The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY

THE. REVENUE FOR THE YE

AR AND QUARTER ENDING

No. I.—An Abstract of the Net Produce of the Revenue of Great Brii

in in the Years and Quarters ended sth of January, 1843, and 5
or Decrease on each head thereof.

QUARTERS ENDL?II YEAR
QUARTERS ENDED YEAR
. .
....... •...„ ended ..--........„,.„.............___,__ ended Year ended Jan. 5 I Quarter ended Jan. 5
.....11
'April 5, July 5, Oct. 10, Jan. 5, Jan. 5, • Aprils, July 5, Om 10, 1 Jan. 5, ' Jan. 5, ......-........----,„ ,
1842 1842 1818 1843 1843 1843 1843 1843 1844 1814 Increase. I Decrease. I Increase. I Decrease.
Customs :- - -- ------
.--..-
Cons, lidated Duties ... 3,555,(52 3,12,1,605 4,647,472 3,274,001 - 3,193,586. 3,304,473 4,276,151 3,674,424 -
-
Sugar Duty to Consoli. - - -.
dated Fund - - - 262,548 1,252,733 - - - - .... - -
Ditto to Suppies - 1,296,505 920,089 - 763,405 - 1,253,357 1,692,514 .-
.-.- ••- -
- -___ -------- - ------- -----
Total Customs . 4,197,' f 3 4,422,101 5,94.3,977 4,214,089 1!,,07,,2110 4,219,537 4,557,201 5,5`29,568 4,766,968 10,073,219 Customs -
-
Stamps 1,5/9,487 1,098,379 1,631,480 1,561,:5! 0,491, 100 1,5!13126 1,659,010 1,0A3C,6 1,52'3,653 6,426,155 Stamps
64,945 38 101
Taxes . .
•
313,844 257,212 5 1,056 1,885,232 861,719 2,057,904 4.54,415 5,240,260 Property Tax 4,678,"04 83,106 )7,2'06
Property Tax
197703 Post Office 112,001 151,000 168,000 141,006 605,01,1 141,000 145,000 160,1101 143,000 592,000 Post Office •• 13,000 2,000 -
-
Crown Lands 50,500 30,000 12,500 40,000 132,45 0 95,000 32,5(0 :0,000 30,18 0 117,500 Crown,roLtaanid..s.
6,121,037 15,500 10,000
Miscellaneous
L
Total Ordinary Revenue 8,530,147 11,467,666 11,194,197 11,143,763 43,135, 73 10,321,522 1,,333,`93 13,286,17'2 11,829,581 49,078,168
178,642 760,815 75,0`..7
Imprest Moneys, &c 25,714 267,5.30 111,070 1(7,197 5,1,411 16,907 6',110 34,305 50,136 168,528 Imp. Moneys 342883 -
5 961
__
Repayments of Advances 161,671 1,2,552 180,211 5235,247 (82,681 124,013 138,217 230,932 332,060 825,247 Rep. of Adv... 142,566 , 96,813 6,.
_ -
crease Total Income
---- Amount applied to Con. 7,046,404 6,980,776 9,047,560 6,8t;0,0: 4 2.1,71J4,191 9,160,269 6,4 I ',no6 10,2,23,636 '7,859,893 g 54,586,394
D e dI
: r2uel ca, s'ts
25e
Doc: 7.8:231:7 69
;57,83 ft I npenler3ecelard, es9uea icito. n
5,742,078 Et
sol idated Fund
Ditto, as Advances
Ditto, as Ways & Means
of the Year
Year.
tithe Quarter
„ --- --
Total 8,720,532 11,r-37,743 12,285,478 11,416,107 14,329,805 II 10,469,417 113,530,210 113,851,409 112,211,777 50,171,943
I

No. ll.—lncome and Charge of the Consolidated Fund, in the Quarters ended the sth January, 1843, and the sth January, 1844.

