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EVENING SUN

•
tY,i CURES OF DEAFNESS.

(From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.)
In the Journal for September 28, 1839 (No. 400), ap-
. peered a paragraph, quoted from a London paper,
respecting some remarkable cures of deafness performed
Dy Dr. Turnbull, of Russell-square. Being soon after
assured, by authority of the highest kind, that these al-
leged cures were an unreal mockery, and that the para-
graph must have been designed as a mere puff, we, in
our publication of the ensuing Bth of February, ex-
pressed our regret for having admitted it, describing it
at the same time by the opprobious term which we had
heard applied to it. Thus the matter rested till the be-
ginning of the present winter, when we were somewhat
surprised to be assured by a friend that, as far as he
' could judge, we had gone farther wrong in our publica-
tion of the Bth February than in that of the 28th Sep-
' tember, for he, having lately been in Aberdeen, had
•seen and conversed with persons who had been cured of
congenital deafness by Dr. Turnbull, and had also found
that, in consequence of these cures, there was a more
than favourable opinion of him amongst some of the
principal professors of the northern university. We
were induced by this information to hold our condemna-
tion of the original paragraph as liable to review ; and,
beink- anxious that no remediable injustice should lie at
the door of this work, we determined to satisfy ourselves
of the character of Dr. Turnbull's practice, in order -to
make all possible reparation in the event of our being
found in error. This opportunity occurred soon after,
On Dr. -Turnbull visiting, or rather revisiting, Edin-
burgh. We on that occasion went several times to his
Surgical room, in order to witness and make all possible
investigations into his mode of practice. It soon ap-
peared that, to arrive at thorough conviction, would re-
quire considerably more trouble than we had antici-
Dated,' or could conveniently spare time for ; but the
Wish to do what was fair and proper on the occasion,
and the interest of the investigation itself, made us
cheerfully overlook this difficulty. Amongst other mea-
sures which seemed necessary for making ,up our mind,
we studied the most recent and approved works on
'aural surgery, in order to ascertain in what respects Dr.
Turnbull's practice differed from that which is general
in the profession. We alsO sought interviews with per-
sons who were said to have been cured by Dr. Turnbull,
with their friends, and with indifferent parties who
knew them before as well as since these cures were ef-
fected. We wrote to various places, to ascertain the
present condition of persons who had been cured in the
early part of the past year. We carefully inspected
written evidence submitted to us. In short, we omitted
tie exertion which we thought at all likely to increase
our means of forming a judgment for ourselves with re-
, '..s) gard to the character of this gentleman's practice in
s.aural surgery. The conclusion at which we arrived
st • was,. that Dr- Turnbull unquestionably had, in the course
.111,01 the year, in Scotland, performed many cures beyond
the scope of ordinary medical practice, and particularly
1),:,56ercil cures of congenital deafness. It appeared to us,
' -art 4 the same time, that he had failed in several instances
.Where he had made the attempt, but that this was no
~,Itiore than what might be reasonably expected from his
1,,,,0ta1.?wia professions, which were, that
,his methods were as
Yeti-only probationary, and that he could not consequently
15Atake sure of succeeding in every case. On these grounds,
n'ea'p felt assured that the communications made to us re-
,specting the original paragraph were, however uninten-
tionally, unjust, in as far as a man capable of curing con-
genital deafness alone (to say nothing of his other cures)
was entitled to be respectfully, and not contumeliously,
sPolten of.
"'lcing of this opinion, we feel it of course incumbent
