The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-01-20 00:00:00

EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY.

The annual meeting of the friends and supporters of the
above excellent institution was held at the Clarendon-
rooms, yesterday. The chair was occupied by Edward
Molyneux, Esq. The attendance of subscribers was small.
The CHAIRMAN having opened the proceedings, called
upon the secretary to mad the report.
_ _ _

Qt,,ted that the committee had still to
lament that the operations of the charity are curl ailed by
the existence of a debt, whereby a considerable yearly
charge is brought upon the funds. Although during the
past year the sum of £7OO has been raised in liquidation
of the debt, there is still a balance of upwards of £4OO due
to the treasurer. Feeling, however, emboldened by the
increased support given to the institution by the public,
together with a larger annual grant from the corporation,
the committee have considered themselves justified in
opening the doors of the Infirmary to a larger number of
in-patients, and during the last year 118 important opera-
tions were performed within its walls. Those were almost
universally attended with success, and many very pleasing
and interesting cases have from time to time come under
the notice of the committee. That increase in the num-
ber of patients who have boarded and lodged in the house
has added materially to the current expenses, which have
also been increased by the necessary expenditure in repair-
ing and painting the whole outside of the premises. The
report then called attention to the large number of the
poorer class, who labour under those peculiarly painful
complaints, for the relief of which the Infirmary was
established, and who have not the means of otherwise
procuring that medical assistance which is all-important
in the early stages of the disease. The number of new eye
cases during the year was 4,009 ; the new ear cases, 2,803 ;
total, 6,812,—a1l of which were supplied with needful
dressing, medicine, &c., at the cost of the institution. The
committee then noticed the loss sustained by the Infirmary ,
in the death of Mr. Barrow, for several years the assistant
surgeon, in whose place, however, they had appointed Mr.
Poole. They concluded by thanking the supporters who
had already aided the institution, and appealed to the
public for renewed assistance.

The treasurer's accounts showed that the receipts during
the past year had been :—Annual subscriptions, £365 2s. ;
charity box, £1 9s. 6d. ; subscription from corporation,
£100; rent of stable, &c., £25 : total, £491 lls. 6d. The
expenditure, exclusive of a balance of £230 12s. 3d. due
on the Ist of January, 1851, to Mr. Henry Crossfield, the
treasurer, amounted to £412 3s. The balance owing Ist
January, 1852, on the general account was, therefore,
£l5l 3s. 9d. Besides this, however, there was a balance
due to Mr. Crossfield of £275 15s. 2d., on account of the
new premises. Last year the amount due under this head
was £1,013 9s. 6d. ; but of this £737 14s. 4d. had been
paid off during the year.
_

It was then resolved that the reports be adopted and
printed for circulation. That the thanks of the committee
and subscribers be given to the corporation of Liverpool
for their liberal grant of £lOO, and to the other subscribers
and donors to the institution.

Mr. NEILL, in moving that the thanks of the, meeting be
given to the president, vice-presidents, and committee,
and that a committee be appointed (as in the advertisement
in another column), took occasion to observe that, twenty
years ago, there were but 1,000 eye patients, and 2,000
ear patients ; but the pressure of increased numbers on
the funds had been considerably more rapid than the
growth of the town itself. The number of important
operations performed last year for cataract and the forma-
tion of false pupils was 118, a greater number than had ever
before been performed in any provincial infirmary. Of ner-
vous affections of the eye, gutta serena, there were 264 cases,
cataract 95, and disease of the, pupil 23. From among the
workingclasses there had been no less than 342 mechanics
and others with contusions, wounds and burns of the eye.
From the statistical tables of the Institution diseases of
the eye are found to commence about Christmas, to in.
crease up to July, and then to decrease again till Christ-
mas. The working of the anemometer would, he believed,
be found very useful in showing the influence of atmos-
pheric changes upon the condition of the eye. In some
months it was found that they had but 63 cases of
catarrhal disease, while in other months there were as
many as 100. In some months, indeed, they found the
total number to be 241, and in the worst months of the
year they have run up to nearly as high as 400 cases. These
points would henceforth form subjects of investigation as
connected with health ; and in this they would be greatly
aided by the Observatory, the records of which will give
the temperature and atmospheric currents at all periods.
At one time last week, for instance, it was found that the
atmosphere was moving horizontally at the rate of 62 miles
an hour.

Dr. IMLACK, in moving a vote of thanks to the medical
officers of the Institution, expressed himself well pleased
with the arrangements under which it was conducted,
Thanks were subsequently given to the chairman for his
services, and the meeting closed.

SUICIDE OF AN ENGINEER THROUGH THE STRIKE.—
On Sunday afternoon was discovered the body of a man
lying in the mud off the Middlesex side of Vauxhall
Bridge. A female identifiad the body as being that of a
man named John Leach, an engineer, lately in the employ
of Messrs. Maudslay and Field, of Westminster-bridge-
road, Lambeth. The deceased had been missing since
Friday from his home, and the female stated that he had
been in a low state of mind since his dismissal on account
of the employers' strike.