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diff --git a/40498-0.txt b/40498-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c2fc6b --- /dev/null +++ b/40498-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19332 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40498 *** + +CURIOSITIES OF CIVILIZATION. + + + + + CURIOSITIES OF CIVILIZATION. + + REPRINTED FROM THE + "QUARTERLY" & "EDINBURGH" REVIEWS. + + + BY ANDREW WYNTER, M.D. + + + SEVENTH EDITION. + + + LONDON: + ROBERT HARDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY, + AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. + + [_The Right of Translation is reserved._] + + + + +TO THE READER. + + +The following Essays have been reprinted from the pages of the _Quarterly_ +and _Edinburgh Reviews_, with the kind permission of their proprietors. It +may be necessary, however, to state that, with the exception of the paper +on the "Mortality in Trades and Professions," which was published in the +_Edinburgh Review_ of January, 1860, the whole of them have appeared in +the _Quarterly Review_ during the last six years. The date of each essay +is given in the list of contents; but, where necessary, corrections have +been made, so as to bring each article up to the knowledge of the present +day. + +A. W. + + COLEHERNE COURT, OLD BROMPTON. + _August, 1860._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE. + + ADVERTISEMENTS (1855) 1 + + FOOD AND ITS ADULTERATIONS (1855) 53 + + THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS (1855) 93 + + RATS (1857) 128 + + LUNATIC ASYLUMS (1857) 150 + + THE LONDON COMMISSARIAT (1854) 200 + + WOOLWICH ARSENAL (1858) 245 + + SHIPWRECKS (1858) 288 + + LODGING, FOOD, AND DRESS OF SOLDIERS (1859) 325 + + THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH (1854) 349 + + FIRES AND FIRE INSURANCE (1855) 401 + + THE POLICE AND THE THIEVES (1856) 451 + + MORTALITY IN TRADES AND PROFESSIONS (1860) 499 + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + +It is our purpose to draw out, as a thread might be drawn from some woven +fabric, a continuous line of advertisements from the newspaper press of +this country, since its establishment to the present time; and, by so +doing, to show how distinctly, from its dye, the pattern of the age +through which it ran is represented. If we follow up to its source any +public institution, fashion, or amusement, which has flourished during a +long period of time, we can gain some idea of our national progress and +development; but it strikes us that in no manner can we so well obtain at +a rapid glance a view of the salient points of generations that have +passed, as by consulting those small voices that have cried from age to +age from the pages of the press, declaring the wants, the losses, the +amusements, and the money-making eagerness of the people. + +As we read in the old musty files of papers those _naïve_ announcements, +the very hum of bygone generations seems to rise to the ear. The chapman +exhibits his quaint wares; the mountebank capers again upon his stage; we +have the living portrait of the highwayman flying from justice; we see the +old china auctions thronged with ladies of quality with their attendant +negro boys, or those "by inch of candlelight" forming many a Schalken-like +picture of light and shade; or, later still, we have Hogarthian sketches +of the young bloods who swelled of old along the Pall-Mall. We trace the +moving panorama of men and manners up to our own less demonstrative but +more earnest times; and all these cabinet pictures are the very +daguerreotypes cast by the age which they exhibit, not done for effect, +but faithful reflections of those insignificant items of life and things, +too small, it would seem, for the generalizing eye of the historian, +however necessary to clothe and fill in the dry bones of his history. + +The _English Mercurie_ of 1588, which professes to have been published +during those momentous days when the Spanish Armada was hovering and +waiting to pounce upon our southern shores, contains, among its items of +news, three or four book advertisements, and these would undoubtedly have +been the first put forth in England were that newspaper genuine. Mr. +Watts, of the British Museum, has, however, proved that the several +numbers of this journal to be found in our national library are gross +forgeries, and, indeed, the most inexperienced eye in such matters can +easily see that neither their type, paper, spelling, nor composition are +much more than one, instead of upwards of two centuries and a half old. +Newspapers, in the strict sense of the word--that is, publications of news +appearing at stated intervals, and regularly paged on--did not make their +appearance until the latter end of the reign of James I. The _Weekely +Newes_, published in London in 1622, was the first publication which +answered to this description; it contained, however, only a few scraps of +foreign intelligence, and was quite destitute of advertisements. The +terrible contest of the succeeding reign was the hotbed which forced the +press of this country into sudden life and extraordinary vigour. Those who +have wandered in the vaults of the British Museum and contemplated the +vast collection of political pamphlets and the countless Mercuries which +sprang full armed, on either side of the quarrel, from the strong and +earnest brains which wrought in that great political trouble, will not +hesitate to discover, amidst the hubbub of the Rebellion, the first throes +of the press of England as a political power. At such a time, when +Marchmort Needham fell foul with his types of Sir John Birkenhead and the +court party which he supported, with as heavy a hand and as dauntless a +will as Cromwell hurled his Ironsides at the Cavaliers at Naseby, it is +not likely that we should find the press the vehicle to make known the +goods of tradesmen, or to offer a reward for stolen horses. The +shopkeepers themselves, as well as the nobility, were too hard at it, to +avail themselves of this new mode of extending their trade: they had to +keep guard over the malignants, to cover the five members with the shield +of their arms, to overawe Whitehall, to march to the relief of +Gloucester,--objects quite sufficient to account for the fact that the +train-bands were not advertisers. After the king's death, however, when +the Commonwealth had time to breathe, the people seem to have discovered +the use of the press as a means of making known their wants and of giving +publicity to their wares. The very first advertisement we have met with, +after an active search among the earliest newspapers, relates to a book +which is entitled-- + + Irenodia Gratulatoria, an Heroick Poem; being a congratulatory + panegyrick for my Lord General's late return, summing up his successes + in an exquisite manner. + + To be sold by John Holden, in the New Exchange, London. Printed by + Tho. Newcourt, 1652. + +This appeared in the January number of the Parliamentary paper _Mercurius +Politicus_. It is evidently a piece of flattery to Cromwell upon his +victories in Ireland, and might have been inserted at the instigation of +the great Commonwealth leader himself. Booksellers appear to have been the +first to take advantage of this new medium of publicity, and for the +obvious reason that their goods were calculated for the readers of the +public journals, who at that time must have consisted almost exclusively +of the higher orders. From this date to the Restoration the quaintest +titles of works on the political and religious views, such as were then in +the ascendant, are to be found in the _Mercurius Politicus_: thus, we have +"Gospel Marrow;" "A few Sighs from Hell, or the Groans of a Damned Soul;" +"Michael opposing the Dragon, or a Fiery Dart struck through the Kingdom +of the Serpent." And in the number for September, 1659, we find an +advertisement which seems to bring us face to face with one of the +brightest names in the roll of English poets:-- + + Considerations touching the likeliest means to remove Hirelings out of + the Church; wherein is also discours'd of Tithes, Church Fees, Church + Revenues, and whether any maintenance of Ministers can be settled by + Law. The author, J. M. Sold by _Livewell Chapman_, at the Crown in + Pope's Head Alley. + +In juxtaposition to these illustrious initials we find another +advertisement, which is the representative of a class that prevailed most +extensively at this early time--the Hue and Cry after runaway servants and +lost or stolen horses and dogs. Every generation is apt to praise, like +Orlando, "the antique service of the old world;" but a little excursion +into the regions of the past shows us how persistent this cry has been in +all ages. Employers who are in the habit of eulogising servants of the +"old school," would be exceedingly astonished to find that two hundred +years ago they were a very bad lot indeed, as far as we can judge from the +advertisements of rewards for the seizure of delinquents of their class. +Here is a full-length portrait of apparently a runaway apprentice, as +drawn in the _Mercurius Politicus_ of July 1st, 1658:-- + + If any one can give notice of one _Edward Perry_, being about the age + of eighteen or nineteen years, of low stature, black hair, full of + pockholes in his face; he weareth a new gray suit trimmed with green + and other ribbons, a light Cinnamon-colored cloak, and black hat, who + run away lately from his Master; they are desired to bring or send + word to _Tho. Firby_, Stationer, at Gray's Inne gate, who will + thankfully reward them. + +It will be observed that the dashing appearance of this runaway +apprentice, habited in his gray suit trimmed with green ribbons, and +furbished off so spicily with his cinnamon-coloured cloak, is rather +marred by the description of his face as "full of pockholes." Unless the +reader has scanned the long list of villanous portraits exhibited by the +Hue and Cry in the old papers of the last portion of the seventeenth and +first portion of the eighteenth centuries, he can form but a faint +conception of the ravages committed by the small-pox upon the population. +Every man seemed more or less to have been speckled with "pockholes," and +the race must have presented one moving mass of pits and scars. Here, for +instance, is a companion picture to hang with that of Edward Perry, +copied from the _Mercurius Politicus_ of May 31st, 1660:-- + + A Black-haired Maid, of a middle stature, thick set, with big breasts, + having her face full marked with the smallpox, calling herself by the + name of _Nan_ or _Agnes Hobson_, did, upon Monday the 28 of _May_, + about six o'Clock in the morning, steal away from her Ladies house in + the Pal-mall a mingle-coloured wrought Tabby Gown of Deer colour and + white; a black striped Sattin Gown with four broad bone-black silk + Laces, and a plain black-watered French Tabby Gown; Also, one + Scarlet-coloured and one other Pink-coloured Sarcenet Peticoat, and a + white watered Tabby Wastcoat, plain; Several Sarcenet, Mode, and thin + black Hoods and Scarfs, several fine Holland Shirts, a laced pair of + Cuffs and Dressing; one pair of Pink-coloured Worsted Stockings, a + Silver Spoon, a Leather bag, &c. She went away in greyish Cloth + Wastcoat turned, and a Pink-coloured Paragon upper Peticoat, with a + green Tammy under one. If any shall give notice of this person, or + things, at one _Hopkins_, a Shoomaker's, next door to the Vine Tavern, + near the Pal-mall end, near Charing Cross, or at Mr. _Ostler's_, at + the Bull Head in Cornhill, near the Old Exchange, they shall be + rewarded for their pains. + +Scarcely a week passes without such runaways being advertised, together +with a list of the quaint articles of which their booty consisted. At the +risk of wearying the reader with these descriptions of the "old-fashioned" +sort of servants, we give another advertisement from the _Mercurius +Politicus_ of July 1st 1658:-- + + One _Eleanor Parker_ (by birth _Haddock_), of a Tawny reddish + complexion, a pretty long nose, tall of stature, servant to Mr. + _Frederic Howpert_, Kentish Town, upon Saturday last the _26th of + June_, ran away and stole two Silver Spoons; a sweet Tent-work Bag, + with gold and silver Lace about it, and lined with Satin; a Bugle + work-Cushion, very curiously wrought in all manners of slips and + flowers; a Shell cup, with a Lyon's face, and a Ring of silver in its + mouth; besides many other things of considerable value, which she took + out of her Mistresses Cabinet, which she broke open; as also some + Cloaths and Linen of all sorts, to the value of Ten pounds and + upwards. If any one do meet with her and please to secure her, and + give notice to the said _Frederic Howpert_, or else to Mr. _Malpass_, + Leather-seller, at the Green Dragon, at the upper end of Lawrence + Lane, he shall be thankfully rewarded for his pains. + +An advertisement which appears in the same paper, of the date of August +11th, 1659, gives us the first notice we have yet found of the service of +negro boys in this country. From this period, however, as we shall +presently show, England, at least the fashionable part of it, seems to +have swarmed with young blackamoors in a greater degree than we should +have imagined even from the familiar notice made of them in the pages of +the "Tatler" and "Spectator." These early negroes must have been imported +from the Portuguese territories, as we did not deal in the article +ourselves till the year 1680. The amusing point of the following +advertisement, however, is the assurance it gives us that the Puritans +"polled" their negroes as well as themselves. + + A Negro-boy, about nine years of age, in a gray Searge suit, his hair + cut close to his head, was lost on Tuesday last, _August 9_, at night, + in _S. Nicholas_ Lane, _London_. If any one can give notice of him to + Mr. _Tho. Barker_, at the Sugarloaf in that Lane, they shall be well + rewarded for their pains. + +About this time we find repeatedly advertised the loss of horses. It is +observable that during the "troubles" such things as highwaymen were +unknown. The bold, unruly characters, who at a later date took to the +road, were then either enlisted under the banners of the state or had gone +over the sea to Charlie. The great extent to which horse-stealing +prevailed during the Commonwealth period, and, indeed, for the next +half-century, might possibly be ascribed to the value of those animals +consequent upon the scarcity produced by the casualties of the +battle-field. We cannot account, however, for one fact connected with the +horse-stealing of the Commonwealth period, namely, that when at grass they +were often kept _saddled_. The following advertisement, which is an +illustration of this singular custom, is very far from being an uncommon +one:-- + + A small black NAG, some ten or eleven years old, no white at all, + bob-Tailed, wel forehanded, somewhat thin behind, thick Heels, and + goeth crickling and lamish behind at his first going out; the hair is + beat off upon his far Hip as broad as a twelvepence; he hath a black + leather Saddle trimmed with blew, and covered with a black + Calves-skin, its a little torn upon the Pummel; two new Girths of + white and green thread, and black Bridle, the Rein whereof is sowed on + the off side, and a knot to draw it on the near side, Stoln out of a + field at _Chelmsford_, _21 February_ instant, from Mr. _Henry Bullen_. + Whosoever can bring tidings to the said Mr. _Bullen_ at _Bromfield_, + or to Mr. _Newman_ at the Grocer's Arms in _Cornhil_, shall have + 20_s._ for his pains.--_Mercurius Politicus_, February 24, 1659. + +It could scarcely have been, in this particular case at least, that the +exigencies of the time required such precautions, as the only rising that +took place this year occurred six months afterwards in the county of +Chester. The furniture of the nag, it must be confessed, seems remarkably +adapted for service, and might, from its colour, have belonged to a +veritable Ironside trooper. Another reason, perhaps, of the great value of +horses at this period, was the establishment of public conveyances, by +which means travellers as well as letters were conveyed from one part of +the kingdom to the other. Prior to the year 1636 there was no such thing +as a postal service for the use of the people in this country. The court +had, it is true, an establishment for the forwarding of despatches, but +its efficacy may be judged of from a letter written by one Bryan Tuke, +"master of the postes" in Henry VIII.'s time, to Cromwell, who had +evidently been sharply reproving him for remissness in forwarding the +king's papers:-- + + "The Kinges Grace hath no mor ordinary postes, ne of many days hathe + had, but betweene London and Calais.... For, sir, ye knowe well that, + except the hackney-horses betweene Gravesende and Dovour, there is no + suche usual conveyance in post for men in this realme as in the + accustomed places of France and other partes; ne men can keepe horses + in redynes withoute som way to bere the charges; but when placardes be + sent for suche cause (to order the immediate forwarding of some state + packet) _the constables many tymes be fayne to take horses oute of + ploues and cartes, wherein can be no extreme diligence_." + +This was in the year 1533. Elizabeth, however, established horse-posts on +all the great routes for the transmission of the letters of the court; and +this, in 1633, was developed into a public post, which went night and day +at the rate of seven miles an hour in summer and five miles in winter--not +such bad travelling for those days. Still there was no means of forwarding +passengers until the time of Cromwell, when we find stagecoaches +established on all the great roads throughout the kingdom. We do not know +that we have ever seen quoted so early a notice of public stage +conveyances. We have evidently not given our ancestors so much credit as +they deserved. The following advertisement shows the time taken and the +fares of a considerable number of these journeys:-- + + From the 26 day of April 1658 there will continue to go Stage Coaches + from the _George_ Inn, without Aldersgate, _London_, unto the several + Cities and Towns, for the Rates and at the times, hereafter mentioned + and declared. + + _Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday._ + + To _Salisbury_ in two days for xx_s._ To _Blandford_ and _Dorchester_ + in two days and half for xxx_s._ To _Burput_ in three days for xxx_s._ + To _Exmaster_, _Hunnington_, and _Exeter_ in four days for xl_s._ + + To _Stamford_ in two days for xx_s._ To _Newark_ in two days and a + half for xxv_s._ To _Bawtrey_ in three days for xxx_s._ To _Doncaster_ + and _Ferribridge_ for xxxv_s._ To _York_ in four days for xl_s._ + + _Mondays_ and _Wednesdays_ to _Ockinton_ and _Plymouth_ for l_s._ + + Every _Monday_ to _Helperby_ and _Northallerton_ for xlv_s._ To + _Darneton_ and _Ferryhil_ for l_s._ To Durham for lv_s._ To + _Newcastle_ for iii_l._ + + Once every fortnight to _Edinburgh_ for iv_l._ a peece--_Mondays_. + + Every _Friday_ to _Wakefield_ in four days, xl_s._ + + All persons who desire to travel unto the Cities, Towns, and Roads + herein hereafter mentioned and expressed, namely--to _Coventry_, + _Litchfield_, _Stone_, _Namptwich_, _Chester_, _Warrington_, _Wiggan_, + _Chorley_, _Preston_, _Gastang_, _Lancaster_, and _Kendal_; and also + to _Stamford_, _Grantham_, _Newark_, _Tuxford_, _Bawtrey_, + _Doncaster_, _Ferriebridge_, _York_, _Helperly_, _Northallerton_, + _Darneton_, _Ferryhill_, _Durham_, and _Newcastle_, _Wakefield_, + _Leeds_, and _Halifax_; and also to _Salisbury_, _Blandford_, + _Dorchester_, _Burput_, _Exmaster_, _Hunnington_, and _Exeter_, + _Ockinton_, _Plimouth_, and _Cornwal_; let them repair to the _George_ + Inn at _Holborn Bridge, London_, and thence they shall be in good + Coaches with good Horses, upon every _Monday_, _Wednesday_, and + _Fridays_, at and for reasonable Rates.--_Mercurius Politicus_, April + 1, 1658. + +Other announcements about the same time prove that the Great Western road +was equally provided, as well as the Dover route to the continent. It is +not a little singular, however, that regularly-appointed coaches, starting +at stated intervals, should have preceded what might be considered the +simpler arrangement of the horse service. That the development of the +postal system into a means of forwarding single travellers did not take +place until some time afterwards, would appear from the following:-- + + _The Postmasters on_ Chester _Road, petitioning, have received Order, + and do accordingly publish the following advertisement_:-- + + All Gentlemen, Merchants, and others, who have occasion to travel + between _London_ and _Westchester_, _Manchester_, and _Warrington_, or + any other Town upon that Road, for the accommodation of Trade, + dispatch of Business, and ease of Purse, upon every Monday, Wednesday, + and Friday Morning, betwixt Six and ten of the Clock, at the House of + Mr. _Christopher Charteris_, at the sign of the Hart's-Horn, in + West-Smithfield, and Post-Master there, and at the Post-Master of + _Chester_, at the Post-Master of _Manchester_, and at the Post-Master + of _Warrington_, may have a good and able single Horse, or more, + furnished at Threepence the Mile, without the charge of a Guide; and + so likewise at the House of Mr. _Thomas Challenor_, Post-Master at + _Stone_ in _Staffordshire_, upon every Tuesday, Thursday, and + Saturdays Morning, to go for _London_. And so likewise at the several + Post-Masters upon the Road, who will have all such set days so many + Horses with Furniture in readiness to furnish the Riders without any + stay to carry them to or from any the places aforesaid, in Four days, + as well to _London_ as from thence, and to places nearer in less time, + according as their occasions shall require, they ingaging at the first + Stage where they take Horse, for the safe delivery of the same to the + next immediate Stage, and not to ride that Horse any further without + consent of the Post-Master by whom he rides, and so from Stage to + Stage to their Journeys end. _All those who intend to ride this way + are desired to give a little notice beforehand, if conveniently they + can, to the several Post-masters where they first take horse, whereby + they may be furnished with so many Horses as the Riders shall require + with expedition._ This undertaking began the 28 of _June_ 1658 at all + the Places abovesaid, and so continues by the several Post-Masters. + +The intimation that these horses might be had without the "charge of a +guide" gives us an insight into the bad condition of the roads up to that +period. We can scarcely imagine, in these days, the necessity for a guide +to direct us along the great highways of England, and can with difficulty +realize to ourselves the fact that as late as the middle of the +seventeenth century the interior of the country was little better than a +wilderness, as we may indeed gather from Pepy's journey from London to +Bristol and back, in which the item "guides" formed no inconsiderable +portion of his expenses. + +In turning over the musty little quarto newspapers which mirror with such +vividness the characteristic lineaments of the Commonwealth period, not +yet left behind us, we chanced upon an advertisement which tells perhaps +more than any other of the dangerous complexion of those times. It is an +advertisement for some runaway young "sawbones," whose love of desperate +adventure appears to have led him to prefer the tossing of a pike to +pounding with a pestle:-- + + _George Weale_, a Cornish youth, about 18 or 19 years of age, serving + as an Apprentice at _Kingston_ with one Mr. _Weale_, an Apothecary, + and his Uncle, about the time of the rising of the Counties _Kent_ and + _Surrey_, went secretly from his said Uncle, and is conceived to have + engaged in the same, and to be either dead, or slain in some of those + fights, having never since been heard of, either by his said Uncle, or + any of his Friends. If any person can give notice of the certainty of + the death of the said _George Weale_, let him repair to the said Mr. + _Graunt_ his House in Drum-alley in Drury Lane, _London_; he shall + have twenty shillings for his pains.--_Mercurius Politicus_, Dec. 8, + 1659. + +Here at least we have probably preserved the name of one of the fameless +men who were "slain in some of those fights," a phrase which in these days +opens to us a chapter in romance. + +With the exception of book advertisements and quack medicines, we have not +up to this date met with a single instance of a tradesman turning the +newspaper to account in making known his goods to the public. The very +first announcement of this nature, independently of its being in itself a +curiosity, possesses a very strong interest, from the fact that it marks +the introduction of an article of food which perhaps more than all others +has served to wean the nation from one of its besetting sins of +old--drunkenness. Common report, Mr. Disraeli informs us, attributes the +introduction of "the cup which cheers but not inebriates," to Lord +Arlington and Lord Ossory, who are said to have brought over a small +quantity from Holland in 1666. The author of the "Curiosities of +Literature" does not think this statement satisfactory, and tells us that +he has heard of Oliver Cromwell's teapot being in the possession of a +collector. We never knew before of these teetotal habits of the Protector, +but we can so far back the story as to find chronologically correct bohea +to put into his pot; for though it is true that the date of the following +advertisement is three weeks after the death of his highness, it refers to +the article as a known and, by physicians, an approved drink, and +therefore must have been some time previously on sale:-- + + That Excellent and by all Physitians approved _China_ Drink called by + the _Chineans Tcha_, by other Nations _Tay alias Tee_, is sold at the + _Sultaness Head Cophee-House_, in _Sweetings_ Rents, by the Royal + Exchange, _London_.