Quarters ended Jan. 5. 1
INCOME. 1813 ----
-•
1814 1
Customs.—Consolidated Dutie' 3,274,000 3,674,424
Sugar applicable to the
Consolidated Fund
-- ---
Total Customs 3,274,000 3,674,424
Excise
Stamps 1,561,754 1,523,653
Taxes
Prope ty Tax
Post Office
Crown Lands 40,000 :0,000
Miscellaneous 21,557 11,917
Impreat and other Monies 11,7,497 50,1 6
Repayment of Advance.
--
10,54'5,709 11,138,305
To Cash brought to this Account to
be applied to pay off Deficiency Bills 1 WO OCO
—2— 1

Quarters ended Jan. 5.
u,....w.. 3 U11....7,1 o azi• .....
t.' -,....... •N
.
~.......
1813 1814 I CHARGE. /. 1813 lBl4
3,274,000 3,674,424 Permanent Debt
Terminable Annuities
Interest on Exchequer Bills issued to meet the charge on the Consolidated Fund 657,/9,5 ofo 616,801
50 4,807
-- ---- Sinking Fund
3,271,000 3,674,424 The Civil List
3,041,098 :,,049,813 Other 97,673 97,:%97 charges on the Consolidated Fund
459,1:.9 427,852
1,561,755 1,523,653 For Advances, and to pay off Exchequer Bills issued for Advances
140,000 291,501 1,886,1, 4 1,868,5:1
.---.
257,212 454,415 Total Charge 9,639,89.5 --- 9,906,7E8
141,000 143,000 The Surplus
40,000 : 0,000
01,527 11,917
10,663,709 11,135,30.5
1(7,197 50,1 6
---- ---..„ 235,247 332,060
The Amount of Exchequer Bills issued to meet the charge on the Consolidated Fund for the Quarter ended July 5, 1843,
10,5 C 5,709 11,138,305 and paid °trout of the growing produce of that Fund for the Quarter ended January 5,1844
The Amount issued in the Quarter ended January 5, 1814, in part of the sums granted by Parliament out of the Consoli-
dated Fund for Supply Services
2,967,839 ;The Surplus of the Consolidated Fund, Quarter ended January 5, 1844 1,V1,517 1,736,322
100,000
The probable amount of Exchequei Bills required to meet the charge on the Consolidated Fund, Quarter ended
10,665,7: 9 11,138,305 January 5, 1814
•..... 5,462,859

HYDROCYANIC ACID-A REMEDY
FOR BLINDNESS.
(From Chambers' .Btlinburgh Journal. _

castor oil the oil of almonds. By this treatment, in
two months he diminished the size of both eyes, and
so much decreased the opacity of the right eye, th
the pupil made its appearance and the child began to
see, and to be able to walk alone. After an interval
in attendance, caused by the Doctor's absence from
town, during which nothing was done for her, she
returned in 1842, when the vapour of the
hy-
drocyanic acid was regularly applied to both
eyes. This mode of treatment still further reduced
the size of the left eye, bringing it within the com-
pass of the eyelids, and finally diminished the right
eye to a proper size, besides greatly strengthening its
power of vision. She had attended a school for the
blind, where she learned to read raised letters by
touch ; but now that she is able to see, she reads
equally well by the eye as the fingers. I tried her
both ways, and think the eye had the best of it; she
read passages in a volume which I took from my
pocket with facility and propriety. While the right
eye had thus far advanced, leaving comparatively little
to be done to it, the left eye was gradually losing its
whitish opacity ; the blue pupil was shining out; and,
supposing the cure to go no farther, the orb was be-
coming less offensive in its general appearance—a
matter of some consequence to a face otherwise far
from unpleasing. When I last saw this child, her
health was greatly better than it had been in her days
of total and hopeless blindness.
The removal of sloughs or opacities of, the cornea
was shown in various other cases ; a person who had
been blind in the right eye for twenty years, said he
now could see with it. Many entered and left the
room by their own unaided sight, who told me they
could not formerly walk without a guide. At one
time there used to be nearly as many " leaders" in
attendance as blind people ; now, few of these are
required. As soon as one gets a glimmering of sight,
he begins to act as a guide to others, and thus " the
blind leading the blind" is no longer a mere figure in
rhetoric.

