The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-04 00:00:00

LONDON CUTANEOUS INSTI-

TUTION.
The first annual festival of the London Cutaneous In-
stitution for the treatment and curd of chronic non-
iafectious diseases of the skin, was held last evening at
the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street.
Lord Viscount Sandon, M.P., in the chair.
Among the company present we noticed Sir Edward
Buxton, Bart., S. Gurney, Esq., T. Hankey, Esq., W.
Thornborrow, Esq., W. Wilkinson, Esq., Moxhay,
Esq., Dr. Southwood Smith, Dr. Hodgkin, Boyes Thorn-
ton, Esq., secretary of the Institution, J. Startin, Esq.,
Surgeon to the Institution, and G. Thompson, Esq.
Shortly after seven o'clock about one hundred gentle-
men sat down to an excellent dinner, consisting of all
the delicacies of the season, and which was put on the

---- -
table in that admirable style which is characteristic of

,he London Tavern.

The musical arrangements were conducted by Mr.
Bruton, who was assisted by Messrs. Pyne, Turner, F.
Smith, Martin, and Ashton. Mr. Harker officiated as
toast-master, and went through the duties of his office in

admirable style.
The usual loyal toasts having been drank with all the
honours,
The CHAIRMAN rose to propose the toast of the even-
ing. They were all men of business there, and, there-
fore, it was better at once to proceed to the business of
the evening, and he would, therefore, propose the toast
of " Prosperity to the London Cutaneous Institution."—
Now, no doubt some fastidious persons had objected to
the name as something loathsome, and attempts had been
made to create a prejudice against the Institution ; but
Englishmen would never be deterred from the support of
that which they felt to be morally right by any fear of
personal obloquy.—(Loud cheers.) The objections
which had been originally made to this Institution were
fast disappearing, and when the grounds en which those
objections had been made were examined, they would be
found all to vanish into air.—(Loud cheers.) It was
natural that at first persons should be alarmed when they
found that an institution for the treatment of a cer-
tain class of loathsome diseases was about to be estab-
lished in their neighbourhood. But when the matter
was properly examined into, it became evident that
their fears were ludicrous.—(Loud cheers.) He
believed that the prejudices which had existed against
the Institution were now rapidly diminishing, and that
many of those who had been originally opposed to its
establishment in its present locality were now num-
bered amongst its well-wishers. There was no chari-
table institution in the metropolis which did such a great
amount of good at such a small expense.—(Cheers.) It
had been objected to this Institution, that there were
hospitals open in which cutaneous diseases were treated
in common with others. So there were. But if there
were any fact which could be called incontrovertible, it
was this—that in science, as well as in mechanics, the
division of labour was attended with incalculable advan-
tages. Here they had an institution for the treatment of a
particular class of diseases. If a medical man wished to
acquire pre-eminent skill in any particular department
of his profession, it was necessary that he should devote
himself more particularly to it. All scientific know-
ledge must, according to Lord Bacon, be acquired by
the method of induction ; and in order to acquire know-
ledge by induction, it was necessary to collect facts; and
this Institution furnished them with the means of trying
the foundation on which the superstructure of science was
to be built.—(Cheers.) They had hospitals for the
treatment of diseases of the eye, and for the treatment
of diseases of the spine, and surely, therefore, they
ought to have an hospital for the treatment of the
diseases of the skin.—(Cheers.) He would not dilate
further on that part of the subject, for, speaking as he
did in the presence of so many members of the medical
profession, he felt himself in the situation of the sophist,
who discoursed of the art of war to Hannibal.—(A
laugh.) He believed that the greatest boon which could
be conferred on society was to extend the field of medi •
cal science, and, as a proof of his position, he would
allude to the report recently published of the works of
the medical missionaries among the Chinese. An ad-
miration of Christian feeling and a love of science had
been propagated among that great people by the labour
of the medical missionaries.—(Cheers.) This was a
matter somewhat foreign to the subject, but still he could
not help alluding to it.—(Cheers.) He would detain
them no longer, but would at once propose the toast—
, " Prosperity to the London Cutaneous Institution."
Drank with three times three.
Song, Mr. Turner, " The Four-Leaved Shamrock."
Mr. G. THOMPSON, in an eloquent speech, in the
course of which he passed a high eulogium upon the
character of Mr. S. Gurney, proposed the next toast,
which was the health of " Samuel Gurney, Esq., the
President of the Institution," with three times three.
Mr. S. GURNEY, in returning thanks, entered into a
brief history of his connexion with the Institution. It
was now about two years since that his son had informed
him that there was an Institution for the treatment of
cutaneous diseases in London-wall, which had absolutely
outgrown its means. He inquired into the merits of the
Institution, and he found that it effected a very great
amount of good at a very small expense. He found,
moreover, that it was in most able hands, and that his
friend Startin, the surgeon of the Institution, with whom
he had been previously unacquainted, was a benevolent
and skilful man, who devoted his time and skill to the
service of his fellow-creatures.—(Hear.) The Institution
had absolutely outgrown the locality in which it had
been placed. Having satisfied himself of its merits,
he determined that it should not fall.—(Loud cheers.)
On inquiry, he found that the neighbours did not con-
sider the Institution any nuisance, the clergyman of the
oarish. who lived ennosite to it. bore witness to its wood