--_Mercurius Politicus_, September 30, 1658. + +This is undoubtedly the earliest authentic announcement yet made known of +the public sale in England of this now famous beverage. The mention of a +"Cophee-house" proves that the sister stimulant was even then making way +in the country.[1] It took, however, a couple of centuries to convert +them, in the extended sense of the term, into national drinks; but, like +many other good things, it came too early. Tea may have sufficed for +fanatics, Anabaptists, Quakers, Independents, and self-denying sectaries +of all kinds; and for all we know, its early introduction, had the +Commonwealth lasted, might have accelerated the temperance movement a +century at least; but the wheel of fortune was about to turn once +more--mighty ale had to be broached, and many deep healths to be drunk by +those who had "come to their own again;" and tea, for full half a century, +was washed away by brown October and the French wines that came in with +the Merry Monarch. + +We have now brought the reader upon the very borders of the period when +Charles, with his hungry followers, landed in triumph at Dover. The +advertisements which appeared during the time that Monk was temporizing +and sounding his way to the Restoration, form a capital barometer of the +state of feeling among political men at that critical juncture. We see no +more of the old Fifth-Monarchy spirit abroad. Ministers of the +steeple-houses evidently note the storm coming, and cease their +long-winded warnings to a backsliding generation. Every one is either +panting to take advantage of the first sunshine of royal favour, or to +deprecate its wrath, the coming shadow of which is clearly seen. Meetings +are advertised of those persons who have purchased sequestered estates, in +order that they may address the King to secure them in possession; +parliamentary aldermen repudiate by the same means, charges in the papers +that their names are to be found in the list of those persons who "sat +upon the tryal of the late King;" the works of "late" bishops begin again +to air themselves in the Episcopal wind that is clearly setting in; and +"The Tears, Sighs, Complaints, and Prayers of the Church of England" +appear in the advertising columns in place of the sonorous titles of +sturdy old Baxter's works. It is clear there is a great commotion at hand; +the leaves are rustling, and the dust is moving. In the very midst of it, +however, we find one name still faithful to the "old cause," as the +Puritans call it: on the 8th of March, 1660--that is, while the sway of +Charles's sceptre had already cast its shadow from Breda--we find the +following advertisement in the _Mercurius Politicus_:-- + + The ready and easie way to establish a free Commonwealth, and the + excellence thereof compared with the inconveniences and dangers of + readmitting Kingship in this Nation. The Author, J. M. Wherein, by + reason of the Printers haste, the Errata not coming in time, it is + desired that the following faults may be amended. Page 9, line 32, for + _the Areopagus_ read _of Areopagus_. P. 10, l. 3, for full Senate, + true Senate; l. 4, for fits, is the whole Aristocracy; l. 7, for + Provincial States, States of every City. P. 17, l. 29, for _cite_, + _citie_; 1. 30, for _left_, _felt_. Sold by _Livewel Chapman_, at the + Crown, in Pope's-head Alley. + +The calmness of the blind bard in thus issuing corrections to his +hastily-printed pamphlet on behalf of a falling cause, excites our +admiration, and gives us an exalted idea of his moral courage. In two +months, as might have been expected, he was a proscribed fugitive, +sheltering his honoured head from the pursuit of Charles's myrmidons in +some secret hiding-place in Westminster, whilst his works, by order of the +House, were being burned by the common hangman. + +The lawyers were not slow in perceiving the way the wind was blowing, and +set their sails accordingly--if we may take the action of one Mr. Nicholas +Bacon, as shown in the following advertisement, as any index of the +feelings of his fellows:-- + + Whereas one Capt. _Gouge_, a witness examined against the late Kings + Majesty, in those Records stiled himself of the Honorable Society of + _Grays_ Inne. These are to give notice that the said _Gouge_, being + long sought for, was providentially discovered in a disguise, seized + in that Society, and now in custody, being apprehended by the help of + some spectators that knew him, viewing of a Banner with his Majesties + arms, set up just at the same time of His Majesties landing, on an + high Tower in the same Society, by _Nicholas Bacon_, Esq., a Member + thereof, as a memorial of so great a deliverance, and testimony of his + constant loyalty to His Majesty, and that the said _Gouge_ upon + examination confessed, That he was never admitted not so much as a + Clerk of that Society.--_Mercurius Politicus_, June 7, 1660. + +Whilst all London was throwing up caps for the restored monarch, and +England seemed so glad that he himself wondered how he could have been +persuaded to stop away so long, let us catch the lost luggage of a poor +cavalier, who has just followed his royal master from his long banishment, +and turn out its contents for our reader, in order to show that even +ruined old courtiers carried more impedimenta than the famous "shirt, +towel, and piece of soap" of our renowned Napier. The _Mercurius Publicus_ +is now our mine, in which we sink a shaft, and come up with this fossil +advertisement, which bears date July 5th, 1660:-- + + _A Leathern Portmantle Lost at_ Sittingburn _or_ Rochester, _when his + Majesty came thither, wherein was a Suit of Camolet Holland, with two + little laces in a seam, eight pair of white Gloves, and a pair of Does + leather; about twenty yards of skie-colourd Ribbon twelvepenny broad, + and a whole piece of black Ribbon tenpenny broad, a cloath + lead-coloured cloak, with store of linnen; a pair of shooes, slippers, + a Montero, and other things; all which belong to a Gentleman (a near + servant to His Maiesty) who hath been too long Imprisoned and + Sequestered to be now robbed when all men hope to enjoy their own. If + any can give notice, they may leave word with_ Mr. Samuel Merne, _His + Majesties Book-binder, at his house in Little Britain, and they shall + be thankfully rewarded._ + +The king had not been "in" a month ere his habits appear through the +public papers. The _Mercurius Politicus_ is now turned courtier, and has +changed its name to the _Mercurius Publicus_. Its columns, indeed, are +entirely under the direction of the king, and, instead of slashing +articles against malignants, degenerates into a virulent oppressor of the +Puritans, and a vehicle for inquiries after his majesty's favourite dogs +that have been stolen. In the number for June 28th, 1660, for instance, we +find the following advertisement:-- + + [Hand] A smooth black DOG, less than a Grey-hound, with white under + his breast, belonging to the Kings Majesty, was taken from Whitehall, + the eighteenth day of this instant _June_, or thereabouts. If any one + can give notice to _John Ellis_, one of his Majesties servants, or to + his Majesties Back-Stairs, shall be well rewarded for their labour. + +It is evident that "the smooth black dog" was a very great favourite, for +the next publication of the journal contains another advertisement with +respect to him, printed in larger Italic type, the diction of which, from +its pleasant raillery, looks as though it had come from the king's own +hand:-- + + [Hand] _We must call upon you again for a Black Dog, between a + Grey-hound and a Spaniel, no white about him, onely a streak on his + Brest, and Tayl a little bobbed. It is His Majesties own Dog, and + doubtless was stoln, for the Dog was not born nor bred in_ England, + _and would never forsake his Master. Whosoever findes him may acquaint + any at Whitehal, for the Dog was better known at Court than those who + stole him. Will they never leave robbing His Majesty? must he not keep + a Dog? This Dogs place (though better than some imagine) is the + only place which nobody offers to beg._ + +Pepys, about this time, describes the king with a train of spaniels and +other dogs at his heels, lounging along and feeding the ducks in St. +James's Park; and on occasions still later he was often seen talking to +Nelly, as she leaned from her garden-wall that abutted upon the Pall-Mall, +whilst his canine favourites grouped around him. On these occasions +perhaps the representatives of those gentlemen to be seen in +Regent-street, with two bundles of animated wool beneath their arms, were +on the look-out, as we find his majesty continually advertising his lost +dogs. Later we find him inquiring after "a little brindled greyhound +bitch, having her two hinder feet white;" for a "white-haired spaniel, +smooth-coated, with large red or yellowish spots," and for a "black +mastiff dog, with cropped ears and cut tail." And when royalty had done, +his Highness Prince Rupert, or Buckingham, or "my Lord Albemarle," +resorted to the _London Gazette_ to make known their canine losses. We +think the change in the temper of the age is more clearly marked by these +dog advertisements than by anything else. The Puritans did not like +sporting animals of any kind, and we much question whether a dog would +have followed a fifth-monarchy-man. Hence the total absence of all +advertisements bearing upon the "fancy." Now that the king had returned, +the old English love of field-sports spread with fourfold vigour. We +chance upon the traces too of a courtly amusement which had been handed +down from the middle ages, and was then only lingering amongst +us--hawking. Here is an inquiry after a lost lanner:-- + + Richard Finney, Esquire, of Alaxton, in Leicestershire, about a + fortnight since lost a LANNER from that place; she hath neither Bells + nor Varvels; she is a white Hawk, and her long feathers and sarcels + are both in the blood. If any one give tidings thereof to Mr. Lambert + at the golden Key in Fleet-street, they shall have forty shillings for + their pains.--_Mercurius Publicus_, September 6, 1660. + +As London was the only place in which a newspaper was published during the +reign of Charles, and indeed for nearly fifty years afterwards, the hue +and cry after lost animals always came to town, as a matter of course. It +sounds strange to read these advertisements of a sport the very terms of +which are now unintelligible to us. What ages seem to have passed since +these birds, in all the glory of scarlet hoods, were carried upon some +"faire lady's" wrist, or poised themselves, with fluttering wing, as the +falconer uncovered them to view their quarry! We have skipped a few years, +in order to afford one or two more examples of these picturesque +advertisements, so different from anything to be seen at the present +day:-- + + Lost on the 30 of October, 1665, an Intermix'd Barbary Tercel Gentle, + engraven in Varvels, Richard Windwood, of Ditton Park, in the County + of Bucks, Esq. For more particular marks--if the Varvels be taken + off--the 4th feather in one of the wings Imped, and the third pounce + of the right foot broke. If any one inform Sir William Roberts, Knight + and Baronet (near Harrow-on-the-Hill, in the County of Middlesex), or + Mr. William Philips, at the King's Head in Paternoster Row, of the + Hawk, he shall be sufficiently rewarded.--_The Intelligencer_, Nov. 6, + 1665. + +The next paper contains an inquiry for a goshawk belonging to Lord William +Petre, and two years later a royal bird is inquired after in the _London +Gazette_, as follows:-- + + A Sore ger Falcon of His Majesty, lost the 13 of August, who had one + Varvel of his Keeper, Roger Higs, of Westminster, Gent. Whosoever hath + taken her up and give notice Sir Allan Apsley, Master of His Majesties + Hawks at St. James's, shall be rewarded for his paines. Back-Stairs in + Whitehall. + +This Sir Allan Apsley is the brother of Mrs. Hutchinson, who has given us +such a vivid picture, in the memoir of her husband, of the Commonwealth +time. The _London Gazette_, from which we quote, is the only paper still +in existence that had its root in those days. It first appeared in Oxford, +upon the Court taking up its abode in that city during the time of the +Great Plague, and was therefore called the _Oxford Gazette_. On the return +of Charles to London it followed in his train, and became the _London +Gazette_, or Court and official paper, and the latter character it has +retained to the present hour. The gazettes of the seventeenth century were +widely different from those of our day. They contain foreign news, as well +as state papers, royal proclamations, &c., and, stranger still, +miscellaneous advertisements are mixed up with those upon the business of +the Court. The quack doctors, with an eye, we suppose, to the "quality," +were the first to avail themselves of its pages to make known their +nostrums. It will astonish our readers to find what an ancestry some of +the quack medicines of the present day have had. "Nervous powders," +specifics for gout, rheumatism, &c., seized upon the columns of the +newspapers almost as early as they were published. Here is a specimen +which might still serve as a model for such announcements:-- + + _Gentlemen_, you are desired to take notice, That Mr. _Theophilus + Buckworth_ doth at his house on _Mile-end Green_ make and expose to + sale, for the publick good, those so famous _Lozenges_ or _Pectorals_ + approved for the cure of Consumptions, Coughs, Catarrhs, Asthmas, + Hoarness, Strongness of Breath, Colds in general, Diseases incident to + the Lungs, and a sovoraign Antidote against the Plague, and all other + contagious Diseases and obstructions of the Stomach: And for more + convenience of the people, constantly leaveth them sealed up with his + coat of arms on the papers, with Mr. _Rich. Lowndes_ (as formerly), at + the sign of the White Lion, near the little north door of _Pauls + Church_; Mr. _Henry Seile_, over against _S. Dunstan's_ Church in + Fleet Street; Mr. _William Milward_, at _Westminster_ Hall Gate; Mr. + _John Place_, at _Furnival's Inn Gate_, in Holborn; and Mr. _Robert + Horn_, at the Turk's-head near the entrance of the Royal Exchange, + Booksellers, and no others. + + _This is published to prevent the designs of divers Pretenders, + who counterfeit the said Lozenges, to the disparagement of the + said Gentleman, and great abuse of the people._--_Mercurius + Politicus_, Nov. 16, 1660. + +The next is equally characteristic:-- + + Most Excellent and Approved _Dentifrices_ to scour and cleanse the + Teeth, making them white as Ivory, preserves from the Toothach; so + that, being constantly used, the parties using it are never troubled + with the Toothach: It fastens the Teeth, sweetens the Breath, and + preserves the Gums and Mouth from Cankers and Imposthumes. Made by + _Robert Turner_, Gentleman; and the right are onely to be had at + _Thomas Rookes_, Stationer, at the Holy Lamb at the east end of St. + Paul's Church, near the School, in sealed papers, at 12_d._ the paper. + + _The reader is desired to beware of counterfeits._ + + (_Mercurius Politicus_, Dec. 20, 1660.) + +Other advertisements about this time profess to cure all diseases by means +of an "antimonial cup." Sir Kenelm Digby, the same learned knight who +feasted his wife upon capons fattened upon serpents, in order to make her +fair, advertises a book in which he professes to show a method of curing +wounds by a powder of sympathy; and here is a notification of a remedy +which shows still more clearly the superstitious character of the age:-- + + Small baggs to hang about Children's necks, which are excellent both + for the _prevention and cure_ of the _Rickets_, and to ease children + in breeding of Teeth, are prepared by Mr. Edmund Buckworth, and + constantly to be had at Mr. Philip Clark's, Keeper of the Library in + the Fleet, and nowhere else, at 5 shillings a bagge.--_The + Intelligencer_, Oct. 16, 1664. + +It was left, however, to the reign of Anne for the mountebank to descend +from his stage in the fair and the market-place, in order to erect it in +the public newspapers. But we have yet to mention one, who might appear to +some to be the greatest quack of all, and who about this time resorted to +an advertisement in the newspapers to call his patients to his doors;--the +royal charlatan, who touched for the evil, makes known that he is at home +for the season to his people through the medium of the _Public +Intelligencer_ of 1664:-- + + Whitehall, May 14, 1664. His Sacred Majesty, having declared it to be + his Royal will and purpose to continue the healing of his people for + the Evil during the Month of May, and then to give over till + Michaelmas next, I am commanded to give notice thereof, that the + people may not come up to Town in the Interim and lose their labour. + +No doubt there was much political significance in this pretended efficacy +of the royal touch in scrofulous afflictions; at the same time, there is +reason to believe that patients did sometimes speedily recover after +undergoing the regal contact. Dr. Tyler Smith, who has written a very +clever little book on the subject, boldly states his belief that the +emotion felt by these poor stricken people who came within the influence +of "that divinity which doth hedge a king," acted upon them as a powerful +mental tonic; in a vast number of cases, however, we might impute the +tonic to the gold coin which the king always bestowed upon his patient. Be +that as it may, the practice flourished down to the time of Anne, at whose +death it stopped; the sovereigns of the line of Brunswick never pretending +to possess this medicinal virtue, coming as they did to the throne by only +a parliamentary title. The reaction from the straightlaced times of the +Commonwealth, which set in immediately upon the Restoration, seems to have +arrived at its height about the year 1664, and the advertisements at that +period reflect very truly the love of pleasure and excitement which seized +hold of the people, as if they were bent on making up for the time that +had been lost during the Puritanic rule. They are mostly taken up, in +fact, with inquiries after "lost lace-work;" announcements of lotteries in +the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall, of jewels, tapestry, and lockets of "Mr. +Cooper's work," of which the following is a fair specimen:-- + + Lost, on the 27th of July, about Boswell Yard or Drury Lane, a Ladyes + Picture, set in gold, and three Keys, with divers other little things + in a perfumed pocket. Whosoever shall give notice of or bring the said + picture to Mr. Charles Coakine, Goldsmith, near Staples Inne, Holborn, + shall have 4 times the value of the gold for his payns.--_The News_, + August 4, 1664. + +The love of the people also for the strange and marvellous is shown by +announcements of rare sights; for instance, we are told that,-- + + At the Mitre, near the west end of St. Paul's, is to be seen a rare + Collection of Curiosityes, much resorted to and admired by persons of + great learning and quality, among which a choyce Egyptian Mummy, with + hieroglyphicks; the Ant-Beare of Brasil; a Remora; a Torpedo; the Huge + Thigh-bone of a Giant; a Moon Fish; a Tropic Bird, &c.--_The News_ of + June 2, 1664. + +A rather scanty collection of articles, it is true, but eked out +monstrously by the "huge thigh-bone of a giant," which in all probability +belonged to some huge quadruped. The ignorance of those times with +respect to natural history must have been something astonishing, as about +the same date we find the following print of what were evidently +considered very curious animals advertised in the _London Gazette_:-- + + A True Representation of the Rhonoserous and Elephant, lately brought + from the East Indies to London, drawn after the life, and curiously + engraven in Mezzotinto, printed upon a large sheet of paper. Sold by + PIERCE TEMPEST, at the Eagle and Child in the Strand, over against + Somerset House, Water Gate.--The _London Gazette_, Jan. 22, 1664. + +In the succeeding year all advertisements of this kind stop; amusements, +from some great disturbing cause, have ceased to attract; there is no more +gambling under the name of lotteries at Whitehall; no more curiosities are +exhibited to a pleasure loving crew; no more books of amorous songs are +published; no more lockets or perfumed bags are dropped; all is stagnation +and silence, if we may judge as much from the sudden cessation of +advertisements with reference to them in the public papers. Death now +comes upon the stage, and rudely shuts the box of Autolycus, crops the +street with grass, and marks a red cross on every other door. It is the +year of the Great Plague. Those who could, fled early from the +pest-stricken city; those who remained until the malady had gained +irresistible sway were not allowed to depart, for fear of carrying the +contagion into the provinces, the Lord Mayor denying to such a clean bill +of health, in consequence of which they were driven back by the rustics as +soon as discovered. A singular instance also of the vigilance of the +authorities in confining, as they imagined, the mischief within the limits +of the metropolis is afforded by the succeeding advertisement:-- + + _Nicholas Hurst_, an Upholsterer, over against the Rose Tavern, in + Russell-street, Covent-Garden, whose Maid Servant dyed lately of the + Sickness, fled on Monday last out of his house, taking with him + several Goods and Household Stuff, and was afterwards followed by one + Doctor Cary and Richard Bayle, with his wife and family, who lodged in + the same house; but Bayle having his usual dwelling-house in + Waybridge, in Surrey. Whereof we are commanded to give this Public + Notice, that diligent search may be made for them, and the houses in + which any of their persons or goods shall be found may be shut up by + the next Justice of the Peace, or other his Majesty's Officers of + Justice, and notice immediately given to some of his Majesty's Privy + Councill, or to one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of + State.--_London Gazette_, May 10, 1666. + +Antidotes and remedies for the plague are also commonly advertised, just +as the visitation of the cholera in 1854 filled the columns of the _Times_ +full of all sorts of specifics. Thus, for example, the _Intelligencer_ of +August the 28th, 1665, announces "an excellent electuary against the +plague, to be drunk at the Green Dragon, Cheap-side, at sixpence a pint." +The great and only cure, however, for this fearful visitation, which +carried off a hundred thousand persons in London alone, was at hand--the +purgation of fire. The conflagration, which burst out on the 2nd of +September, and destroyed thirteen thousand houses, gave the final blow to +its declining attacks. Singularly enough, but faint traces of this +overwhelming calamity, as it was considered at the time, can be gathered +from the current advertisements. Although the entire population of the +city was rendered houseless, and had to encamp in the surrounding fields, +where they extemporized shops and streets, not one hint of such a +circumstance can be found in the public announcements of the period. No +circumstance could afford a greater proof of the little use made by the +trading community of this means of publicity in the time of Charles II. If +a fire only a hundredth-part so destructive were to occur in these days, +the columns of the press would immediately be full of the new addresses of +the burnt-out shopkeepers; and those who were not even damaged by it would +take care to "improve the occasion" to their own advantage. We look in +vain through the pages of the _London Gazette_ of this and the following +year for one such announcement: not even a tavern-keeper tells us the +number of his booth in Goodman's Fields, although quack medicine +flourished away in its columns as usual. In 1667 we see a notification, +now and then, of some change in the site of a government office, or of the +intention to build by contract some public structure, such as the +following notice relative to the erection of the old Royal Exchange:-- + + All Artificers of the several Trades that must be used in Rebuilding + the Royal Exchange may take notice, that the Committee appointed for + Management of that Work do sit at the end of the long gallery in + Gresham Colledge every Monday in the forenoon, there and then to treat + with such as are fit to undertake the same. + +The remainder of the reign of Charles is unmarked by the appearance of any +characteristic advertisements which give a clue to the peculiar complexion +of the time. If we go back two or three years, however, we shall find one +which bears upon the introduction of those monstrous flowing wigs which +continued in fashion to the middle of the succeeding century:-- + + Whereas _George Grey_, a Barber and Perrywigge-maker, over against the + _Greyhound Tavern_, in _Black Fryers, London_, stands obliged to serve + some particular persons of eminent Condition and Quality in his way of + Employment: It is therefore notifyed at his desire, that any one + having long flaxen hayr to sell may repayr to him the said _George + Grey_, and they shall have 10_s._ the ounce, and for any other long + fine hayr after the Rate of 5_s._ or 7_s._ the ounce.