tions; but having left town before any decided
melioration was effected, I am unable to say what
was the result.
Here my personal observations may be considered
as having drawn to a close, leaving the conviction on
my mind, that the account given of Dr. Turnbull's
operations on the eye was substantially correct, and
that by means of the vapour of prussic acid, and other
stimulants applied in the manner I have described,
sight will in many cases be restored, when, as I have
reason to believe, all the ordinary forms of counter-
irritation and stimulus fail. I can at least say that, in
every instance I judged for myself, and entirely with
a reference to the elucidation of truth. I took the
histories of the patients from their own mouths, and
have no reason to suppose they had any intention
to deceive, or were themselves deceived by imaginary
feelings. I could not, indeed, for a moment enter-
tain the idea that they were anything but what they
plainly appeared ; persons, for the most part, in humble
circumstances, eager to be relieved from a great bodily
affliction, and thankful for the relief they had already
experienced.
Having thus received what I believed to be the
most credible testimony respecting the efficacy, and, I
may add, the simplicity and safety of Dr. Turnbull's
applications to the eye, I felt satisfied that, in copying
the account from the Literary Gazette, these pages
had not been stained by giving currency to anything
like imposture ; at the same time, from the extraor-
dinary unwillingness of the medical world to believe
a single word respecting the powers of prussic
acid to meliorate blindness, I deemed it necessary
to be cautious in making any fresh statement on
the subject. On my arrival in Edinburgh, there-
fore, after a journey on the Continent in the
interval, I submitted my experiences to a medical
friend, Alexander Miller, Esq., Fellow of the Royal
College of Surgeons, with a request that he would
gratify me by giving Dr. Turnbull's form of applica-
tion a fair trial. Having kindly consented to my
wish, this gentleman first tried the vapour of prussic
in a bottle prepared by Dr. Turnbull for the purpose,
upon one of his patients, a boy, who was affected
with opacity of the cornea in one of his eyes.
Greatly to his delight, and mine also, and much more
so to the parents of the child, the boy, after being
blind, was restored to sight after a few applications.
The following is Mr. Miller's account of the case :-
32, Buccleuch-place, Edinburgh, Nov. 28, 1843.
My dear Sir,—Having, at your desire, undertaken to
ascertain the effect of the application of the vapour
of hydrocyanic acid in certain affections of the eye, I
beg to furnish you with the results I have observed
during the short time I have been engaged with this
important investigation. The first case in which I
employed the vapour is the only one that I will de-
tail at any length, as it is much further advanced
towards recovery than any of the others ; in fact, the
cure may be said to be all but completed. It was a
case of opacity of the cornea. A boy, J. C., wt. 7,
of a strumous habit, and of a strumous family, in
the summer of 1842 suffered from an attack of
small-pox, before recovering from which he was
seized with measles. During these attacks both
eyes were affected with inflammation, which con-
tinued more or less severe for nearly twelve months,
notwithstanding the constant employment of reme-
dies, the right eye suffering more than the left : when
the inflammation at last yielded, it was found that
no disorganisation of the left eye had taken place,
but that the right one had suffered to a very consi-
derable extent ; the cornea was found opaque to
nearly four-fifths of its whole extent, the greatest
opacity occupying the centre, and gradually diminish-
ing towards the circumference; the only part not
affected was the margin, where it joins the sclerotic.
The effect of this opacity of the cornea was to impede
vision completely, so that the boy could not, with the
affected eye, distinguish one object from another;
all that he could do was to discern light from dark-
ness. Such was the state of matters for months
previous to the Ist October last, when the hydrocy-
anic acid vapour was first applied. This I ascertained
from personal observation before using the vapour.
The hydrocyanic acid was applied according to the
method recommended by Dr. Turnbull of London,
and by means of the apparatus procured by you from
him. The immediate effect was increased secretion of
tears, redness of the conjunctiva and cornea ; these in-
stantly becoming covered with numerous small vessels,
the eyelids also participating in the redness, their
colour contrasting strangely with the surrounding
paleness of the face. The boy declared he
felt no pain, only an agfeeable sensation of heat was
produced. The application of the vapour has been re-
peated every second, third, or fourth day, as it was
found convenient, so that in all it has been applied
about twenty different times. The change upon
the cornea has been not only remarkable, but most
satisfactory; the opacity perceptibly diminishing after
every application, until there now only remains the
slightest haziness, which I am confident will also dis-
appear after a few more applications. There has
likewise been a corresponding improvement in the
vision. From being unable to distinguish the largest
objects, he now can discern the smallest.
Besides the above, I have employed the hydrocyanic
acid vapour in upwards of twelve other cases of various
affections of the eye, but in none for such a long period.
They have all come under my care during the last two
or three weeks, and have the disadvantage of being of
much longer standing than the one detailed, and must
necessarily require longer time before the beneficial
effects are produced, many of these being cases of from
fifteen to twenty years' standing. Still, from the im-
provement observed in several of these, where the
affection is opacity of the cornea, I feel confident in
assuring you that I look upon the vapour of the hy-
drocyanic acid as a most valuable remedy in all such
affections. IVith regard to its effects in other diseases,
such as amaurosis, cataract, &c., I cannot, as yet,
speak from my own observation and experience. As
I have some cases of these affections under treatment,
I shall be happy to communicate the results to you as
soon as I have given the remedy a fair trial. One
important fact which I have been able to establish is,
that there is not the slightest danger attending the
application of the hydrccyanic acid—providing due
caution is observed in doing so—even in cases of the
most delicate and feeble constitution ; for a more un-
healthy subject could not be found than the boy whose
case I have described.--I am yours truly,
ALEX. MILLER.

