The Sun.
London, England, 1818-07-24 00:00:00

PIGEON SHOOTING.

A match for SO guineas a side, and a sweepstakes of 10
guineas each, took place on Wednesday on Cobham Downs,
between ffoir gentlemen of Hants and four of Sussex, at
seven birds each, from a trap at .11 yards, and the per furor-
anc.,s, as it will be seen, were of the firsf-rate order. No
match ever excited more interest.

HANTS.

Birda killed.

Missed.

Mr. Forrester
Mr. James 7
Mr. South 7
Mr. Wynn 6
. Total killed 26.
SUSSEX.
ilird4 killed.

Missed.

Mr. King
Mr. Dodiray 6 0
Mr. Knight
Mr. C. Smith

The Sussex Gentlemen fired hut six shots, the match being
then lost by Mr. C. Smith missing his sixth bird. The gen-
tlemen are considered the four hest shots in England, on each
tide.

We regret to state, that Sir ROBERT STEELE
met with a serious accident while riding fast is
St James's-street, the day before yesterday. His
horse slipped off, when passing between a tilbury,
in which Captain Cox, of the Life Guards, was
driving, and a hackney coach. The tilbury horse
trod on Sir ROBERT'S temple, and the chaise
much hurt his side : he was carried to a neigh-
bouring surgeon and copiously bled, and ii) an
hour afterwards conveyed home in a coach. We
are happy to learn that be is going on favourably.
We regret to learn that the typhus has for
some time been prevalent in Appin of Argyllshire,
and has lately made its appearance on the Locha-
ber side, where it has already been fatal to many.
The inhabitants of the village of Fort William
dread its near approach in tile present exces3ively
sultry weather.—(Edinburgh Courant )
The increase in the various branches of the Re•
venue proves incontestibly the flourishing state of
our Commerce; while the peculiar improvement
in the Customs evinces the high opinion foteighers
entertain of our public spirit, by their avidity to
consign the finest flavoured Wines to England, on
reading, in the Continental Papers, Mr. CARROLL'S
invitation to adventurers to select the choicest
Port, Claret, and Madeira, as a zest to the Prizes
of Sovereigns in the Lottery, in addition tf) the
Two Prizes of 30,0001. and the 16 other Capitals,
which may be drawn Next Tuesday, at there are
no fixed Prizes, and only 800 Q Ticket*.

'CONTAGIOUS FEVER.

REPORT.

The Select committee appointed to examine into
the State of Contagious Fever in the Metropo-
lis, and into the Condition of the Institution
. for the Cure of and Prevention of the same—and
who were employed to report their observations
thereupon to the House, together with the Mi-
notes of Evidence taken before them—have
agreed upon the following llePoaT
Yon't Committee having summoned before them
Physicians front the principal Hospitals in the
metropolis, proceeded in the first place to inquire
into the progress and extent of that contagious
fever which during the last 12 months has been
so prevalent. In order to obtain correct infor-
mation upon thin suhicct, they called for a return
of the number of patients who have been admit-
ted into a Fever Hospital constructed in Pancras-
road, and entitled a " House of. Recovery.'' This
establishment had its origin in the year 1802, a
period of great sickness among- the poorer classes
of society. it having been preceded by a scarcity
of food for two yea's. In the year 1803, 164
patients, and in that of 1804, 185 were admitted
into this hospital. The return inserted in the
tvidence of Dr. Batemen; Physician to the institu-
tion for the last lb years, shows that the mini-
mum of sickness was in 1810, when 30 patients-
only were admitted ; and that the average of the
three years preceding 1617, when the present
epidemic may be considered to have commenced,
was somewhat more than 76 per annum ; in the
the year 1817, 126 ; and from April in that year
to the same period in ;818, no less ban 797 per-
sons were patients in this Infirmary.
Your Committee then proceeded to. inquire as
to the prevalence of this contagions fever in the
different Hospitals in the Metropolis.
Dr. Marcet, who is one of the physirians.at
Guy's, informed them, that in the.year 1817 doom'
60 patients .were admitted with cases of fever, and.
in that ending April 1.818, 253.
In the London Hospital, Dr. Yelloly states,
that the average number of fever-patients may be
taken at about 30 for the last five years:; that in
1817, 97 cases were admitted,; and in the first
Three months of this year no less than 35.
Your Committee have no:regular return from
Sr. Thomas's; but Dr: Cur'rey, physician to that
• Hospital, says, that the number of fever-cases
- was considerably greater than in the preceding
years.
At tit. Bartholorne_w's, the increase is also stat.
ed to he great ; bin yoUr Committee have. no re-
turn of the numbers-; tOr .Dr. Roberts informed
them that no register is kept in the Hospital to
distinguish the different varieties of disease..
At Sr. George's, the same-statement is made by
Dr. Young ; and there also no register is kept.
In the-Westminster :Hospital, Dr. Tuthill in-
formed your Committee, that the °Minn, y average
bf fever cases may be taker, at 23 ; while, from
Lady-day 1817 to 1818, 38 patients labouring
under this disease have been admitted.
In the Middlesex Hospital, theaverage number
of contagious fever cases is.about 60 per annum ;
and laSt year the number amounted to 120.
Your Coniniittee haviog thus ascertained the
alarming increase olcontagions fevers in the Hos-
- pitsls of.the. Metropolis, proceeded to examine
the physicians of some of the principal Dispen-
L caries.

