The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-23 00:00:00

THE ARIIII.

An important general order has just been issued
to the Royal Artillery, by command of the Duke of
Cambridge, in which his Royal Highness, after exa-
mining the returns of drills carried on by the
brigades of Royal Artillery, expresses his regret
that so large a proportion of the non-commissioned
officers and men of some of the brigade have not
undergone the annual course of re-drilling prescribed
by the general order of the 11th of Augast, 1859,
His Royal Highness has taken into consideration
the statements made by officers commanding brigades
in reply to certain questions respecting their ability
to carry out the course of re-drilling. He is aware
that at some stations, and under peculiar circum-
stances, great demands are unavoidably made on
the personnel of all garrisons, and that it is at times
impossible to exempt artillerymen from garrison
and other duties to the extent necessary to enable
them to be put through a course of adequate in-
struction ; but his Royal Highness trusts that the
returns of the present year will show a great in-
crease in the number of men -who have been
thoroughly re drilled, and he urges commanding
officers to renewed vigilance, and to cause a portion
of their men to be constantly in the hands of the
gunnery instructors and their assistants. He feels
assured that officers commanding brigades will, on
application, receive every assistance in carrying out
his views respecting the instruction of the artillery
soldiers. He also trusts that commanding officers
of field brigades will use every exertion to have
their drivers instructed in the several drills, and
directs that in future annual returns of the gunners
and drivers may be shown separately in order that
it may be seen to what extent the latter have re-
ceived instruction. A tabular statement has also
been published with the general order, by direction
of the Duke of Cambridge. It shows the number
of artillerymen who during the past year have not
received instruction to anything like the extent
contemplated, and also the number of those who
have received no instruction at all. At the same
time the Duke of Cambridge
makes
these remarks
he is glad to be able to allude to th
improve-
ment in the mod© in which the e great
annual practice
appears to have been carried on, as shown from the
reports received from time to time, It is evident
that at some stations—particularly at Gibraltar—
very great pains have been taken to use to the
greatest advantage the ammunition granted for in-
struction.
A further supply of upwards of 1,400 stand of
arms, consisting chiefly of the short rifle for sea
service, with the improved bayonet sword attached,
have been received at the Ordnance stores,
Chatham, from:the factory at Woolwich, the War
Department transport Baltic having completed the
landing of the arms yesterday. A complete rear-
rangement of the armouries has been made at
Chatham. Additional stores have been formed
sufficient to receive arms for the entire British
army. At present the rooms formerly used arc filled
with some thousand stand of arms, all of the im-
proved pattern Enfield rifle, and as fast as addi-
tional rifles are received from Woolwich they are
stored in the new buildings devoted to that pur-
pose.

Orders have been received at Chatham for a fur-
ther discharge of 160 non-commissioned officers and
men of .various cavalry and infantry regiments, the
whole of whom will leave the garrison to-morrow
morning, and be forwarded to their respective homes

at the public expense. The troops ordered to be dis- 1
charged have all been inspected by the Commis-
sioners of Chelsea Hospital, in addition which
they had previously undergone medical spection
by the staff at Fort Pitt, in order to asc?rtain that
the whole of the men selected to be disc arged were
unfitted for further service. Most of the men selected
for discharge have been awarded permanent pen-
sions, while those of short service will receive pen-
sions for periods extending.from six months to three

