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Provincial Medical JournalSource: Provincial Medical Journal and Retrospect of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 7, No. 172(Jan. 13, 1844), pp. 291-296Published by: BMJStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25492590 .

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MR. CHADWICK'S REPORT ON INTERMENT IN TOWNS. 291

of May 27) misinterpreted part of my letter, for he says, "I would here remark that it is purely a

benevolent fund, not a benefit society." I did not

contemplate forming a benefit society; my wish was to impress on the minds of others the value of such a

fund, and how consolatory to every mind must be the reflection, that should sickness or distress overtake him, or his family, there existed a fund (the interests of which he had, whilst in prosperity, done all ill his power to promote), to which he might properly apply for succour, and to which he might be considered as

having a just claim. Preferring deeds to words, I have added four shil

lings to my annual subscription, and call upon every member of the Association to do likewise.

I am, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant,

JOHN LEE, M.D.

Market Bosworth, Jan. 10, 1844.

PROVINCIAL MEDICAL JOURNAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1844.

We purpose this week to resume our consideration of Mr. Chadwick's Report on Interment in Towns. In our last Number we dwelt on the evils arising from the diffusion of noxious gases from the places

where the dead are buried. But that is not the only way in which the dead may be injurious to the living; for if the putrefactive effluvia are dangerous when

slowly rising through the earth, and freely diluted with atmospheric air, what must they be when evolved in a small, unventilated apartment, occupied by a

whole family? It is well known that four out of five families,

amongst the lower orders in towns, inhabit one room

only, which serves for every purpose of life-for

eating, drinking, sleeping, and sometimes for a work

room, or shop besides. These, too, are the class of

persons with whom interments are generally delayed the longest, sometimes from a difficulty in raising the

necessary funds, sometimes because the Sunday is the

only day on which the relatives of the deceased are at

liberty to attend the funeral. Hence the corpse re

mains in a warm, crowded room, for five, eight, or

perhaps even twelve days, under every circumstance which can possibly render it most offensive and dan

gerous. On the one hand, the miasmata-especially

in cases of death from contagious disease-are in

finitely the most dangerous during the first few days after death; and on the other, the survivors, ex

hausted, as they most likely are, bodily by watching and privation, mentally by anxiety and grief, are under the circumstances which, as is well known, most greatly increase the danger of contagion.

Hence, we cannot be surprised to find Mr. Chad

wick's pages literally teeming with instances of per sons destroyed by this Mezentian practice:

--------- " et sanie, taboque fluentes, Complexu in miseco, long sic morte peribant."

Mr. Leonard, parish surgeon of St. Martin's-in-the

Fields, says: " On the 9th of March, 1810, M-- was taken to

the Fever Hospital. He died there, and'the body was brought back to his own room. On the 12th his

step-son was taken ill. He was removed immediately to the Fever Hospital. On the 18th, the barber who shaved the corpse was taken ill, and died in the Fever Hospital, and on the 27th another step-son was taken ill, and removed also.

"On the 18th of December, 1810, J- and her

infant were brought, ill with fever, to her father's room in Eagle-court, which was ten feet square, with

a small window of four panes; the infant soon died.

On the 15th of January, 1841, the grandmother was taken ill; upon the 2nd of February the grandfather also. There was but one bedstead in the room. They resisted every offer to remove them, and there was no

power to compel removal. The corpse of the grand mother lay beside her husband upon the same bed, and it was only when he became delirious, and in

capable of resistance, that I ordered the removal of

the body to the dead-house, and of himself to the

Fever Hospital. He died there; but the evil did not

stop here: two children, who followed their father's

body to the grave, were, the one within a week, and

the other within ten days, also victims to the same

disease. In short, five out of six died."

Instances like these are related by parish surgeons

from every part of the metropolis.

But even supposing that there were no danger to

health or life, is it not right that some means should

be taken to prevent the occurrence of such sickening

scenes as the following ? Mr. Wyld, an undertaker,

tells Mr. Chadwick,

" In cases of rapid decomposition, of persons dying in full habit, there is much liquid, and the coffin is

tapped to let it out. I have known them to keep the

corpse after the body has been tapped twice, which

has, of course, produced a disagreeable effluvium.