Dr.- Laird, physician at the Public Dispensary
of Carey-street,. informed them, that in the year
1815, 84 cases of fever were entered in their
books ; in 1816, 76 cases ; and in 1817, 147 ;
and in the four. months of the present year, 59
eases of fever have been so registered.
Dr., Clutterbuck also stares, that for many years
past not above 12 cases of typhus have-been ad-
' mitred on their b'olvkl'rbut, io The last year, there
have bee&abore•2oo. '
Your Commi?tee thought fit to Transmit a series
of questions to the different physicians belonging
to some Of...the Dispensaries of London, and to
~, the answers of which they be leave to. re-
fer. Dr. Davies, physician to-the• London. Dis-
pensary, averages the number of cases of fever in.
the esiablishment to which be belongs, for a pe-
riod of f 3 years, to be about 100 annually ;
in the. last year they amounted to 3A9. In the
Finsbury Dispensary, • the mean number of fever
cases is 66; brit from the Ist of May, 1817, to
the same day, 1818, 163 cases were registered.=
Mr. Burgess, apothecary to St. Luke's Work-
house, stated, that he attends, ott.ao,average of
common years, about 150 cases of feVer; in the
last year the number rose to 600.
Dr. Lincoln states, that his parochial patients
have increased from the ordinary average of 40
and 50, to 250 and 300.
Your Committee, having thus been informed
of the extent of this epidemic, and the severity
with which, it has fallen' on the poorer classes of
society;. proceeded to . inquire into the nature and
extent of the means afforded, in the way of me-
' dical relief, to those afflicted with this calamity.
The benevolence of -some individuals, aided.by
a considerable grant of money.on the pert of the
public, has constructed a fever infirmary, called
• " The louse of Recovery, which is capable of
containing about 69 patients.
• This establishment has t isen to its extent and
. consquence by slow degrees ; it began in a sniall
house which was capable of
.., contain* only a very limited number of patients,
and it's 'augmented size is a convincing proof of
ifg-i,:atltnthyledged value, no less than its being
necessary to the increasing wants of the metro-
ptilis. It is supported by.voluntary contributions,
7ritte'';rinottrit of which may be taken at 4501. per
fa suet. This Institution possesses besides a fund
0f,2,0001. in Exchequer Bills, and 2,6821. in the
(.;ent. Consols ; the annual income being
,flats a4,•4..Mewlbat above 5401. per annum. The ex-
, pefics444 the three years precedidg 1816 amounted
anno.a,ll* to 4731. whilethose of the year ending
iipri.l,lBlB;treached.the enormous sum•of 1,7001.;
to HiLset this increase of expenditure above income,
t•toe:gelierotv of the Public was appealed to, and
Thd-soin (Ake)) as ..part of the capital stock of the
.4110, 'is now held in Exchequer
was. subscribed at a, public meeting, sum-
moned for that purpose; to this fund must be
d further giant of 1,0001. which has re-

