The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-17 00:00:00

WILLS AND BEQUESTS,.

The will of Lady Forbes, relict of Sir Charles
Forbes, Bart., of Newe and Edinglassie, was proved
in London on the 23d of July ; it bears date January
16, 1858, and there are two codicils, added in 1859.
The executors appointed are the testatrix's daughter,
Miss Elizabeth Constable Ashburner, and Alexan-
der Nesbitt Shaw, Esq., late of the Bombay
Civil Service. Her ladyship's personal property
was sworn under £14,000 ; this, together with
the property under settlement, she leaves amongst
her family by her late husband, Sir Charles,
and her former husband, Mr. Ashburner,
her ladyship having been twice married, and
has appointed her son, James Stewart Forbes,
Esq., and her daughter, Miss Katherine Stewart
Forbes, residuary legatees. Lady Forbes has left to
the poor of three parishes—two in Scotland, and
one in London—legacies of £5O each.—The will of
Rear Admiral the Hon. Frederick Thomas Pelham,
C 8., of the Admiralty, and Eccleston-square,
Pimlico, was proved in the principal registry on
the 22d of last month by his relict, sole executrix.
The personalty was sworn under £14,000. The
will bears date so far back as 1847, and was attested
by Captains W. H. Henderson and G. T. Gordon.
It is very brief, the admiral disposing of the whole
of his personal property to his relict absolutely.
Admiral Pelham died in June at the age of 52.—Trio
will of Lieutenant General Joseph Harris, of her Ma-
jesty's Indian army and of the Oriental Club, was
proved in the London Court on the Bth inst. by
the executors, Oriel Viveash, Esq., Colonel W. F.
Grant, and Robert Collura, Esq., M.D., the per-
sonalty being sworn under £lO,OOO. General
Harris having only one child, a daughter of very
tender years, has bequeathed all his property, real
and personal, in trust ; and has appointed the exe-
cutors nominated in his will trustees and guardians
to manage the property left to her until she attains
the age of 21, or on her marriage. In the event of
her decease previously, the general has then di-
rected the property to pass to his two grand-nieces.
There are legacies to his executors, and to a
female servant; and there are some articles of
jewellery which the general has left to the care of
the trustees to deliver to his daughter when more
advanced in life.—lllustrated News.

THE DEATH OF MR.. CASAMAJOR.

(From the Lancet.)

Mr. Casamajor, the celebrated sculler and able
conductor of the aquatic department of The Field,
died suddenly on the night ef Tuesday, the 6th
inst. Previous to his rowing for the diamond
sculls at Henley this summer he had been suffering
from an attack of rhematism. Contrary to the
advice of his friends he entered into the contest, and
it is natural to conclude that the rupture of the blood.
vessel from which he died was consequent upon his
exertions on that occasion. Friendly as we are to
athletic sports, this lamentable case suggests some
reflections upon the evils which must occasionally
arise from undue and prolonged physical exertion.
No doubt the rheumatic attack of wnich Mr. Casa-
m•,jor had been the subject rendered him especially
liable to the mischief which occurred. But his is
not a solitary case; men in the prime of life, healthy
and vigorous, have on many occasions irretrievably
ruined themselves by intense and unnatural bodily
exertion. The strain upon the vascular system
during a prolonged and ardent struggle is so great
that the astonishment is, not that fatal accidents
occur, but that they happen so comparatively sel-
dom. We say "so seldom," but we believe that
injuries of a permanent though not of a fatal.
character occur much more frequently than is
recorded. Cases constantly come under the notice
of the medical practitioner of impaired health and
of persistent disease consequent upon overstrained
bodily exertion. The call upon the. powers of
endurance has been such that healthy reaction could
not take place, and, like the overbent bow, the
human body has remained in a state of impaired
power, It is well known that some of our celebrated
posture- masters, clowns, and harlequins have become
prematurely old and decrepid as the results of the
exercise of their calling. The athletic frame of the
late Mr. Liston broke down in its prime from the great
physical exertion that he underwent. He died from
a disease which was fairly traceable to his steeple-
chases on foot, in which he distanced all competitors
in his early morning scampers over the fields and
hills in the neighbourhood of London.

The evil effects resulting from overworking the
brain are the theme of constant observation. How
many a word of warning and of comment is recorded
when a statesman like Sidney Herbert sinks in the
zenith of his career from the overwork which he has
undergone. Such comments and warnings are equally
applicable to those cases in which the body becomes
shattered by overtasking the mere physical powers.
In the present day of excitement and over-exertion
of the powers of both body and mind, a word in sea-
son cannot be out of piece. There is a fierce
struggle going on. Competition is everywhere.
We work as though the powers cif the human sys-
tem' were inexhaustible. We travel for pleasure
as if the amount of labour we undergo is to be
regarded as the measure of our enjoyment. Thou-
sands in this great city spend many anxious hours
in their daily pursuits, then hurry off by rail-
ways long distances into the country, snatch a few
hours of repose in the pure air of a rural district,
and hurry off again in the morning, anxious and
excited, to catch the early train that brings them
again to the scene of their labours. The excite-
ment goes on and is daily increasing ; and yet we
have occasionally sad warnings of the dangers of
the overwork. Men fall dead from heart-disease
after a hurried journey to the station, and medical
practitioners are acquainted with a serious class
of maladies which have sprung up as the conse-
quence of this overstraining of the faculties. Cases
like that of the lamented Mr Casamajor stand out
in prominence from a host of others; but there are
innumerable shades i❑ the picture gradually
shadowing off from the dark regions of death to
disease in a vast variety of forms. It would be
well if we could gather something like experience
from such facts, but the voice of warning falls too
frequently on unwilling or unheeding ears.