This liquid generates animal life very rapidly, and

within six hours after a coffin has been tapped, if the

liquid escapes, maggots, or a sort of animalcule, are

seen crawling about. I have frequently seen them

crawling about the floor of a room inhabited by the

laboring classes, and about the tressels on which the

tapped coffin is sustained. In such rooms the chil

dren are frequently left while the widow is out

making arrangements connected with the funeral;

and the widow herself lives there with the children.

I frequently find them altogether, in a small room

with a large fire."

The Rev. Evan James, curate of St. Dunstan's,

Stepney, says, in his evidence before the committee

of the House of Commons,

"I recollect on one occasion, when the corpse was

brought into the church between the services on a

Sunday, no language can describe the scene 1 wit

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292 MR. CHADWICK'S REPORT ON INTERMENT IN TOWNS.

nessed; the undertaker's men all covered with that

which ran from the coffin, and such a scene in the

middle aisle of the church ! It was enough to poison a person, and I was obliged to send for chloride of

lime, to disinfect the church, to enable people to

come to afternoon service, which they could not have done unless I had taken that precaution."

We can well imagine the shudder which passes

over our readers as they peruse these disgusting de

tails. But the stern fact is, that this, which is a

loathsome tale to read, is a daily reality; it may,

under existing regulations, actually take place in

20,000 instances in the metropolis every year; and if

feelings of delicacy alone are consulted, and such horrors are concealed, so the case will remain. Let

them be known, and somebody may perhaps be moved

to find a remedy.

But the ill consequences of the prolonged retention of the dead amongst the living are not merely phy

sical; the very affections are blunted, and the instincts

of humanity brutalised. " The mental effects," says

Mr. Chadwick, " on the elder children or members of

the family of the retention of the body in the living

room, day after day, and during meal times, until

familiarity is induced-retained as the body commonly

is during all this time in the hordes of disease-the

progress of change and decomposition disfiguring the

remains, and adding disgust to familiarity-is allowed

to be of the most demoralising tendency." These help,

amongst other elements of depravity, to account for the savage brutality, and indifference to life which characterise unhappily so large a proportion of our

laboring population. " Disrespect for the human form under suffering," continues Mr. Chadwick, "in difference or carelessness at death, is rarely found

amongst the uneducated, unconnected with a callous

ness to other's pain and a recklessness about life

itself." So, that which might, under proper manage ment, be made to teach a lesson of virtue and morality, serves only to render the heart callous to that " whole

some fear of death which is the last hold upon a har

dened conscience." Since our readers-till a better order of things is

established-may occasionally meet with instances in which it is highly desirable for the interment of a

corpse to take place without delay, but in which they cannot persuade the relatives to do it, and have no

power to compel them, it may be as well to notice the

easiest methods of preventing the escape of effluvia. For this purpose the body may be wrapped in a piece of coarse sacking, smeared with tar; or, as Mr. Dyce Guthrie, a Scotch surgeon, tells Mr. Chadwick, " coffins may be rendered perfectly impervious to the

escape of any morbific matter, at an expense not ex

ceeding Is. 6d. to 2s. each, by coating the interior

over with a cement composed of lime, sand, and oil, which soon sets, and becomes almost as hard and

resisting as stone. Pitch applied hot would answer the same purpose, but is more expensive." In the cases of such rapid decomposition as bursts leaden coffins, or renders tapping necessary, he recommends the application,' at a few shillings expense, of safety tubes to the foot of the coffin, so as to carry away the

mephitic matter into a flue, or a current created by a chauffer. Mr. Baker, of Leeds, suggests that, in cases

where it may be desirable, for family reasons, to keep the body, it may be placed in

"A deal shell, and this shell be placed within the coffin, between which and the shell are affixed at the sides and bottom, a few pieces of circular wood, about the thickness of two crown-pieces, here and there, to keep the shell aud coffin apart, forming a consi derable interstice, which is filled with boiling pitch. The lid of the shell is then laid on, having a glass over the face, and over this is poured more pitch, till the shell is incased in a pitch coffin between the wooden ones. The cost of this process is about 9s. 6d."