111°11 us to lose no time in begging our readers to consi-
der the notice of the Bth of February, 1840, and a repe-
tition of it on the ensuing 4th of April, as withdrawn and
Condemned. So earnestly do we feel on this point, that
We have ordered that not one other copy of the numbers
eontaining those notices shall be given out to the public,
but that a new edition of the numbers shall be prepared,
rit which the notices. in question shall be omitted.
'While thus stating our own convictions, we are aware
that ,many respectable persons persist in alleging the
whole of Dr. Turnbull's practice to be a system of dein-
'. p°ll. We do not quarrel with them on this ground. It
4a point on which conscientious men may fairly differ.
"e do not even ask that any one shall believe as we do
°Pon our word, but would recommend all who feel an in-
terest in the matter to inquire and judge for themselves.
Let the case stand unjudged for anything that we have
to say' about it ; but let us also lay efore our readers a
brief view of the evidence on which we have formed the
• °Pinion which induces us now to retract what we consider
an injurious statement. Having twice before acted on
mere authority, and been led thereby to bandy our ma-
- gyre backwards and forwards between two opposite con-
e.lusions, we feel it to be necessary that a third view of
case should appear to have been adopted on a reason-
; anl,y large_basis of fact.
1 ua first explain that the deafness of the, class of
persons called deaf-mutes has hitherto been quite incura-
ble. With respect to certain modifications of deafness
Produced by cold,
there has and other similarly accidental meano,
long been a medical practice attended with
sonic measure of success : for example, in London there
is an institution called the Royal Dispensary fOr Diseases
of the Ear, where, since its commencement in 1816, ac-
cording to a statement by its surgeon, Mr. Curtis,* twelve
thousand cases have been cured or reieved. But for that
Complete deafness which is born with a human being, and
Prevents the future acquirement of speech, there is ac-
n i,soiNsledgedly no cure whatever upon the medical books,
titeioi is fully owned by one of the first writers and'prac-
iers of the day on aural surgery, 1)r. Wilhelm Kra
met, of Berlin, who, in a work on the subject, of which
4, E translation appeared in d 837, says, "There.
convincing proofs of the entire failure of all remedial
attempts
h
ti,,‘_enipts hitherto made for the restoration of hearing in
Cii-mutes. ** * * The deaf-dumb, whether
condi ..cura
he completely deaf, or merely dull of hearing, are
tk.+
111 - emnation thus pronounced will appear a very
tin sing one, when it is known that, in civilized corn,
ohe person in about every sixteen hundred is a
It affords, by the way, a curious additional
I,ll.'ation of what we lately explained under the title of
six :ye Regularity of Irregular Things," that in each of
sia. -"tiroPean states—France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Rus-
ek,'
,e,Tiel Prussia—the proportion given by statistics is
is,4l`,lt7one to every 1,585 of the population. The whole
2%187 in Great Britain alone is 12,394, and in France
,'• We must the more deplore the despair of me-
science on this subject, when we consider what a
tsll:us drawback deaf-muteness must in every case form
the
~„Pleasures of life, and what an insurmountable ob-
itse"on it must be to nearly every effort of industry
'egitimate ambition. Even the partial deafness I
ra„, Y Persons and others is an evil to themselves of a
ercittude of which it cannot be supposed that thoie who
" full powers of hearing are able to form an idea.
ouni ithout further preface, we shall proceed to give an
Tura° of the evidence on which we conclude that Dr.
de ull cures congenital and other extreme cases of
airless
be • •
Te„.„,,rns his recent brief residence in Edinburgh, Dr.
Waiieuellu effected the entire cure of Miss Catherine
friend of Kelso, a young lady known to various
her wtof our own as having been deaf and dumb during
