The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-06-06 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIR—Mr. Danson, the councillor for Lime-street Ward,
states, in a published letter to his constituents, that " the
quality" of the Rivington Pyke water, " according to all
able and unprejudiced persons, is undeniable."
The good quality of the Rivington Pyke water is not so
" undeniable" as Mr. Danson, a thorough-going " Pyke"
man, would wish to make it appear. Carried away by his
enthusiasm in its behalf, he stated at the last meeting of
the Polytechnic Society, that it was " the finest water in
the world," though two gentlemen, members of the so-
ciety, had just stated that they had been, a few days
before, over to Rivington Pyke, to see and taste the water
and judge for themselves, and they found that the water
of the running streams had a strong odour, and was any-
thing but what they would select for themselves to drink.
They also stated the remarkable fact, which is worth
more than a whole host of theoretical arguments to the
contrary, that the inhabitants of the district will not drink
of the water of these streams, even when passing their
very doors, but will invariably go " fields off" to obtain
the water of any chance spring there may be in the neigh-
bourhood.

The opinion of the resident inhabitants is worth some-
thing; and an opinion which they prove by their practice
is surely worth more than that of a London geologist and
an Edinburgh professor, both strangers in the district,
and will be considered by most persons as " an able and
unprejudiced opinion of the quality of the water which is
undeniable."—l am, sir, &c.
A MEMBER OF THE POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.
SALT. D. BRANDY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SlR,—The generality of medical men having a strong
prejudice against salted brandy, I feel very desirous of
removing it ; because, if could succeed in such an at-
tempt, the medicine would have the advantage of being
administered under their enlightened practice, with the
happiest results in, I doubt not, a great majority of cases.
In reading a short account of the life of the celebrated
physician Herman Boerhave, I found that he had expe-
rienced the efficacy, if not of salted brandy, yet of the
nearest combination to it, salted wine, as will appear
from the following extract :
" About the twelfth year of his age, Herman was
afflicted with a malignant ulcer in his left thigh, which
seemed to baffle all the art of surgery, and occasioned
such excessive pain as greatly interrupted his studies for
five years together ; but at length, after all the vain
efforts of physicians, he himself by fomenting it with salt
and wine, effected a cure; and thereupon he conceived
his first thought of studying physic."
I would remark that, at the period when Boerhave
lived, ardent spirit had but just teen discovered ; and I
believe that that kind of it called brandy w.s not then
known; but was in wine, like the spark in the flintstone,
until elicited, in after times, by the cunning hand of
chemistry. In the case reported in the above extract we
have a malignant ulcer of long standing cured by the ex-
hibition of salted wine, and this experiment was the cause
which gave to the world so eminent a medical character
as Herman Boerhave Y I trust that by spewing salt in
connexion with wine, the basis of brandy, adopted by so
great a man, the prejudice of the faculty against salted
brandy may be diminished if not quite removed. I feel
convinced that, if medical men would condescend to test
the efficacy of salted brandy by experiments of internal
as well as external application, they would arrive at such
results as might perhaps afford them very great surprise
at the unaccountable effects of this mysteriously operat-
ing medicine.
Hoping on a future occasion to be again permitted to
recur, in your columns, to thesubjeq of salted brandy,

I remain, sir, your faithful servant,
Wavertree, 4th June. SAMUEL FENTON.

MORE CHARTIST DISTURBANCES.-011 Sunday last,
great excitement prevailed in Bethnal-green, Hackney, &c.,
through large assemblages in the streets of Chartists and
Repeaters. On hearing a cry of " police," they at first
appeared inclined to run off, but some desperate fellows
incited the crowd, and a number of them commenced
throwing stones at the officers, which was continued for
some time. A brick was thrown at Inspector Tarleton,
who was knocked down. Serjeant Moore was served in
a similar manner. The police then went to work with
their truncheons, and many of the mob were severely in-
jured. In Turtle-street, and Castle-street, in Bethnal-
green, the inhabitants (who are the lowest characters)
threw brickbats, and ginger-beer bottle.s at the police. One
of the constables was severely cut in the mouth by a brick-
bat, and was obliged to be taken away to the station-
house. Though the mob received a very rough handling,
crowds continued to assemble in Virginia-row, and other
places, when a party of mounted constables came up with
swords drawn, and by using the flats of their weapons
succeeded in getting the streets tolerably clear. They
had barely done so and gone off; to another part of the
neighbourhood, when being informed another attack was
made on the officers, they set to work again, and many
heads were broken before the mob would disperse. In
Victoria Park a most determined attempt was made at an
early part of the afternoon, by, a desperate gang, to mur-
der two constables in Virginia-gardens. They had forced
them on the ground and were pressing their throats,, no
doubt intending to murder them, when a section of the
K division, by using their truncheons, succeeded in beat-
ing off the mob, and taking two or three of the ring-
leaders. The officers, on passing by one of the houses in
Virginia-row, had a pike pointed at them by a man, who
said, " A little of this will do you good." They were
watching for this man to come out when they were so
brutally attacked.—At a meeting in Bishop Bonner's
Fields a Mr. Jones said,—" On Whit-Monday, we shall
have another display another Kennington-common
meeting., but not at• Kennington. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) Will London do its duty ? (Cries of " yes, yes.")
Mr. Jones concluded by advising them to organize, and
in a few days the green flag would float over Downing-
street. Mitchel and John Frost would be on their way
to England, and Lord John Russell and Sir George Grey
on their way to Baffin's Bay." (Loud cheers.) Mr.
Jones and the other leaders then left the ground. The
sight of a policeman crossing the fields towards the
church arrested the attention of the mob, who made off
towards him in a body, evidently resolved to avenge the
attacks which had been made upon them in the morning.
I From a newly macadamized road in front of the church
the mob procured a large supply of stones with which
they attacked the constable, who managed, however, to
make his escape after receiving many severe injuries.
Their attention was then directed to the church, the win-
dows of which were speedily broken, the mob having
become impressed with the idea that the sacred edifice
was filled with soldiers and policemen. The police were
now called into action, and having emerged from their
various places of concealment they marched off in sec-
tions into the midst of the people. Many scampered off
in various directions, but several hundreds refused to go,
They were loud in their complaints. The men having
been commanded to clear the ground, a severe conflict
took place. The truncheons were used with full force,
and in the space of a very few minutes several dozen men
and boys were knocked flat upon the ground and were
trodden on by others in their anxiety to escape, whilst
many had their heads broken, arms fractured, and were
otherwise seriously injured. Notwithstanding the vio-
lence the police were obliged to use, many refused to
leave the ground, and showed the officers the arms they
had about their persons. Determined not to be put
down by the exhibition of weapons, the police set to
work with renewed vigour, but although very hard blows
were dealt, no fatal case occurred. An officer of the K
division seeing a fellow in the crowd about to stab him in
the abdomen, put down his hand to ward off the blow,
when the instrument penetrated completely through the
fleshy part of the hand. The constable was immediately
removed to the London Hospital, Several persons were
taken into custody,