The next point which Mr. Chadwick notices is the subject of funeral expenses, and their effects on the living. They are, as we observed above, one of the

most frequent causes of the long retention of the dead before burial, and are often a cause of great misery and privation to the middling and poorer classes; and, as they involve a great many questions respecting the arrangements to be adopted for the public regula tion of funerals, they require, and have received at

Mr. Chadwick's hands, a very complete and careful

exposition. We need not say that, among the upper and middle

classes, funeral expenses are generally most extor tionate and extravagant, the prices being raised by

every species of jobbing and bribery; servants are

bribed, and low practitioners of medicine, too, not un

frequently sell their recommendation; and the under takers' men are most debauched, irreverent vaga

bonds, to whose coarse hands, nevertheless, the important office of enshrouding the corpse and pre

paring it for burial is committed.

With respect to the lower orders, they have, as Mr.

Chadwick rightly observes, an universal wish for the

decent interment of themselves and their relatives. "

Subscriptions may Ibe obtained for large classes of

them for burial, when it can be obtained neither for

their own relief in sickness, nor for the education of their children, nor for any other object." It appears

probable that, from six to eight out of the twenty four millions deposited in the savings' banks of the

United Kingdom, have been hoarded for this object

Many paupers who have apparently dissipated all their substance, have yet reserved and concealed a

small fund for this purpose; it forms, too, one great

object of benefit societies, and it has occasioned the

institution of a vast number of burial clubs, the

arrangements of which, as Mr. Chadwick observes,

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MR. CHADWICK'S REPO RT ON INTERMENT IN TOWNS. 293

are evidence alike of the intensity of feeling which

poor people have on the subject of interment, and of their extreme ignorance and need of trustworthy guidance.

On the subject of these clubs, we trust that our readers (many of whom are the only friendly coun sellors of the lower orders) will not think it irrelevant if we offer a few of those observations which Mri Chadwick has abundantly furnished.

They are generally got up by a publicati and an undertaker. The meetings are held at the house of the former; the latter provides the funerals. One is generally president and treasurer, the other secre

tary; and their monopoly of the honors and emolu ments of the society is secured by pretty stringent and

arbitrary rules. It requires no trouble to demonstrate the bad consequences of this system. A certain sum is allowed for the committee to drink; the members

who come to pay their weekly subscription drink

also; drinking is an infallible item of allowance at the funeral; and thus not only drunkenness is pro

moted, but good feeling is annihilated amongst the

members, who regard a funeral as a legitimate oppor tunity for carousing. The rates of payment, more over, are excessive; thus, in the Preston Society,

"Where an annual premium of 3s. 9d. would be taken for one risk by an assurance office, 7s. 10d. is taken from the contributors to the club. The General Friendly Society, for a risk for which 3s. 9d. would suffice on the Northampton Table, receives 11s. 5d.

So that, allowing 25 per cent. for expenses and

losses, the poor man pays at least one-third more than he ought to do, not to mention the unfair plan of

charging the same rate to every member, of what ever age. The undertaker, too, has an interest in

admitting bad lives, which bring him quick funerals, and, in consequence, the club is often broken up by the younger and healthier members, who, perceiving that they are subjected to disproportionate charges, divide the funds equally between the members, and thus deprive the older contributors of the fruits of

long continued economy. Vicious as these clubs are in their organisation, it

cannot be wondered at that they are subject to fre

quent frauds, or that heinous crimes have been per

petrated for this purpose. The clubs being insecure,

persons are led to make multiplied insurances for

themselves and their children. The funeral of a child

costs 20s. or 30s., but the club allows perhaps from

?3 to ?5; hence a death is a source of profit. Hence

it is notorious that children have been poisoned with

arsenic, one after another, for the sake of the surplus

allowance from the club, not to mention the daily

occurring instances of children allowed to pine and

die quietly from want of proper nourishment. " Aye,

aye, that child will not live, it is in the burial club,"

is a common phrase amongst the lower orders near

Manchester. As for the frauds committed on these societies, a

woman with one healthy child and one sickly one, enters the healthy one in the name of the other. " A