iao, "le life up to that period, and who had accord-
' nint'es received her education in the Institution for deaf
a We.,..111 Edinburgh. We saw this young person, first
and .'' and next time about a month, after her cure,
son "Aind that she heard as well as any ordinary per-
t the time when we saw her last, she was be-
that ,116 to use her voice to some little purpose, insomuch
ner friends forbade her to speak to them, on her
'.gers, allegl •
ng that they could understand what she said.
lime, a boy of ten years of age, grandson of
b' been to
M. Brisbane's fisherman at Mackerstoun,
a to a great extent deaf from infancy, with a
f..,ti rge of matter from his ears and frequent ear-ache.
;1„ Caine to Dr. Turnbull on the 10th of November, and
tqlt home on the 16th, quite cured. Sir Thomas, in a
I;?lll:nnication with wich we have been favoured by
at he says, "The day after the boy's. return, I direeted
should. be brought to me, in order that I might
ein!,4l e In the hall of entry I have a sidereal
41‘'ll_it, from which I gradually withdrew him till the dis-
f,4,tke WAS 24 feet, when he still heard its beats, but not
feee7r in fact, I could not well hear it myself at 27
oost Sir Thomas likewise induced Mr. Main, the Pro-
1/4„°t Kelso, and Mr. Armstrong, the county officer of
was%ourghshire, to send their sons to Dr. Turnbull, who
g,4i,u eessful with them both, one being a case of con-
the& deafness. This eminent person, the President of
ttedrYal Society of Edinburgh, has, both in writing
si,tr oral communication, expressed to us his full con-
of the power of. Dr. Turnbull to effect extraordi-
nal-vQ-11
I:teares in this class of diseases.
~(11;uefather-in-law of one of the individuals now ad-
aissi,sthe public has been deaf in'his,left ear fifty-
dani,'"brs, in consequence of a cold from sleeping in a
Tnrin
We saw this gentleman sit down in Dr.
fire 41ill 8 room with his left' ear utterly deaf, and, in
• tieserib notes, after a process which will be afterwards
inepzand.the application of a liquid, we sa-s, him
leinan,s sesston of the hearing of that ear. In this gen-
' eorapiet case, all the efforts of many other aurists had
eIY failed.
tio4 • Charles H who lately retired from the situa-
, of Hope
by President of the Court of Session, was induced
ets,4t' lend to resort to Dr. Turnbull last April, on ac-
of .
• seh-es, paired hearing. To quote a letter to our-
which the ex-President has placed at our dis-
bun. Before putting myself under Dr. Turn.
had aeandjesa,re, I thought it right to inform him that I
entered my 79th year, -on which he at once
but thlt said that he would not undertake to cure me,
°emu all Perhaps he might do me some good, if I
did,laluolvhimto examine my ears, which of course I
Well, /4: told me it was impossible that I could hear
Wee, y ears were as dry as the mahogany table we
ereii,47g at, as there was a total want of the se-
`tore wax. That, he said, he certainly could re-
:Tax be itecordingly, after two or three applications, the
4)'s b:„11 to appear, and at the end of ten or twelve
nrabie .41Tio Copious ; and I certainly found very consi-
Le_ 4v fa_lnkrovement in my hearing, which was sensible
;:tltitiuelsullY and my colleagues.. 'The secretion of wax
,ulc, subject 1
" and my ears are now in their natural healthy
blunts on to the ects oge, which e-
all the senses. * f
*old a
* In short, Dr.
4° to 41' did .me all the• good he ever pretended ho could
Three dneeafring, and that benefit continues."
had been
children, from ten to eleven years of
been
e, who
in the for some years receiving their educe-
rgh, attended School for the Deaf and Dumb in Edin-
:aling
estraj.d Dr. Turnbull inf April last, and had their
°f the lished. Mr. Drysdale, the deaf-mute•mas-
act school, has given distinct testimony to this
riv? a document which we have perused ; and, at a
thdfe
ePersonal interview, when we asked categorically
alevisC,:eeh.ldrenforeter/y did not hear and now do so, he
sawn he emphatically that such really was the case.
three children— more than once, and found