In the summer of last year, 'While residing for a
month in London, no subject of interest which the
metropolis presents engaged so large a share of my at-
tention as one which now, after considerable delibera-
tion, I propose explaining to the reader of these pages
on the score of public duty. I allude to a series of
personal examinations which I made respecting the
validity of certain alleged cures and meliorations of
blindness, performed by Dr. Turnbull, of Russell-
square, chiefly by means of hydrocyanic acid. It is
proper to say why an unprOfessional person should
have considered it at all necessary to devote time to
the investigation of a subject of this nature.
The first time I heard anything of Dr. Turnbull's
operations on the eye, was through an article in the
Literary Gazette of June 12, 1842, from which, cn
the credit of that print, and simply for the sake of
conveying what appeared a piece of curious scientific
information to the public, an extract was made into
the present journal (No. 546). There, in all proba-
bility, the matter might have rested, but for what
seemed an unreasonable attack from a Contemporary,
calling in question the truth of the statements in the
Journal, and protesting against the injury they were
likely to accomplish. Having sinned in ignorance, if
they had sinned at all, the,editors of Chambers's Ethn-
burgh .Tournal resolved to embrace the first convenient
opportunity of investigating, personally, what was
evidently a two-sided subject, and of forming their
own opinion. No doubt this was a hazardous reso-
lution, for, unacquainted with the state of ocular sur-
gery, they might possibly be misled by appearances,
and give credence to what was in reality a fallacy.
Nevertheless, with a determination to exercise caution
in a matter so intricate, to sift the evidence presented,
and to judge only from facts, they hoped to satisfy
themselves whether the allegations against them rested
on a basis of truth or prejudice. This opportunity
happily occurred, as has been said, in the summer of
the past year, when one of the editors, the present
writer, was for a few weeks in the metropolis.
To descend to the first person—One of the earliest
of my movements after arriving in town was to wait
upon Dr. Turnbull and explain the object of my
visit. This was no sooner announced, than that gen-