man entered his wife, and she lay dying at the same time. When asked where his wife was, he pointed to a woman that was sitting by the fireside, and said

that was she; but the wife died before she became a

member." The following case is ludicrous enough: "A man and his wife agreed that one of them,

namely, the husband, should pretend to be dead, in order that the wife might receive his funeral money. Accordingly, the wife proceeds in due form to give notice of his death; the visiting officer on behalf of the society, whose duty it was to see the corpse, re

pairs to the house, enters the chamber, and inquires for the deceased; the should-be disconsolate widow

points to the body of her late husband, whose chin was tied up with a handkerchief in the attitude of

death. He surveys the corpse; the eyelids seem to

move; he feels the pulse; the certain signs of life are there ;"

In fact, after much squabbling, the deceased is

resuscitated with a basin of cold water; he is appre hended, and brought before the magistrates on a

charge of fraud, and is produced in court in the same

dress in which he had been laid out as dead,--our

encourager les antres.

To return, however, to the general subject of

funeral expenses. Mr. Chadwick has calculated that

the amount expended annually on funerals in England and Wales is at least between four and five millions.

In the metropolis, at the very lowest estimate, it is

between six and seven hundred thousand pounds, but, much more probably, nearer a million; and he shows

clearly enough that, according to the present system of town interment, all this wasteful expenditure en

sures neither the respect due to the dead, nor the

impressions that ought to be produced on the living, nor the solemn performance of the rites of religion. He proves also that " all the solemnity of sepulture

may be increased, and solemnity be given where none

is now obtained, concurrently with a great reduction

of expense to all classes." He proves that full 50 per

cent. may be saved, and a far greater effect be pro.

duced for the money.

In proceeding to consider the means of preventing the present delay of funerals, Mr. Chadwick very

properly objects to any arbitrary enactment, such as

formed part of the proposed bill of 1842, forbidding all delay of interment beyond a certain number of

hours, under fines and penalties. Such enactments

would be of little real force, whilst, without very

stringent precaution, the mischiefs which might be

produced-we may almost say the murders that might

be committed-may be estimated from the numerous

instances that have actually occurred of persons in

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294 MR. CHADWICK'S REPORT ON INTERMENT IN TOWNS.

terred before death, in various continental states where such enactments have been passed. We know

very well how strongly the fear of this horrid occur. rence is impressed on the public mind; and really, small as the chance of it may be, there are yet in

stances enough of it occurring from time to time in

our own day, to render imperative some respect for

people's fears on this account, and all reasonable pre

caution to prevent it. Well-authenticated cases of live

persons laid out as dead must be in the possession of

almost every practitioner in this country; and in countries where interment is earlier, there are suffi cient instances of narrow escapes from living entomb

ment, brought forward from time to time, to show

that there must be a far greater number who do not

escape.

The numerous other evils connected with death and interment, of which Mr. Chadwick treats-espe

cially the want of all care to detect and remove the

various preventible causes of death-the want of means

for warning families from coming, as they now do, in

rapid succession into close, pestilential places of resi dence-the want of means for examining into com

mon causes of disease, which affect the whole com

munity-the want of proper measures for verifying the fact and cause of death, whence wide opportunities are allowed for the commission of murder, either by

violence or by neglect;-these we must pass over, in

order to lay before our readers a short account of the

remedies which he proposes to mitigate or remove

them. These remedies may be briefly summed up as fol

lows :-The enforcement of such sanitary measures as diminish the amount of deaths, and, consequently, of

burials; the entire prohibition of interments in towns, and especially in churches; the provision of national

cemeteries; the provision of houses of reception for the dead; the supply of materials for funerals on

every scale at reduced prices; and the appointment of officers of health, through whose agency principally this improved system of things may be carried out.

Let us give a short account of the details.