ti:: The present sta,rAL.---iral
Surgery,
&e. By John Her-
-711 Curtis, Esq. London ; Churchill, 1841.
t: Kramer on the Nature andd-Treatment of Diseases of the
ir. translated by R Bennet DI D. London : Longman
14 co.J. R. D,

I
them able to hear very slight noises at the distance of
several yards, and to pronounce words after any one
, speaking to them, these persons, it is important to re-
mark, being stationed behind their backs. Their pro-
nunciation, it may be noticed,.was imperfect, and some-
times the sound uttered by them was very unlike the
original ; but there could be no doubt of the existence,
in all the three,' of both the power of hearing and of
speaking.
Dr. Turnbull was in Aberdeen during September and
October last, in consequence of an invitation from
Dr. Jack, Principal of King's College. He was there
successful in a number of very interesting cases. A
girl named Mary Moir, from Waterside of Thornton,
near Lawrencekirk—born deaf and dumb—was enabled
to hear perfectly in a few minutes. Two young per-
sons, Margaret and Robert Stirling, of Aberdeen, deaf
from birth, were also completely cured. Sophia Ro-
bertson, of the Deaf and Dumb Institution of Aberdeen,
and John Scott, from Dufftown (a lad of twenty-
four), were other cases of complete cure. Dr. Keith,
surgeon to the Infirmary, and Mr. George Rainy,
surgeon to the Ophthalmic and Auric Institution, both
of Aberdeen, certify these cures in documents before us.
The former gentleman says, in a letter to Dr. Turn-
bull, " After repeated examinations of many of the
objects of your care previously to anything being
done, I satisfied myself that they were both deaf
and dumb. I have witnessed the application of your
remedy to the ears, and bear testimony to their
having, in my own- presence, obtained the sense of
hearing ; and by my own tuition in a few minutes after-
wards, acquired the power of speech." The case of
Sophia Robertson is certified by Mr. M. R. Burns, the
master of the Deaf and Dumb Institution, an individual
of whose moral worth we happen to have personal
knowledge. " Sophia," he says, " lost her hearing from
a fever. She could hear the clock striking when standing
by it. But since she has been under your care she can
hear a bell rung three pairs of stairs up, and easily the
ringing of the church bells. In my own experience it is
not less effectual, though less rapid. I feel my hearing
progressing." Dr. Fleming, Professor of Natural Philo-
sophy, and Dr. William Gregory, Professor of Che-
mistry, have likewise given favourable testimony, the
latter gentleman saying, amongst other things, with re-
gard to the three Edinburgh children above-mentioned,
" The doubts which have been expressed (obviously
without experimental grounds) of the permanence of
your cures, must be in a great measure dissipated by the .
state of these individuals, six months after treatment."
Dr. Turnbull was in Glasgow at the beginning of the
by-past year, and in public administered to various deaf
and dumb persons. Happening to be acquainted with a
gentleman who had taken an interest in what was then
done, he wrote to him, making particular inquiry into
the condition of two young persons whom we understood
to have received decided and permanent benefit. These
were deaf-mutes, named Jane Wilkie and Margaret Muir,

the one being about eight years of age, the other about
nineteen. Our friend answered (Dec. 2) as follows :—"I
called for both the girls to-day, and bad the good luck to
find Wilkie at home. Her mother states freely that
she hears quite as well as the other children, and is at
a school conducted by a female, who seems• to be bring-
ing her on very well, if I may judge from a specimen
of her reading I. witnessed to-day. Her articulation
was very perfect, considering the short time that she
has been at-school. They have no occasion now to speak
loud to her, as she seems to understand quite well what
is said, even when her back is turned. * * * I found
Muir's parents at home, but she herself was at work in the
cotton-mill. I put many questions to the parents, which
they answered very satisfactorily. They stated that
the-surprising effects produced by Dr. Turnbull had not
abated m the least degree, but, on the contrary, were
rather increased. She hears whatever is said to her,

though she may be in another room with the door shut."
It is a common allegation respecting Dr. Turnbull's
cures, that, on the
.most favourable construction, they
are little more than momentary ; and we are bound
to observe that we have heard of persons of impaired
hearing relapsing after a time from the improved con-
dition into which he had brought them. But what is
to be said of Mr. Hope, who has continued well for six
or seven months ; of the three children of the Edinburgh
Day-school for the Deaf and Dumb, who have main-
tained recovered hearing for an equal time ; and of Jane
Wilkie and Margaret Muir, who are• better now than
ever, after nearly a twelvemonth ? By these cases, not
to speak of others of more recent date, the so-far perma-
nence of the remedy seems to us fully established.
As born deafness was never cured before, it may be
worth while to give a few particulars with respect to
the sensations of the patients on their first becoming
possessed of the heretofore deficient sense. Miss
Walker states, in a letter before us, that she at first
experienced' considerable annoyance from the noise of
vehicles in the street. On attending church, the sing-
ing gavre- her - new and exquisite pleasure, though she
,previously enjoyed music in the manner peculiar
to'Some ^deaf persons, through the effect of vibration
on- Abe general frame. Another cnrapatient, who,
like Miss Walker, had previously acquired consider-
able knoiv-Teage of written language, has drawn up a
paper to enforce a hypothesis which has occurred to
his mind, that sound and language are connected. A
girl, residing at Glasgow, who was cured in May, has
since acquired the sense of smell : when she discovered
it, she held out a rose to her mother, and said her nose
had spoken. A married woman, residing in Edinburgh,
on getting home from the first experiment with reco-
vered hearing, heard her children crying, but was not
for some time aware that the sound had any connection
with their suffering. It would be obviously of import-
ance to have a fair opportunity of observing the effect of
the sudden acquirement of the sense of hearing on some
person capable of recording his gradual perceptions of the
connection of sound with the circumstances causing it.

