev. T. 0. Blackhall,
vicar of Seal, &c.

SHEEP HoßNs.—An arrival of rather a novel cha-
racter has taken place by a vessel from Constantinople,
which may be particularly noticed, even on account of
its extent—viz., the large number of 59,656 sheep horns.
The sheep bred and reared in this country have, gene-
rally speaking, no horns, excepting the description
known as rams, but it may be judged that Turkish
sheep are possessed of that particular feature, as the
same vessel brought several hundred packages of sheep
and lamb skins, and, therefore, the horns may be con-
sidered as part and parcel of the same produce. Such an
importation from Turkey appears to us to be very un-
usual and remarkable, especially to the extent men-
tioned in the present instance.
THE FLEET-STREET PAVEMENT.—After all that
has been said about this wonderful granite, that was to
brave, for five-and-twenty years, the waggon and the
cab, it has been found necessary to tear up a portion of
it in consequence of its sinking condition. The woes
and gee wo's of Fleet-street are really sufficient to melt
a heart of stone, for no sooner is the pavement allowed
to rest on its bed, than its repose is violated by the rude
hand of the pavior. The efforts of the shopkeepers to at-
tract attention to their wares from the few passengers who
still, from old associations, haunt the street, are getting
positively frantic. The keeper of a shop opposite St.
Dunstan's Church has actually turned a selection of
small articles smack into the street, on the chance of
some of them being picked up by a straggler who may
have the honesty to walk in and pay for them. Others
have shut up their establishments altogether, and emi-
grated to the coast, probably with the intention of quit-
ting their native land for ever.—Punch.
SUPPOSED MURDER.—Thursday afternoon an in-
quest was held before Mr. W. Baker, at the Royal Pavi-
lion Tavern, New-road, Whitechapel, respecting the
death of a male infant, unknown, whose body was found
in a water-closet, on Tuesday last. Mrs. Ann Burgis
stated that she resided at No. 35, Lambeth-street,
Wbitechapel. On Monday last, while in the water-
closet at the back of the premises, she discovered the
body of the deceased, and with the assistance of a neigh-
bour named Rose, she succeeded in recovering it shortly
afterwards. Witness further stated that there was
another water-closet adjoining theirs, which was an
open one, anti any person could gun access to it by
passing through White Bear-yard, adjoining their pre-
mises. Mr. Carrington, a surgeon, in Leman-street,
deposed that the body was a full grown male infant, it
might have been dead four or five days. There was a
large quantity of gaper found in the mouth of the de-
ceased. The jury, at the suggestion of the coroner,
returned a verdict of " Fouad dead."