--_The Newes_, + February 4, 1663. + +Pepys describes, with amusing minuteness, how Chapman the periwig-maker +cut off his hair to make up one of these portentous head-dresses for him, +much to the trouble of his servants, Jane and Bessy; and on the Lord's +day, November 8th, 1663, he relates, with infinite _naïveté_, his entrance +into church with what must evidently have been the perruquier's latest +fashion. "To church, where I found that my coming in a periwig did not +prove so strange as I was afraid it would; for I thought that all the +church would presently have cast their eyes upon me, but I find no such +thing." Ten shillings the ounce for long flaxen hair shows the demand for +this peculiar colour by "persons of eminent condition and quality." We +have shown, from the advertisements of the time of Charles II., what was +indeed well known, that the age was characterized by frivolous amusements, +and by a love of dress and vicious excitement, in the midst of which +pestilence stalked like a mocking fiend, and the great conflagration lit +up the general masquerade with its lurid and angry glare. Together with +the emasculate tone of manners, a disposition to personal violence and a +contempt of law stained the latter part of this and the succeeding reign. +The audacious seizure of the crown jewels by Blood; the attack upon the +Duke of Ormond by the same desperado, that nobleman actually having been +dragged from his coach in St. James's Street in the evening, and carried, +bound, upon the saddle-bow of Blood's horse, as far as Hyde Park Corner, +before he could be rescued; the slitting of Sir John Coventry's nose in +the Haymarket by the king's guard; and the murder of Sir Edmondbury +Godfrey on Primrose Hill, are familiar instances of the prevalence of this +lawless spirit. + +We catch a glimpse of one of these street outrages in the following +announcement of an assault upon glorious John:-- + + Whereas _John Dryden, Esq._, was on Monday, the 18th instant, at + night, barbarously assaulted and wounded, in Rose Street in Covent + Garden, by divers men unknown; if any person shall make discovery of + the said offenders to the said Mr. Dryden, or to any Justice of the + Peace, he shall not only receive Fifty Pounds, which is deposited in + the hands of Mr. Blanchard, Goldsmith, next door to Temple Bar, for + the said purpose, but if he be a principal or an accessory in the said + fact, his Majesty is graciously pleased to promise him his pardon for + the same.--_The London Gazette_, Dec. 22, 1679. + +And here is another of a still more tragic character:-- + + Whereas a Gentleman was, on the eighteenth at night, mortally wounded + near Lincoln's Inn, in Chancery Lane, in view, as is supposed, of the + coachman that set him down: these are to give notice that the said + coachman shall come in and declare his knowledge of the matter; if any + other person shall discover the said coachman to John Hawles, at his + chamber in Lincoln's Inn, he shall have 5 guineas reward.--_London + Gazette_, March 29th, 1688. + +To this period also may be ascribed the rise of that romantic felon, the +highwayman. The hue and cry after these genteel robbers is frequently +raised during the reign of James II. In one case we have notice of a +gentleman having been stopped, robbed, and then bound, by mounted men at +Islington, who rode away with his horse; another time these daring gentry +appeared at Knightsbridge; and a third advertisement, of a later date it +is true, offers a reward for three mounted Macheaths, who were charged +with stopping and robbing three young ladies in South Street, near Audley +Chapel, as they were returning home from visiting. The following is still +more singular, as showing the high social position of some of these +gentlemen who took to the "road" for special purposes:-- + + _Whereas Mr. Herbert Jones_, Attorney-at-law in the town of Monmouth, + well known by being several years together Under-Sheriff of the same + County, hath of late divers time robbed the Mail coming from that town + to London, and taken out divers letters and writs, and is now fled + from justice, and supposed to have sheltered himself in some of the + new-raised troops. These are to give notice, that whosoever shall + secure the said Herbert Jones, so as to be committed in order to + answer these said crimes, may give notice thereof to Sir Thomas + Fowles, goldsmith, Temple-bar, London, or to Mr. Michael Bohune, + mercer, in Monmouth, and shall have a guinea's reward. + +The drinking tendencies of these Jacobite times are chiefly shown by the +numberless inquiries after lost or stolen silver tankards, and by the +sales of claret and canary which constantly took place. The hammer was not +apparently used at that time, as we commonly find announcements of sales +by "inch of candle," a term which mightily puzzled us until we saw the +explanation of it in our constant book of reference, the Diary of Pepys:-- + + "After dinner we met and sold the Weymouth, Successe, and Fellowship + hulkes; where pleasant to see how backward men are at first to bid; + and yet, when the candle is going out, how they bawl, and dispute + afterwards who bid the most. And here I observed one man cunninger + than the rest, that was sure to bid the last man and to carry it; and + inquiring the reason he told me that, just as the flame goes out, the + smoke descends, which is a thing I never observed before, and by that + he do know the instant when to bid last." (Sept. 3rd, 1662). + +The taste for auctions, which became such a rage in the time of Anne, had +its beginning about this period. Books and pictures are constantly +advertised to be disposed of in this manner. The love of excitement born +in the gaming time of the Restoration might be traced in these sales, and +in the lotteries, or "adventures" as they were sometimes termed, which +extended to every conceivable article capable of being sold. The rising +taste of the town was, however, checked for the time by the Revolution, +which was doubtless hastened on by such announcements as the following, +which appeared in the _Gazette_ of March 1, 1688:-- + + Catholic loyalty, [Hand] upon the subject of Government and Obedience, + delivered in a SERMON before the King and Queen, in His Majesties + Chapel at Whitehall, on the 13 of June, 1687, by the Revnd. Father + Edward Scaraisbroke, priest of the Society of Jesus. Published by His + Majesty's Command. Sold by Raydal Taylor, near Stationers Hall, + London. + +Up to this time advertisements only appeared in threes and fours, and +rarely, if ever, exceeded a dozen, in any newspaper of the day. They were +generally stuck in the middle of the diminutive journal, but sometimes +formed a tail-piece to it. They were confined in their character, and gave +no evidence of belonging to a great commercial community. Now and then, it +is true, sums of money were advertised as seeking investment; more +constantly a truss for a "broken belly," or an "excellent dentifrice," +appeared; or some city mansion of the nobility is advertised to let, +showing the progress westward even then, as witness the following:-- + + The Earl of Berkeley's House, with Garden and Stables in St. John's + Lane, not far from Smith Field, is to be Let or Sold for Building. + Enquire of Mr. Prestworth, a corn chandler, near the said house, and + you may know further.--_London Gazette_, August 17, 1685. + +Here is an instance of the singular manner in which fire-insurances were +conducted in that day:-- + + There having happened a fire on the 24th of the last month by which + several houses of the friendly society were burned to the value of 965 + pounds, these are to give notice to all persons of the said society + that they are desired to pay at the office Faulcon Court in Fleet + Street their several proportions of their said loss, which comes to + five shillings and one penny for every hundred pounds insured, before + the 12th of August next.--_London Gazette_, July 6th, 1685. + +Sometimes it is a "flee-bitten grey mare" stolen out of "Mary-le-bone +Park," or a lost lottery-ticket, or a dog, that is inquired after; but +they contained no hint that England possessed a commercial marine, or that +she was destined to become a nation of shopkeepers. As yet, too, there was +no sign given of that wonderful art of ingenious puffing which now exists, +and which might lead a casual observer to imagine that the nation +consisted of only two classes--cheats and dupes. + +From the settlement of 1688 the true value of the advertisement appears to +have dawned upon the public. The country evidently began to breathe +freely, and with Dutch William and Protestant ascendancy, the peculiar +character of the nation burst forth with extraordinary vigour. Enterprise +of all kinds was called forth, and cast its image upon the advertising +columns of the public journals, now greatly increased both in size and in +numbers, no less than twenty-six having been set up within four years +after the Revolution. It is observable, too, that from this political +convulsion dates a certain rough humour, which, however latent, was not +before expressed in the public papers, especially on matters political. +Let us further elucidate our meaning by quoting the following from the +_New Observator_ of July 17, 1689, setting forth a popular and practical +method of parading the Whig triumph:-- + + Orange cards, representing the late King's reign and expedition of the + Prince of Orange: viz. The Earl of Essex Murther, Dr. Otes Whipping, + Defacing the Monument, My Lord Jeffries in the West hanging of + Protestants, Magdalen College, Trial of the Bishops, Castle Maine at + Rome, the Popish Midwife, A Jesuit Preaching against our Bible, + Consecrated Smock, My Lord Chancellor at the Bed's feet, Birth of the + Prince of Wales, The Ordinaire Mass-house pulling down and burning by + Captain Tom and his Mobile, Mortar pieces in the Tower, The Prince of + Orange Landing, The Jesuits Scampering, Father Peter's Transactions, + The Fight at Reading, The Army going over to the Prince of Orange, + Tyrconnel in Ireland, My Lord Chancellor in the Tower. With many other + remarkable passages of the Times. To which is added the efigies of our + Gracious K. William and Q. Mary, curiously illustrated and engraven in + lively figures, done by the performers of the first Popish Plot Cards. + Sold by Donnan Newman, the publisher and printer of the New + Observator. + +The editor of the _New Observator_ was Bishop Burnet, and these political +playing-cards were sold by his publisher; perhaps the great Protestant +bishop knew something of their "performers." In the year 1692 an +experiment was made which clearly shows how just an estimate was getting +abroad of the value of publicity in matters of business. A newspaper was +set up, called "The City Mercury, published gratis for the Promotion of +Trade," which lasted for two years, and contained nothing but +advertisements. The proprietor undertook to distribute a thousand copies +per week to the then chief places of resort,--coffee houses, taverns, and +bookshops. Even in these days of the "Times" double supplement such an +experiment has often been made and failed; our wonder, therefore, is not +that the _City Mercury_ went to that limbo which is stored with such +countless abortive journals, but that the interest felt in advertisements +should, at that early period, have kept it alive so long. + +If the foregoing scheme proves that an attempt was then made to subdivide +the duties of a newspaper--that of keeping its readers informed of the +news of the day, and of forming a means of publicity for the wants and +losses of individuals--the advertisement we are about to quote clearly +shows that at the same time there was a plan in existence for combining +the printed newspaper with the more ancient written newsletter. It is well +known that long after the institution of public journals the old +profession of the newsletter-writer continued to flourish. We can easily +account for this fact when we remember that during the heat of a great +rebellion it was much more safe to write than to print the intelligence of +the day. Many of these newsletters were written by strong partisans, and +contained information which it was neither desirable nor safe that their +opponents should see. They were passed on from hand to hand in secret, and +often endorsed by each successive reader. We are told that the Cavaliers, +when taken prisoners, have been known to eat their newsletters; and some +of Prince Rupert's, which had been intercepted, are still in existence, +and bear dark-red stains, which testify to the desperate manner in which +they were defended. It is pretty certain, however, that, as a profession, +newsletter-writing began to decline after the Revolution; although we find +the editor of the _Evening Post_, as late as the year 1709, reminding its +readers that "there must be three or four pounds a year paid for written +news." At the same time the public journals, it is clear, had not +performed that part of their office which was really more acceptable to +the country reader than any other--the retailing the political and social +chit-chat of the day. We have only to look into the public papers to +convince ourselves how wofully they fell short in a department which must +have been the staple of the news-writer. This want still being felt, John +Salusbury devises a scheme to combine the old and the new plan after the +following manner, as announced in the _Flying Post_ of 1694:-- + + If any Gentleman has a mind to oblige his country friend or + correspondent with the Account of Public Affairs, he may have it for + twopence of J. Salusbury at the Rising-Sun in Cornhill, on a sheet of + fine paper, half of which being blank, he may thereon write his own + private business or the material news of the day. + +It does not say much for the energy with which the journals of that day +were conducted, that the purchasers are invited to write therein "the +material news of the day;" that, we should have thought, was the editor's +business to have supplied; but it was perhaps a contrivance by which the +Jacobites might circulate information, by means of the post, without +compromising the printer. We have seen many such papers, half print, half +manuscript, in the British Museum, which had passed through the post, the +manuscript portion of which, the Home Secretaries of our time would have +thought sufficiently treasonable to justify them in having broken their +seals. + +As advertisements, from their earliest introduction, were used to make +known the amusements of the day and the means of killing time at the +disposal of persons of quality, it seems strange that it was not employed +sooner than it was to draw a company to the theatres. We have looked in +vain for the announcement of any theatrical entertainment before the year +1701, when the advertisement of the Lincoln's Inn Theatre makes its +appearance in the columns of the _English Post_. The lead of this little +house was, however, speedily followed by the larger ones, and only a few +years later we have regular lists of the performances at all the theatres +in the daily papers. The first journal of this description was the _Daily +Courant_, published in 1709. In this year also appeared the celebrated +"Tatler," to be speedily followed by the "Spectator" and "Guardian," the +social and literary journals of that Augustine age. The first edition of +the "Tatler," in the British Museum, contains advertisements like an +ordinary paper, and they evidently reflect, more than those of its +contemporaries, the flying fashions of the day and the follies of the +"quality." In them we notice the rage that existed for lotteries, or +"sales," as they were called. Every conceivable thing was put up to +raffle. We see advertisements headed "A Sixpenny Sale of Lace," "A Hundred +Pounds for Half-a-crown," "A Penny Adventure for a Great Pie," "A +Quarter's Rent," "A Freehold Estate," "Threepenny Sales of Houses," "A +fashionable Coach." Gloves, looking-glasses, chocolate, Hungary water, +Indian goods, lacquered ware, fans, &c., were notified to be disposed of +in this manner, and the fair mob was called together to draw their tickets +by the same means. This fever, which produced ten years later the +celebrated South Sea Bubble, was of slow growth. It had its root in the +Restoration, its flower in the reign of Anne, and its fruit and +_dénouement_ in the reign of George I. Before passing on from the pages of +the "Tatler," we must stop for a moment to notice one or two of those +playful advertisements which Sir Richard Steele delighted in, and which, +under the disguise of fun, perhaps really afforded him excellent matter +for his journal. Here is an irresistible invitation to his fair readers:-- + + Any Ladies who have any particular stories of their acquaintance which + they are willing privately to make public, may send 'em by the penny + post to Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., enclosed to Mr. John Morpheu, near + Stationers' Hall.--_Tatler_, May 8, 1709. + +An excellent lion's mouth this wherein to drop scandal. A still more +amusing instance of the fun that pervaded Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., is to +be found in the series of advertisements in which he ought to have +convinced John Partridge, the astrologer, that he really had departed this +life; an assertion which the latter persisted in denying with the most +ludicrous earnestness. Of these we give one from the "Tatler" of August +24th 1710:-- + + Whereas an ignorant Upstart in Astrology has publicly endeavoured to + persuade the world that he is the late John Partridge, who died the 28 + of March 1718, these are to certify all whom it may concern, that the + true John Partridge was not only dead at that time, but continues so + to the present day. Beware of counterfeits, for such are abroad. + +The pleasant malice of the above is patent enough, but we confess we are +puzzled to know whether the following is genuine or not. We copied it from +among a number of others, from which it was undistinguishable by any +peculiarity of type:-- + + _The Charitable Advice Office_, where all persons may have the opinion + of dignified Clergymen, learned Council, graduate Physicians, and + experienced Surgeons, to any question in Divinity, Morality, Law, + Physic, or Surgery, with proper Prescriptions within twelve hours + after they have delivered in a state of their case. Those who can't + write may have their cases stated at the office. * * The fees are + only 1_s._ delivery, or sending your case, and 1_s._ more on + re-delivering that and the opinion upon it, being what is thought + sufficient to defray the necessary expense of servants and + office-rent.--_Tatler_, December 16, 1710. + +To pass, however, from the keen weapons of the brain to those of the +flesh, it is interesting to fix with some tolerable accuracy the change +which took place in the early part of the eighteenth century in what might +be called the amusements of the fancy. The "noble art of defence," as it +was termed, up to the time of the first George seems to have consisted in +the broadsword exercise. Pepys describes in his "Diary" several bloody +encounters of this kind which he himself witnessed; and the following +advertisement, a half-century later, shows that the skilled weapon had not +at that time been set aside for the more brutal fist:-- + + A _Tryal of Skill_ to be performed at His Majesty's Bear Garden in + Hockley-in-the-Hole, on Thursday next, being the 9th instant, betwixt + these following masters:--Edmund Button, master of the noble science + of defence, _who hath lately cut down_ Mr. Hasgit and the Champion of + the West, _and 4 besides_, and James Harris, an Herefordshire man, + master of the noble science of defence, who has fought 98 prizes and + never was worsted, to exercise the usual weapons, at 2 o'clock in the + afternoon precisely.--_Postman_, July 4, 1701. + +The savage character of the time may be judged from this public boast of +Mr. Edmund Button that he had cut down six men with a murderous weapon. We +question, however, if the age which could tolerate such ruffianism was not +exceeded by the change which substituted the fist for the sword, and +witnessed women entering the ring in the place of men. Some of the +earliest notices of boxing-matches upon record, singularly enough, took +place between combatants of the fair sex. In a public journal of 1722, for +instance, we find the following gage of battle thrown down, and +accepted:-- + + CHALLENGE.--I, Elizabeth Wilkinson, of Clerkenwell, having had some + words with Hannah Hyfield, and requiring satisfaction, do invite her + to meet me upon the stage, and box me for three guineas; each woman + holding half-a-crown in each hand, and the first woman that drops the + money to lose the battle. + + ANSWER.--I, Hannah Hyfield, of Newgate Market, hearing of the + resoluteness of Elizabeth Wilkinson, will not fail, _God willing_, to + give her more blows than words, desiring home blows, and from her no + favour: she may expect a good thumping! + +The half-crowns in the hands was an ingenious device to prevent +scratching! A still more characteristic specimen of one of these +challenges to a fisticuff between two women is to be found in the _Daily +Post_ of July 7th, 1728:-- + + At _Mr. Stokes' Amphitheatre_ in Islington Road, this present Monday, + being the 7 of October, will be a complete Boxing Match by the two + following Championesses:--Whereas I, Ann Field, of Stoke Newington, + ass-driver, well known for my abilities in boxing in my own defence + wherever it happened in my way, having been affronted by Mrs. Stokes, + styled the European Championess, do fairly invite her to a trial of + her best skill in Boxing for 10 pounds, fair rise and fall; and + question not but to give her such proofs of my judgement that shall + oblige her to acknowledge me Championess of the Stage, to the entire + satisfaction of all my friends. + + I, Elizabeth Stokes, of the City of London, have not fought in this + way since I fought the famous boxing-woman of Billingsgate 29 minutes, + and gained a complete victory (which is six years ago); but as the + famous Stoke Newington ass-woman dares me to fight her for the 10 + pounds, I do assure her I will not fail meeting her for the said sum, + and doubt not that the blows which I shall present her with will be + more difficult for her to digest than any she ever gave her + asses.--_Note._ A man, known by the name of Rugged and Tuff, + challenges the best man of Stoke Newington to fight him for one guinea + to what sum they please to venture. N.B. Attendance will be given at + one, and the encounter to begin at four precisely. There will be the + diversion of Cudgel-playing as usual. + +Other advertisements about this time relate to cock-matches, sometimes "to +last the week," to bull-baiting, and, more cruel still, to dressing up mad +bulls with fireworks, in order to worry them with dogs. The brutal tone of +manners, which set in afresh with the Hanoverian succession, might be +alone gathered from the so-called sporting advertisements of the day; and +we now see that Hogarth, in his famous picture, had no need to, and +probably did not, draw upon his imagination for the combination of horrid +cruelties therein depicted. + +The very same tone pervaded the gallantry of the day, and we print two +advertisements, one of the time of Anne, and the other of the age we are +now illustrating, in order to contrast their spirit. We give the more +polished one precedence:-- + + A gentleman who, the twentieth instant, had the honour to conduct a + lady out of a boat at Whitehall-stairs, desires to know where he may + wait on her to disclose a matter of concern. A letter directed to Mr. + Samuel Reeves, to be left with Mr. May, at the Golden Head, the upper + end of New Southampton Street, Covent Garden.--_Tatler_, March 21, + 1709. + +A certain courtly style and air of good breeding pervades this +advertisement, of which Sir Richard Steele himself need not have been +ashamed; but what a falling-off is here!-- + + Whereas a young lady was at Covent Garden playhouse last Tuesday + night, and received a blow with a square piece of wood on her breast; + if the lady be single, and meet me on Sunday, at two o'clock, on the + Mall in St. James's Park, or send a line directed for A. B., to Mr. + Jones's, at the Sun Tavern in St. Paul's Churchyard, where and when I + shall wait on her, to inform her of something very much to her + advantage on honourable terms, her compliance will be a lasting + pleasure to her most obedient servant.