effects, and the only annoyance of which the neighbours
complained was that, in consequence of the want of ac-
commodation within the building, some of the patients
were obliged for some time to stand in the street. A
house in Bridge-street, which afforded greater accommo-
dation, was hired for the Institution, and the Apothe-
caries Company were so satisfied as to the value of the
Institution, that they had agreed to let them have their
waste hot water for baths gratis. This was no small
testimony to their usefulness.—(Cheers.) Now, it had
since been attempted to be shown that the Institutioa
was a nuisance to the neighbourhood, but the Institution
had been open seven weeks before the neighbours were
aware of its existence in their neighbourhood.—
(Loud cheers.) After the lapse of that time, how-
ever, a most violent attack had been made upon them.
The authorities of Bridewell had been applied to on
the subject, and an attempt had been made to induce the
Court of Common Council to break their lease. After a
long investigation, however, before the Lands Commit-
tee of that body—the Committee had unanimously de-
cided that the opponents of the institution had not proved
their case.—(Cheers.) He believed, however, that the
hostile feeling against them was now gradually dying
away. He would refer to the Times newspaper, and in
doing so he wished to treat the conductors of that paper
with all possible respect ; but he could not but observe
that paper had ceased to attack them with that hostility
which it had at one time manifested against them.—
An eminent surgeon had taken part in that controversy,
and had, as he thought, committed an act of no small in-
discretion. He was an individual of high standing, Win.
Lawrence, and he had thought proper to publish a letter
in that newspaper, stating, that as cutaneous diseases
were treated in the general hospitals, he thought that
such an Institution as the present, devoted to their spe-
cial treatment, was useless, and that the division of labour
in this department of medical science was calculated to
do harm, and those remarks were from the pen of the
gentleman who was the medical officer of an eye infir-
mary and of a fever institution.—(Cheers and laughter.)
He should not have mentioned this did he not know that
the professional character of Mr. Lawrence was so high,
and his general character so excellent, that even a slip
of this kind could not detract from it.---(Cheers.) He
thought the establishment of an institution of this nature
was a great blessing to the City of London. They had
been told they should remove from their present locality
and go elsewhere. Now, where were they to go? Were
they to go to a neighbourhood where the people were
feeble and poor, and could not defend themselves,
and could not call out for help—for that was the mean-
ing of telling them to go elsewhere.—(Cheers.) Their
consciences would not permit them to do that.—(Cheers.)
If they were a nuisance, better that they should be,near
those who could defend themselves, than near those who
could not.—(Cheers.) But in his solid judgment they
were no nuisance at all.—(Cheers.) He believed the
cohabitants now considered that they were no nuisance.
The Equitable Assurance Office was opposite the Insti-
tution, and the dwellers there had told him that they
experienced no nuisance at all from the proximity of the
Institution, and he believed that if his worthy friend
Delaine were there, he would almost be inclined to admit
that his fears had been groundless.—(Cheers.) The op-
position to their institution had much abated, and
the newspaper attacks on them had ceased.—
(Loud cheers.) He hoped that in a little time
the Apothecaries Company would again let them have
the use of the hot water.—(Cheers.) But, as it was,
they had baths ready for the patients whenever they
were wanted ; and he considered that the utility of the
Institution was proved, by the immense and increasing
number of applications that were made every year for
admission. He concluded by urging those present to
support the Institution ; and, after thanking the com-
pany for the attention with which they had listened to
him, sat down amidst loud cheering.
The SECRETARY then read the following report :
" FIRST REPORT OF THE LONDON CUTA-
NEOUS INSTITUTION, 25, BRIDGE-STREET,
BL ACK:FRIARS.
" In London, the centre of civilisation and intelligence,
where public institutions have existed for nearly every
variety of human suffering, it had long been a subject of
regret, in a scientific as well as a charitable sense, that
there was no efficient special institution for the cure of
chronic diseases of the skin.
"Many of the continental capitals possess one or more
similar institutions—at Turin, Florence, Berlin, Vienna,
and other cities—either as separate establishments or
attached to the hospitals ; and in Paris the Hopital de
St. Louis, dating from A. D. 1605, is devoted to the
treatment and cure of cutaneous diseases, relieving, on an
average, 7,000 in-patients and 25,000 out-patients
annually, though many of the latter avail themselves
only of the baths, an indispensable auxiliary in such an
establishment, and which are to be found in unrivalled
extent and perfection at that hospital.
" To appreciate sufficiently the value and importance
of a similar institution in this country, it will be recol-
lected that the population of Paris but little exceeds one
half of that of London, whilst in this great metropolis,
from the number of manufactories, the proportion of per-
sons liable to cutaneous disorders is much larger than in
the former, for, it may not be general') known, that the
artizans in many trades are subject, from the irritant
properties of the substances on which they are employed,
to diseases of the skin, which interrupt manual labour,
and frequently oblige the parties to seek some other me-
thod of gaining a livelihood.
" The London Cutaneous Institution was established
in the autumn of the year 1841, for the special pus-pose
of gratuitously affording, on their own application, to all
indlgent persons suffering from diseases of the skin,