That opacities in the external coating of the eye
should be removable by a pungent and active vapour,
is much less surprising than that such applications
should at all affect cases of cataract, which resembles
a pearly matter within the eye, and therefore removed
considerably from the proximate action of the vapour
from the acid. Several cases of this form of blindness
were brought under my notice, as having been par-
tially meliorated by the process ; but, on the whole, I
think the Doctor was less successful in this depart-
ment than in others. The cure, if it be possible, is
evidently tedious ; but as cataract is removable by
couching, a want of success with the external applica-
tions is perhaps the less to be regretted.
Some cases of amaurosis interested me not a little.
Ainaurosis, it is proper to explain, is that form of
blindness in which the eyes appear sound to an ob-
server, but are really incapable of vision. The defect
arises from paralysis of the optic nerve, or the branches
of the fifth pair of nerves ; or sometimes from disease
of the brain itself. The restoration of sight in such
cases, particularly if of a confirmed nature, has
hitherto been considered hopeless by the profession.
Dr. Turnbull entertains a very different opinion. He
believes the complaint to be removable by stimulating
the nerves and the circulation in the neighbourhood of
the eve. This he does in two ways; first, by apply-
ing the vapour of hydrocyanic acid to the ball of the
eye, in the manner already described ; and second,
by the application of essential oils, diluted in alcohol,
to the sorehead ; warmth, increased circulation, ab-
sorption, and action, are the consequence. By treat-
ment of this kind, found several patients so far re-
covered from their amaurosis, as to be able to read by
sight any book put before them.
Sophia Brown, a milliner, told me she had been
quite blind with amaurosis, and had been dismissed
as past remedy by all the medical men to whom she
applied. But by her attendance on Dr. Turnbull for
seven months, her sight is gradually coming back ;
she can now see objects, though not distinctly, and
Can walk without a guide. I !at her with sight im-
proving and general health greatly better. Sophia
Townsend, who had been blind with amaurosis in the
left eye, for which nothing could be done of the least
value by the medical men in whose hands she had
been, could now, after three months'
applications, see
so well with that eye, as to be able to read with it.
,-
To satisfy myself still further as to the possibility of
assuaging amaurosis by the external stimulants,l sent
for a person named John Plunket, formerly an at-
torney s clerk, who for several Years had been so
blind with amaurosis, as to be-led about by his
children. This man told me that his left eye had been
destroyed by operations, and therefore Dr. Turn-
bull addressed himself only to the right. By re-
rented applications of essential oils to the forehead
his sight in this undestroyed eye gradually recovered.
This recovery took place four years ago, and his sight
was still improving by weekly applications. He read
a book which I produced, and is desirous of employ-
ment as a clerk. This was a very satisfactory case of
recovery from amaurosis, but perhaps
not more so
than another, that of Eleanor M'Cartney, a poor Irish-
woman in St. Giles' Workhouse, Holborn. Guided
by Mrs. Bailey, the respectable matron of this Insti-
tution, I was conducted to the couch of this bed-rid
pauper, whose neat and cleanly appearance, as she sat
up in bed, bespoke a declension from better days.
Eleanor told her case in feW: words. About the year
1629 she became quite blind in the right eye, and
deaf in the right ear, from an attack of paralysis, in
which state she remained till 1835, when Dr. Turn-
bull, by his applications, restored her sight and hear-
ing in a week, and she bad retained both ever since.
Airs. I3ailey corroborated all the poor woman said. At
my request she read a few passages with the formerly
blind eye from a devotional work lying by her bed-
side. This quite satisfied me.
In one of my latest visits to Dr. Turnbulrs, I saw
for the first time a case of conical eye, a form of dis-
ease which I understand has hitherto been con-
sidered as incurable as amaurosis. In this disorder
the eye projects to an obtuse point, with a brilliant
speck in front, as if a small piece of crystal were laid
upon the cornea. By the action of the vapour, the
speck in this case was disappearing, and the sight
coming back.
Sometimes I was permitted to see patients moving in
the higher spheres of life ; but their cases were usually
of a more simple and less painful nature than the others.
One of the most interesting of this class was that of a
gentleman who complained of having ever present in
one cf his eyes a small speck, which marred the field
of vision. Ile mentioned, however, that there was
whtiochDr.
he
recounted. " I remember, said he, "on the no actual speck ~,,in the organ, that it was a mere
spectrum, which, greatly to his surprise, had been im-
pressed on the retina after he had on one occasion
been looking intently through a telescope, in which a
speck happened to be on one of the lenses. The men-
'
Ttitirinbotfiltll'lsis memoryremarkablesom i apparition
analogous
cases recalled
occa-
sion of the annular eclipse of the sun a few years ago,
that several people with weak and over-susceptible
eyes, even although shuttered by smoked glass, re-
ceived impressions which remained for a length of
time. One gentleman called on me to say, that he
could not, night or (183., get the eclipse out of his
eye. Wherever he looked, there the bright ring of
she sun, with the !darkened moon in the centre, was
present. I could not., unfortunately, relieve him from
his apparationary tormentor, for I had not then dis-
covered the mode of treatment I now pursue." This
curious case of abiding spectrum was paralleled by
another which was mentioned, that of a gentleman
tlle ho,
frem having
one day looked fixedly at a print of
ord's prayer the size of a sixpence, received the
impression of it on the retina, where, to his annoy-
ance, it remained ever present to his sense of vision.
After a little conversation on the cause of such sin-
gularities, the gentleman who was affected with the
small speck was subjected to the ordinary applica-