--_General Advertiser_, Feb. 8, + 1748. + +It would seem as though the beau had been forced to resort to a missile to +make an impression, and then felt the necessity of stating that his +intentions were "honourable," in order to secure an interview with his +_innamorata_. Imagine, too, the open unblushing manner in which the +assignation is attempted! We are far from saying that such matters are not +managed now through the medium of advertisements, for we shall presently +show they are, but in how much more carefully concealed a manner! The +perfect contempt of public opinion, or rather the public acquiescence in +such infringements of the moral law, which it exhibits, proves the general +state of morality more than the infringements themselves, which obtain +more or less at all times. Two of the causes which led to this low tone of +manners with respect to women were doubtless the detestable profligacy of +the courts of the two first Georges, and the very defective condition of +the existing marriage law. William and Mary, and Anne, had, by their +decorous, not to say frigid lives, redeemed the crown, and, in some +measure, the aristocracy, from the vices of the Restoration. Crown, court, +and quality, however, fell into a still worse slough on the accession of +the Hanoverian king, who soiled afresh the rising tone of public life by +his scandalous connection with the Duchess of Kendal and the Countess of +Darlington; whilst his son and successor was absolutely abetted in his +vicious courses by his own queen, who promoted his commerce with his two +mistresses, the Countesses of Suffolk and Yarmouth. The degrading +influence of the royal manners was well seconded by the condition of the +law. Keith's chapel in May Fair, and that at the Fleet, were the Gretna +Greens of the age, where children could get married at any time of the day +or night for a couple of crowns. It was said at the time, that at the +former chapel six thousand persons were annually married in this off-hand +way; the youngest of the beautiful Miss Gunnings was wedded to the Duke of +Hamilton, at twelve o'clock at night, with a ring off the bed-curtain, at +this very "marriage-shop." The fruits of such unions may be imagined. The +easy way in which the marriage bond was worn and broken through is clearly +indicated by the advertisements which absolutely crowd the public journals +from the accession of the House of Brunswick up to the time of the third +George, of husbands warning the public not to trust their runaway wives. + +We have referred, in an early part of this paper, to the taste for +blackamoors, which set in the reign of Charles II., and went on increasing +until the middle of the next century, at which time there must have been a +very considerable population of negro servants in the metropolis. At first +the picturesque natives of the East were pressed into the service of the +nobility and gentry, and colour does not appear to have been a _sine quâ +non_. Thus we have in the _London Gazette_ of 1688 the following +hue-and-cry advertisement:-- + + Run away from his master, Captain St. Lo, the 21st instant, Obdelah + Ealias Abraham, a Moor, swarthy complexion, short frizzled hair, a + gold ring in his ear, in a black coat and blew breeches. He took with + him a blew Turkish watch-gown, a Turkish suit of clothing that he used + to wear about town, and several other things. Whoever brings him to + Mr. Lozel's house in Green Street shall have one guinea for his + charges. + +The next advertisement we find also relates to what we must consider an +East Indian. The notion of property in these boys seems to have been +complete; their masters put their names upon their collars, as they did +upon their setters or spaniels:-- + + A black boy, an Indian, about thirteen years old, run away the 8th + instant from Putney, with a collar about his neck with this + inscription: 'the Lady Bromfield's black in Lincoln's Inn Fields.' + Whoever brings him to Sir Edward Bromfield's at Putney shall have a + guinea reward.--_The London Gazette_, 1694. + +The traffic in African blacks, which commenced towards the end of the +seventeenth century, seems to have displaced these eastern servitors +towards the end of the century, for henceforth the word negro, blackamoor, +or black boy, is invariably used. No doubt the fashion for these negroes +and other coloured attendants was derived from the Venetian Republic, the +intercourse of whose merchants with Africa and India naturally led to +their introduction. Titian and other great painters of his school +continually introduced them in their pictures, and our own great bard has +for ever associated the Moor with the City in the Sea. In England the +negro boys appear to have been considered as much articles of sale as they +would have been in the slave-market at Constantinople. In the _Tatler_ of +1709 we find one offered to the public in the following terms:-- + + A black boy, twelve years of age, fit to wait on a gentleman, to be + disposed of at Denis's Coffee-house in Finch Lane, near the Royal + Exchange. + +Again, in the _Daily Journal_ of September 28th, 1728, we light upon +another:-- + + To be sold, a negro boy, aged eleven years. Enquire of the Virginia + Coffee-house in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange. + +These were the overflowings of that infamous traffic in negroes, commenced +by Sir John Hawkins in the year 1680, which tore from their homes, and +transferred to Jamaica alone, no less than 910,000 Africans between that +time and the year 1786, when the slave-trade was abolished. + +We have brought the reader up to the date of the final battle which +extinguished the hopes of the Stuarts and settled the line of Brunswick +firmly on the throne. The year 1745 witnessed the commencement of the +_General Advertiser_, the title of which indicates the purpose to which it +was dedicated. This paper was the first successful attempt to depend for +support upon the advertisements it contained, thereby creating a new era +in the newspaper press. From the very outset its columns were filled with +them, between fifty and sixty, regularly classified and separated by +rules, appearing in each publication; in fact, the advertising page put on +for the first time a modern look. The departure of ships is constantly +notified, and the engravings of these old high-pooped vessels sail in even +line down the column. Trading matters have at last got the upper hand. You +see "a pair of leather bags," "a scarlet laced-coat," "a sword," still +inquired after; and theatres make a show, for this was the dawning of the +age of Foote, Macklin, Garrick, and most of the other great players of the +last century; but, comparatively speaking, the gaieties and follies of the +town ceased gradually from this time to proclaim themselves through the +medium of advertisements. The great earthquake at Lisbon so frightened the +people, that masquerades were prohibited by law, and the puppet-shows, the +rope-dancing, the china-auctions, and public breakfasts henceforth grow +scarcer and scarcer as the Ladies Betty and Sally, who inaugurated them, +withdrew by degrees, withered, faded, and patched, from the scene. + +The only signs of the political tendencies of the time to be gathered from +the sources we are pursuing, are the party dinners, announcements of which +are now and then to be met with as follows:-- + + To the Joyous.--The Bloods are desired to meet together at the house + known by the name of the Sir Hugh Middleton, near Saddler's Wells, + Islington, which Mr. Skeggs has procured for that day for the better + entertainment of those Gentlemen who agreed to meet at his own house. + Dinner will be on the Table punctually at two o'clock.--_General + Advertiser_, Jan. 13, 1748. + +Or the following still more characteristic example from the same paper of +April 12:-- + + Half-Moon Tavern, Cheapside.--Saturday next, the 16 of April, being + the anniversary of the Glorious Battle of Colloden, the Stars will + assemble in the Moon at Six in the evening. Therefore the Choice + Spirits are desired to make their appearance and fill up the + joy.--ENDYMION. + +Within five-and-twenty years from this date most of the existing morning +journals were established, and their advertising columns put on a guise +closely resembling that which they now present. We need not therefore +pursue our deep trenching into the old subsoil in order to turn up +long-buried evidences of manners and fashions, for they have ceased to +appear, either fossil or historical; we therefore boldly leap the gulf +that intervenes between these old days and the present. + +The early part of the present century saw the commencement of that liberal +and systematic plan of advertising which marks the complete era in the +art. Princely ideas by degrees took possession of the trading mind as to +the value of this new agent in extending their business transactions. +Packwood, some thirty years ago, led the way by impressing his razor-strop +indelibly on the mind of every bearded member of the empire. Like other +great potentates he boasted a laureate in his pay, and every one remembers +the reply made to the individuals curious to know who drew up his +advertisements: "La, sir, we keeps a poet!" + +By universal consent, however, the world has accorded to the late George +Robins the palm in this style of commercial puffing. His advertisements +were really artistically written. Like Martin, he had the power of +investing every landscape and building he touched with an importance and +majesty not attainable by meaner hands. He did perhaps go beyond the +yielding line of even poetical license, when he described one portion of a +paradise he was about to submit to public competition as adorned, among +other charms, with a "hanging wood," which the astonished purchaser found +out meant nothing more than an old gallows. But then he redeemed slight +manoeuvres of this kind by touches which really displayed a genius for +puffing. On one occasion he had made the beauties of an estate so +enchanting, that he found it necessary to blur it by a fault or two, lest +it should prove too bright and good "for human nature's daily food." "But +there are two drawbacks to the property," sighed out this Hafiz of the +Mart, "the litter of the rose-leaves and the noise of the nightingales!" +Certainly the force of exquisite puffing could no further go, and when he +died the poetry of advertising departed. Others, such as Charles Wright +of Champagne celebrity, have attempted to strike the strings; and Moses +does, we believe, veritably keep a poet; but none of them have been able +to rival George the Great, and we yawn as we read sonnets which end in the +invariable "mart," or acrostics which refer to Hyam and Co.'s superior +vests. Twenty years ago some of the daily newspapers admitted illustrated +advertisements into their columns; now it would be fatal to any of them to +do so. Nevertheless, they are by far the most effective of their class, as +they call in the aid of another sense to express their meaning. All but +the minors of the present generation must remember George Cruikshank's +exquisite woodcut of the astonished cat viewing herself in the polished +Hessian, which made the fortune of Warren. But in those days tradesmen +only tried their wings for the flight. It was left to the present time to +prove what unlimited confidence in the power of the advertisement will +effect, and a short list of the sums _annually_ spent in this item by some +of the most adventurous dealers will perhaps startle our readers. + + "Professor" Holloway, Pills, etc. £30,000 + Moses and Son 10,000 + Rowland and Co. (Macassar oil, &c.) 10,000 + Dr. De Jongh (cod-liver oil) 10,000 + Heal and Sons (bedsteads and bedding) 6,000 + Nicholls (tailor) 4,500 + +It does seem indeed incredible that one house should expend upon the mere +advertising of quack pills and ointment a sum equal to the entire revenue +of many a German principality. Can it possibly pay? asks the astonished +reader. Let the increasing avenue of assistants, to be seen "from morn to +dewy eve" wrapping up pills in the "professor's" establishment within the +shadow of Temple Bar, supply the answer.[2] Vastly as the press of this +country has expanded of late years, it has proved insufficient to contain +within its limits the rapid current of puffing which has set in. +Advertisements now overflow into our omnibuses, our cabs, our railway +carriages, and our steamboats. Madame Tussaud pays 90_l._ monthly to the +Atlas Omnibus Company alone for the privilege of posting her bills in +their vehicles. They are inked upon the pavement, painted in large letters +under the arches of the bridges and on every dead wall. Lloyd's weekly +newspaper is stamped on the "full Guelph cheek" of the plebeian penny; the +emissaries of Moses shower perfect libraries through the windows of the +carriages which ply from the railway stations; and, as a crowning fact, +Thackeray, in his "Journey from Cornhill to Cairo," tells us that Warren's +blacking is painted up over an obliterated inscription to Psammetichus on +Pompey's Pillar! + +Having shown the reader the slow growth of the advertising column; having +climbed, like "Jack in the Bean-stalk," from its humble root in the days +of the Commonwealth up its still increasing stem in the succeeding hundred +years, we now come upon its worthy flower in the shape of the +sixteen-paged _Times_ of the present day. Spread open its broad leaves, +and behold the greatest marvel of the age--the microcosm in type. Who can +recognize in its ample surface, which reflects like some camera-obscura +the wants, the wishes, the hopes, and the fears of this great city, the +news-book of the Cromwellian times with its leash of advertisements? +Herein we see how fierce is the struggle of two millions and a half of +people for dear existence. Every advertisement writhes and fights with its +neighbour, and every phase of society, brilliant, broken, or dim, is +reflected in this battle-field of life. Let us tell off the rank and file +of this army of announcements. On the 24th of May, 1855, the _Times_, in +its usual sixteen-paged paper, contained the incredible number of 2,575 +advertisements. Amazing as this total appears, we only arrive at its full +significance by analyzing the vast array. Then, indeed, we feel what an +important power is the great British publie. Of old the antechambers of +the noble were thronged with poets, artists, publishers, tradesmen, and +dependants of all kinds, seeking for the droppings of their favour; but +what lordly antechamber ever presented such a crew of place-hunters, +servitors, literary and scientific men, schemers, and shopkeepers as +daily offer their services to the humblest individual who can spare a +penny for an hour's perusal of the _Times_? Let us take this paper of the +24th of May and examine the crowd of persons and things which cry aloud +through its pages, each attempting to make its voice heard above the +other. Here we see a noble fleet of ships, 129 in number, chartered for +the regions of gold, for America, for India, for Africa--for every port, +in fact, where cupidity, duty, or affection holds out an attraction for +the British race. Another column wearies the eye with its interminable +line of "Wants." Here in long and anxious row we see the modern "mop" or +statute-fair for hiring; 429 servants of all grades, from the genteel +lady's-maid or the "thorough cook," who will only condescend to accept +service where two footmen are kept, to the humble scullery-maid, on that +day passed their claims before us for inspection. Another column is noisy +with auctioneers; 136 of whom notify their intention of poising their +impatient hammers when we have favoured them with our company. Here we see +a crowd of booksellers offering, hot from the press, 195 new volumes, many +of which, we are assured by the appended critique, "should find a place in +every gentleman's library." There are 378 houses, shops, and +establishments presented to us to select from; and 144 lodging-house +keepers, "ladies having houses larger than they require," and medical men +who own "retreats," press forward with genteel offers of board and +lodging. Education pursues her claims by the hands of no less than 144 +preceptors, male and female; whilst the hair, the skin, the feet, the +teeth, and the inward man are offered the kind attention of thirty-six +professors who possess infallible remedies for all the ills that flesh is +heir to. The remainder is made up of the miscellaneous cries of tradesmen, +whose voices rise from every portion of the page like the shouting of +chapmen from a fair. In the midst of all this struggle for gold, place, +and position, which goes on every day in this wonderful publication, +outcries from the very depths of the heart, passionate tears, bursts of +indignation, and heartrending appeals, startle one as they issue from the +second column of its front page. Here the father sees his prodigal son +afar off and falls upon his neck; the heartbroken mother implores her +runaway child to return; or the abandoned wife searches through the world +for her mate. It is strange how, when the eye is saturated with the thirst +after mammon exhibited by the rest of the broadsheet, the heart becomes +touched by these plaintive but searching utterances, a few of which we +reproduce:-- + + The one-winged Dove must die unless the Crane returns to be a shield + against her enemies.--_Times_ of 1850. + +Or here is another which moves still more:-- + + B. J. C.--How more than cruel not to write. Take pity on such patient + silence.--_Times_, 1850. + +The most ghastly advertisement which perhaps ever appeared in a public +journal we copy from this paper of the year 1845. It is either a threat to +inter a wrong body in the "family vault," or an address to a dead man:-- + + To the Party who Posts His Letters in Prince's Street, Leicester + Square.--Your family is now in a state of excitement unbearable. Your + attention is called to an advertisement in Wednesday's _Morning + Advertiser_, headed, "A body found drowned at Deptford." After your + avowal to your friend as to what you might do, he has been to see the + decomposed remains, accompanied by others. The features are gone; but + there are marks on the arm; so that, unless they hear from you to-day, + it will satisfy them that the remains are those of their misguided + relative, and steps will be directly taken to place them in the family + vault, as they cannot bear the idea of a pauper's funeral. + +Sometimes we see the flashing eyes of indignation gleaming through the +very words. The following is evidently written to an old lover with all +the burning passion of a woman deceived:-- + + It is enough; one man alone upon earth have I found noble. Away from + me for ever! Cold heart and mean spirit, you have lost what + millions--empires--could not have bought, but which a single word + truthfully and nobly spoken might have made your own to all eternity. + Yet you are forgiven: depart in peace: I rest in my + Redeemer.--_Times_, Sept. 1st, 1852. + +Sometimes it is more confiding love "wafting a sigh from Indus to the +pole," or, finger on lip, speaking secretly, and as he thinks securely, +through the medium of cipher advertisements to the loved one. Sweet +delusion! There are wicked philosophers abroad who unstring the bow of +harder toil by picking your inmost thoughts! Lovers beware! intriguers +tremble! Many a wicked passage of illicit love, many a joy fearfully +snatched, which passed through the second column of the first page of the +_Times_ as a string of disjointed letters, unintelligible as the +correspondents thought, to all the world but themselves, have we seen +fairly copied out in plain if not always good English in the commonplace +books of these cunning men at cryptographs. Here, for instance, we give an +episode from the life of "Flo," which appeared in the _Times_ of 1853-54, +as a proof:-- + + Flo.--Thou voice of my heart! Berlin, Thursday. I leave next Monday, + and shall press you to my heart on Saturday. God bless you!--_Nov. 29, + 1853._ + + Flo.--The last is wrong. I repeat it. Thou voice of my heart. I am so + lonely, I miss you more than ever. I look at your picture every night. + I send you an Indian shawl to wear round you while asleep after + dinner. It will keep you from harm, and you must fancy my arms are + around you. God bless you! how I do love you!--_Dec. 23, 1853._ + + Flo.--My own love, I am happy again; it is like awaking from a bad + dream. You are, my life; to know that there is a chance of seeing you, + to hear from you, to do things to enough. [There is some error here.] + I shall try to see you soon. Write to me as often as you can. God + bless you, thou voice of my heart!--_Jan. 2, 1854._ + + Flo.--Thou voice of my heart! How I do love you! How are you? Shall + you be laid up this spring? I can see you walking with your darling. + What would I give to be with you! Thanks for your last letter. I fear + nothing but separation from you. You are my world, my life, my hope. + Thou more than life, farewell! God bless you!--_Jan. 6, 1854._ + + Flo.--I fear, dearest, our cipher is discovered: write at once to your + friend "Indian Shawl" (P.O.), Buckingham, Bucks.--_Jan. 7, 1845._ + +The advertisement of January 7th is written in a great fright, and refers +to the discovery and exposure of the cipher in the _Times_ newspaper; for +whenever the aforesaid philosophers perceive that a secret correspondence +has arrived at a critical point they charitably insert a marplot +advertisement in the same cipher. The "Flo" intrigue was carried on in +figures, the key to which is as follows:-- + + 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + y. u. o. i. e. a. d. k. h. f. + s. t. n. m. r. l. d. g. w. p. + x. c. b. + v. + +The reader will perhaps remember another mad-looking advertisement which +appeared in the year 1853, headed "Cenerentola." The first, dated Feb. +2nd, we interpret thus:-- + + Cenerentola, I wish to try if you can read this, and am most anxious + to hear the end, when you return, and how long you remain here. Do + write a few lines, darling, please: I have been very far from happy + since you went away. + +One of the parties cannot frame an adequate explanation of some delicate +matter clearly, as we find on the 11th the following:-- + + Cenerentola, until my heart is sick have I tried to frame an + explanation for you, but cannot. Silence is safest, if the true cause + is not suspected; if it is, all stories will be sifted to the bottom. + Do you remember our cousin's first proposition?--think of it. + +The following, which appeared on the 19th of the same month, is written in +plain language, and is evidently a specimen of the marplot advertisement +before alluded to:-- + + Cenerentola, what nonsense! Your cousin's proposition is absurd. I + have given an explanation--the true one--which has perfectly satisfied + both parties--a thing which silence never could have effected. So no + more such absurdity. + +The secret of this cipher consisted in representing each letter by the +twenty-second onward continually. One more specimen of these singular +advertisements and we have done. On Feb. 20, 1852, there appeared in the +_Times_ the following mysterious line:-- + + Tig tjohw it tig jfhiirvola og tig psgvw.--F. D. N. + +The general reader, doubtless, looked upon this jumble of letters with +some such a puzzled air as the mastiff gives the tortoise in a very +popular French bronze; but not being able to make anything out of it, +passed on to the more intelligible contents of the paper. A friend of +ours, however, was curious and intelligent enough to extract the plain +English out of it, though not without much trouble, as thus:--If we take +the first word of the sentence, Tig, and place under its second letter i +the one which alphabetically precedes it, and treat the next letters in a +similar manner, we shall have the following combination:-- + + T i g + h f + e + +Reading the first letters obliquely we have the article "The;" if we treat +the second word in the same manner, the following will be the result:-- + + T j o h w + i. n. g. v. + m. f. u. + e. t. + s. + +which, read in the same slanting way, produces the word _Times_, and the +whole sentence, thus ingeniously worked out, gives up its latent and +extraordinary meaning, thus-- + + "The _Times_ is the Jefferies of the press." + +What could have induced any one to take so much trouble thus to plant a +hidden insult into the leading journal, we cannot divine. "East," "He +Blew," "Willie and Fanny," "Dominoes," and "My darling A.," need not feel +uncomfortable although we know their secrets. We have said quite enough to +prove to these individuals that such ciphers as they use, are picked +immediately by any cryptographic Hobbs; indeed, all systems of writing +which depend upon transmutations of the letters of the alphabet, or the +substitution of figures for letters, such as we generally find in the +_Times_, are mere puzzles for children, and not worthy of the more cunning +or finished in the art. + +It is not to be expected, with all the caution exhibited by the morning +papers to prevent the insertion of swindling advertisements that rogues do +not now and then manage to take advantage of their great circulation for +the sake of forwarding their own nefarious schemes. Sir Robert Carden has +just done good service by running to earth the Mr. Fynn, who for years has +lived abroad in splendour at the expense of the poor governesses he +managed to victimize through the advertising columns of the _Times_. One's +heart sickens at the stream of poor young ladies his promises have dragged +across the continent, and the consequences which may have resulted from +their thus putting their reputation as well as their money into his power. +Such scandalous traps as these are, of course, rare; but the papers are +full of minor pitfalls, into which the unwary are continually falling, +sometimes with their eyes wide open. Of the latter class are the +matrimonial advertisements; here is a specimen of one of the most artful +of its kind we ever remember to have seen:-- + + To Girls of Fortune--Matrimony.