The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-30 00:00:00

ate. limmramftif

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF FLOGGING.
Sir TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
:
t--lt may seem very hard if I say that the effect of
zerAing is not fully appreciated even in my own, the medical
pr ofession.. But I have studied the subject, and I beg to
send you a few medical hints upon it.
Every lash, like, every other kind of laceration or cutting,
affects the power of the heart. A patient sometimes never
rallies from the effect of a severe accident (such was the case
with Mr: Husliisson) or a severe surgical operation.
But this is not all. The skin, which some persons seem to
think may be treated like an inorganic substance, has a spe-
cial relation with the internal °mann:—
I. A 'current of air falling partially on the surface is suffi-
tirit IV' its action on the skin, and the sympathy of this,
through the ganglionic system, with the internal organs, to
indtvze inflammation of: the lungs or of the heart, or of the
Membranes which cr,ver these organs.
2. The same event occurs from burns or scalds.
3. The same e,,ent occurs from flogging.
It is not these that of the infliction merely which is to be
considered, • much depends on the peculiarity of the consti-
tution_ The zeilthy are less affected than the unhealthy,
the sober the.n the drunken.
But any person may, as the effect of any of the inflictions
to which I. have adverted, became dit;tased—diseased for life,
or diz ed unto death; and no man-_no medical person—can
tell, a priori, who is to suffer or wto is to escape.
Flaagging is not to be treated of, then, as a thing skin-deep.
Ma-ny a soldier whom it was only intended to flog has been
shun, unknown even to the inflicter of the punishment; for,
I have said, the medical bearings of the subject have not
been duly investigated..
It is somewhat singular that those persons who seem to
bear a surgical operation best are precisely those whom it
affects the most, and the most. dangerously.
There are, besides, what we call idiosyncrasies, or pecu •
linrities, which, besides the fact of ill health, or bad habits,
:ender an infliction, which might generally be borne with-
'out risk, most dangerous

In the tendency to disease of the brain, in disease of the
heart, flagging 'would be dangerous; and this nunishment has
actually indectad epilepsy and tetanus (or locked jaw).
I may refer to the writings of the late P.ir. hose* ar.d Sir
C. Bell,t of lir. Traverat &c., for exan;ples of internal dis-
accidentsespecia/ly inflammation of the lungs, induced by severe
or operations; but if tlik.4 be true in regard to the
tissues in general, it is specially so in respect to the skin.
The great fact is, that as esposure to a current of air, so
a disease, burn, and sa-,a flogging, may induce disease—lingering
and death.
I am, F.,ir (in haste), your obedient servant,
Load/Ai, July P 47. CENSOR.
* Merl Chir. Trans., vol. xiv., p. 251.
f Quarterly Reports, p. 241.
01), Constitutional Irritation, vol. 1. p. 145.

I.4TILITARY FLOGGING.
ro THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR-ArtVirg observed a. late article in your paper, pro-
posing 'Mat a Society should 'he formed whose object should
be the abolition of coroorarpunishment in the army, I would
suggest; that they should also exert themselves to ob-
tain fur the soldier a greater degree of comfort in barracks,
a better mess than Cur, miserable allowance of three quarters
of a pound 4 meat, (including bone) per day, which, when
cooked, seldom rsppears more than one third of the quantity
which any perskr, whose means allow him would eat generally
at one meal, rard, above all, an adequate pension on discharge,
after ha vine *devoted his life to the service of his country in
unwhol,:sero'3 climates. These, Sir, would induce a better
class of rar.n to enter the army, and by raising the social
condition of the soldier, avoid the necessity of having re-
course -tr, the lash.
As tb ings now exist, men are crowded in their barrack-
roorr.s--not even a skreen for the married soldiers is allowed ;
the rooms in winter are only lighted srifficiently to make
darluvess visible, and the only accommodation for washing
is tb.e. spout of the pump.
The late fearful accident at I.,aoilianah sufficiently proves
w much better the ends of. 'economy (putting common
humanity out of the question ?night be answered by a trifling
outlay in the first instances
With regard to the P,ogging at Hounslow, I beg to state
that the mode of inflicting the punishment which has been
so much animadverted upon, and for which, among other
things, Colonel Whyte has been so severely blamed, is
Usual in every regiment in the service.
I have the 1t07..0ur to be Sir, your most obedient servant,
July 26. AN OFFICER.