--tenlly been made by the Treasurer to t'ul nos-
pit al.
Your Committee have learned, with great satis-
faction, the nature of the excellent arrangements
which have been adopted in this lostitution.
The zeal and assiduity of its medical attendants
entitle them to the praise and gratitude of all who
can estimate the fortitude, the, risk, and the
active benevolence which characterizes the pro-
fessiou to which they belong. But the ohjec:s of.
this institution are not limited to attendance on
the sick, and to the removing persons front the
sphere of contagion ; a portion of its funds is ex-
pended in cleansing the apartments of the poor,
who, crowded in close courts and unventilated
looms, are assailed by fever; this practice is pe-.
culiar to this establishment, and in the last
year no less than 151 rooms were thus white-
washed. Your Committee refer generally to the
evidence of Dr. Bateman, to establish the ne-
cessity of a speedy removal of the pool from
their own dwellings when attacked with conta-
gious fever, as well as to demonstrate the benefits
derived in the last year, by the existence of this
institution, when, from the crowed state of the hos-
pitals,and t held( nown on willingness to receive fever
cases at all, the greatest danger would have been
incurred of the spreading into a larger focus the
sphere of this contagious disorder. In one house
the disease continued 17 weeks ; part of the fa-
mily were attacked with it three different times ;
and it was only arrested by the destruction of all
the furniture in the apartment. Thus it may be
said, the soffe.rers became diseased through their
own contagion ; and your Committee cannot
contemplate without serious apprehension what
tni.,,ht have been the result of this epidemic daily
gaining strength, if it had not keen checked in its
malignant growth by the efforts of the Fever
stitution. Your Committee wish also to remark,
that this establishment tis open to all applicants,
at all days and hours. A medical certificate of
disease is stated to be repaired; but the practice
is to admit all who are attacked by the complaint,
molt the first application; and .the only impedi-
ment thrown in the way has been one which it is
the aim. of your Committee to remove—a want of
sufficient room for the admission of patients.
Your Committee wish to observe, that a most
salutary system is adopted here, viz. the transport
of the patients in a litter belonging to the esta-
blishtnent,- thereby preventing the use of coaches
or sedan-chairs; one of the means, by which the
contagion is circulated is thus checked, and they
hope the other hospitals will see the necessity of
adopting some such arrangement. Indeed, front
the indifference to contagion which seems to exist
in some of these establishments, it is a matter of
surprise to your Committee that more fatal results
do not occur.
Your Committee have learned with great pain,
that in all the hospitals of London a great pro-
portion of patients are weekly refuted Admission,
in most of them for want of room ; in one of them
(the Middlesex Hospital) from a deficiency of

funds. Any plan, therefore, that would lighten
the louden which would now lay down these
evablishments, would, to the minds of your Com-
mittee, be of great public usefnlne,is. But if the
entire removal of cases of fever from all the hos-
pitals may be considered injurious to them as
schools of medicine, tho, diminution of the num-
ber of s►►ch admissions might ease the finances of

some establisbn►rnts, and leave room in others

for patients suffering under diseases of a dif-
ferent character. Your Committee have been
informed, that it is the practice in all the hospitals
to mix cases of contagious fever indiscriminately
with other patients ; it has, however, been stated
to them by some medical authorities, that, prac-
tically speaking, no evil has arisen front their in-
termixture; but, with due deference to such Opi-
nions, the acknowledged fact, that in some hos-
pitals the fever has been generated ; that patients
admitted under one disease have caught in the
hospital another ; that the medical practitioners
and attendants have been attacked themselves by
the,aisease ; and that most fatal effects have been
therefrom produced ;—all these facts fully satisfy
your Committee that the practice above alluded to,
if not altoe,ether abandoned, ought to be resorted
to with great precaution, and in a mist limited
extent. As long as fever cases can be tliluted
through a large ward, with proper attention to ven•
tilation, scarcely any danger of contagion may
arise ; but in a period of epidemic, such as existed
in the late and present year, when all the hospitals
were crotvded with patients assailed by the prevail-
ing disease of fever, great hazard must be run, and
the experience of this year has demonstrated the
danger and evil of the system. As the great pre-
servative against contagion is a free citculatiou
of air, patients labouring under chronic disorders
cannot with propriety he subjected to the same
treatment, and a system of medical police which

is essential in one case to prevent the spreading •of
the disease,
.becomes highly prejndicial in the
other; besides, a great prejudice prevails ; and
your Commirtee;cannot consider it as unfounded,
among the poorer classes of society, who are the
main objects of these establishments, against either
entering themselves or sending their relations into
these Hospitals, on account of the hazard.ql in-
fection to which they are exposed ; the events of
the last year are not certainly calculated to weaken
these opinions; and your Committee feel assured,

that to diminish the number of fever-cases in
every Hospital, by increasing the powers of re-
ceiving them in institutions exclusively set apart
for that disease, would not only do away the im-
pression on the public mind above alluded. to, but
contribute most materidlly to the relief and good
arrangements of those hospitals, the wards of
which are now exposed to be indiscriminmely
filled with patients labouring under diseases in
all their different stages of ;suffering and .ma-
lignity.
Your Comnaittee refrain from entering more

into detail on these subjects ;. they refer gene-
rally to the evidence, which, to, their minds', is
conclusive. That evidence hal demonstrated the
extent of the epidemic, the probable chance of
its continuance, as well as of its occasional, re-
currence, the small means aiforded:by the Fii,)s-
phut to receive patients assailed by it, the: gt*olt
hazard of mixing them with tbose ‘v!tp labour
under diseases of a different nature, the utility of

lie Fever Institution, both for the cure of the
isorder, and for arresting the further progress Of

. -
contagion ; ali tie facts so tnatle out, have 3A-
tisficd your Committee, that it would be highly
expedient to extend the public aid- to this esta-
blishment. And as they see no reason why the
eppital stock of the Hospital should be allOnent-
ea, they should propose a farther grant of 20001.,
which, with the 10001. already made, will enable
the Institution to increase its muans of actommo-
(ion to 100 patients. Taking a fair average of
the fever cases in the metropolisj this establish-
ment will thus be enabled to,receive a treat pro-
portion of the patients who are noW sent to the
other hospitals ; and probably, in ordinary times,
neatly the whole of the fevers of the metropolis.