We proceed to report what has been stated to us, and
what we have witnessed, respecting the expedients used
by Dr. Turnbull for the cure of deafness.
In the course of general practice in 1834, he had two
patients afflicted with tic doloureux, extending along the
temples and' forehead, and producing partial blinders in
one eye of each patient. By the application of veratria
for about four weeks, the tic was removed, and at the
same time the sight restored. This latter circumstance
struck his mind forcibly, and he thought it might be well
to try the effect of some of the new alkaloids upon eye-
diseases. Obtaining permission to experiment in St.
Giles's Workhouse, he found a patient in an old para-
lytic woman, who wanted seeing and hearing on one
side. With a view to the cure of the eye only,
the forehead of this woman was rubbed daily for four
days with an extract of capsicum, when her vision
became completely restored ; and next day—a re-
sult which had not been,in the faintest degree,
surmised, she also regained her hearing ! He
tried many similar experiments, but in no other case met
with such very extraordinary results. His attention was
now, however, powerfully attracted to ear diseases. Be-
fore adverting to his further progress in that walk, we
may mention that he succeeded in establishing with the
profession generally the powerful effects of veratria in
the cure of tic-doloureux, rheumatism, gout, and all
other forms of neuralgic disease.

Experiment in time showed that, in cases of deafness
arising from IoW nervous energy, a class to which nearly
all the cases of the deaf and dumb belong, the organ
may be more or less successfully treated"by applying to
it a weak alkaloid. This he rubs gently upon the tym-
panum by means of an instrument tipped with shamois
leather, and generally in ten minutes the effects are
manifest.

But the greater number of diseases of the ear arise
from cold, producing acute and chronic imflammation,
and diminishing or altogether obstructing the flow of
wax, whereby the tympanum and other parts of the
outer ear, from being exposed to the air, are thickened,
and so deprived of sensibility. Cold also produces in-
flammation and consequent accumulation of mucus in the
passage called the Eustachian tube, which com-
municates between the internal ear and the back of the
mouth. Finding cured persons relapse in consequence
of the defect of wax, Dr. Turnbull was prompted to
use his ingenuity in endeavouring to discover a
means of sustaining that . secretion. He reflected
that the application of the mouth of the child to its
mother's breast, by removing the pressure of the at-
mosphere, causes the milk immediately to flow, and
he conceived that a similar result might follow with
respect to the wax of the ear, if he could by any
means remove the pressure of the atmosphere from
the external parts. For this purpose, he at first used
a syringe, with an Indian rubber mouth, exactly fitted
to the aperture of the ear. The plan was successful ;
the blood-vessels resumed a free circulation, and the flow
of wax recommenced. It strikes us that we have rarely
known a more beautiful instance of a simple natural
principle being taken advantage of by human ingenuity,
for a humane end.
The clearing of the Eustachian tube, for which no
means formerly existed but the application of medi-
cines to the bowels, or the dangerous use of &catheter,
was effected by Dr. Turnbull by the same simple means.
For producing exhaustion, however, either in this or
the above case, he does not use a syringe, but a very
elegant application of the air-pump, suggested to him by
Sir John Robison of Edinburgh. This he calls a Pneu-
matic Extractor. A common air-pump operates in ex-
hausting a tall bell-shaped receiver, in the interior of
which is a mercurial guage, to indicate the degree of ex-
haustion. From the plate of the pump proceeds a flexible
air-tight pipe, having a stopcock near its junction. On
the farther end of this pipe, the experimenter can fit on
either an oval glass cup made to contain the outer ear,
and fit close to the head by means of a little soft wax or
putty—or a slightly-bent tube of the same material, 3-8 ths
of an inch in diameter, with its mouth a little evasated,
or turned outwards. On this tube being introduced into
the mouth of the patient, and applied to the orifice of
the Eustachian passage, communication is opened be-
tween the previously rarefied air in the receiver and the
orifice, from which a discharge of mucus is soon made
into the tube, which is then withdrawn. The rarefac-
tion which effects this best is equal to from five to eight
inches of the mercurial column. It may be remarked,
that engorgement of the Eustachian tube and the inner
cavities of the ear, are conditions which prove a fre-
quent cause of deafness. The air, it must be observed,
is the proper conductor of sound ; and there must be
a free passage between the inner ear and the outer
air, in order to allow of the tympanum performing
the vibrations which give hearing. All that tends,
as engorgement does, to impede the free vibrations of
the tympanum, must of course produce deafness. We
thus clearly see of what importance must be every means
by which engorgement can be readily reduced.
As we are only anxious on the present occasion to
show the grounds we have for an opinion subversive
of the injurious notices formerly inserted in this work,
we do not propose to say more respecting the various
depreciatory remarks which have been made respect-
ing Dr. Turnbull, apart from his practice, than that
we have seen and heard enough to satisfy us that they
are, on a liberal construction of circumstances, ill-
founded. We leave him to pursue his way, freed at
least from any obstruction which may be supposed to
.have been thrown in it by this Journal. That he has,
by patience and ingenuity, obtained a :grasp of certain