tleman professed his willingness to give me every in •
formation respecting his practice in cases of blindness,
to explain all that seemed puzzling or difficult, and to
submit his patients freely to every sort of examination
which I chose to institute. " What time," said I,
" do your gratis patients attend ?" " Thrice a-week,
at nine in the morning." " Then I shall be in at-
tendance at that time during my stay in London." I
did so, and every alternate morning found me on my
way up 'Tottenham Court-road, towards Russell-
square, where the subjects of my inquiry were con-
gregated. _ _ _

The cases chiefly brought under my notice were
those of from thirty to forty poor people, in dif-
ferent states of blindness, and whose condition I could
progressively observe. Some of the cases were among
those which had already been made known in the
Literary Gazette; others were more recent. In either
instance, the parties showed no reluctance to tell me
the story of their maladies, and submitted with pa-
tience to my repeated examinations and cross-
questionings. One by one they were brought from
an adjoining room into the surgery, and operated
upon in my presence. I shall here describe, as clearly
as possible, the principle on which the Doctor pro-
fesses to act. Some years ago, according to his own
account, having remarked that the eyes of persons who
had destroyed themselves by hydrocyanic or prussic
acid remained clear and dilated, he considered that
the acid exerted a specific action upon the eye, which
might be made available as a medical agent for re-
lieving many of the diseases to which that organ is
subject. After a few cautious experiments, he be-
came assured of the truth of his conjectures, and
began to apply the vapour of this powerful acid to
the eyes of persons afflicted with blindness, and
with surprising effect. As far as I have compre-
hended his explanations, the vapour acts both as a
stimulant and sedative. By exciting the small
blood-vessels to a great degree, the languid circulation
is roused into activity ; and nature, no longer shackled
by the morbid affection, hastens to restore the
organ to its normal condition, and sight is the conse-
quence. Subsequent experiments showed to Dr.
Turnbull that the practice might be advantageously
varied, to suit different cases, were he to employ other
agents, as the vapour of chloracyanic acid, sulphu-
retted chyazic acid, and chloruret of iodine. Each of