years.
Instructions have been received at the head-quar-
ters of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, Chatham,
for the whole of the noncommissioned officers and
men belonging to the division who are serving on
board the guardship of the steam reserve to be landed
once a month, in order that they may undergo a
certain period of drill with the remainder of the
battalion: Orders have also been given for the Royal
Marines serving on board the flagship of the steam
ordinary to be changed once in each year, instead
of once in three years, as formerly.
We have to announce the death'of Col. Sir C. M.
Wade, C. 8., which took place on Monday at Bath.
The deceased was a son of the late Lieut.-Col. J.
Wade, of the Bengal Army, and was born in Bengal
in 1794. He entered the military service of the
East India Company in 1 09 ; in 1823 was appointed
diplomatic agent at Loodianah ; in 1835 was placed
in charge of our relations with Runjeet Singh and
the States across the Indus ; in 1838 was sent on a
special mission to Peshawur to join the Sikh army
with Shah Zada-Timour, and was the first to force
the Kyber Pass ; he was appointed political agent
at Malwa, Central India, in 1848, and received the
honour of knighthood for the tried judgment and
ability with which he conducted our relations with
the Court of Lahore for 17 years. In recognition
of his services in Candahar, Cabul, and at the cap-
ture of Ghuznee, Sir Claude received permission in
1841 to wear the order of the Dooranee Empire,
and had also received the Star of the Punjab. He
attained the rank of Lieut.-Colonel in 1839, and
received the local rank of Colonel in the East Indies
in 1855.

TEE SANITARY CONDITION OF TILE

CITY.

Yesterday Dr. Letheby, the Medical Officer of
Health, presented his report to the Commissioners
of Sewers on the sanitary state of the city of Lon-
don, for the summer quarter of the present year,
ending the 28th of September. Of this document
the material portions are subjoined :
" The number of births registered in the city
during the quarter is 839, and of deaths 640. Both of
these present a marked improvement in comparison
with the average of the last six years; for the for-
mer has advanced from 820 to 839 in the quarter,
and the latter has declined from 683 to 640. The
chief increase in the proportion of births has been
in the Western district, where the number has been
raised from an average of 186 to 218. In the three
districts of the city the annual birth-rate has been
29.6 per 1,000 of the entire population. In all
England the annual birth-rate for the summer
quarter is 32.8 per 1,000. Of the 640 deaths in the
quarter 264 occurred in the Eastern Union, 163 in
the Western, and 213 in the Central or City Union.

These numbers are in the annual proportion of 25'9
per 1,000 of the inhabitants of the first-named dis-
trict, 24 0 per 1,000 of the second, and 18.7 of the
third, the death-rate of the whole city being 22.5
per 1,000. In all England the death-rate in the
summer quarter is 20.4 per 1,000, and in the dis-
tricts of the chief towns of England it is 23.8.
While, therefore, the average proportion of deaths
in the whole of the city has not been unusually
large, that of the Eastern division of it has been
excessively so ; and in the Cripplegate sub-division
it has amounted to 29.8 per 1,000 of the inhabi-
tants. The density of the population in this district
is enormous ; it amounts to 290 persons upon an
acre ; whereas in the whole of the city there are
but 156 persons to an acre, and in all London but
36. This accounts for the excessive mortality of
the Eastern division of the city, and shows, in con-
nexion with the poverty of the districts, the diffi-
culties which have to be surmounted in improving
its sanitary condition. Of every 100 deaths
45 have occurred among children of less than
five years of age ; nine among young per-
sons at from 5 to 20 years of age ; 10 at from
20 to 40 ; 16 at from 40 to 60 ; and 20 at 60 and
upwards. The mortality among infants is rather
large, for the rest of England it is only about 41 per
cent. of the total deaths. Contrasted with the
averages of the last six years, there has been a fall-
ing off in the proportion of deaths from several im-
portant diseases, as continued fever, scarlet fever,
small-pox and measles. These have declined from a
total average of 81 in the quarter to 39. Continued
fever has fallen from 29 to 18, scarlet fever from 25
to 18, smallpox from 10 to 1, and measles from 17 to
2. Some other forms of disease, however, have ad-
vanced; thus, whooping-cough, croup, and dipthe-
ria have been increased from 28 to 43, and inflam-
matory affections of the lungs from 54 to 63. Alto-
gether the number of deaths from zymotic affections
has been reduced from an average of 179 in the
quarter to 155, while that from tubercular diseases
has increased from 154 to 163. Diptheria and croup
have been rather severe, but there have been no spe-
cialities in the origin and development of those
diseases to lead to any conclusion in respect of the
laws of their progress or of the means for their
abatement. The laws which govern these manifes-
tations of disease have yet to be discovered, and this
is one of the aims of sanitary investigation. At pre-
sent we merely recognise the fact that these mala-
dies are affected by local circumstances, and are, as
it were, intensified by filth and overcrowding, and
such like unwholesome agencies ; but we have yet
to ascertain what are the real inffuencies concerned
in their propagation, as well as the particular
agencies which originate them and determine their
speciality. The meteorology has been deduced,
as usual, from the observations at Guildhall,
under the superintendence of Mr. Haywood. The
mean temperature of the quarter has been
60 deg., which is the exact mean of the correspond-
in;; period of the last 43 years. The highest point
which the thermometer reached was 85 deg., and
the lowest 45.8 deg. The former was attained on
the 12th of August, when at Greenwich the ther-
mometer stood at 89.3 deg., and the latter was on