new medicaments and methods calculated to cure cases
of deafness, such as were never cured before, we have no
doubt ; and we consequently believe that, if he perse-
veres in his course, he will speedily be able to come be-
fore the profession with claims for an unequivocally high
place in its annals.

The past history of his experiments—for, strictly
speaking, he is as yet only experimenting—supplies
some curious matter for reflection. Aural surgery pro-
ceeds for ages with a small measure of success, and,
though in a vast proportion of cases no benefit is expe-
rienced, no one thinks of venting complaint or remon-
strance on- the subject. Failures numberless are over-
looked and excused, as only what is to be expected from
the defective state of medical science. At length, a
man of some originality appears, who apparently de-
tects the true and direct means of curing deafness in
many of its forms, and he is successful in a very consider-
ruble number of cases. What is the reception he meets
with ? The medical profession are instantly in arms
against him. The public treats him as one rather pro-
posing to injure than to benefit it. The keepers of in-
stitutions for the deaf and dumb, with scarcely an excep-
tion, present bayonets at his approach. The evidence of
his cure is disputed. Cases of failure, though they occur
in a small proportion compared with what could be
reckoned formerly, are fastened upon, magnified, and made
a pretext for doubting cases of proved success. Men are
-heard.with one breath denying his cures altogether—
with the next alleging that they last only for a few days.
Everything that can be heard of to his prejudice is
gathered together and flung in his teeth. Every
quirk, and quibble, and dexterous evasion that can be
devised, are brought to bear on his public exhibitions,so
as to ensure his failure, or at least bring discredit on
his operations. In short, the whole world seems in
somewhat the same mind with the Irishman who laid
a bet that his friend would not - carry him to the top
of a house in his hod, without letting him fall, and who
had great hopes from a trip about the third storey. It
seems out of its senses with eagerness to discover that
the whole of this attempt to benefit it should prove
to be an imposition. Accordingly, the experimenter
appears in exactly the same predicament with those
who brought bad news to Athens. He stands with a
rope about his neck, which the angry public seem every
moment about to draw tight—despised, ridiculed, mis-
called, hustled,, badgered, and reviled. It is scarcely
necessary to remark how his fortune prospers during
.this pleasant probation. While alleged to be robbing
rich and poor, and accumulating an enormous hoard
of wealth, he is in reality curing the poor without any
kind of charge, and has lost most of even that moderate
income which he formerly drew from common practice.
" Everything but trodden out of existence" is, in one
word, the fate of the individual who has -been the first
merely human being to cause the deaf to hear: After such
a history, it must be owned that the temptations to leave
the quiet chimney-etirner of commonplace and common
error, are not great, or, whatever they are, that the warn-
ings on the other side are such as only a very brave class
of minds would disregard.

