The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1867-10-09
. BY Hook or by Crook.

The destruction oeusea by fire OF LONDON.
A. D. 1866, during which some 10, 200 houses,
ETC., were burned down, in very many cases
obliterating all the boundary marks requisite
to determine the extent of land, and even tie
very sites occupied by buildings, previous to
this terrible visitation, When the rubbish
was removed and the land cleared, the dis
putes and entangled claims of those whose
houses had been destroyed, both as to the
position and extent of their property promis-
ed not only interminable occupations to the
courts of law, but made the far more serious
evil Of delaying the rebuilding of the city,
until these disputes were settled inevitable.
Impelled by the necessity Of coming to a
more speedy settlement of their respective
claims than could be hoped for legal process,
it was determined that the claims ard interests
Of all persons concerned should be referred TO
the Judgment and decision of two of the most
experienced land surveyors of that day-men
who had been thoroughly acquainted with
London previously to the fire; and, in order
| to escape from the numerous and vast evils
which mere delay must occasion, that the
decision of these two arbitrator should be
fanal and binding. The surveyors appointed
to determine the righta of the various cla;-
mants we're Mr. HOOK and Mr.. Crook, who,
! by the justice of their decisions gave general
satisfaction to the interested parties. and by
| their speedy determination Of their different
claims permitted the rebuilding of the city to
proceed without the least delay. Hence
arose the saying above quoted, usually ap-
piled to the extrication Of persons Or things
from difficulty. The above anecdote was
| the othor evening by an old citizen upward
of eighty, by no means an magma tive tena-
perment.
CoNsuMPr1oN.-Ata medical Congress in
Paris. very recently, there was most inter-
esting discussion or the subject Of consump-
ton. We find the following paragraph in
regard to it in the Paris letter of the New
York Times: raj
1.-THE first question discussed in the Nedi-
cal Congress was question which reaches
and interests, more directly perhaps, than any
other, every family. It was the question of
tubercle, its contagiousness and prophylactic.
The discussion turned mainly on these two
points: Is tubercular consumption contagi-
Gus, and may it not be prevented by innocula-
ton I should tell you that the profession,
tired Of being bafaed by disease so slow in
its progress, and yet SO certainly fatal, have
been experimenting Of late years all over Eu-
rope, and that enough new facts have been
arrived at to warrant a certain number Of the
experimenters to declare that tubercular
phthisis is contagious and that healthy aud
an infected person ought not to sleep in the
same bed Experiments have been made up
on rabbits and other animals by insulating
under the skin the matter from tubercles,
and these inoculated animals die consump-
| tive in three months time. The discussions
of the Congress established no new doctrine
in positive way, but they brought out many
valuable facts which will put the profession
step in advance in the right direction.