And, first, concerning the proposed officers of health. They should be, according to Mr. Chadwick, persons unencumbered with private practice; retired

army or navy officers, for example; and they should be possessed of habits of investigation, and zeal and

ability for the service-qualifications which would be

best evidenced by their having "investigated success

fully some scientific question on the prevention of disease to a practical end." The number of them

would be regulated, of course, by the number of

deaths in a given place. It is calculated that each

officer can visit fifteen houses on an average perdiem. Now in the metropolis there are, on an average, 125

deaths daily, 22 of which are from epidemic, endemic, or contagious, and, therefore, more or lesspreventible,

diseases; and in this latter number of cases might they daily enforce measures to protect the survivors and their neighbours from the spread of disease. The

pay of these officers might correspond with the pay of

army and navy officers. Thus there might be an

inspector-general at ?1 16s. per diem; a deputy

inspector-general at 24s.; eight inspectors at 19s.; .two supernumeraries at 15s.; and these, with ten

single horse vehicles, which it would be expedient to

furnish, would cost about ?6,000 per annum. That these officers should be well qualified, and

that they should not be encumbered with practice, are, we think, judicious regulations enough; but we

very much doubt the expediency of selecting them

chiefly from amongst retired practitioners of either

service. There are many civilians whose practice is

not worth having, because they have addicted them

selves to scientific investigations, whose utility would be far greater.

The duties of these officers would be, to verify, by an actual inspection, the fact of death, its cause, time,

place, and circumstances, and, if possible, the identity of the deceased, and to provide for its proper registra tion. Thus would be prevented the fraudulent regis

trations which at present are so easy. " Ally one who

is unknown to the local registrar may go and register

his own death, of which a certified copy will, accord

ing to the Act, be evidence in a court of law. * *

False registrations have been made amongst the lower

classes as to the place of death, to gain interments in

other parishes at cheaper rates."

The following extract will show the working of the

proposed system :

" To illustrate more clearly the course of alteration

of the practice of interments, we will suppose the phy sician or officer of health brought by the proper notice

to the habitation were the body lies in the presence of the survivors.

"In visiting the habitations of the laboring classes, he would be more careful to denote his office, pro

fession, and condition by his dress, and in his address

even than with other classes. On his arrival at the

place of abode of a person of the working class, he

would, after announcing his office and duty, inspect the body, and then require the name, age, and oc

cupation, and circumstances of the death of the death

of the deceased, enter them, and take the attestations

of witnesses present. If the death occurred from any

ordinary causes, he would, nevertheless, speak of the

expediency of the early removal of the body to the

chapel or house of reception, where it would be placed under proper care until the appointed time of the

attendance of the relations and friends at the inter

ment. The exercise of a summary power of removal

in the case of rapid decomposition of the corpse, or

in case of deaths from epidemic disease, for the pro tection of the living, is frequently suggested and claimed by neighbours.

* * * * *

In a majority of cases the prostrate survivors would be

glad that he should order everything, and would feel

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MR. CHADWICK'S REPORT ON INTERMENT IN TOWNS. 295

it a relief if he were to do so. He would be prepared with a tariff of the prices of burial, and with instruc tions as to the regulations adopted for the public con venience, and for the more respectful performance of the ceremony of interment, and should be empowered and required, on the assent or application of the parties, to carry them out completely, as he might do with very little inconvenience or expenditure of time. He might be empowered to take such a course as this. Speaking to the widow or survivor of the lowest class, he might say

"The inspectors of public health have been em powered to regulate the practice and the charges for interment, and to contract for, and on behalf of, the public, to ensure the means of burial in a proper and respectful manner for the highest as well as for the

most humble classes. Formerly the charge for a funeral of a person of the condition in life of your husband was four or five pounds, but, by the new regulations, an equally respectable intermentis secured to you for little more than half the amount. You are, nevertheless, at liberty to obtain the means of burial from any private undertaker."

He might also take down the names and addresses of every person to whom the relatives might wish a notification after death to be sent, which might be

despatched by his clerk, at a very low rate. He

might, when desirable, inspect the premises, to ascer tain any local causes of disease, and giving directions for their cleansing and fumigation. In cases of epi demics he might often save lives, by ordering the survivors, if ill, to be removed to the hospital, from the unwholesome room or house where the death occurred.