DECKED WELLED FISHING YES

SELS v. OPEN BOATS.
The swiieriority of decked welled vessels ovev.• that of
open bouts for conducting the fisbings in deep water,
will readily be seen from the following Si7_ reasons ex-
tracted from Mr. Dempster's circulars:-
1. By employing vessels with well?, fish are taken
alive into port, and, consequently, they are much
fresher than it they had been a conFAde...able time dead,
which is too frequently the case by the open boat system
of fishing.
2. Decked vessels are much sase'r at sea in boisterous
weather than open boats are (41Paen they do happen to
be caught in a storm), and ire' all weathers at sea the
men are rendered much mrre comfortable, as they have
a berth place below deck, occasionally ato rest them-
.selves.

a, With decked versels fishermen remain days, weeks,
arid sometimes mo:iths, continually at sea pursuing their
calling, catching and curing the fish as they are captured.
By this system more of the men's time is employed at
sea than is in open boats that return to the shore every
one or two clays.
4. As decked vessels arc much more at sea than the
open boat, the fisherman yields a better harvest, which
enables him to maintain his wife and, family at home in
the same way as any other coasting merchant seaman
maintains his wife and family. The open boat fishers
being less engaged at sea (so as to make both ends of a
livelihood meet), they are obliged to call in the as-
sistance of their wives and families to work of exceed-
ing drudgery, such as hawking fish about the street and
garnering bait amongst the rocks, &c.
5. On board of decked vessels the trawl net is worked
acaurh more conveni_cntly than in open boats. English
trawlers cast their nets in 45 fathoms and upwards, and
at times catch ktrge quantities of soles and other descrip-
tions of ground fish. For example, there is a spot of
ground in the Great Silver Pits, situated betwixt tht
west end of the Dogger Bank and Well Bank, about 1c
miles east of Flamborough Head ; it has lately bees
discovered
that great quantities of soles inhabit that
quarter, as a great number have been caught since this
discovery was made ; the depth of water there, where
the trawlers use their nets to so much advantage, is from
26 to 50 fathoms.

There can be little doubt but on and around the edge
of the Mar Bank, there are also plenty of soles. The
exploration is well worth an attempt. Half-a-dozen
proper trawlers on and about the Mar Prank would very
boon fathom whether or not there are much valuable
treasures there.

6. Decked vessels that use a, sail aloft to be furled,
are much better calculated as nurseries for training
youth to be effective seamen thar, what an open boat is
that uses lug sails only, as 11 moving about deck and
running up the rinsing, &e,., 'stimulates activity, as also
men keep themselves warm by moving about deck,
without being overbur_eened with clothes as is requisite
to have on in an open Coat in a sitting position.
N.B.—The only a',.uments used in favour of the open
boat with lug sails over that of decked vessels with stand-
ing rigging are:---Open boats are light, and their mast
and sails being easily shipped and unshipped, they are
bandy for hailing up high and dry on shore when an
a pproaching storm makes its appearance; as also they
are handy for pulling about in calms, so as to take the
fish quick. into port after being caught.
In ansmer to that argument, the decked vessel is often-
times profitably employed at sea in boisterous weather,
when the open boat cannot with such safely be so - and
; fish keep alive, in good condition, for several weeks in
a vessel's well, suppose the decked vessel is becalmed for
a time, the fish (although confined in prison, as it were)
a•-e still alive and swimming in their own natural ele-
ment, so that when the decked vessel does arrive at port,
the fish are sent into market as they are demanded,
taken alive from the well.
An English cod smack of about 60 tons burden, her
well contains about 1,900 head of cod. In disposing of
them, her proprietor takes care never to kill more in one
day than is demanded to supply the market. The
English always kill their cod when taken out of the
water, by knocking them on the head and breaking
their back bone ; they find that by doing so the fish is
snuck better for crimping or curing than if they are al-
lowed to, take their usual time of suffocation in the
open air..
It is by this system with decked welled vessels that
causes the London market to be always so well and re-
gularly supplied.

