The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-15 00:00:00

HEALTH OF SHIPS.

(From the "Report on the Sanitary Condition of the
. .

, Labouring Population of Grweat Britain.)
The following examples are adverted to as to
the efficiency of preventive measures, furnished
by the naval medical service :
So dreadful was once the condition of the navy
that, in the year 1726, when Admiral Hosier
sailed with seven ships of the line to the West
Indies, he buried his ships' companies twice, and
died himself of a broken heart. Amongst the
pictures then presented, as in Anson's Voyages,
1740-44, were those of deaths to the amount of
eight or ten a-day in a moderate ship's company;
bodies sown up in hammUcks and washing about
the decks, for want of strength and spirit on the
part of the miserable survivors to cast them over-
board. Dr. Johnson, in the year 1778, thus
describes a sea life :—" As to the sailor, when
you look down from the quarter-deck to the
space below, you see the utmost extremity of
human misery; such crowding, such filth, such
stench I" " A ship is a prison, with the chance
of being drowned,—it is worse, worse in every
respect; worse air, worse food, worse company.
Dr. Wilson, in his preface to the " Medical
Returns," observes that, within the limits of the
South American- command, the Centurion, ex-
actly a century ago, lost in a few weeks 200 out.
of 400 men by scurvy. During the years from
1830 to 1836, the British squadron employed in
South America, lost by diseases of every descrip-
tion only 115 out of 17,254 men.
- The mortality of the home force ships em-
ployed chiefly in harbour duty, &c. (where of
.course they were not cut off from communication
or means of infection from the shore), in Great
Britain and :Ireland, gives the rate of mortality
obtainable by sanitary means, even now con-
fessedly imperfect especially 'in ventilation,
amongst a male population ranging *Om fifteen
to fifty years of age, and may be taken as illus-
trative of the amount of health attainable on shore.
In 1830 the deaths in the navy from disease in-
dependently of external causes were—
Disease, All Causes,
per 1,000. per 1,000.
- 1830 8.7
1831 11.5 3.4
1832 .. 11.9 14.0
1833 7.9
1834 4.9
1835 • • 5.9 7.2 •
1836 • • 7.5 • • 9.5
Mr. Finlaison has lately calculated that the
deaths on shore out of 1,000 of the population of
twenty-nine years of age may be estimated at
about 12 per annum. Mr. Rickman calculated
that the deaths at that age in Essex and Rut-
land would be about 12f persons per 1,000 per
'annum : for the metropolis it would be about
15f deaths. Out of 1,000 workmen in the Go-
vernment dock-yards, the number of deaths were
15; and hitherto in the metropolitan police
force, which is more select than the navy, the
number of deaths appear to be about 9 per
annum ; but about the same number of men is
annually invalided from the force. The propor-
tion of deaths amongst the troops appears to be,
amongst the household cavalry, 14'5, amongst
the dragoons 15.3, amongst the depot, 18.5, and
amongst the foot guards 2111 Since the Guards
have been in Canada the rate of mortality has
been reduced to that of other regiments.
the health of the foot guards is believed to be
affected by peculiar circumstances.
As respects soldiers, by proper care, such epi-
demics as typhus, scarlet fever, are now scarcely
known 'as affecting large groups in the army,
and such an occurrence would denote to the
chiefs of the army medical board the existence
of some great neglect into which it would be ne-
cessary to make inquiry.

' HER MAJESTY.—It is expected that her Majesty,
Ptince Albert, and the Court, will arrive at Buckingham
Palace from Scotland in the course pf Monday neat.