There is every reason to believe that the visits of such officers, instead of being regarded as an intru

sion, would be gladly received by many a bereaved

family. Then, in the next place, concerning the places of

burial. The intra-mural burial grounds of course should be shut up. Suburban cemetries, belonging to, and managed by, the various parishes, are found by experience to be objectionable; their expenses as now existing, are often enormous; the expenses of funerals in them is greatly increased by the distance; in fact, if adopted as a partial remedy, they would leave the principal evils unmitigated, if not made

worse.

The objections to the system of interment in ceme tries belongingto companies of speculators, are equally great, if not greater. In the first place, as a matter of

feeling, we cannot but agree with the Rev. W. Stone, one of Mr. Chadwick's informants, that there ought to be a great repugnance to purchasing the solemnities

of Christian burial at the hands of a joint stock com

pany. The mercantile spirit with which they adver tise for interments and distribute their lists of prices; and their conspicuous placards, " To the - Cemetery only One Mile," which are seen in the suburbs, excite

surely some feeling of disgust. And besides, what

security is there that these companies may not be

tempted to perpetrate the very same indecencies that are now committed in other private burial-grounds ? For our own part, where money is concerned, we put very little faith in the good feeling or tender mercies of a board.

" It may moreover be confidently affirmed," says Mr. Chadwick, " that there is scarcely one of the new cemeteries in which one or other of the well-esta

blished principles of management, in the choice of the site, or the preparation of the soil, or the drainage, or the mode of burial, or in the numbers interred in one

grave, or in respect to the precautions to be observed to prevent the undue corruption of the remains and the escape of morbific matter, or in the service and officers, or in jurisprudential securities, is not over looked."

It is calculated that an acre should contain about

1,452 common graves; whereas, according to the

calculations of cemetery companies, an acre is made to hold from 3,600 to 3,800, placed side by side; and in these the coffins are " piled one over the other by

five or even ten deep, without any precaution as to

emanations; so that although fairer to the eye, there is no certainty that these places may not ultimately become as dangerous as the present town graveyards. The same kind of accidents to gravediggers from effluvia have happened in both.

The conclusion, therefore, is, that national cemeteries

ought to be provided at proper distances from the

metropolis and other large towns. They should be

placed under the control of the officers of health

They should be provided with a sufficient staff of

officers, to ensure the preservation of order: and every arrangement connected with them should exhibit and

should produce respect for the sacredness of the place.

The lowest officials should be cleanly and respectable in appearance; none of the filthy unshaven grave

diggers should be visible, who are to be met with even

in the joint stock cemeteries. .The depth of the

graves should be great enough to prevent the too

hasty escape of miasma, but not so great as to delay

decomposition materially, or to cause the pollution of

distant springs. The nature of the soil should be

sand or gravel, which permits the gradual escape of

the putrefactive gases, whereas clay retains them.

The ground should be properly drained, so as to pro

tect wells and springs, and to prevent that degenera

tion into adipocere which flesh undergoes in water at

a low temperature. For the metropolis, supposing interments to be generally renewable every ten years,

the space required would be about co-extensive with

Hyde-park, St. James's, and the Green-park, put

together; besides which, belts of land around the

cemeteries should be kept clear of houses.

A very important part of the management consists

in keeping the ground covered with a thick turf, and

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296 MR. ADDISON AND THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN REVIEW.

planted with shrubs and trees. The purifying effects of vegetation on the air are well known.

Connected with the cemeteries would be houses for the reception of the dead, and their proper and

respectful care under superior and responsible officers. Thus the danger and nuisance of the retention of dead bodies would be avoided, without the revolting alternative of sending them to a parish bone-house or vault under the church. As long as human remains

retain the human form, they should be treated with

respect and affection. Mr. Chadwick gives a plan of the house for the reception of the dead at Frankfort, with the rules for its regulation, as well as the rules of the reception-house at Munich. These leave

nothing to be desired as regards the respectful care of the dead, and the measures to be adopted in case of resuscitation.