these, therefore, he now uses in a small phial with a
glass stopper, and with a mouth shaped to cover the
hollow of the eye. In the bottle containing the hydro-
cyanic acid, in order to prevent any dangerous conse-
quences from accidentally spilling the liquid, he puts
some pieces of asbestos to act as a sponge; the-use of
it is hence quite safe, care only being taken not to
allow the patient to smell it. The same thing is done
with respect to the chloracyanic acid.
Having received these preliminary explanations' it
became important for me to understand upon NV hat
kinds of blindness the vapour of these acids might be
most advantageously directed. The cases submitted
to my inspection were various in their nature—opa-
city of the cornea, rheumatic opthalmia, staphyloma,
or projecting slOughed eye, amaurosis, cataract, and
some others. On some of these the operations with
the hydrocyanic acid and other vapours were, from
what I could observe, more efficacious than others.
The first case of more than ordinary interest
which I shall mention was that of Diana Prim-
rose. A number of years ago, as this woman told
me, her eyes became afflicted with opthalmia;
they were swollen, inflamed, and so blind, that she
could only distinguish light, and she required to
be led by a guide ; to aggravate her complaint, the
e7c-'elashes would grow no other way but inwards.
The pains in her head were very severe. She attended
several hospitals and institutions in the hope of finding
relief, but without the least benefit. On one occasion,
a surgeon cut away a portion of the upper lid of the
left eye, and many of her eyelashes were from time
to time pulled out. From less to more, the poor
creature became a spectacle of horror to all who saw
her; and her existence was a burden which she would
willingly have resigned. At length she visited Dr.
Turnbull, who, by applying his usual medical agents,
suppressed the virulence of the complaint ; the hitherto
refractory eyelashes began to grow as nature designed
them, outwards; and now there seemed little the matter
with her, except a redness of the eyelids, and a dimness
in the organs of vision. She said she could now see
pretty well ; she could read large print, walk about
without a guide, the pains in her head were gone,
and she was able to support herself by her industry ;
in proof of this, she brought forward a basket of
coloured worsted articles, by the knitting of which
she earns a livelihood. She expressed a lively grati-
tude for her restoration to sight, and the last time I
saw her she was advancing towards a perfect recovery.
Of the cases of staphyloma, or projecting eye, with
opacity of the cornea, none interested me more than
that of a little girl, by name Georgina Larkins. This
sweet-tempered child became blind when she was six
days old, in consequence of an attack of inflammation.
Referring to the professional history of her case, already
before the public, it is sufficient for me here to mention,
that all the ordinary means for restoring sight proved,
in -her case, unavailing ; and that in April, 1840, she
was brought to Dr. Turnbull, a ghastly object—the
left eye projecting to twice the natural dimensions,
and of a general blue colour, with a white body re-
sembling a
.mother-of-pearl button in the centre ;
while the right eye was white, without any appear-
ance of iris or pupil. The case was as hopeless as
could well be imagined, yet to it the Doctor set with
his applications, beginning by putting a drop of castor
oil into each eye, and occasionally substituting for the

After receiving such assurancess, ;niccesitatiOn to
publish the result of my inquiries seemed to me un-
justifiable and pusillanimous. I now, therefore, submit
the foregoing statements, with a confidence in their
accuracy ; and shall feel gratified if they in any way
prove the means of inducing medical men to examine,
apart from all private or personal considerations, into
the merits of the discoveries and applications in ques-
tion. WI. C.

DEATH OF GENERAL COMTE D'ORSAY.—We re-
gret to announce the death of General Comte d'Orsay, which
took place at his chateau in Franche Comte, on the 26th of
December. His son Comte Alfred, now Comte d'Orsay, was
called from England three weeks ago to the death of his father,
which his presence and filial attention cheered to the last.
General Comte d'Orsay was one of the most distinguished offi-
cers in Napoleon's army, and on the Restoration' was employed
by the King, Louis XVIII., in whose service he was sent as
Governor to Vittoria, where he so conciliated the affection and
esteem of the inhabitants, that on his departure they presented
him with a costly sword, inscribed " Au General Comte d'Or-
say, Vittoria recormoisant." The father of the General was
one of the most liberal patrons of art that France ever had,
and his noble collection of pictures and statues were open to
the artists of every country. He married, first, the Princesse
de Croy, belonging to one of the most ancient families in France,
mother to the General: and, secondly, the Princesse de Hohen-
loe, of the noble house of that name in Germany, by whom he
had a second son, the Comte Maximilian d'Orsay, at present
one of the Chamberlains to the Emperor of Austria.
Sir Peregrine Maitland, Governor of the Cape of
Good Hope, is expected to embark on Monday, to enter upon
his official duties.