THE LATE DR. MAGINN.
(From the Examiner.)
The late Dr. Maginn, we are sorry to hear, has
left a wife, a son, and two daughters, utterly unpro-
vided for. Surely, if ever there was a case in which.
the gift of a ;mall pension from Government would
receive the sanction and grateful acknowledgment of
men of all parties, this is that case. It would be but
a decent tribute to great wit, admitted learning, many
and various talents, and some generous qualities—
however sadly misused, according to our ways of
thinking, these may all have been. We believe Sir
Robert Peel to be above mere narrow party views in
a case of this kind, or we would remind him of Dr.
Maginn's services to those who placed him in power.
They were faithful, unswerving, and zealous to the last.
(From Mr. Oastler's Fleet Papers.)
Again the mournful, deep-toned knell of death
smites upon my ear, and tells me that another friend
of mine is numbered with the dead. Yes, my kind
friend Magnin is gone ! The talented, learned, and
facetious Dr. Maginn, is, alas ! no more. His spirit
has quitted its prison. house of clay, and winged its
flight into the regions of an eternal world
Had I not been sent to this place in all probability
I should never have known that justly celebrated man.
His brilliant genius and sparkling wit had often en-
livened my prison hours, and afforded me a rich in-
tellectual repast : his deep store of learning rendered
him a most delightful and instructive companion ;
and his peculiar facility of communicating that know-
ledge to others which he so eminently possessed gave
a zest to his " chatterings" (his own expression)
which enjoyment could alone appreciate.
Often have I been fascinated by the power of his
imagination while attending to his verbal reveries. It
was as though the richest streams of bOok knowledge
were shedding their luxuriant droppings on the listen-
ing ear from the lips of thoughtfulness and deep ex-
perience.
On such occasions the stores of ages were served
out by him for my instruction and amusement in
tones so winning and attractive that the time has often
gone ere I was, aware that one-half the rapid moments
had sped their hasty course.
His quickness of perception—the concentration and
clearness of his ideas—his acuteness of thought—his
wonderful memory—his rich and apt quotations—his
ready and lively wit, united with a beauty and even
juvenile simplicity of language, charmed me into an
enthusiastic admiration of the man.
I shall not soon forget the pleasures which I have
derived from his society —never, the sage lessons
which he taught me.
Dr. Maginn's politics were in unison with my own.
They were all of the Saxon school. Such talents,
united with such principles, I have rarely, if ever,
found. But he is gone—l shall hear his voice no
more ; his form is vanished from my view. No more
will the splendour of his genius shed forth its reful-
gent rays within my cell—yet the remembrance of
the past is sweet and refreshing; and it is a conso-
lation to know that I was sometimes a comfort to poor
Maginn.
The Doctor's death is a public loss ; and as such it
ought to be regarded by every scholar and by every
patriot. But our sympathies are also urgently re-
quired on behalf of his disconsolate widow and father-
less children, who are left entirely unprovided for.
It is a melancholy truth, that Dr. Maginn's last
days were rendered doubly afflictive by the hard hand
of pressing want ! And will the Tories, whose cham-
pion he was, pay no tribute to his worth ? Can they,
whose cause he so long and so ably advocated, disre-
gard the claims of his bereaved family, whose only
hope and support he was, and by whose death they
are plunged into a state of painful destitution ? It
would be a reproach to the Tory party to suppose
them capable of such indifference and neglect towards
the widow and orphans of one who, during his life-
time, so constantly and so ably defended their consti-
tutional principles.
Sir Robert Peel is known to be the patron of
science and literature—he cannot withhold a tribute
to such talent as Maginn's.
' All men of learning and genius will honour them-
selves by aiding those who are left their pensioners.
Let then the State, and the State's best friends, with-
out a moment's delay, do that which humanity and
justice urge on them now, and take immediate care
that the family of Maginn shall know no want.
During his lifetime I urged him to allow me to
make a public appeal on his behalf. I wished to
raise a fund to enable him to try a warmer climate—
, his pride forbade me.
That I was some comfort to my friend is a consola-
tion to me—that I may be of service to his family is
, now my hope.
Where is the man, of any party, who would
grudge if the State should provide for the bereaved
of Maginn ?
The Doctor died on the 20th of August, 1842, and
his remains were buried in the churchyard of Walton-
. upon-Thames.