The Rev. H. H. Milman has thrown out a practical suggestion which seems to be well worthy of adop tion. Instead of a funeral procession through long, crowded streets-a costly, but unheeded, cavalcade for the rich-a wearisome march for the poor-let the dead be decently but quietly conveyed beforehand to

the cemetery; there let the relations be assembled, and the procession be formed; the service concluded, let the mourners quietly return home. This modest,

uncostly method we hope to see generally adopted. It gives us sincere pleasure to notice Mr. Chad

wick's anxiety, to secure to the uttermost the benefi

cial effects which the proper arrangement and sober decoration of cemeteries might produce on the minds of the people, as well as to secure the performance of

the service of the church with music, and every other

source of impressiveness and grandeur. We must now take leave of Mr. Chadwick's report,

trusting that we have enabled our readers to form

some estimate of its plan and contents.

IR. ADDISON AND THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN MEDICAL REVIEW.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE PROVINCIAL MEDICAL JOURNAL.

GENTLEMEN,-In the last number of the "Britisi

and Foreign Medical Review," there is an article in

which I find the following passage, alluding to my

Researches, published in the " Transactions of thi

Medical and Surgical Association," Vol. XI.:

" Some of these results, to which no doubt can be

reasonably attached, are of great value; others, we

fear, will not stand the test of further investigation

particularly with a microscope of qualities superior t,

that which we understand Mr. Addison to have beet

in the habit of employing. Knowing what differences of opinion are liable to occur, even among those

possessed of the best instruments, we cannot bysatis

fled with conclusions based upon researches carrie(

on with one of inferior quality."

Now, what the writer of this article knows of th

qualities of my microscope, I am at a loss to imagine; I do not believe he has ever seen it, and the reader is

left to conjecture whether "the conclusions" are un satisfactory to the reviewer, from the instrument showing too much or too little. Such vague remarks and objections, if they apply to one, must apply to the whole of my observations. They are aimed at the very root and foundation of all my facts; and, therefore, it is due to the council and members of our Association, who have been at the expense of pub lishing numerous plates, illustrating the observations upon which the conclusions are based, to notice this indefinite but sweeping objection from the unknown editorial WE. In doing this, I shall take the two fol lowing extracts from my Researches:

" After a short time the fibrine may be seen coagu

lating. Exceedingly delicate and perfectly cylindrical fibres or filaments, having a diameter even less than the molecules, first appear crossing the field of the

microscope; they gradually increase in number, inter

secting each other in various directions, and at

length form a complete network.' * * On applying liquor potasse to the colorless blood

corpuscles, "instantaneous changes occur in their

interior, where numerous molecules and granules may frequently be seen in active motion. In a short time the corpuscles burst open or explode, and discharge ten, fifteen, or more molecules and granules, which either disappear quickly by dissolution in the alkali, or remain for a longer time visible, according to the

strength or quantity of the alkali by which they have

been acted on."

The molecules here alluded to have a diameter not

exceeding the 1-100,000th of an inch, and the fibres of

fibrine have one less than this, and yet both these

observations were made with the microscope with

which the reviewer is so dissatisfied. Now, if he can

show that they are erroneous, I will unreservedly

acknowledge that his objection is well founded, and that my conclusions must be given up, for the reason

(which it is evident he wishes his readers to infer),

viz., because the microscope I have used is not trust

worthy; if he is not able to do this, then the inference which the readers of the Transactions will draw must

be, that the remarks are erroneous and uncalled for,

and that the microscope may be thoroughly depended on, having qualities sufficient to make apparent those

things which have escaped detection by persons pos sessing instruments " of qualities superior."

A few months ago Powell and Lealand fitted one of

their best one-eighth object-glasses, magnifying 750 dia meters linear, to my microscope; this has enabled me

to confirm the bases of all my published conclusions;

nor have I, with this increased power, seen anything

to lead me to alter a single statement, or to throw any

doubt on my inferences. I make these remarks

because the Association referred to has now printed

a second series of researches, and has had additional

illustrations engraved, which will be published in the

forthcoming volume of their Transactions. Should these explanations meet the eye of Dr. Forbes, I trust

he will call the attention of his influential WE to them' I remain, Gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

WILLIAM ADDISON.

e Great Malvern, Jan. 8, 1844.

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