POTATO PEEL AS SEED FOR POTATOEL—EarIy in the
Ant week in May last, Mr. I. F. Conies, of this city,
directed his gardener to try an experiment in planting
potatoes. lie took three potatoes of rather large size, and
peeled them—the substance of the peel not exceeding the
thmkness of a shilling taking care in all cases to preserve
the eyes perfect. The peel was divided into portions varying
in size from the dimensions of a penny to a shilling. The
gardener at first thought his master was joking; and did not
anticipate that the potato peel would produce any fruit. It
was planted in the ordinary Way; the soil (the garden is
situated at Kingsholm) is light and suited to potato culture;
bat the place selected was rather disadvantageous, being
near a large and thick hedge. At the same time some sets of
three other potatoes were planted in the usual manner in
ground close adjoining. At the close of last week the latter
were taken up, but owing to an accidental circumstance, the
exact produce eannot be ascertained. On Monday evening
air. Conies ordered the rows which had been sown with
potato peel to be dug up; when it was ascertained that the
produce of the peel of the three potatoes, which were of the
commo n Cockuney scat, amounted to sixty-two of good size
and excellent qality, besides florae smaller ones; the weight
of the sixty-two being rather more than Sibs. We have
ot seen, in fact, a better sample th;
season, and it is stated
that the produce from the potatoes planted planted In the ordina
exPerirnent
invent
w was certainly not larger, if so large.. The
The eatidg'
although not perfectly novel, is interesting.
be preserved for feed at
ued at
portion of the root may apparently ,
seed time—an important circumstance, to Ireland especially,
where, in many districts, there is annually a " potato
scar-
city." From what we have heard since we learned the result
of Mr. Coule.'s experiment, we entertain doubts whether
the plan would succeed with some species of
potatoes—be
invariably successful; and probably the nature of the soil is
a material ingredient in the matter. howe
ver,
that hope,
that this notice may lead to a series of experiments. Mr.
Coulee exhibited a portion of the produce of his peel seed at
our horticultural meeting last Thursday. It excited consi-
derable
interest, and an extra prize was awarded.— Gloucester- I
shire Chronicle.

S 0 UTIT MPTOIV, JULY 26.—The Oriental steam-ship,
Captain Soy, from Alexandria, arrived in the Docks at
9 a.m. this day, and landed the East India and China mails
which were for warded to London by the four o'clock train..
Her date.sare Alexandria 11th July, Malta 16th, and Gibral-
tar 20th. The Oriental brings home 113 passengers, and a
fall cargo of miscellaneous goods, such as Indian corn, gum,
and silks. - The Oriental was followed into the Docks by the
same Company's steam .ship Madrid, Captain Bingham, from
Gibraltar,- which -landed her mails and dispatched them to
London by the same train as the East India and China mails.
Her dates are Gibraltar July 15th, Cadiz 16th, Lisbon 20th,
Oporto; 21st, Vigo 22d., and Corunna 23d. The Madrid
brinks a full "fruit cargo and fifty passengers. The Royal
Tar, Captain Hamilton (late • chief officer of the ill-fated
Liverpool), will leave the Docks for Gibraltar, with the usual
ls, to-morrow, a full cargo of bale goods, and general
average of passengers. The Lady Bruce emigrant alp will
Or Adelaide on or about the Otlz ulst.