The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-29 00:00:00

SHOCKING DEATH.

An inquest was held on Saturday at the residege
r
of Dr. Brodhurst, 20, Grosvenor-street, by 1'
Langham, deputy coroner for Westminster, un-
the body of Mrs. Elizabeth Brodhurst. Dr. Br°",,
hurst said that deceased was his wife, and her she
was 32. Last Tuesday evening they both dined
together, after which he went out to attend a wet.
ing. On his return, about 10 at night, he found
wife in the drawing-room writing a letter. He sa
with her for a short time, when she told him t"e
.
purport of the note, and was writing another to ;
friend, when he left her to go up to his own romp to
change his coat. Just as he was getting to his rooola
he heard loud cries of " I'm on fire." He ruche
down and found his wife in the middle of the doll;
ing-room enveloped in flames. Her clothes were
entirely consumed, and the furniture near her WB.A
on fire. She had on a white muslin dress. She di;
not seem to have lost her presence of mind, for 011,1
requested the rug to be rolled round her and the box
to be rung for the servants, which he did, and e%;
tinguished the flames about the upper part of her
person. Immediately the bell was rung three ser
vants rushed in, and he believed the reason of bell
being so near the door was because his wife 10
rung the bell before for prayers. Unfortunately she
had on one of those crinolines made of steel hoot*
Every means was tried to extinguish the fire about
and under the hoops with the sofa cushions and other
things at hand. He also knelt on and tried to CO112:
press and break them for the purpose of putting tir'
fire out, but all without avail, and they had to be.
cut off before it could be extinguished. She had beet
writing with a candle by her side which had bur%
down in the socket, and he believed that she
tried to reach an envelope from the case, when !ire
light caught her muslin sleeve. She died about uile
o'clock the following day. Thomas Glasgow, t, 0
butler, confirmed his master's evidence, as did si,so
Ellen Fletcher, the eursemaid, who deposed to Vi
difficulty in putting the fire out, owing to tbenr.
" hoops." Dr. Gull, of '26, Brook-street, Grosverl,:er
square, deposed to seeing the deceased lady in
bedroom. She was conscious, although sufferll
greatly. She was burnt very much on hoLs
arms and about the head, face, and back. She le,
most extensively burnt about the legs. The
ceased lady never rallied, as the shock to her ail
tern was so great, and she died from the effects:,
the injuries received :As regards the remarks ot Ph;
Brodburst about crinolines, he could hardly agr,e,
with them. He wished to say one word with re
spect to the getting up of these light dresses. If t:o
laundress in preparing these dresses would 1311"ja
small portion of sulphate of salt or sulphate of
into the starch it would render them perfectly Ia
combustible, at the cost of about one-tenth of
farthing per dress. He hoped the press would
tice this, because then, he said, Dr.' Odling, of Guy
Hospital, would communicate through them the
name of the article. He had seen the experini,e/0
tried on two pieces of linen, one prepared with t'so
sulphate and the other not. The one that fact
prepared was held over a candle, and the flame
_,.l.`as
no effect at all upon it, but directly the other '1
held over it was consumed. In these days of art tie,
science he considered it was shameful that ec'ese
thing of this sort was not done to prevent thue
sad occurrences. Dr. Gull said, so sudden was, taso
combustion that the figures of the muslin or'is
were left on the floor unburnt. The Coroner, ,be
summing up, said the suggestion made by
doctor was a valuable one, and he hoped it Wrso
be noticed by the press. He hoped, too, t'if,
things would be noticed by laundresses; f°Lta
in the present case, something of the sulP':ea
had been put into the starch, the dee,ea,"ot
lady's life might have been spared. If it hau,:e
been for the crinoline too her life might have, of
saved. He thought that she was another vicar?. re
the prevailing costume among ladies. The 3
returned a verdict " That deceased died from
juries received by accidental burning."

-- .
MR. ANDERSSON'S NEW TRAVELS IN AFRICA."-'
Messrs. Hurst and Blackett have just issued the new word
entitled "The Okavango River," a narrative of travel, nr
ploration, and adventure, by Mr. Charles John Andersson+
the author of " Lake Ngami." This work will be perused
with avidity by all interested in geographical discover/1f
°II
while to the sportsman its pages are most attractive. Dir.
Andersson's adventures among the savage African tribes
his progress to the Okavango River, are full of the most es
citing details, and his exploits in the pursuit of elepbants'
lions, rhinoceroses, giraffes, and other denizens of the Afri-
can wilds, even exceed in daring and danger those conole
orated in " Lake Ngami." Like Mr. Andersson's forwer
ro
narrative, " The Okavango River" is illustrated by
i'
series of excellent engravings.
TIIE CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKES. From observa-
tions made at different times A Of
called La Souffriere, or the Sulphur Hill in the island -,
Guadaloupe, M. Gentili, aphysician in the Freric—
navy, has concluded that
it to be formed of large:
suppose its upon a volcanic mountain/
substance with earthquakes are ac
panied by the sinking
volcano,gas.s, th eanntdhetehsecapfiellionfg of mountains. The I's°
of La Souffriere is
interior and the lower strata surrou ~ig
nipo
solidsed a
norrfu
ltaarr cbhiyoteek. s 0 f I
i.
tiding'
subst numerous intervening spaces filled
fw:11.17,
these gases by the mouth o
~0
settling down of the trachytio blocks will cause eart'''e
quakes. This appears to be the case in Goland
where ea th The islani
r quakes are very frequent.
up of these vacant spaces bY
~
the vicinity of La Souffriere is almost alwe'Y'ably
motion, and appears to have sunk consider its
doting the past half-century. About fifty years AP es,
height, ace,a ding to Moreau de Jonnes, was 1,570 metev
lie,
In 1843 it was measured by M. Ch. Sainte-Clair°
and found to be 1,484 metres. M. Gent
measured its height twice with great care, ana
eLenta
provebe only 1,460 metres. These measur tvg.
that this mountain is gradually sinntl('
From these facts M. Gentili infers in general dui, „,
sinking of mountains is the cause of earthquakest...,;o
inference should, however, be accepted with litotta i Juirosi
there may be several causes of earthquakes. The,' es in
arise from chemical as well as from mechanical chang:.
_iii.
Gentili 'l4)
rloautenlelY
the interior of the earth. In the present state
knowledge we can only say that earthquakes and the s
_.'l.c:,,
ing of mountains accompany each other.—ffecitao
Xagazine,