the 27th of September, —when at Greenwich it was
37.7 deg. These, as well as other observations,
show that the temperature in the city is more uni-
form than it is at Greenwich. The greatest daily
range of temperature has been 23'4 deg., and the
average of the ranges 19.3 deg. The diminished
rainfall has influenced the condition of the river;
for the proportion of solid matter has risen from an
average of 33.8 grains per gallon (that of the pre-
ceding quarter) to 128.7 grains ; of this nearly nine
grains were organic matter, and 93 were seasalt.
The condition of the water has been rather offen-
sive, and it has shown a tendency to active decom-
position, notwithstanding that the temperature of
it has not exceeded 67.5 deg. In the autumn quar-
ter of 1859 there was nearly the same state of the
water, as regards its appearance, its odour, and its
chemical composition. At that time the rainfall
amounted to only 5.5 inches, and tho temperature
to 71.3—conditions which are very nearly similar
to those of the past quarter. _ _ _

" Touching the sanitary work of the quarter, 1,404
houses have been inspected and 852 visits made to
the common lodginghouses of the city. These have
resulted in the issuing of 596 orders for sanitary

improvement. Of the visits of inspection 511 were
made inkonsequence of the existence of diarrhoea
among the inmates of the houses and 46 because
of fever. The markets and t'slaughter-houses
have also been duly inspected, and the officers have
seized 21,7061 b., or about 9 tons of meat as unfit
for human food. 17,9581 b. were seized in Newgate-
market, 1,45431 b. in Leadenhall, and 2,1051 b. in Ald-
gate. Of these, 5,4391 b. were putrid, 10,8271 b. were '
diseased, and 5,4401 b. were from animals that had
died from natural causes. The seizure consisted of
98 sheep, 35 pigs, 1 calf, 150 quarters of beef, and
130 joints ; besides which there were seized in
Leadenhall-market, on account of putridity and
death from natural causes, 184 fowls, 67 rabbits, 256
ducks, 102 pigeons, 17 hares, and 18 haunches and
quarters of venison. All of it was sent to the boilers,
and destroyed as food. The water from 12 of the
city pumps has been analysed during the quarter,
and the results, as in the former cases, show an enor-
mous amount of saline and organic impurity. Al-
togetheranthaeirne
ehvaevreybeasne
the
of the city pumps exa-
supewa
mpwuii ntmhepds; utrhfaatc ed
edrriaviensa
its supply
ter has been fouled
There_is not one of these
the deep strata
of the London basin ; and,Pexyclerot7
Glover's-hall-court and that in CPrulintlhatlnauPdiuldmiPngisn,
none of them furnish water that is fit for
purposes. At the best of times some of them yield
water which contains from 100 to 130
saline and organic matter in the gallon, and all of
them are excessively hard from the altered pro-
ducts of decomposition. The knowle Ige of the
composition of the soil through which the water
passes should warn us of the danger that may at
any moment arise from its use. It may be that it
h
has often been drunk with impunity, and that it
rarely shown any immediate manifestation of
its morbifie action ; but it cannot be that the pro-
ducts of corruption an be constantly admitted
into the human body without danger of