DINNER AT PETERSFIELD TO
MESSRS. HECTOR AND LACY.
(From the Hampshire Telegraph.)
A grand dinner was given on Friday, at. the Dolphin
Hotel, Petersfield, by the friends and supporters of
Messrs. Hector and Lacy, the late ;respected bankers of
that town, to mark their sense of the honourable and
very satisfactory manner in which the affairs of their
late bank had been wound up. About 150 gentlemen of
the town and district, &c., all of great respectability,
and of every shade in politics, were present; and it is
utterly impossible that a more striking proof of the
esteem and respect in which Messrs. Hector and Lacy
are universally held for their honour and integrity, could
have been afforded than the testimonial thereof given
by this assemblage. But one feeling pervaded the
Company—admiration of the characters of these gentle-
men, and the strongest interest in their future welfare:
such a manifestation cannot have proved otherwise than
most gratifying to them. The pleasure of the evening
was much alloyed by the absence of Mr. Hector, who,
we are very sorry to state, was prevented by illness
from attending. Mr. Lacy, however, was present, and
on his entering the room was received with prolonged
and enthusiastic. cheers. The table was supplied with an
abundance of game, the present of Sir H. Featherstone.
The chair was most ably filled by Fielder King, Esq.,
of Buriton ; on his right were George Henty, Esq., of
Chichester ; the much respected son-in-law of Mr.
Hector, Hale, Esq., of Hambledon, &c. • and on his
left Mr. Lacy, IV. Hawes, Esq., a Director of London
and County. Joint Stock Bank Company ; -- Sewell,
Esq., the Manager of the same Company at Brighton ;
C. Greetham, Esq.; Mr. Kemp, of Chichester, &c. Mr.
Bowstead officiated as. Vice-Chairman. The room was
tastefully ornamented with laurel, and a band occupied
the orchestra.

On the removal of the cloth the CHAIRMAN gave—
" Her Majesty the Queen," which was drank with three
times three, and loud heers. This was followed by
" Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the rest of the
Boyal Family," and " The Army and Navy," each of
which was drank with the same honours.

The CHAIRMAN said the next toast he had to propose
would be received with the greatest warmth of feeling,
and drank in more than a bumper—" The health of Mr.
Hector."—(Great and prolonged cheers.) The company
sorrowed at the cause of Mr. Hector's absence on this
occasion ; all grieved to learn such was the state of his
health, that if he had been brought here it would have
been his death-blow. He would read a letter received
from him as follows :

Stodham, Jan. 6, 1842.
My dear Sir—Understanding that you have very
kindly consented to take the chair of the dinner to be
given to myself and Mr. Lacy to-morrow, by the friends
and supporters of the late Bank, I beg to express to you
my very great regret and disappointment at being unable
to attend at such dinner ; my medical man being of opi-
nion that it would be highly dangerous for me so to do,
I will, therefore, thank you to say, on my part, how
highly I appreciate the very kind intentions and views of
our friends, from whom this mark of respect and attach-
ment has emanated, and assure them, that although I
have upon many previous occasions during my life felt
the support of my friends, yet on (to myself) this event-
Tul crisis such a voluntary, handsome, and unexpected
demonstration by them is to me most highly gratifying—
more particularly so, being, as it is, totally unconnected
with, and divested ot; any political feeling, and for which
I beg you to present my most sincere and grateful
thanks, assuring them that such conduct on their part
will ever be retained in the memory, not only of my-
self, but of my children. The very prompt and
decisive support which has been given to the London and
County Joint Stock Bank has been to me a source of
great gratification, and I am glad to find my friend, Mr.
Hawes, one of the Directors, has been invited, and will
attend the dinner, and I trust will improve the acquaint-
ance he has already made with you. Wishing you and
the company every conviviality, and many happy re-
turns of the season, believe me to be, my dear Sir,
yours very truly, C. J. HECTOR.
Fielder King, Esq.
The CHAIRMAN said he would also read letters he had
received from some of Mr. Hector's sincere and staunch
friends who were unavoidably absent on this occasion.
The first he would read was from Mr. Steele, which
concluded as follows :—" I shall at all times and in all
places bear a willing testimony to the meritorious exer-
tions displayed by your respected guest in bringing to
a successful termination negotiations opened with the
London and County Joint Stock Company, so plainly
advantageous to every body concerned, and so useful
to our community. Nor do I forget -the painful days—
the anxious nights—inseparable from the situation in
which he was placed, pending those negotiations ; and
which required no small degree of moral courage to
contend against ; but having happily surmounted those
difficulties, my sincere wish is that the remainder of
his days, spent in the bosom of his family, may be at-
tended with all the happiness we can reasonably expect
amidst the changes and chances of this mortal life."
The Chairman then :read letters, written in a similar

