The Sun. — 1868-02-22 (London, England)

THE UNIDENTIFIED DEAD.  At a time when the disappearance of Mr. Speke is the subject of so much correspondence in the public press, it may be interesting to record a few facts relating to the number of deaths registered in England and Wales, of persons who died unrecognised. in 1866. It is well known that an index is prepared at the General Register Office, Somerset House, at the end of every quarter, wherein the names and surname of every deceased person are recorded in strict alphabetical order. The index also gives the age at the time of death, and it also records the registration district wherein, it occurred. This list is, in fact, a key to the volume containing the legal document, which states the date of the death, the civil condition of the deceased, and also the exact cause of death. In the four quarterly volumes of 1866, there are thus'indexed the deaths of more than five hundred thousand persons who died in England and Wales in the course of the year. It frequently happens, however, that there are cases of persons who meet with fatal accidents, and of whom nobody seems to know anything. There are also numerous fatal cases of apoplexy and heart disease, terminating suddenly, and many persons dying of these diseases are unidentified. Cases of suicide are of common occurrence, and it is very probable that many of these bodies are recognised. Altogether, therefore, it is not very surprising to find that there were about 1,053 deaths of unknown persons recorded in 1866. Of this latter total 687 were males and 347 were females, and that there should be more unknown males than females admits of easy explanation. Besides the fatal accidents and also cases of suicide, the official index includes numerous cases of sailors who have lost their lives at sea, and whose bodies have been washed ashore on various parts of the coast. This, and the fact that men are more exposed to accidents than women, are doubtless the true reasons of the excess of unknown males ; but besides this it is a fact that suicides are three times more numerous amongst men than amongst women. Continuing the analysis of the list, so far as it relates to ages, it will be found that the deaths of 529 unknown children were recorded under one year old. Probably the greater part of these deaths resulted from violence or exposure ; but still it is exceedingly likely that in many cases the persons having the custody of the child may have been so poor that they determined to run all risk rather than incur the expense of burial. Shame, too, doubtless operated in many cases, and therefore, to prevent all trace, the body may have been left exposed in public places. There were also 288 persons who were unrecognised, but whose age is recorded in the index, and there is an ugly total of 243 deaths of unknown persons, and whose age is not given in the book. In the latter cases the clue to after discovery manifestly becomes fainter ; it is, however, not altogether hopeless, inasmuch as the register to which reference is made from the index often gives the civil condition of the deceased as well as the time and place of death. In London alone there were 330 persons who died unidentified in the year 1866—namely, 191 males and 139 females. The destruction of infant life was here exceedingly great, 245 unknown children having died under one year old, that is to say, more than two-thirds of the entire unrecognised deaths in the metropolis. In 71 cases the age is recorded, and in 14 cases no age is entered. In many cases the body has not been discovered until some considerable time after death, and therefore decomposition has • set in. This is probably the reason why the coroner so repeatedly omits to give the age (and it is from his information that most of these deaths are registeted), but still an approximate age may prove very valuable in after years, in cases where searches may be instituted. There were 19 deaths recorded in England in 1866 of persons whose names and sex do not appear to have been ascertained. Twelve of these cases were children under one year of age, and in seven instances no are is ' 4.ed.  The statues of the Kings in Westminster Hall are stated to have cost £3OO each. The Italie of Florence announces that Admiral Farragut, with some officers of the Franklin, has left that city for Venice.  Mr. Holman Hunt was a candidate to fill one of the vacancies at the Royal Academy at the late election but his name was for some reason withdrawri  The letter of the judges, critici3ing the proposal to place the trial of election petitions upon their shoulders does not meet with the unanimous approval of the weeklies. The Spectator speaks of it as being " cavalier in style and weak in substance," and reminds their lordships that theiiconstitutional duties are those which they are called tipcin to perform under the Constitution, and that Parliament, and not the judges, has the constitutional right to change the Constitution.. On the other hand, the Solicitors' Journal looks upon the objections of the judges as unanswerable.  The John „Bull states that the Archbishop of Canterbury has appointed Tuesday, March 3, for a special meeting of the National Society, to consider the Education question, and a very large attendance is expected. Archdeacon Denison, in a letter to the. Eight Hon. Gathorne Hardy, just published by Messrs. Rivington, supposing that the Government bill will contain a conscience clause, "the principal instance of that combined secular, financial, and religions tyranny which is peculiar to the 19th century," contends that if the House of Commons will not accept the " religious liberty " aspect of the question, there is nothing left for bishops, clergy, and people to submit to but an ineyitable,wrong, only let them care that they, are neither directly nor indirectly parties to its infliction. He concludes by expressing his conviction that the National Society had better c Jule to an end than accept a conscience clause.