Your Committee feel assured, that in case the
lever should continue its ravages unditninished,
and the same burden which lay so heavy on the
finances of this Institution in the last year should
exist during the present, Parliament would con-
sent to provide some additional support ; at
present, they consider the sum above-inentioned
as sufficient, and they rely with confidence
,on the
munificence and charity of the public to-promote
the ordinary annual•funds for the support of an
Institution so well deserving the countenance of
all ranks of society. Your Committee have fully
satisfied themselves, that the most beneficial ef-
fects have resulted from hospitals exclusively set
apart for cases of fever. Mei, refer generally to
the accounts, to show the small income of this
admirable institution, as well as. the increasing
demands on it j and though the benevolence of
the public has done much to raise the establish-
►itent to its useful pre-eminence, yet farther aid is
still waived ; and your Committee wish to recom-
mend his illajest y's Government to reconsider the
grant they have already made;
Your Committee, in recommending; this grant
of money, ate aware of the general impolicy
supporting public hospitals by advances of public-
money ; but the peculiar state of this' establish-
ment, it's nature and character, the pressure of
its funds, which require immediate and-large ad-
ditions to them ; and., above all, the diseased
state of the metropolis in respect of.fever, atoll
the probability of its malignity being increased
towards the autumn ;—all these reasons satisfy

your Committee, that a departure from the general
principle may 'in this case be adopted.
Front the experience derived Iron: the establish-
mews at Chester, Manchester, an 4 ‘Vaterford,
according to a report which has been laid 'before
them, it appears that not only .no hazard, of
spreading infection has been incurred, but, in
point of fact, the number of contagious diseases
has been greatly diminished, not only iri towns,
but in the very district and neighbourhoocLwhere
houses of recovery have been siinated. 1)r. Ro-
ger, late physician to the- Manchester Infirmary,
informed your Committee,. that at Manchester no..
medical officer or attendant in the hospital has
been afflicted with the fever generated. within °its
walls ; and that in the foram itself the number. of
cases of that di,ease-has diminished to a less de-.
free than the ordinary average prior to the esta-
blishment of the Institution. Dr. Holtne, phy-
sician to the Infirmary from its establishment to
the present period, confirms this •stateme.nt to -its
full extent.

Your Cormnittec cannot close this Rqort witb:
out expressing a regret that any hospital .in ,the
metropolis should not possess register -ofAis7;
eases ; they trust this omission, will ,speeaily. be-
rectified. And, in their opinion, it would, be ad!.l.
vi,:eable to register; not only the diseases, htt,trolso
the name and profession of the patient. It must:
at all times he a matter of useful knowledge to be
able to learn the quality end extent of the ditfe-,
rent diseases that prevail at different periods :•and,
your Committee have felt the want of4hat.il►for...
'nation, arising out of this strat!ge.iiregnlarity,
in not being able to ascertain the averlge.4ever
cases that have occurred for swine years..past in
the metropolis.
1\1.,9 20, 194 E.

~ .', i.

HOME IRC UIT. ";_

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, . .
ESSEX ASSIZES--,CHir,m YFCOtD,
CIVIL. ';'' •
Alt 41”: •

KING V. OLDACR3..,„.. ~„
This Was an tiction agait.►st the trefendam ft;r
'alsely imprisoning tive

Mr. GURNEY and Air. CHITTY colwli‘tered the
plaintiff's case,_ and Mr. Mautk-ATT and -Sit.
MY IV the defendant's: • -•-
The circumstances of the case -werelhese
The plaintiff resides at Barkin:gvide,4n.this 'Coun-
ty, and having been robbed of severatAtillnw. trees,
he traced his property to a,cbip,hut manufaetoi y
in Whitechapel,' where 'he' received.ttA -account,
exactly correspmnling. with;"the-plaitaiff, -ag the
person who had sot! them 'to' Itim:'l-teLsan4d the
prisoner to he apprehendedlortite robbery, antr he
was detained in custody ou:the'. charg,e Irtfin Hine
o'clock one eveniug until siie. o'clo~
.k
.tie Wert
evening, when the tradesiNn frourliru-Reehapel
being produced tfo identify-. thC supposed robber,
he djsclaimed•any knowledge of he plaintiff,- who
was immediately-tiherAted.;.- Under thest circum-
stances the action. ‘i-40).-logitt.
-The case went to the jorT tinder the .charge, of
the. Learned Judge, who found-a verdict- for the
plaintiflamages 101. • -