--A bachelor, young, amiable, handsome, + and of good family, and accustomed to move in the highest sphere of + society, is embarrassed in his circumstances. Marriage is his only + hope of extrication. This advertisement is inserted by one of his + friends. Ingratitude was never one of his faults, and he will study + for the remainder of his life to prove his estimation of the + confidence placed in him.--Address, post-paid, L. L. H. L., 47, King + Street, Soho.--N.B. The witticisms of cockney scribblers deprecated. + +The air of candour, and the taking portrait of the handsome bachelor, +whose very poverty is converted into a charm, is cleverly assumed. An +announcement of a much less flattering kind, but probably of a more +genuine and honourable nature, was published in _Blackwood_ some time ago, +which we append, as, like Landseer's dog-pictures, the two form a capital +pair illustrative of high and low life. + + Matrimonial Advertisement.--I hereby give notice to all unmarried + women, that I, John Hobnail, am at this writing five-and-forty, a + widower, and in want of a wife. As I wish no one to be mistaken, I + have a good cottage, with a couple of acres of land, for which I pay + 2_l._ a year. I have five children, four of them old enough to be in + employment; three sides of bacon, and some pigs ready for market. I + should like to have a woman fit to take care of her house when I am + out. I want no second family. She may be between forty and fifty if + she likes. A good sterling woman would be preferred, who would take + care of the pigs. + +The following is also matter of fact, but it looks suspicious:-- + + Matrimony to Milliners and Dressmakers. A young man about to EMIGRATE + to SOUTH AUSTRALIA would be happy to form an alliance with a young + woman in the above line possessing 60_l._ or 100_l._ property. Any one + so disposed, by applying by letter (post-paid) to T. Hall, 175, Upper + Thames Street, till Saturday next, appointing an interview, may depend + on prompt attention and strict secrecy.--_Times_, 1845. + +The matrimonial bait is so obviously a good one, that of late years we see +advertisements of institutions, at which regular lists of candidates for +the marriage state, both male and female, are kept, together with +portraits, and a ledger in which pecuniary and mental qualifications are +neatly posted. Such springes are only suited, however, for the grossest +folly; but there is another class of advertisements which empties the +pockets of the industrious and aspiring in a very workmanlike manner: we +allude to such as the following:-- + + Gentlemen having a respectable circle of acquaintance may hear of + means of INCREASING their INCOME without the slightest pecuniary risk, + or of having (by any chance) their feelings wounded. Apply for + particulars, by letter, stating their position, &c., to W. R., 37, + Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square. + +Gentlemen whose feelings are so delicate that they must not be injured on +any consideration, who nevertheless have a desire for lucre, we recommend +not to apply to such persons, unless they wish to receive for their pains +some such a scheme as was forwarded to a person who had answered an +advertisement (enclosing, as directed, thirty postage-stamps) in _Lloyd's +Weekly Journal_, headed "How to make 2_l._ per week by the outlay of +10_s._":-- + + "First purchase 1 cwt. of large-sized potatoes, which may be obtained + for the sum of 4_s._, then purchase a large basket, which will cost + say another 4_s._, then buy 2_s._ worth of flannel blanketing, and + this will comprise your stock in trade, of which the total cost is + 10_s._ A large-sized potato weighs about half a pound, consequently + there are 224 potatoes in a cwt. + + "Take half the above quantity of potatoes each evening to a baker's, + and have them baked; when properly cooked put them in your basket, + well wrapped up in the flannel to keep them hot, and sally forth and + offer them for sale at one penny each. Numbers will be glad to + purchase them at that price, and you will for certain be able to sell + half a cwt. every evening. From the calculation made below you will + see by that means you will be able to earn 2_l._ per week. The best + plan is to frequent the most crowded thoroughfares, and make good use + of your lungs; thus letting people know what you have for sale. You + could also call in at each public-house on your way, and solicit the + patronage of the customers, many of whom would be certain to buy of + you. Should you have too much pride to transact the business yourself + (though no one need be ashamed of pursuing an honest calling), you + could hire a boy for a few shillings a week, who could do the work for + you, and you could still make a handsome profit weekly. + + "The following calculation proves that 2_l._ per week can be made by + selling baked potatoes:-- + + "1 cwt., containing 224 potatoes, sold in two + evenings, at 1_d._ each £0 18 8 + Deduct cost 0 4 0 + ------- + £0 14 8 + 3 + ------- + Six evenings' sale £2 4 0 + Pay baker at the rate of 8_d._ per evening for + baking potatoes 0 4 0 + ------- + Net profit per week £2 0 0" + +One more specimen of these baits for gudgeon, and we have done. We +frequently see appeals to the benevolent for the loans of small sums. Some +of these are doubtless written by innocent persons in distress, who +confide in the good side of human nature; and we have been given to +understand that in many cases this blind confidence has not been +misplaced; for there are many Samaritans who read the papers nowadays, and +feel a romantic pleasure in answering such appeals: at the same time, we +are afraid that the great majority of them are gross deceptions. The +veritable whine of "the poor broken-down tradesman" who makes a habit of +visiting our quiet streets and appealing, in a very solemn voice, to "my +brethren" for the loan of a small trifle, whilst he anxiously scans the +windows for the halfpence, is observable, for instance, in the following +cool appeal:-- + + To the Benevolent.--A Young Tradesman has, from a series of + misfortunes, been reduced to the painful necessity of asking for a + trifling SUM to enable him to raise 10_l._ to save himself from + inevitable ruin and poverty; or if any gentleman would lend the above + it would be faithfully repaid. Satisfactory references as to the + genuineness of this case.--Direct to A.Z., Mr. Rigby's, Post-Office, + Mile-end Road. + +The receipt of conscience-money is constantly acknowledged in +advertisements by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day, and the sums +which in this manner find their way into the Exchequer are by no means +inconsiderable. It is honourable to human nature, amid all the roguery we +have exposed, to find that now and then some conscience is touched by a +very small matter, and that great trouble and no little expense is often +gone to in order that others may not suffer through the inadvertency or +carelessness of the advertiser. The following is a delicate example:-- + + To Hackney-Coachmen.--About the month of March last, a gentleman from + the country took a coach from Finsbury Square, and accidentally broke + the glass of one of its windows. Being unwell at the time, the + circumstance was forgotten when he quitted the coach, and it would now + be a great relief to his mind to be put in a situation to pay the + coachman for it. Should this meet the eye of the person who drove the + coach, and he will make application to A. B., at Walker's Hotel, Dean + Street, Soho, any morning during the next week, before eleven o'clock, + proper attention will be paid to it.--_Times_, 1842. + +The more curious advertisements which from time to time appear in the +public journals, but particularly in the _Times_, do not admit of +classification; and they are so numerous, moreover, that if we were to +comment upon one tithe of those that have appeared within the last six +years, we should far exceed the limits of this article. We make no +apology, therefore, for stringing together the following very odd lot:-- + + Do you want a servant?--Necessity prompts the question.--The + advertiser OFFERS his SERVICES to any lady or gentleman, company, or + others, in want of a truly faithful confidential servant in any + capacity not menial, where a practical knowledge of human nature, in + various parts of the world, would be available. Could undertake any + affair of small or great importance, where talent, inviolable secrecy, + or good address would be necessary. Has moved in the best and worst + societies without being contaminated by either; has never been a + servant; begs to recommend himself as one who knows his place; is + moral, temperate, middle-aged; no objection to any part of the world. + Could advise any capitalist wishing to increase his income, and have + the control of his own money. Could act as secretary or valet to any + lady or gentleman. Can give advice or hold his tongue, sing, dance, + play, fence, box, or preach a sermon, tell a story, be grave or gay, + ridiculous or sublime, or do anything, from the curling of a peruke to + the storming of a citadel, but never to excel his master.--Address, A. + B. C., 7, Little St. Andrew Street, Leicester Square.--_Times_, 1850. + + The Mighty Angel's Midnight Roar.--"Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go + ye out to meet him." This awful cry, as is demonstrated, will very + shortly be heard, viz.: at the commencement of "the great day (or + year) of God's wrath," or the last of the 2,300 days (or years) in + Daniel's prophecy. By the authors of "Proofs of the Second Coming of + Messiah at the Passover in 1848." Price 6_d._ Fourth Edition. + +This is a Muggletonian prophecy of the destruction of the world at a +certain date. The prediction failed, however, and the prophet found it +necessary to explain the reason:-- + + The Mighty Angel's Midnight Roar.--The authors, owing to their + disappointment, most sedulously investigated its cause, and instantly + announce its discovery. Daniel's vision, in chap. 8, was for 2,300 + years, to the end of which (see 5-12) the "little horn" was to + practise and prosper, after which comes the year of God's wrath, which + was erroneously included in the 2,300 years, and thus the midnight cry + will be a year later than stated.--_Times_, 1851. + + To P. Q. How Is Your Mother? I shan't inquire further, and must + decline entering upon the collateral branches of the family.--_Times_, + 1842. + + To Widowers and Single Gentlemen.--WANTED, by a lady, a SITUATION to + superintend the household and preside at table. She is agreeable, + becoming, careful, desirable, English, facetious, generous, honest, + industrious, judicious, keen, lively, merry, natty, obedient, + philosophic, quiet, regular, sociable, tasteful, useful, vivacious, + womanish, xantippish, youthful, zealous, &c.--Address, X. Y. Z., + Simmond's Library, Edgeware Road.--_Times._ + + The Title of an Ancient Baron. Mr. George Robins is empowered to SELL + the TITLE and DIGNITY of a BARON. The origin of the family, its + ancient descent, and illustrious ancestry, will be fully developed to + those and such only as desire to possess this distinguished rank for + the inconsiderable sum of 1,000_l._ Covent-garden Market.--_Times_, + 1841. + + Postage stamps. A young lady, being desirous of covering her + dressing-room with cancelled POSTAGE STAMPS, has been so far + encouraged in her wish by private friends as to have succeeded in + collecting 16,000! these, however, being insufficient, she will be + greatly obliged if any good-natured persons who may have these + (otherwise useless) little articles at their disposal would assist in + her whimsical project. Address to E. D., Mr. Butt's, glover, + Leadenhall Street; or Mr. Marshall's, jeweller, Hackney.--_Times_, + 1841. + + To the Theatrical Profession.--WANTED, for a Summer Theatre and + Circuit, a Leading Lady, Singing Chambermaid, First Low Comedian, + Heavy Man, Walking Gentleman, and one or two Gentlemen for Utility. To + open July 9th. + + Address (enclosing Stamp for reply) to Mr. J. WINDSOR, Theatre Royal, + Preston, Lancashire.--_Era_, July 1, 1855. + + Wanted a Man and his Wife to look after a Horse and Dairy with a + religious turn of mind without any incumbrance. + +The variety is perhaps as astonishing as the number of advertisements in +the _Times_. Like the trunk of an elephant, no matter seems too minute or +too gigantic, too ludicrous or too sad, to be lifted into notoriety by the +giant of Printing-house Square. The partition of a thin rule suffices to +separate a call for the loan of millions from the sad weak cry of the +destitute gentlewoman to be allowed to slave in a nursery "for the sake of +a home." Vehement love sends its voice imploring through the world after a +graceless boy, side by side with the announcement of the landing of a +cargo of lively turtle, or the card of a bug-killer. The poor lady who +advertises for boarders "merely for the sake of society" finds her "want" +cheek-by-jowl with some Muggletonian announcement gratuitously calculated +to break up society altogether, to the effect that the world will come to +an end by the middle of the next month. Or the reader is informed that for +twelve postage stamps he may learn "How to obtain a certain fortune," +exactly opposite an offer of a bonus of 500_l._ to any one who will obtain +for the advertiser "a Government situation." The _Times_ reflects every +want, and appeals to every motive which affects our composite society. And +why does it do this? Because of its ubiquity: go where we will, there, +like the house-fly or the sparrow, we find it. The porter reads it in his +beehive-chair, the master in his library; Green, we have no doubt, takes +it with him to the clouds in his balloon, and the collier reads it in the +depths of the mine; the workman at his bench, the lodger in his two-pair +back, the gold-digger in his hole, and the soldier in the trench, pore +over its broad pages. Hot from the press, or months old, still it is read. +That it is, _par excellence_, the national paper, and reflects more than +any other the life of the people, may be gathered from its circulation. +They show in the editor's room a singular diagram, which indicates by an +irregular line the circulation day by day and year by year. On this sheet +the gusts of political feeling and the pressure of popular excitement are +as minutely indicated as the force and direction of the wind are shown by +the self-registering apparatus in Lloyd's Rooms. Thus we find that in the +year 1845 it ran along at a pretty nearly dead level of 23,000 copies +daily. In 1846--for one day, the 28th of January, that on which the report +of Sir Robert Peel's statement respecting the Corn Laws appeared--it rose +in a towering peak to a height of 51,000, and then fell again to its old +number. It began the year 1848 with 29,000, and rose to 43,000 on the 29th +of February--the morrow of the French revolution. In 1852 its level at +starting was 36,000, and it attained to the highest point it has yet +touched on the 19th of November, the day of the Memoir of the Great Duke, +when 69,000 copies were sold. In January, 1853, the level had arisen to +40,000; and at the commencement of the present year it stood at 58,000, a +circulation which has since increased to 60,000 copies daily! +Notwithstanding all the disturbing causes which make the line of its +circulation present the appearance of hill and dale, sometimes rising into +Alp-like elevations, its ordinary level at the beginning of each year for +some time past has constantly gone on advancing; insomuch that within ten +years its circulation has more than doubled by 7,000 daily. + +This vigorous growth is the true cause of that wonderful determination of +advertisements to its pages, which have overflowed into a second paper, or +supplement, as it was formerly called. That this success has been fairly +won, we have never ourselves doubted; but a fact has come to our knowledge +which will pretty clearly prove that this great paper is conducted on +principles which are superior to mere money considerations; or rather its +operations are so large that it can afford to inflict upon itself +pecuniary losses, such as would annihilate any other journal, in order to +take a perfectly free course. In the year 1845, when the railway mania was +at its height, the _Times_ advertising sheet was overrun with projected +lines, and many a guess was made, we remember, at the time as to their +probable value; but high as the estimates generally were, they came far +short of the truth. We give the cash and credit returns of advertisements +of all kinds for nine weeks:-- + + Sept. 6 £2839 14 0 + " 13 3783 12 0 + " 20 3935 7 6 + " 27 4692 7 0 + Oct. 4 6318 14 0 + " 11 6543 17 0 + " 18 6687 4 0 + " 25 6025 14 6 + Nov. 1 3230 3 6 + +During the greater part of the time that the proprietors were reaping this +splendid harvest from the infatuation of the people, the heaviest guns +were daily brought to bear from the leading columns upon the bubbles which +rose up so thickly in the advertising sheet. The effect of their fire may +be measured by the falling off of nearly 3,000_l._ in the returns for a +single week. A journal which could afford to sacrifice such a revenue to +its independence, certainly deserved some consideration from the +Government; but, on the contrary, it appears to have been singled out for +annoyance by the act which relates to newspapers. We see certain trees on +our lawns whose upshooting branches are by ingenious gardeners trained +downwards, and taught to hold themselves in a dependent condition by the +imposition of weights upon their extremities. The state gardeners have +applied the same treatment to the journal in question, by hanging an extra +halfpenny stamp upon every copy of its issue--a proceeding which, in our +opinion, is as unfair as it is injudicious: and this they will find in the +future, when the crowd of mosquito-like cheap journals called forth by the +measure, and supported by the very life-blood of the leading journal, +begin to gather strength and to attack Whiggery with their democratic +buzz. + +We have dwelt chiefly upon the advertising sheet of the _Times_, because +it is the epitome of that in all the other journals. It must be mentioned, +however, that some of the morning and weekly papers lay themselves out +for class advertisements. Thus the _Morning Post_ monopolizes all those +which relate to fashion and high life; and the _Morning Advertiser_, the +paper of the licensed victuallers, aggregates to itself every announcement +relating to their craft. _Bell's Life_ is one mass of advertisements of +various sports; the _Era_ is great upon all theatricals; the _Athenæum_ +gathers to itself a large proportion of book advertisements. The +_Illustrated News_ among the weeklies, like the _Times_ among the dailies, +towers by the head above them all. A hebdomadal circulation of 170,000 +draws a far more cosmopolitan collection of announcements to its pages +than any of its contemporaries can boast. We have said nothing of the +advertisements in the provincial journals; but it is gratifying to find +that they have more than kept pace with those which have appeared in the +metropolitan papers. Their enormous increase is best shown by the returns +of the advertisement duty; from which it appears that in 1851 no less than +2,334,593 advertisements were published in the journals of Great Britain +and Ireland--a number which has vastly augmented since the tax upon them +has been repealed. + +It is curious to see the estimate which the different journals place upon +themselves as mediums of publicity, by comparing their charges for the +same advertisement. Thus the contents of the _Quarterly Review_ for +January, 1855, precisely similar as far as length is concerned, was +charged for insertion as an advertisement by the different papers as +follows:--_Times_, 4s.; _Illustrated News_, 1_l._ 8s.; _Morning +Chronicle_, 5s. 6d.; _Morning Post_, 6s.; _Daily News_, 5s. 6d.; +_Spectator_, 7s. 6d.; _Morning Herald_, 6s.; _Punch_, 15s.; _Observer_, +9s. 6d.; _English Churchman_, 5s. 6d.; _Examiner_, 3s. 6d.; _John Bull_, +5s. 6d.; _Athenæum_, 10s. 6d. Now the _Times_ did not "display" the +advertisement as all the others did, it is true, and therefore squeezed it +into half the space; but with this difference, its charge was absolutely +the lowest in the list, with the single exception of that of the +_Examiner_. How this moderation on the part of the Leading Journal is to +be accounted for we know not; but the apparent dearness of the +_Illustrated News_ meets a ready solution, and affords us an opportunity +of showing how vastly the prime cost of an advertisement, during the +present high price of paper especially, is augmented by a great increase +of the circulation of the paper in which it appears, and what the +advertiser really gets for his money. If we take the advertisement of our +contents (_Quarterly Review_), it will be found to measure about one inch +in depth; it is obvious, then, that we must multiply this measure by +170,000, the number of separate copies in which it appeared. Now 170,000 +inches yield a strip of printed paper the width of a newspaper +column--_upwards of two miles and three-quarters long!_ Thus we have at a +glance the real amount of publicity which is procurable in a great +journal; and with so remarkable a statement it will be well to close our +paper. + + + + +FOOD AND ITS ADULTERATIONS. + + +A story is told of a European who, wishing to convince a Brahmin of the +folly of his faith in interdicting, as an article of food, anything that +once possessed life, showed him, by the aid of the microscope, that the +very water which he drank was full of living things. The Indian, thus +suddenly introduced to an unseen world, dashed the instrument to the +ground, and reproached his teacher for having so wantonly destroyed the +guiding principle of his life. We, too, have at home a Hindoo, in the +shape of the believing British public, to whose eye Dr. Hassall nicely +adjusts the focus of his microscope, and bids him behold what unseen +villanies are daily perpetrated upon his purse and person. + +The world at large has almost forgotten Accum's celebrated work, "Death in +the Pot;" a new generation has indeed sprung up since it was written, and +fraudulent tradesmen and manufacturers have gone on in silence, and, up to +this time, in security, falsifying the food and picking the pockets of the +people. Startling indeed as were the revelations in that remarkable book, +yet it had little effect in reforming the abuses it exposed. General +denunciations of grocers did not touch individuals of the craft, and they +were consequently not driven to improve the quality of their wares. The +_Lancet_ Commission went to work in a different manner. In Turkey, when of +old they caught a baker giving false weight, or adulterating the staff of +life, they nailed his ear to the door-post, "pour encourager les autres." +Dr. Hassall, like a modern Al Raschid, perambulated the town himself, or +sent his trustworthy agents to purchase articles, upon all of which the +inexorable microscope was set to work, and every fraudulent sample, after +due notice given, subjected its vendor to be pinned for ever to the +terrible pages of the Commissioners' report. In this manner direct +responsibility was obtained. If the falsification denounced was not the +work of the retailer, he was glad enough to shift the blame upon the +manufacturer; and thus the truth came out. + +A gun suddenly fired into a rookery could not cause a greater commotion +than this publication of the names of dishonest tradesmen; nor does the +daylight, when you lift a stone, startle ugly and loathsome things more +quickly than the pencil of light, streaming through a quarter-inch lens, +surprised in their naked ugliness the thousand and one illegal substances +which enter more or less into every description of food that it will pay +to adulterate. Nay, to such a pitch of refinement has the art of +falsification of alimentary substances reached, that the very articles +used to adulterate are adulterated; and while one tradesman is picking the +pockets of his customers, a still more cunning rogue is, unknown to +himself, deep in his own! + +The manner in which food is adulterated is not only one of degree, but of +kind. The most simple of all sophistications, and that which is most +harmless, is the mixture of inferior qualities of the same substance. +Indeed, if the price charged were according to quality, it would be no +fraud at all; but this adjustment rarely takes place. Secondly, the +mixture of cheaper articles of another kind. Thirdly, the surreptitious +introduction of materials which, taken in large quantities, are +prejudicial to health; and, fourthly, the admixture of the most deadly +poisons in order to improve the appearance of the article "doctored." + +The microscope alone is capable of detecting at one operation the nature +and extent of the more harmless but general of these frauds. When once the +investigator, by the aid of that instrument, has become familiar with the +configurations of different kinds of the