strain, from Mr. Johii Bonham Carter, Mr. Martineau,
Mr. Roberts, and Mr. Charles Osborn ; that of Mr.
Osborn concluding as follows :—" I should have rejoiced
at the opportunity of publicly expressing my opinion of
the very honourable and liberal mode in which Messrs.
Hector and Lacy conducted business, and my sense of
the repeated acts of kindness and accommodation ren-
dered to me since my account with Mr. Hector, a period
nearly thirty years." The Chairman then gave " The
health of Mr. Hector,"—three times three—followed by
loud cheers.

Tune—" Auld Lang Syne," with renewed cheetirigi
G. HENTY, Esq. then rose and was most warmly :ire-
ceived. He said, as unforeseen events had pre**n tog
Mr. Hector from attending to express persoasifistd,s.t
thanks for the kind manner in which his health had
been proposed and drank,
the
begged to do so in his
name. As a member of the family he (Mr. Henty)
could assure the Company that Mr. Hector not only
deeply felt their kindness, but that his family were most ,
grateful for it. In rising to return thanks in= Mr. Hec-
tor's behalf, he had undertaken a task he was not ade-
quate to perform—(Loud cheers)—his feelings over-
powered him. It was only in the hour of trouble such
kindness as they had shown, could be appreciated—and
in every way Mr. Hector had received kindness at their
hands. He assured the Company he felt so unnerved he
was not competent to express his sentiments—(Cheers)
—but in Mr. Hector's name he begged to return them
thanks for the honor they did him in drinking hishealth.
The CHAIRMAN then said he would now propose the
health of a gentleman whom they all loved and respected
—one long known to them, and whom they all appre-
ciated—" The health of their excellent friend, Mr. Lacy."
The toast having been drank with three times three,
followed by cheers,
Mr. LACY rose and said, he felt tha utmost difficulty
in attempting to express his gratitude for the kindness
he had experienced from them—a kindness, however, he
could not consider shown in consideration of his indi-
vidual merits, but of those of his partner, who had been
amongst them for so many years longerlhan he had.—
In the hold his partner had upon their affections, he
(Mr. Lacy) followed him at a humble distance—(Loud
cheers.) Since the hour of difficulty he had sustained
an affliction, which would have made his absence on this
occasion a natural result, but when he found that his
friend was unhappily taken ill from the late event, he
(Mr. Lacy) thought it due to him and to the company
that he should overcome his private feelings, and be
present to express his gratitude for the kindness they
had shown them.—(Loud cheers,)
The CHAIRMAN then proposed " the health of Mr.
Hawes, with success to the London and County Joint
Stock Bank Company."—(Three times three.)
Mr. HAwEs said, the company having held out the
hand of friendship to them, from that hour the Joint
Stock Company would have at their hearts the prospe-
rity of the district.—(Cheers.) The company present
were principally engaged in agriculture ; he was en-
gaged in trade; and if ever there was a moment when agri-
culture and trade should go hand in hand, that moment
was the present.—(Cheers.) The
.great claim the Joint
`Stock Company would have on their support would be a