The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-08 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA.

MANSION-HOUSE RELIEF COMMITTEE.

Yesterday, at three o'clock, a most influential
meeting of bankers, clergymen, and other persons
of consideration in the city of London, with the
Lord Mayor at their head, was held at the Mansion-
house, to raise a fund tO-be expended primarily in
measures calculated to arrest or mitigate the prevail-
ing epidemic, and in relief of poor patients and of
persons suffering from the ravages of the disease.
The Lord Mayor occupied the chair, and there were
present, among others, Mr. Thomas Baring, M.P.,
Mr. Joseph Hoare, Mr: R. N. Fowler, Mr. G. G.
Glyn, Sir Mordant Wells, the Rev. W. Rogers,
rector of Bishopsgate, the Rev. F. G. Blom&ld,
Mr. Richard B. Wade, Mr. W. J. R. Cotton, Mr.
Currie, Mr. R. Wigram, Mr. W. J. Maxwell, Mr.
Andrew Johnson, Mr. William Needham, Afr. H.
W. Ripley, the Bishop Designate of Nelson (Rev.
A. B. Suter), Mr. John Harmata, and Dr. Andrew
Clark. In the course of the proceedings it was
stated incidentally that between £1,200 and £1,300
had already been subscribed as a beginning among
the persons concerned in promoting the meeting,
and its objects, and letters addressed to the Lord
Mayor by the Governor and the Deputy-Governor
of the Bank of England were read, stating their
willingness to co-operate in the movement. A long
conversation ensued as to the manner in which the
fund now being raised should be dispensed, the pre-
vailing opinion being that it should be administered,
as far as practicable, through local authorities, rather
than through individuals, and that, no part of it
should go in the relief of ordinary pauperism. The
Lord Mayor interposed in the course of the discus-
sion, and reminded the meeting that they had now
to deal with the epidemic directly and at once, and
not with theories. The first object was to provide
meat, drink, and other necessaries for the wretched
people who were suffering from cholera, and to re-
lieve the destitution consequent upon the loss of
heads of families. Mr. Suter, he said, had observed
that there were about 9,000 houses in Bethnal-green
which required disinfection ; but that was a work
which, however necessary or desirable, was quite
beyond the province of this committee, which was
called into existence to save poor peoplefrom destruc-
tion. Disinfection was the work of the Government.
If the public responded to the invitation to subscribe
to the fund now being raised, which he knew they
would do, the committee would get to work at once
and would do an enormous amount of good. Mr.
Thomas Baring, M.l'., said it would be desirable to
expend some part of the money at their disposal in
disinfecting and preventive measures. The main
object was, if possible, to get rid of the disease, and
he did not see how they were to get rid of it if they
only buried the dead and relieved the sufferers.
Impure water was or.e of the greatest causes of the
disease, and it was important to ascertain in what
state the water was, and to warn people against it
where it was impure. The Rev. Win. Rogers argued
that one of the principal means of arresting the
disease was to provide poor people at all likely to be
liable to it with the means of obtaining good whole-
some food. Gin and pickles would be found to
have something to do with almost every case of
cholera. It was a matter of stomach, after all, and
if they could inject a mutton chop and a glass of
brandy every day they would soon stop the disease.
Eventually, on the motion of the Rev. F. G. Blom-
field, seconded by Mr. Joseph Hoare, it was resolved
in effect that the fund be used for the prevention of
cholera, for the relief of cholera patients, and of
sufferers from the effects of the disease, and that it
be distributed as far as possible through local boards
and committees.

At the suggestion of the Lord Mayor the gentle-
men present formed themselves into a committee,
with power to add to their number, and a smaller
committee, with the Lord Mayor as chairman, was
appointed to meet daily at the Mansion-house, with
power to receive and entertain applications for as-
sistance and make grants in the spirit of Mr. Blom-
field's retolution. The Lord Mayor and Mr. Joseph
lloare,_ banker, were appointed treasurers to the
fund, and Mr. Joseph Gibbs, the Lord Mayor's
private secretary, undertook to act as the secretary
to the committee.

Before departing the Lord Mayor announced that
he would be happy to receive donations at the Man-
sion-house from the public for the objects in view,
adding he was satisfied that the right thing had been
done in setting the subscription on foot, and that
it only remained for them to enter into the matter
with willing hearts.

The number of patients suffering from the epide-
mic admitted to the London Hospital during the 24
hours terminating at noon yesterday was 22, being
six more than had been taken in during the previous
24 hours. Of these 16 persons, all males, were at-
tacked with cholera; six, of whom four were women,
suffered from choleraic diarrhcea. The deaths dur-
ing the period mentioned amounted to 11, as against
12 on the previous day. The recoveries were, from
cholera, 4 ; from diarrhoea, 6—total, 10. About a
dozen convalescent children have been removed
through private beneficence to a home. The appli-
cants for out-door treatment for premonitory
diarrhcea fell to 200 yesterday. From about the
11th of July, when the outbreak first set in, the
number of such patients steadily increased from
three or four in the day to the maximum of 554,
which was reached on. the 23d of July ; then a com-
parative lull took place; and the numbers fell to
about 270 ; but the disease again increasing, on the
31st ult. 497 persons were prescribed for. A gra-
dual falling off was observable after that date, and

it is ascribed, not to a diminution in the number of
those attacked, but to the opening, in various loca-
lities, of dispensaries T There medicine and advice
are given gratuitously tA all who present themselves.
In the week ending yeslterday the total number of
deaths in the hospital f rpm the epidemic was 80,
exactly the same as during the preceding week. It
is, therefore, evident that the disease is not at present
increasing in virulence. Endeed, the resident medical
officer, Dr. J. Jackson, is ' inclined to think that there
are signs of an abatement in severity. In the work-
house of the Whitechapel. Union about 70 cholera
cases have been treated— .a number that would have
been far exceeded butfr ,r the proximity of the Lon-
don Hospital. At prc nt there are about 12 cholera