same chemically composed +substances, he is armed with far greater detective power than chemical +agents could provide him with. It is beyond the limit of the test-tube to +show the mind the various forms of animal and vegetable life which exist +in impure water; delicate as are its powers, it could not indicate the +presence of the sugar-insect, or distinguish with unerring nicety an +admixture of the common Circuma arrowroot with the finer Maranta. +Chemistry is quite capable of telling the component parts of any article: +what are the definite forms and natures of the various ingredients which +enter into a mixture, it cannot so easily answer. This the microscope can +at once effect; and in its present application consists Dr. Hassall's +advantage over all previous investigators in the same field. The precision +with which he is enabled to state the result of his labours leaves no +appeal: he shows his reader the intimate structures of a coffee-grain, and +of oak or mahogany sawdust; and then a specimen of the two combined, sold +under the title of genuine Mocha. Many manufacturers and retailers who +have been detected falsifying the food of the public, have threatened +actions; but they all flinched from the test of this unerring instrument. + +The system of adulteration is so wide-spread, and embraces so many of the +items of the daily meal, that we scarcely know where to begin--what corner +of the veil first to lift. Let us hold up the cruet-frame, for example, +and analyze its contents. There is mustard, pepper (black and cayenne), +vinegar, anchovy and Harvey sauce--so thinks the unsuspecting reader; let +us show him what else beside. To begin with mustard. "Best Durham," or +"Superfine Durham," no doubt it was purchased for; but we will summarily +dismiss this substance by stating that it is impossible to procure it pure +at all: out of forty-two samples bought by Dr. Hassall at the best as well +as inferior shops, all were more or less adulterated with wheaten flour +for bulk, and with turmeric for colour. Vinegar also suffers a double +adulteration. It is first watered, and then pungency is given to it by the +addition of sulphuric acid. A small quantity of this acid is allowed by +law; and this is frequently trebled by the victuallers. The pepper-castor +is another stronghold of fraud--fraud so long and openly practised, that +we question if the great mass of the perpetrators even think they are +doing wrong. Among the milder forms of sophistication to which this +article is subjected, are to be found such ingredients as wheaten flour, +ground rice, ground mustard-seeds, and linseed-meal. The grocer maintains +a certain reserve as to the generality of the articles he employs in +vitiating his wares; but pepper he seems to think is given up to him by +the public to "cook" in any manner he thinks fit. This he almost +invariably does by the addition of what is known in the trade as P. D., or +pepper-dust, _alias_ the sweepings from the pepper warehouses. But there +is a lower depth still: P. D. is too genuine a commodity for some markets, +and it is accordingly mixed with D. P. D., or dirt of pepper-dust. + +A little book, published not long since, entitled "The Successful +Merchant," which gives the minute trade history of a gentleman very much +respected in Bristol, Samuel Budgett, Esq., affords us a passage bearing +upon this P. D. which is worthy of notice. + + "In Mr. Budgett's early days," says his biographer, "pepper was under + a heavy tax, and in the trade universal tradition said that out of the + trade everybody expected pepper to be mixed. In the shop stood a cask + labelled P. D., containing something _very like_ pepper-dust, + wherewith it was usual to mix the pepper before sending it forth to + serve the public. The trade tradition had obtained for the apocryphal + P. D. a place amongst the standard articles of the shop, and on the + strength of that tradition it was vended for pepper by men who thought + they were honest. But as Samuel went on in life, his ideas on trade + morality grew clearer; this P. D. began to give him much discomfort. + He thought upon it till he was satisfied that, after all that could be + said, the thing was wrong: arrived at this conclusion, he felt that no + blessing could light upon the place while it was there. He instantly + decreed that P. D. should perish. It was night; but back he went to + the shop, took the hypocritical cask, carried it out to the quarry, + then staved it, and scattered P. D. among the clods and slag and + stones." + +Would we could say that the reduction of the tax upon pepper had +stimulated the honesty of other grocers to act a similar part to that of +Mr. Budgett; but P. D. flourishes as flagrantly as ever; and if every +possessor of the article in London were to stave his casks in the roadway, +as conscientiously as did the "Successful Merchant," there would be hard +work for the scavengers. In the days of Accum it was usual to manufacture +peppercorns out of oiled linseed-cake, clay, and cayenne-pepper, formed +into a mass, and then granulated: these fraudulent corns were mixed with +the real to the extent of seventeen per cent. This form of imposition, +like that of wooden nutmegs among our American friends, has, we are happy +to say, long been abandoned. The adulterations we have mentioned are +simply dirty and fraudulent; but in the cayenne-cruet we find, in +addition, a deadly poison. Out of twenty-eight samples submitted to +examination, no less than twenty-four were adulterated with white +mustard-seed, brickdust, salt, ground rice, and _deal sawdust_, by way of +giving bulk; but as all of these tend to lighten the colour, it is +necessary to heighten it to the required pitch. And what is employed to do +this? Hear and tremble, old Indians and lovers of high-seasoned food--with +RED LEAD. Out of twenty-eight samples, red lead, and _often in poisonous +quantities_, was present in thirteen! Who knows how many "yellow admirals" +at Bath have fallen victims to their cayenne-cruets? Nor can it be said +that the small quantity taken at a time could do no permanent mischief; +for lead belongs to the class of poisons which are cumulative in their +effects. + +He who loves cayenne, as a rule is fond of curry-powder; and here also the +poisonous oxide is to be found in large quantities. Some years ago, a +certain amiable duke recommended the labouring population, during a season +of famine, to take a pinch of this condiment every morning before going to +work, as "warm and comforting to the stomach." If they had followed his +advice, thirteen out of every twenty-eight persons would have imbibed a +slow poison. Those who are in the habit of using curry, generally take it +in considerable quantities, and thus the villanous falsification plays a +more deadly part than even in cayenne-pepper. Imagine a man for years +pertinaciously painting his stomach with red lead! We do not know whether +medical statistics prove that paralysis prevails much among "Nabobs;" but +of this we may be sure, that there could be no more fruitful source of it +than the two favourite stimulants we have named. + +The great staple articles of food are not subject to adulteration in the +same proportion as many other articles of minor demand. We need scarcely +say that meat is exempt so long as it remains in the condition of joints; +but immediately it is prepared in any shape in which its original fibre +and form can be hidden, the spirit of craft begins to work. The public +have always had certain prejudices against sausages and polonies, for +example; and, if we are to believe a witness examined on oath before the +Smithfield Market Commissioners in 1850, not without reason. It is a very +old joke that there are no live donkeys to be found within twenty miles of +Epping; but if all the asinine tribe in England were to fall victims to +the chopping-machine, we question if they could supply the _à-la-mode_, +polony, and sausage establishments. Mr. J. Harper, for instance, being +under examination, upon being asked what became of the diseased meat +brought into London, replied:-- + + "It is purchased by the soup-shops, sausage-makers, the _à-la-mode_ + beef and meat-pie shops, &c. There is one soup-shop, I believe, doing + five hundred pounds per week in diseased meat. This firm has a large + _foreign_ trade [thank goodness!]. The trade in diseased meat is very + alarming, as anything in the shape of flesh can be sold at about one + penny per pound, or eightpence per stone.... I am certain that if one + hundred carcases of cows were lying dead in the neighbourhood of + London, I could get them all sold within twenty-four hours: _it don't + matter what they died of_." + +It must not be imagined that the _à-la-mode_ beef interest is supplied +with this carrion by needy men, whose necessities may in some degree +palliate their evil dealings. In proof of this we quote further from Mr. +Harper's evidence. In answer to the question, "Is there any slaughtering +of bad meat in the country for the supply of the London market?" he +says,-- + + "The London market is very extensively supplied with diseased meat + from the country. There are three insurance offices in London in which + graziers can insure their beasts from disease. It was the practice of + one of these offices to send the unsound animals dying from disease to + their own slaughter-houses, situate a hundred and sixty miles from + London, to be dressed and sent to the London market.... Cattle, sheep, + &c., are insured against all kinds of diseases; and one of the + conditions is, that the diseased animal, when dead, becomes the + property of the insurance company, the party insuring receiving + two-thirds of the value of the animal and one-third of the salvage; + or, in other words, one-third of the amount the beast is sold for when + dead." + +Upon being asked, "Do you believe it is still the habit of this company to +send up the diseased animals to London?" he replied,-- + + "Yes, I do; until lately they were regularly consigned to a + meat-salesman in Newgate market of the name of Mathews.... The larger + quantities are sold to people who manufacture it into soup, meat-pies, + sausages, &c." + +We have no wish to destroy the generally robust appetite of the persons +who visit such shops by any gratuitous disclosure; but we question whether +the most hungry crossing-sweeper would look any more with a longing eye +upon the huge German sausages, rich and inviting as they appear, if, like +Mr. Harper, he knew the too probable antecedents of their contents. The +only other preparations of flesh open to adulteration are preserved meats. +Some years ago, "the Goldner canister business" so excited the public +against this invaluable method of storing perishing articles of food, that +a prejudice has existed against it ever since; and a more senseless +prejudice could not be. Goldner's process, since adopted by Messrs. Cooper +and Aves, is simple and beautiful. The provisions, being placed in tin +canisters having their covers soldered down, are plunged up to their necks +in a bath of chloride of calcium (a preparation which imbibes a great heat +without boiling), and their contents are speedily cooked; at the same time +all the air in the meat, and some of the water, are expelled in the form +of steam, which issues from a pin-hole in the lid. The instant the cook +ascertains the process to be complete, he drops a plug of solder upon the +hole, and the mass is thus hermetically sealed. Exclusion of air, and +coagulation of the albumen, are the two conditions which enable us to hand +the most delicate-flavoured meats down to remote generations,--for as +long, in fact, as a stout painted tin canister can maintain itself intact +against the oxidating effect of the atmosphere. We have ourselves partaken +lately of a duck that was winged, and of milk that came from the cow, as +long as eight years ago. Fruit which had been gathered whilst the +free-trade struggle was still going on, we found as delicate in flavour as +though it had just been plucked from the branch. Out of the many cases of +all kinds of provisions opened and examined by Dr. Hassall, scarcely any +have been found to be bad. When we remember that the graves of so many of +our soldiers in the Crimea may be justly inscribed, "Died of salt pork," +we cannot forbear to call attention to a neglected means of feeding our +troops with good and nutritious food, instead of with the tough fibre +called meat, from which half the blood-making qualities have been +extracted by the process of boiling, whilst the remaining half is rendered +indigestible by the action of salt, and poisonous by the extraction of one +of its most important constituents. It would seem as if we were living in +the days of Anson, who lost 626 men of scurvy, out of a crew of 961, +before he could reach the island of Juan Fernandez, or of the still later +cruise of Sir C. Hardy, who sent 3,500 to hospital with this fatal +disease, after a six weeks' sail with the Channel fleet. It may be urged +that the sailors in the late war did not sicken on salt pork; but while +they had the necessary amount of potass, which the stomach requires to +make blood, in the lime-juice served out to them, our troops were without +this indispensable accompaniment, and consequently died. In the preserved +meats, which are made up with potatoes and other vegetables, the needful +potass exists, and such food may be purchased as cheaply as the pernicious +salt junk which is patronized by the Government. + +Bread, the great blood-producer, claims particular attention. It often +surprises persons who walk about the metropolis to find that prices vary +according to the locality; thus the loaf that costs in the Borough or the +New Cut 7_d._ a quartern, is 10-1/2_d._ at the West End. Can plate-glass +windows and rent cause all this difference? Certainly not. We are glad, +however, to find that many of the adulterations mentioned by our older +writers have vanished with free trade. Prince and Accum mention plaster of +Paris, bone-dust, the meal of other cereal grains, white clay, alum, +sulphate of copper, potatoes, &c. All of these sophistications have +disappeared, with the exception of potatoes, which are occasionally +employed when the difference between their value and that of flour makes +it worth while for the baker or miller to introduce them. When we see a +loaf marked under the market price, we may rest assured that it is made of +flour ground from inferior and damaged wheat. In order to bring this up to +the required colour, and to destroy the sour taste which often belongs to +it, bakers are in the habit of introducing a mixture called in the trade +"hards" and "stuff," which is nothing more than alum and salt, kept +prepared in large quantities by the druggists. The quantity of alum +necessary to render bread white is certainly not great--Mitchell found +that it ranged from 116 grains to 34-1/2 grains in the four-pound loaf; +but the great advantage the baker derives from it, in addition to +improving the colour of his wares, is, that it absorbs a large quantity of +water, which he sells at the present time at the rate of 2_d._ a pound. +Out of twenty-eight loaves of bread bought in every quarter of the +metropolis, Dr. Hassall did not find one free from the adulteration of +alum; and in some of the samples he found considerable quantities. As a +general rule, the lower the neighbourhood, the cheaper the bread, and the +greater the quantity of this "hards" or "stuff" introduced. We must not, +however, lay all the blame upon the baker. This was satisfactorily shown +by the Sanitary Commissioners, when dealing with the bread sold by the +League Bread Company, whose advertisement to the following effect is +constantly to be seen in the _Times_:-- + + "The object for which the above company was established, and is now in + operation, is to insure to the public bread of a pure and nutritious + character. Experience daily proves how much our health is dependent + upon the quality and purity of our food; consequently, how important + it is that an article of such universal consumption as bread should be + free from adulteration. That various diseases are caused by the use of + _alum_ and other deleterious ingredients in the manufacture of bread, + the testimony of many eminent men will fully corroborate. Pure + unadulterated bread, full weight, best quality, and the lowest + possible price." + +Upon several samples of this _pure bread_, purchased of various agents of +the company, being tested, they were found to be contaminated with _alum_! +Here was a discovery. The company protested that the analyses were +worthless; and all their workmen made a solemn declaration that they had +never used any alum whilst in their employ. The agents of the company +also declared that they never sold any but their bread. The analyst looked +again through his microscope, and again reiterated his charge, that alum +their bread contained. It was then agreed to test the flour supplied to +the company, and three samples were proved to contain the obnoxious +material. Thus we find that the miller still, in some instances, maintains +his doubtful reputation, and is at the bottom of this roguery. + +Our succeeding remarks will fall, we fear, like a bomb upon many a +tea-table, and stagger teetotalism in its stronghold. A drunkard's stomach +is sometimes exhibited at total-abstinence lectures, in every stage of +congestion and inflammation, painted up to match the fervid eloquence of +the lecturer. If tea is our only refuge from the frightful maladies +entailed upon us by fermented liquors, we fear the British public is in a +perplexing dilemma. Ladies, there is death in the teapot! Green-tea +drinkers, beware! There has always been a vague idea afloat in the public +mind about hot copper plates--a suspicion that gunpowder and hyson do not +come by their colour honestly. The old duchess of Marlborough used to +boast that she came into the world before "nerves were in fashion." We +feel half inclined to believe this joke had a great truth in it; for since +the introduction of tea, nervous complaints of all kinds have greatly +increased; and we need not look far to find one at least of the causes in +the teapot. There is no such a thing as pure green tea to be met with in +England. It is adulterated in China; and we have lately learnt to +adulterate it at home almost as well as the cunning Asiatic. The pure +green tea made from the most delicate green leaves grown upon manured +soil, such as the Chinese use themselves, is, it is true, wholly +untainted; and we are informed that its beautiful bluish bloom, like that +upon a grape, is given by the third process of roasting which it +undergoes. The enormous demand for a moderately-priced green tea which has +arisen both in England and China since the opening of the trade, has led +the Hong merchants to imitate this peculiar colour; and this they do so +successfully as to deceive the ordinary judges of the article. Black tea +is openly coloured in the neighbourhood of Canton in the most wholesale +manner. + +Mr. Robert Fortune, in his very interesting work, "The Tea Districts of +China and India," gives us a good description of the manner in which this +colouring process is performed, as witnessed by himself:-- + + "Having procured a portion of Prussian-blue, he threw it into a + porcelain bowl, not unlike a chemist's mortar, and crushed it into a + very fine powder. At the same time a quantity of gypsum was produced + and burned in the charcoal fires which were then roasting the teas. + The object of this was to soften it, in order that it might be readily + pounded into a very fine powder, in the same manner as the + Prussian-blue had been. The gypsum, having been taken out of the fire + after a certain time had elapsed, readily crumbled down, and was + reduced to powder in the mortar. These two substances, having been + thus prepared, were then mixed together in the proportion of four + parts of gypsum to three parts of Prussian-blue, and formed a light + blue powder, which was then ready for use. + + "This colouring matter was applied to the teas during the process of + roasting. About five minutes before the tea was removed from the + pans--the time being regulated by the burning of a joss-stick--the + superintendent took a small porcelain spoon, and with it he scattered + a portion of the colouring matter over the leaves in each pan. The + workmen then turned the leaves round rapidly with both hands, in order + that the colour might be equally diffused. During this part of the + operation the hands of the workmen were quite blue. I could not help + thinking, if any green-tea drinkers had been present during the + operation, their taste would have been corrected, and, I believe, + improved. + + "One day an English gentleman in Shanghae, being in conversation with + some Chinese from the green-tea country, asked them what reason they + had for dyeing the tea, and whether it would not be better without + undergoing this process. They acknowledged that tea was much better + when prepared without having any such ingredients mixed with it, and + that _they never drank dyed teas_ themselves, but justly remarked, + that, as foreigners seemed _to prefer having a mixture of + Prussian-blue and gypsum with their tea_ to make it look uniform and + pretty, and as these ingredients were cheap enough, the Chinese had no + objection to supply them, especially as such teas always fetched a + higher price. + + "I took some trouble to ascertain precisely the quantity of colouring + matter used in the process of dyeing green teas, not certainly with + the view of assisting others, either at home or abroad, in the art of + colouring, but simply to show green-tea drinkers in England, and more + particularly in the United States of America, what _quantity_ of + Prussian-blue and gypsum they imbibe in the course of one year. To + 14-1/2 lbs. were applied 8 mace 2-1/2 candareens of colouring matter, + or rather more than an ounce. To every hundred pounds of coloured + green-tea consumed in England or America, the consumer actually drinks + more than half a pound of Prussian-blue and gypsum. And yet, tell the + drinkers of this coloured tea that the Chinese eat cats and dogs, and + they will hold up their hands in amazement, and pity the poor + Celestials." + +If the Chinese use it in these quantities to tinge the genuine leaf, how +much more must the English employ in making up afresh exhausted leaves! +That every spoonful of hyson or gunpowder contains a considerable quantity +of this deleterious dye will be seen by any one who places a pinch upon a +fine sieve, and pours upon it a gentle stream of water, when the tinging +of the liquid will show at once the extent of the adulteration, and the +folly of drinking painted tea. Assam tea, though not so inviting in +colour, is free from adulteration. A word to the wise is enough. + +Of fifty samples of green tea analyzed by Dr. Hassall, all were +adulterated. There is one particular kind which is almost entirely a +manufactured article--gunpowder, both black and green--the former being +called scented caper. Both have a large admixture of what is termed "lye +tea," or a compound of sand, dirt, tea-dust, and broken-down portions of +other leaves worked together with gum into small nodules. This detestable +compound, which, according to Mr. Warrington,[3] who has analyzed it, +contains forty-five per cent. of earthy matter, is manufactured both in +China and in England, for the express purpose of adulterating tea. When +mixed with "scented caper," it is "faced" with black lead; when with +gunpowder, Prussian-blue: turmeric and French chalk give it the required +bloom. Mr. Warrington states that about 750,000 lbs. of this spurious tea +have been imported into Great Britain within eighteen months! Singularly +enough, the low-priced teas are the only genuine ones. Every sample of +this class which was analyzed by Dr. Hassall proved to be perfectly pure. +Here at least the poor have the advantage of the better classes, who pay a +higher price to be injured in their health by a painted beverage. + +The practice of redrying used-up leaves is also carried on to some extent +in England. Mr. George Philips, of the Inland Revenue Office, states that +in 1843 there were no less than eight manufactories for the purpose of +redrying tea-leaves in London alone, whilst there were many others in +different parts of the country. These manufacturers had agents who bought +up the used leaves from hotels, clubs, coffeehouses, &c., for twopence +halfpenny and threepence per lb. With these leaves, others of various +trees were used, and very fine pekoe still flourishes upon the +hawthorn-bushes, sloe-trees, &c., around the metropolis. As late as the +year 1851 the following account of the proceedings of one of these +nefarious manufacturers appeared in the _Times_:-- + + "CLERKENWELL.