The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-02-02 00:00:00

CHARITABLE SOCIETY.—The visiteri of this excellent
institution have, during the last five weeks, paid 1247
visits to the abodes of poverty and sickness, and have ex-
pended £92 ss. 6d. in relieving 864 cases, consisting of
1789 persons. It will thus be seen there was an urgent
necessity for the appeal recently inserted in our adver-
tising columns, and which we are happy to find• has met
with a liberal response. In December the funds of the
Society were exhausted, and the applicants for relief con-
tinue so numerous, that further pecuniary assistance is
still needed.

CASUALTIES AT SEA.-:-In addition to the loss sus-
tained by the packet-ship Columbia, from whose decks
Captain Rathbone and several of his men were swept by
a heavy sea, and never more seen, we have to record that
the Eliza Warwick, from New York, which reached the
port on Friday, met with a nearly similar calamity, her
captain, mate, and two seamen having been washed over-
board and drowned. The Epaminondas, which arrived
on Friday, brought the crew of the Genoese barque
Sampsona, from Genoa to Cork, found in a sinking state
in lat. 57.30, long. 7.30. The Clown schooner, hence to
Glasgow, grounded on Friday on Burbo Bank : the life-
boat from Formby went to her assistance.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE.—On Wednesday morning, be-
tween the hours of two and three o'clock, an alarming
fire broke out in the spacious premises belonging to Mr.
Challenor, situate on the east side of Mason-street, near
to Wapping, which destroyed buildings and other prOperty
to a considerable amount, A line horse was burnt to a
cinder. Mr. Challener's large warehouse, which was used
partly as a flour store and partly as a block manufactory,
was completely gutted. Three of the rooms were fully
stored with flour, and the other rooms contained a large
stock of blocks and steam machinery, the whole of which
have been either wholly destroyed or rendered utterly
useless. The fire next communicated with a line ware-
house belonging to Mr. Thomas Booth, the corn mer-
chant ; and this warehouse also, together with its contents,
has likewise been much damaged. Mr. Challener was
insured in the Star-office ; and no doubt Mr. Booth is
also insured. No correct estimate can as yet be formed
of the value of the property destroyed, but doubtless it
will amount to some thousands of pounds.
THE Pantsn-oeerce.---There was an increase of up-
wards of 17,000 in the numbers of Irish relieved at the
Parish-office last week, compared with the week before.
The daily numbers relieved were as follows :—Monday,
22,065 ; Tuesday, 25,529 ; Wednesday, 23,313 ; Thursday,
24,297 •, Friday, 24,668 ; Saturday, about 24,000 ;"total,
143,872. The cost of relieving this number last week
was upwards of £220. We are happy to state that, from
and after to-day. Fenwick-street will not be rendered so
impassable as it has been by the thousands of Irish who
have congregated in front of the Pa2rish-office for provi-
sions, as Mr. Austin, the Assistant Poor-law Commis-
sioner, has introduced a plan by which the casual or Irish
poor will almost wholly be relieved at their own dwellings.
Twenty-four policemen have been selected for the purpose
of dividing the town into twelve districts, visiting each
Irish family at their several abodes, making inquiries into
their respective cases, with the view of guarding against
imposition, and imparting relief. The relief will be
granted by tickets of different colours to distinguish the
districts. There will be a house at which bread and soup
will be obtained upon the presentation of the tickets.
The twenty-four policemen will be under two inspectors,
and every two of them will have a district under their
immediate charge..
INTERESTING OPERATIONS.—On Thursday, a number
of professional and scientific- gentlemen assembled at the
Eye and Ear Infirmary in this towu, to witness•operations
performed upon patients while under the influence of sul-
phuric ether. The proceedings excited the deepest interest.
Mr. Neill, the skilful arid much-esteemed surgeon of the
establishment, was the operator, assisted by his talented
colleague, Dr. Edwards. The ether was administered by
Dr. Higginson and Mr. Yaniewiecz. An elderly man,
named John Davies, was first cut for cataract. He was
rendered, in a great measure, but not totally, insensible by
the sulphuric ether, and declared, after the operation, that
he had felt a prick in his eye.—William Massey, of Run-
corn, a veteran 66 years of age, whose left eye, through
cataract, had been almost entirely blind.for six months,
and whose right eye had been blind nearly all his life, was
next seated in the chair. This was a tery interesting case.
The operation, which was also for cataract, was what is
technically known as reclination. After about a minute's
inhalation of the ether, he cried twice, " You'll have me
drunk " you are a black man," "oh ! I know what you
are. The bladder was in two minutes wjAhdrawn, and
he fell back apparently powerless, with his eye-lids closed.
During the operation not the slightest twinge or shrug
betokened nervous, sensibility. He was asked if he felt
any pain ; " no, no !" he answered in a firm voice, appa-
rently delighted to find that the operation was finished,
without his being conscious of its progress.—Jane Evans,
a young woman also from Runcorn, was the next patient.
She had, through cataract, been blind in her right eye for
thirteen years. She was much excited, her pulse beating
at 132 ; it afterwards ranged so high as 202. The ether
had an almost immediate effect, and she querulously cried
"Oh ! oh, dear ! I want to get out, I'm falling !" The
matron and the medical attendants succeeded in pacifying
her. The operation occupied but a minute, and she de-
dared that she had not felt the slightest pain. Even after
the operation, she felt as if falling, but apparently reco-
vered on drinking a little wine.—ln the next case, that of
Robert M`Loughlin, employed, he said, under Mr. Jesse
Hartley, the ether produced no marked effect. He had
suffered much, he said, and heard every word that had
been uttered.—Ambrose Rossitar, aged twenty-five, from
Birkenhead, whose right eye was affected by strabismus,
causing a squint, then submitted to the (usually) painful
operation of having it couched. He coughed very much
during the inhalation, and his face became flushed. In
two minutes he appeared quite insensible, and lay back
with both eyes closed. The muscle was then completely
cut across, the eye bleeding very much. The operation
did not occupy long, and was very skilfully performed.
At its close, the patient groaned, and asked, (as had also
a previous patient) for leave to spit out. He declared that
after a certain time he had been conscious of considerable
pain, but appeared still under the influence of the ether;
and, when questioned, his statements varied much. Mr.
Neill concluded by operating upon a boy (not etherised),
restoring to him a fine pupil, hitherto completely veiled.
The whole of the operations were highly satisfactory and
interesting, reflecting great credit on the talented surgeons.