--Edward South and Louisa his wife were placed at the + bar, before Mr. Combe, charged by Inspector Brennan, of the E + division, with being concerned in the manufacture of spurious tea. It + appeared, from the statement of the inspector, that, in consequence of + information that the prisoners and others were in the habit of + carrying on an extensive traffic in manufacturing spurious tea, on the + premises situate at 27-1/2, Clerkenwell Close, Clerkenwell Green, on + Saturday evening, at about seven o'clock, the witness, in company with + Serjeant Cole, proceeded to the house, where they found the prisoners + in an apartment busily engaged in the manufacture of spurious tea. + There was an extensive furnace, before which was suspended an iron + pan, containing sloe-leaves and tea-leaves, which they were in the + practice of purchasing from coffeeshop-keepers after being used. On + searching the place they found an immense quantity of used tea, + bay-leaves, and every description of spurious ingredients for the + purpose of manufacturing illicit tea, and they were mixed with a + solution of gum and a quantity of _copperas_. The woman was employed + in stirring about the bay-leaves and other composition with the + solution of gum in the pan; and in one part of the room there was a + large quantity of spurious stuffs, the exact imitation of genuine tea. + In a back room they found nearly a hundred pounds weight of redried + tea-leaves, bay-leaves, and sloe-leaves, all spread on the floor + drying.... Mr. Brennan added, that the prisoners had pursued this + nefarious traffic most extensively, and were in the habit of dealing + largely with grocers, chandlers, and others in the country." + +This poisonous imitation green tea, "so largely supplied to country +grocers," was no doubt used for adulterating other green teas already +dosed with Prussian-blue, turmeric, &c. These have found their way into +many a country home of small means. When the nephew comes on a visit, or +the curate calls of an afternoon, the ordinary two spoonfuls of black are +"improved" with "just a dash of green," and the poor innocent gentleman +wonders afterwards what it can be that keeps him awake all night. + +We often hear the remark from old-fashioned people that we have never had +any good tea since the monopoly of the East-India Company was broken up: +in this remark there is some truth and much error. There can be no +possible doubt that the higher-priced teas have fallen off since the trade +has been open, as the buyers of the company were perfectly aware of the +frauds perpetrated by the Hong merchants, and never allowed a spurious +article to be shipped. On the other hand, the great reduction which has +taken place in the price of the common black teas, both on account of the +cessation of monopoly and the reduction of the duty, has in a great +measure destroyed the English manufacture of spurious tea from indigenous +leaves. The extent to which this formerly took place may be judged from a +report of the Committee of the House of Commons, in 1783, which states +that no less than four millions of pounds were annually manufactured from +sloe and ash leaves in different parts of England; and this, be it +remembered, when the whole quantity of genuine tea sold by the East-India +Company did not amount to more than six millions of pounds annually. + +If the better class of black and all green teas[4] are thus vilely +adulterated, the reader may fancy he can at least take refuge in +coffee--alas! in too many cases he will only avoid Scylla to fall into +Charybdis. Coffee, as generally sold in the metropolis and in all large +towns, is adulterated even more than tea. The Treasury minute, which +allowed it to be mixed with chicory, is at the head and front of the +offending. In the year 1840, this celebrated minute was issued by the +sanction of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir C. Wood, the +immediate consequence of which was that grocers began to mix it with pure +coffee in very large quantities, quite forgetting to inform the public of +the nature of the mixture, and neglecting at the same time to lower the +price. The evil became so flagrant that upon the installation of the Derby +administration Mr. Disraeli promised to rescind this license to +adulterate; but before the promise was redeemed, the administration was +rescinded itself. Mr. Gladstone, upon his acceptance of office, loath, it +appears, to injure the chicory interest, modified the original minute, but +allowed the amalgamation to continue, provided the package was labelled +"Mixture of Chicory and Coffee." It was speedily found, however, that this +announcement became so confounded with other printing on the label that it +was not easily distinguishable, and in consequence it was provided that +the words, "This is sold as a mixture of Chicory and Coffee," should be +printed by themselves on one side of the canister. It may be asked what is +the nature of this ingredient, that the right to mix it with coffee should +be maintained by two Chancellors of the Exchequer, during a period of +fifteen years, as jealously as though it were some important principle of +our constitution? Chicory, to say the best of it, is an insipid root, +totally destitute of any nourishing or refreshing quality, being utterly +deficient in any nitrogenized principle, whilst there are strong doubts +whether it is not absolutely hurtful to the nervous system. Professor +Beer, the celebrated oculist of Vienna, forbids the use of it to his +patients, considering it to be the cause of amaurotic blindness. Even +supposing it to be perfectly harmless, we have a material of the value of +8_d._ a pound, which the grocer is allowed to mix, _ad libitum_, with one +worth 1_s._ 4_d._ If the poor got the benefit of the adulteration, there +might be some excuse for permitting the admixture of chicory, but it is +proved that the combination is sold in many shops at the same price as +pure coffee. + +Analyses made by Dr. Hassall of upwards of a hundred different samples of +coffee, purchased in all parts of the metropolis before the issuing of the +order for the labelling of the packages 'chicory and coffee,' proved that, +in a great number of cases, articles sold as "finest Mocha," "choice +Jamaica coffee," "superb coffee," &c., contained, in some instances, very +little coffee at all; in others "only a fifth, a third, half," &c., the +rest being made up mainly of chicory. Nothing is more indicative of the +barefaced frauds perpetrated by grocers upon the public than the manner in +which they go out of their way to puff in the grossest style the most +abominable trash. The report of the sanitary commission gives many +examples of these puff and announcements, which, we are informed, are kept +set up at the printers, and may be had in any quantities. We quote one as +an example:-- + + "JOHN ----'S COFFEE, + + "_The richness, flavour, and strength of which are not to be + surpassed._ + + "Coffee has now become an article of consumption among all classes of + the community. Hence the importance of supplying an article of such a + character as to encourage its consumption in preference to beverages + the use of which promotes a vast amount of misery. + + "John ----'s coffee meets the requirement of the age, and, as a + natural result, the celebrity to which it has attained is wholly + unparalleled. Its peculiarity consists in its possessing that rich + aromatic flavour, combined with great strength and deliciousness, + which is to be found alone in the choicest mountain growths. It may, + with perfect truth, be stated that no article connected with _domestic + economy_ has given such general satisfaction, and the demand for it is + rapidly increasing. + + "John ----'s establishment, both for extent and capability, is the + first in the empire. + + "Observe! + + "Every canister of John ----'s coffee bears his signature, without + which none is _genuine_." + +At the end of this puff the analyst places the words-- + + "_Adulterated with a considerable quantity of chicory!_" + +More erudite grocers treat us to the puff literary, as in the following +instance:-- + + "Rich-flavoured coffees fresh-roasted daily. + + "USE OF COFFEE IN TURKEY. + + "Sandys, the translator of 'Ovid's Metamorphoses,' and who travelled + in Turkey in 1610, gives the following passage in his 'Travailes,' + page 51 (edit. 1657). Speaking of the Turks, he says, 'Although they + be destitute of taverns, yet they have their coffee-houses, which + sometimes resemble them. There sit they chatting most of the day, and + sip of a drink called coffa, of the berry that it is made of, in + little china dishes, as hot as they can suffer it, black as soot, + which helpeth, as they say, digestion, and procureth alacrity.'" + +This pleasant sample of the puff indirect has also appended to it the +naked sentence-- + + "_Adulterated with chicory, of which not less than half the sample + consists._" + +The worst kinds of adulterated coffee are to be found in that which is +sold in canisters. The value of the tin envelope cannot be less than 2d., +and, as the coffee so sold is charged at the same price as that in a paper +wrapper, it must be evident that a more extensive adulteration is +necessary in order to make up the difference. Such, upon examination, +proves to be the case, as it appeared-- + + "That the whole twenty-nine packages, bottles, and canisters submitted + to analysis, with a single exception,[5] were adulterated. + + "That in these twenty-eight adulterated samples the falsification + consisted of so-called chicory, which in many instances constituted + the chief part of the article. + + "That three of the samples contained mangold-wurzel, and two of them + roasted wheat-flour." + +We have said it often happens that the adulterations are adulterated. +Chicory is an instance of it. The original fraud is found to have ramified +in an endless manner; and Sir Charles Wood will doubtless be astonished to +hear of the hideous crop of falsifications his most unfortunate order has +caused to spring out of the ground. + +Immediately the process of transforming chicory into coffee became +legalized by the Government, that article came into very extensive +consumption, and factories were set up especially for its secret +manufacture. The reason for this secrecy may be gathered from the list of +articles which are made to subserve the purpose: roasted wheat, ground +acorns, roasted carrots, scorched beans, roasted parsnips, mangold-wurzel, +lupin-seeds, dog's biscuits, burnt sugar, _red earth_, roasted +horse-chestnuts,--and above and beyond all _baked horses' and bullocks' +livers_. This statement rests upon the authority of Mr. P. G. Simmonds, in +a work entitled "Coffee as it is, and as it ought to be:"-- + + "In various parts of the metropolis," he says, "but more especially in + the east, are to be found 'liver bakers.' These men take the livers of + oxen and horses, bake them, and grind them into a powder, which they + sell to the low-priced coffeeshop-keepers, at from fourpence to + sixpence per lb., horse's liver coffee being the highest price. It may + be known by allowing the coffee to stand until cold, when a thick + pellicle or skin will be found on the top. It goes farther than + coffee, and is generally _mixed with chicory_, and other vegetable + imitations of coffee." + +In confirmation of this horrible statement the sanitary commissioners of +the Lancet state that, on analysis, this substance, which + + "possessed a disagreeable animal smell, ... consisted of some + imperfectly-charred animal matter." + +The new regulation, enjoining grocers to sell coffee and chicory properly +labelled as such, is, no doubt, observed in respectable shops; but in the +low neighbourhoods the mixture as before is passed off for genuine Mocha. +However, the purchaser has the means of protection in his own hands. If he +prefers coffee pure, let him buy the roasted berry and grind it himself; +he will thus be sure of having the real article, and will get it in +greater perfection than by purchasing it ready ground. + +In close proximity to the tea and coffee-pots stand the milk-jug and the +sugar-basin. What find we here? A few years ago the town was frightened +from its propriety by a little work entitled "Observations on London +Milk," published by a medical gentleman of the name of Rugg, which gave +some fearful disclosures relative to the manner in which London milk was +adulterated. Dr. Hassall's analyses go to show that, with the exception of +the produce of the "iron-tailed cow," none of the supposed defilements +really exist, and that the milkman is a sadly maligned individual. Water +is added in quantities varying in different samples from 10 to 50 per +cent.; and in the more unfashionable parts of the town _all_ the cream is +abstracted to be forwarded to the West-end. If milk _must_ be adulterated +in large towns, water is undoubtedly the most harmless ingredient; at the +same time it will be seen what a fraud is perpetrated upon the public by +selling milky water at 4d. a quart. + +That the London milking-pail goes as often to the pump as to the cow we +have no manner of doubt. To bring the diluted goods up to a delicate +cream colour, it is common to swing round a ball of annatto in the can; +and other careful observers and writers upon the adulteration of food have +detected flour, starch, and treacle. All medical men know that children +are often violently disordered by their morning or evening portion,--an +effect which could not come from the mere admixture of water--and we must +confess that we ourselves believe the milkman to be a very wicked fellow. + +We are afraid, if we look into the sugar-basin, we shall not find much +more comfort than in the milk-jug. We refer here to the ordinary brown +sugars, such as are generally used at the breakfast-table for coffee. It +is scarcely possible to procure moist sugar which is not infested with +animalculæ of the acari genus, a most disgusting class of creatures. In +many samples of sugars they swarm to that extent that the mass moves with +them; and in almost every case, by dissolving a spoonful in a wine-glass +of water, dozens of them can be detected by the naked eye, either floating +upon the liquid or adhering to the edge of the glass. Those who are in the +habit of "handling" sugars, as it is termed, are liable to a skin +affection called the grocer's itch, which is believed to be occasioned by +these living inhabitants of our sugar-basins. Horrible as it is to think +that such creatures are an article in daily use, we cannot charge the +grocer directly with their introduction; the evil is, however, increased +by the manner in which he mixes, or "handles," as it is termed in the +trade, higher-priced sugars with muscovados, bastards, and other inferior +kinds, in which the animalculæ abound. + +In addition to this foreign animal element, grocers sometimes mix flour +with their sugar, and, if we are to put any credit in popular belief, +sand; but of the presence of this gritty ingredient we have never seen any +trustworthy evidence. Nevertheless we have said enough to show that the +tea-dealer and grocer do their best to supply the proverbial "peck of +dirt" which all of us must eat before we die. Would that we were fed with +nothing more deleterious or repulsive! Let us see, however, the base +admixtures one is liable to swallow in taking-- + + A CUP OF TEA _or a_ CUP OF COFFEE. + + _In the Tea._ + + If Green-- + Prussian-blue. + Turmeric. + China clay or French chalk. + Used tea-leaves. + Copperas. + If Black-- + Gum. + Black lead. + Dutch pink. + Used tea-leaves. + Leaves of the ash, sloe, hawthorn, and of many other kinds. + + _In the Milk._ + + On an average 25 per cent. of water. + Annatto. + Treacle. + Flour. + Oxide of iron. + And other unknown ingredients. + + _In the Sugar._ + + If Brown-- + Wheat flour. + Hundreds of the sugar-insect. + If White-- + Albumen of bullock's blood. + + + _In the Coffee._ + + Chicory. + + _In the Chicory._ + + Roast wheat. + " acorn. + " mangold-wurzel. + " beans. + " carrots. + " parsnips + " lupin-seeds. + " dog-biscuits. + " horse-chestnuts. + Oxide of iron. + Mahogany sawdust. + Baked horse's liver. + " bullock's liver. + + _In the Milk._ + + Water 25 per cent. + Annatto. + Flour. + Treacle. + Oxide of iron. + And other unknown ingredients. + + _In the Sugar._ + + If Brown-- + Wheat flour. + Hundreds of the sugar-insect. + If White-- + Albumen of bullock's blood. + +As we perceive the teetotalers are petitioning Parliament and agitating +the towns for the closing of public-houses, we beg to present them, in +either hand, with a cup of the above mixtures, with the humble hope that +means will be found by them to supply the British public with some drink a +little less deleterious to health, a little more pleasant to the palate, +and somewhat less disgusting to the feelings. Some of the sugar impurities +may be avoided by using the crystallized East-Indian kind--the size of the +crystals not permitting of its being adulterated with inferior sorts. + +We shall not dwell upon cocoa further than to state that it is a still +rarer thing to obtain it pure than either tea or coffee. The almost +universal adulterations are sugar, starch, and flours together with red +colouring matter, generally some ferruginous earth; whilst, as far as we +can see, what is termed homoeopathic cocoa is only distinguished from +other kinds by the small quantity of that substance contained in it. + +There is scarcely an article on the breakfast-table, in fact, which is +what it seems to be. The butter, if salt, is adulterated with between 20 +and 30 per cent. of water. A merchant in this trade tells the _Lancet_ +that "between 40,000 and 50,000 casks of adulterated butter are annually +sold in London, and the trade knows it as well as they know a bad +shilling." Lard when cheap also finds its way to the butter-tub. Perhaps +those who flatter themselves that they use nothing but "Epping" will not +derive much consolation from the following letter, also published in the +same journal:-- + + "_To the Editor of the Lancet._ + + "SIR,--Having taken apartments in the house of a butterman, I was + suddenly awoke at three o'clock one morning with a noise in the lower + part of the house, and alarmed on perceiving a light below the door of + my bed-room; conceiving the house to be on fire, I hurried down + stairs. I found the whole family busily occupied, and, on my + expressing alarm at the house being on fire, they jocosely informed me + they _were merely making Epping butter_. They unhesitatingly informed + me of the whole process. For this purpose they made use of + fresh-salted butter of a very inferior quality: this was repeatedly + washed with water in order to free it from the salt. This being + accomplished, the next process was to wash it frequently with milk, + and the manufacture was completed by the addition of a small quantity + of sugar. The amateurs of fresh Epping butter were supplied with this + dainty, which yielded my ingenious landlord a profit of at least 100 + per cent., besides establishing his shop as being supplied with Epping + butter from one of the first-rate dairies.--I am, sir, your obedient + servant, + + "A STUDENT." + +If we try marmalade as a succedaneum, we are no better off--at least if we +put any faith in "real Dundee, an excellent substitute for butter," to be +seen piled in heaps in the cheap grocers' windows. Dr. Hassall's analysis +proves that this dainty is adulterated to a large extent with turnips, +apples, and carrots: we need not grumble so much at these vegetable +products, excepting on the score that it is a fraud to sell them at 7d. a +pound; but there is the more startling fact that, in twelve out of +fourteen samples analysed, copper was detected, and sometimes in large and +deleterious quantities! + +Accum, in his "Death in the Pot," quotes, from cookery-books of reputation +in his day, recipes which make uninitiated persons stare. For instance, +"Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife," gives the following serious +directions "to make Greening:"--"Take a bit of _verdigris the bigness of +an hazel-nut_, finely powdered, half a pint of distilled vinegar, and a +bit of alum-powder, with a little baysalt; put all in a bottle and shake +it, and let it stand till clear. _Put a small teaspoonful into codlings, +or whatever you wish to green!_" + +Again, the "English Housekeeper," a book which ran through eighteen +editions, directs--"to make pickles green _boil them with halfpence_, or +allow them to stand for twenty-four hours in copper or brass pans!" Has +the notable housewife ever wondered to herself how it is that all the +pickles of the shops are of so much more inviting colour than her own? We +will satisfy her curiosity in a word--she has forgotten the "bit of +verdigris the bigness of a hazel-nut," for it is now proved beyond doubt +that to this complexion do they come by the use of copper, introduced for +the sole purpose of making them of a lively green. The analyses of twenty +samples of pickles bought of the most respectable tradesmen proved, +firstly, that the vinegar in the bottles owed most of its strength to the +introduction of sulphuric acid; secondly, that, out of sixteen different +pickles analysed for the purpose, copper was detected in various amounts. +Thus, "two of the samples contained a small quantity; eight rather much, +one a considerable quantity, three a very considerable quantity; in one +copper was present in a highly deleterious amount, and in two _in +poisonous amounts_. The largest quantity of this metal was found in the +bottles consisting entirely of green vegetables, such as gherkins and +beans." + +We trust after this the good housewife will feel jealous no longer, but +rest satisfied that the home-made article, if less inviting and vivid in +colour, is at least more wholesome. A simple test to discover the presence +of copper in such articles is to place a bright knitting-needle in the +vinegar, and let it remain there for a few hours, when the deleterious +metal will speedily form a coating over it, dense or thin, according to +the amount which exists. Wherever large quantities are found, it is +wilfully inserted for the purpose of producing the bright green colour, +but a small quantity may find its way into the pickles in the process of +boiling in copper pans. Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell, the great pickle and +preserve manufacturers in Soho, immediately they became aware, from the +analyses of the _Lancet_, that such was the case, in a very praiseworthy +manner substituted silver and glass, at a great expense, for all their +former vessels. The danger arising from the introduction of this virulent +poison into our food would not be so great if it were confined to pickles, +of which the quantity taken is small at each meal, but it is used to paint +all kinds of preserves, and fruits for winter pies and tarts are bloomed +with death. The papa who presents his children the box of sweetmeats +bedded in coloured paper, and enclosed in an elegant casket, may be +corroding unawares the very springs of their existence. As a general rule, +it is found that the red fruits, such as currants, raspberries, and +cherries, are uncontaminated with this deleterious metal, but owe their +deep hue to some red colouring matter, such as a decoction of logwood or +an infusion of beetroot, in the same way that common white cabbage is +converted into red by the nefarious pickle-merchant. The green fruits are +not all deleterious in the same degree; there seems to be an ascending +scale of virulence, much after the following manner:--Limes, gooseberries, +rhubarb, greengages, olives--the last-mentioned fruit, especially those of +French preparation, generally containing verdigris, or the acetate of +copper, _in highly dangerous quantities_. The _Lancet_ publishes a letter +from Mr. Bernays, F.C.S., dated from the Chemical Library, Derby, in which +he shows the necessity of watchfulness in the purchase of these articles +of food:-- + + "Of this," he says, "I will give you a late instance. I had bought a + bottle of preserved gooseberries from one of the most respectable + grocers in the town, and had its contents transferred to a pie. It + struck me that the gooseberries looked fearfully green when cooked; + and in eating one with a steel fork its intense bitterness sent me in + search of the sugar. After having sweetened and mashed the + gooseberries, with the same steel fork, I was about to convey some to + my mouth, when I observed the prongs to be completely coated with a + thin film of bright metallic copper. My testimony can be borne out by + the evidence of others, two of whom dined at my table." + +It was fortunate that these three gentlemen used steel forks, which +instantly disclosed the mischief; if they had chanced to use silver, all +three might have fallen victims to these poisonous conserves. + +But we are not yet at the worst. When Catherine de' Medici wished to get +rid of obnoxious persons in an "artistic" manner, she was in the habit of +presenting them with delicately made sweetmeats, or trinkets, in which +death lurked in the most engaging manner; she carried-- + + "Pure death in an earring, a casket, + A signet, a fan-mount, a filigree basket." + +Her poisoned feasts are matters of history, at which people shudder as +they read; but we question if the diabolical revenge and coldblooded +wickedness of an Italian woman ever invented much more deadly trifles than +our low, cheap confectioners do on the largest scale. We select from some +of these articles of bonbonerie the following feast, which we set before +doting mothers, in order that they may see what deadly dainties are +prepared for the especial delectation of their children:-- + + "A FISH. + + "_Purchased in Shepherd's Market, May Fair._ + + "The tip of the nose and the gills of the fish are coloured with the + usual pink, while the back and sides are highly painted with that + virulent poison _arsenite of copper_." + + + "A PIGEON. + + "_Purchased in Drury Lane._ + + "The pigments employed for colouring this pigeon are light yellow for + the beak, red for the eyes, and orange yellow for the base or stand. + The yellow colour consists of the light kind of chromate of lead, for + the eyes bisulphate of mercury, and for the stand the deeper varieties + of chromate of lead, or orange chrome." + + + "APPLES. + + "_Purchased in James Street, Covent Garden._ + + "The apples in this sample are coloured yellow, and on one side deep + red; the yellow colour extending to a considerable depth in the + substance of the sugar. The red consists of the usual non-metallic + pigment, and the yellow is due to the presence of CHROMATE OF LEAD in + really _poisonous amount_!" + + + "A COCK. + + "_Purchased in Drury Lane._ + + "The beak of the bird is coloured bright yellow, the comb brilliant + red, the wings and tail are variegated, black, two different reds, and + yellow; while the stand, as in most of these sugar ornaments, is + painted green. The yellow of the beak consists of CHROMATE OF LEAD; + the comb and part of the red colour on the back and wings is + VERMILION; while the second red colour on the wings and tail is the + usual pink non-metallic colouring matter, and the stripes of yellow + consist of gamboge; lastly, the green of the stand is MIDDLE BRUNSWICK + GREEN, and, therefore, contains CHROMATE OF LEAD. In the colouring of + this article, then, no less than three active poisons are employed, as + well as that drastic purgative gamboge!" + + + "ORANGES. + + "_Purchased in Pilgrim Street, Doctors' Commons._ + + "This is a very unnatural imitation of an orange, it being coloured + with a coarse and very uneven coating of RED LEAD." + + + "MIXED SUGAR ORNAMENTS. + + "_Purchased in Middle Row, Holborn._ + + "The confectionery in this parcel is made up into a variety of forms + and devices, as hats, jugs, baskets, and dishes of fruit and + vegetables. One of the hats is coloured yellow with CHROMATE OF LEAD, + and has a green hatband round it, coloured with ARSENITE OF COPPER; a + second hat is white, with a blue hatband, the pigment being + PRUSSIAN-BLUE. The baskets are coloured yellow with CHROMATE OF LEAD. + Into the colouring of the pears and peaches the usual non-metallic + pigment, together with CHROMATE OF LEAD and MIDDLE BRUNSWICK GREEN, + enter largely; while the carrots represented in a dish are coloured + throughout with a RED OXIDE OF LEAD, and the tops with BRUNSWICK + GREEN. This is one of the worst of all the samples of coloured sugar + confectionery submitted to analysis, as it contains no less than four + _deadly poisons_!" + +The painted feast contains, then, among its highly injurious ingredients, +ferrocyanide of iron or Prussian-blue, Antwerp-blue, gamboge, and +ultramarine, and among its deadly poisons the three chrome yellows, red +lead, white lead, vermilion, the three Brunswick greens, and Scheele's +green or arsenite of copper. The wonder is that, considering we set such +poison-traps for children, ten times more enticing and quite as deadly as +those used to bane rats, that the greater number of youngsters who partake +of them are not at once despatched; and so undoubtedly they would be if +nurses were not cautious about these coloured parts, which have always +enjoyed a bad name under the general denomination of "trash and messes." +As it is, we are informed by Dr. Letheby that "no less than seventy cases +of poisoning have been traced to this source" within three years! + +In France, Belgium, and Switzerland the colouring of confectionery with +poisonous pigments is prohibited, and the vendors are held responsible for +all accidents which may occur to persons from eating their sugar +confectionery. It is absolutely essential that some such prohibition +should be made in England. Arsenic, according to law, must be sold +coloured with soot, in order that its hue may prevent its being used by +mistake for other substances; how absurd it is that we should allow other +poisons, quite as virulent, to be mixed with the food of children and +adults, merely for the sake of the colour! All kinds of sugar-plums, +comfits, and "kisses," in addition to being often adulterated with large +quantities of plaster of Paris, are always open to the suspicion of being +poisoned. Necessity cannot be urged for the continuance of this wicked +practice, as there are plenty of vegetable pigments which, if not quite as +vivid as the acrid mineral ones, are sufficiently so to please the eye. Of +late years a peculiar lozenge has been introduced, in which the flavour of +certain fruits is singularly imitated. Thus we have essence of jargonel +drops, essence of pine-apple drops, and many others of a most delicate +taste. They really are so delicious that we scarcely like to create a +prejudice against them; but the truth is great, and must prevail: all +these delicate essences are made from a preparation of æther and rancid +cheese and butter. + +The manufacturer, perhaps unaware of the cumulative action of many of his +chemicals, thinks that the small quantity can do no harm. We have seen, in +the matter of preserved fruits and sugar confectionery, how fallacious is +that idea. But the practice of adulteration often leads to lamentable +results of the same nature, which are quite unintentional on the part of +their perpetrators, and which occur in the most roundabout manner. An +instance of this is related by Accum, which goes directly to the point. A +gentleman, perceiving that an attack of colic always supervened upon +taking toasted Gloucestershire cheese at an inn at which he was in the +habit of stopping, and having also noticed that a kitten which had +partaken of its rind was rendered violently sick, had the food analyzed, +when it was found that lead was present in it in poisonous quantities. +Following up his inquiries, he ascertained that the maker of the cheese, +not finding his annatto sufficiently deep in colour, had resorted to the +expedient of colouring the commodity with vermilion. This mixture, +although pernicious and discreditable, was not absolutely poisonous, and +certainly could not account for the disastrous effects of the food on the +human system. Trying back still further, however, it was at last found +that the druggist who sold the vermilion had mixed with it a portion of +_red lead_, imagining that the pigment was only required for house paint. +"Thus," as Accum remarks, "the druggist sold his vermilion, in a regular +way of trade, adulterated with red lead, to increase his profit, without +any suspicion of the use to which it would be applied; and the purchaser +who adulterated the annatto, presuming that the vermilion was genuine, had +no hesitation in heightening the colour of his annatto with so harmless an +adjunct. Thus, through the diversified and circulatory operations of +commerce, a portion of deadly poison may find admission into the +necessaries of life in a way that can attach no criminality to the parties +through whose hands it has successively passed." The curious aspect of +this circuitous kind of poisoning is, that it occurs through the belief of +each adulterating rogue in the honesty of his neighbour. + +If we could possibly eliminate, from the mass of human disease, that +occasioned by the constant use of deleterious food, we should find that it +amounted to a very considerable percentage on the whole, and that one of +the best friends of the doctor would prove to be the adulterator. But even +our refuge fails us in our hour of need; the tools of the medical man, +like those of the sappers and miners before Sebastopol, often turn out to +be worthless. Drugs and medical comforts are perhaps adulterated as +extensively as any other article. To mention only a few familiar and +household medicines for instance: Epsom salts are adulterated with +sulphate of soda; carbonate of soda with sulphate of soda--a very +injurious substitute. Mercury is sometimes falsified with lead, tin, and +bismuth; gentian with the poisonous drugs aconite and belladonna; rhubarb +with turmeric and gamboge; cantharides with black pepper; and cod-liver +and castor-oils with common and inferior oils; whilst opium, one of the +sheet-anchors of the physician, is adulterated to the greatest extent in a +dozen different ways. Medical comforts are equally uncertain. Thus +potato-flour forms full half of the so-called arrowroots of commerce; +sago-meal is another very common ingredient in this nourishing substance. +Out of fifty samples of so-styled arrowroot, Dr. Hassall found twenty-two +adulterated, many of them consisting _entirely_ of potato-flour and +sago-meal. One half of the common oatmeals to be met with are adulterated +with barley-meal, a much less nutritious substance--an important fact, +which boards of guardians should be acquainted with. Honey is +sophisticated with flour-starch and sugar-starch. And lastly, we wish to +say something important to mothers. Put no faith in the hundred and one +preparations of farinaceous food for infants which are paraded under so +many attractive titles. They are all composed of wheat-flour, +potato-flour, sago, &c.,--very familiar ingredients, which would not take +with anxious parents unless christened with extraordinary names, for which +their compounders demand an extraordinary charge. To invalids we would +also say, place no reliance on the Revalentas and Ervalentas advertised +through the country as cures for all imaginary diseases. They consist +almost entirely of lentil-powder, barley-flour, &c., which are charged +cent. per cent. above their real value. + +Of all the articles we have touched upon, not one is so important as +water. It mixes more or less with all our solid food, and forms +nine-tenths of all our drinks. Man himself, as a sanitary writer has +observed, is in great part made up of this element, and if you were to put +him under a press you would squeeze out of him 8-1/2 pailfuls. That it +should be furnished pure to the consumer is of the first importance in a +sanitary and economic point of view. We are afraid, however, that but +feeble attempts have been made to secure this advantage to the metropolis. +At present London, with its two and a half millions of population, is +mainly supplied by nine water companies, six of which derive their supply +from the Thames, one from the New River, one from the Ravensbourne, and a +third from ponds and wells. Besides this supply, which ramifies like a +network over the whole metropolis, we find dotted about both public and +private wells of various qualities. We do not intend to follow Dr. Hassall +into his microscopic representations of the organic matter, vegetable and +animal, by which the customers of one company can compare the water served +to them with that dealt out to others, and thus at a glance assure +themselves that they have not more than their share of many-legged, +countless-jointed, hideous animalculæ, which look formidable enough to +frighten one from ever touching a drop of London water, but shall content +ourselves with giving the general characteristics of the whole of them. +With one exception they were all of a hardness ranging from 11 to 18 +degrees. This hardness depends upon the earthy salts present, such as +sulphates and bicarbonates of lime and magnesia. They were also to some +extent saline, as all the salt used in the metropolis ultimately finds its +way into the Thames, or great sewer-stream. Not long ago two, at least, of +these six Thames water companies procured their supply within a short +distance of the mouths of great drains, and all of them resorted to the +river at different points below Battersea, or that portion of it which +receives the drainage of the metropolis, and is consequently crowded with +animal and vegetable matter, both living and dead, and thick with the mud +stirred up by the passage to and fro of the steamers. The violent outcry +made, however, by the Board of Health, caused an Act to be passed by +parliament against the supply of the sewage rates, and now all the +companies taking their supplies from the Thames, are compelled to go at +least as high as Kingston, and to submit them to a process of filtration; +but even at this point the river is in some degree sewage-tainted, and +the chemically-combined portion of baser matter cannot be removed by any +filter. + +The impurities of the Thames are not all we have to deal with--its +hardness must cost the Londoners hundreds of thousands a year in the +article of soap alone. The action upon lead is also marked; hence we find +poisonous carbonates of that metal held in solution. Plumbers are well +aware of this fact, and frequently meet with leaden cisterns deeply +corroded. This corrosion may arise from either chemical or voltaic action. +The junction of lead and solder, or iron, immersed in water impregnated +with salts or acid of any kind, will cause erosion of the metal. A +familiar instance of this is seen in the rapid manner in which iron +railings rust away just where they are socketed in the stonework with +lead. The presence of a piece of mortar on the lead of a cistern may even +set up this action, and result in giving a whole family the colic. + +The pumps of the metropolis are liable to even more contamination than +river-water, inasmuch as the soil surrounding them is saturated with the +sewage of innumerable cesspools, and with that arising from the leakage of +imperfect drains. Medical men entertained the opinion that the terrible +outbreak of cholera in Broad Street, Golden Square, in 1854, arose from +the fact that the people in the neighbourhood were in the habit of +visiting a public pump which was proved to be foul with drain-water, and +the handle of which was taken off, to prevent further mischief. Some of +these public pumps appear to yield excellent water--cold, clear, and +palatable; but the presence of these qualities by no means proves that +they are pure. The bright sparkling icy water issuing from the famous +Aldgate pump, according to Mr. Simon, the city officer of health, owes its +most prized qualities to the nitrates which have filtered into the well +from the decaying animal matter in an adjoining churchyard. + +The porter and stout of the metropolis have long been famous. The virtues +of the latter drink are celebrated all over the world; and a royal duke, +ascribed the great mortality among the guards in the East to the want of +their favourite beverage. No doubt the pure liquor, as it comes from the +great brewers, is wholesome and strengthening; but it no sooner gets into +the possession of the publicans than, in a great majority of cases, the +article is made up. A stranger would naturally suppose that the foaming +tankard of Meux's entire which he quaffs at the "Marquis of Granby" has an +identical flavour with that at the "Blue Boar," where the same brewer's +name shines resplendent on the house-front. Not a bit of it: one shall be +smooth, pleasantly bitter, slightly acid, and beaded with a fine and +persistent froth; the other, bitter with the bitterness of soot, salt, +clammy, sweet, and frothing with a coarse and evanescent froth. The body +of the liquor is undoubtedly the same, but the variations are all supplied +by the publicans and sinners. We do not make _émeutes_, as they are +continually doing in Bavaria, on account of our beer; but we have strong +feelings on a matter of such national importance; and the wicked ways of +brewers and publicans have been made, over and over again, the subject of +parliamentary inquiry. The reports of various committees prove that, in +times past, porter and stout were doctored in the most ingenious manner, +and so universally and unreservedly, that a trade sprang up termed +brewers' druggists, whose whole business it was to supply to the +manufacturers and retailers of the national beverage, ingredients for its +adulteration; nay, to such an extent did the taste for falsifying beer and +porter extend, that one genius, hight Jackson, wrote a hand-book to show +the brewers how to make Beer _without any Malt or Hops at all_! Accum has +preserved, in his now antique pages, some of the recipes in vogue in his +day. The boldness with which our fathers went to work is amusing. For +instance, Mr. Child, in his "Practical Treatise on Brewing," after having +made his non-professional reader aghast by mentioning a score of +pernicious articles to be used in beer, remarks, in the mildest possible +manner,-- + + "That, however much they may surprise--however pernicious or + disagreeable they may appear, he has always found them requisite in + the brewing of porter, and he thinks they must invariably be used by + those who wish to continue the taste, flavour, and effervescence of + the beer. And, though several acts of Parliament have been passed to + prevent porter brewers from using many of them, yet the author can + affirm, from experience, he could never produce the present flavoured + porter without them. _The intoxicating qualities of porter are to be + ascribed to the various drugs intermixed with it._ It is evident some + porter is more heady than other, and it arises from the greater or + less quantity of stupefying ingredients. Malt, to produce + intoxication, must be used in such large quantities as would very much + diminish, if not totally exclude, the brewer's profit." + +It is clear from this extract that Mr. Child considered the end of all +successful brewing was to make people dead-drunk at the cheapest possible +rate, regardless of consequences. Among the ingredients that Mr. Morris, +another instructor in the art of brewing, tells us are requisite to +produce a popular article, are--cocculus indicus and beans, as +intoxicators; calamus aromaticus, as a substitute for hops; quassia, as a +bitter; coriander-seeds to give flavour; capsicums, carraway-seeds, +ginger, and grains of paradise, to give warmth; whilst oyster-shells are +recommended to afford a touch of youth to old beer, and alum to give a +"smack of age" to new; and when it is desired to bring it more rapidly +"forward," the presiding Hecate is told to drop sulphuric acid into her +brew; by this means an imitation of the age of eighteen months was given +in a few instants. Even the "fine cauliflower head," which is held to be +the sign of excellence in stout, was--and, for all we know, still +is--artificially made by mixing with the article a detestable compound +called "beer-headings," composed of common green vitriol, alum, and salt, +and sometimes by the simple addition of salts of steel. That these +articles were commonly employed we have the evidence of the Excise +Department, which published a long list of such ingredients seized by them +on the premises of brewers and brewers' druggists.[6] Many of these +glaring adulterations are probably no longer in general use, although, +from the evidence given before a recent committee of the House of +Commons, it is believed that sulphuric acid, salt of steel, sulphate of +iron, and cocculus indicus are still resorted to by the smaller brewers, +especially those living in the country--a belief very much strengthened by +the very odd taste we sometimes find in ales and porters, and which is +certainly not derived from malt and hops. The common method of +adulterating the national liquor is by mixing water with it. This is done +almost universally by the publican, and to a very extraordinary extent. A +comparison between the per-centage of alcohol to be found in a given +number of samples of porter and stout, procured from what is termed +brewers' taps, or agents, with that existing in a similar number of +samples purchased of publicans, proves this fact in a very convincing +manner. Dr. Hassall informs us that, with regard to the stouts,-- + + "The alcohol--of specific gravity 796, temperature 60° + Fahr.--contained in the former samples ranged from 7·15 per cent. the + highest, to 4·53 the lowest; whereas that of the stouts procured from + publicans varied, with one exception, from 4·87 per cent. to 3·25 per + cent." + +The same difference of strength also existed between the various samples +of porter procured from the two sources; the amount of alcohol in that +obtained from the taps varying from 4·51 per cent. to 2·42 per cent., +whereas that purchased of publicans ranged from 3·97 per cent. to 1·81 per +cent. The mixture of water, of course, reduces the colour, to bring up +which both burnt sugar and molasses are extensively used; and, in order +that "the appetite may grow with what it feeds on," tobacco and salt are +copiously added by the publican. Beer, porter, and stout are also liable +to be contaminated by the presence of lead. The universal use of pumping +machines and the storing of the casks in the cellars, sometimes at a +considerable distance from the bar, necessitates the use of long leaden +pipes, in passing through which the liquid, if "stale" or sour, oxidates a +portion of the lead. This fact is so well known both to public and +publican, that the first pot or two drawn in the morning is generally set +aside, as, from having lain all night in the pipe, it is justly considered +injurious. The liberality of the barmaid in thus sacrificing a portion of +the liquor is more apparent than real. The reader has, perhaps, noticed +that most public-house counters are fitted up with metal tops, in which +gratings are inserted to drain off all the spilt liquor, drainings of +glasses, heel-taps of pots, &c.: down these gratings goes "the first +draught," with its dose of oxide of lead. The receptacle below, which +contains all this refuse together with that at the bottoms of barrels, the +publican either returns to the brewer, or empties it himself into +half-filled casks. + +The public were very needlessly alarmed some years ago by a statement made +by M. Payen, a celebrated French chemist, that strychnine was being made +for England, where it was used in the manufacture of the bitter beer of +this country. This statement was copied by the _Medical Times_, and from +thence, finding its way to Printing-house Square, became generally +diffused, to the horror and discomfiture of pale-ale drinkers; and not +without reason, when it is remembered that one-sixth of a grain of this +poison has been known to prove fatal, and a very much smaller quantity +daily taken, to have the effect of inducing tetanic spasms, and of +otherwise seriously injuring the nervous system. We are happy to be able +to state that the lovers of Bass and Allsopp may quaff their tonic draught +in future without any fear of such terrible results. The bitterness of +pale ale has been found, on analysis, to be entirely due to the extract of +hops. Furthermore, this beverage, when selected from the stores of the +brewers or their agents, has universally proved to be perfectly pure. We +say, from the stores of the Burton brewers or their agents, because there +is no absolute certainty of procuring the article genuine from any other +source. The label on the bottle is no sure guarantee; for used bottles, +with their labels intact, are in many instances refilled by publicans with +an inferior article, and sold, of course, at the price of the real. We +have good reason to believe that this trick is very often practised in a +variety of instances, to the manifest injury of the public and brewers. + +Wine is far too wide a subject to be treated here. The great mass of +ports at a cheap and moderate price are made up, it is well known, of +several kinds, and doctored according to cost. There is one compound, +however, which particularly claims our attention, "publicans' port." We +are all of us familiar with the announcement to be seen in the windows of +such tradesmen, "Fine old crusty port, 2_s._ 9_d._ a bottle;" and the +extraordinary thing is, that upon opening the sample we often find that +_it is_ crusted, and that the cork is deeply stained. How can they afford +to sell an article bearing the appearance of such age and quality at so +low a price? The answer is simple: wine, crust, and stained cork are +fabricated. There is a manufactory in London, where, by a chemical +process, they get up beeswing to perfection, and deposit it in the bottles +so as exactly to imitate the natural crust; here corks are also stained to +assume any age that is required. The wine itself contains a very little +inferior port, the rest being composed of cheap red French wine, brandy, +and logwood as a colouring matter, if required. The port wine sold over +the bar at 3_d._ a glass--and we are assured that this article is making +its way in preference to gin in the low neighbourhoods, one gin palace, to +our knowledge, selling a butt a week over the counter--is an inferior +article even to this, and its taste is quite sufficient to prove that only +an infinitesimal portion of it ever came from Oporto. + +London gin, under a hundred names, is notoriously a compound. Most people +flatter themselves that its peculiar flavour is due to the admixture of +sugar and juniper-berries alone. It is, however, a much more elaborate +concoction than the public imagine. Those accustomed to the unsweetened +West Country gin think the London article only fit to drink when raw, and +in many cases they are right; for the publican and inferior +spirit-dealers, like milkmen, are great customers of the pump. It appears +that some of the samples examined by the analyst contained only half as +much alcohol as was present in others; and as the gin of commerce is never +above proof, it follows that these specimens were scarcely as good as +"stiff" gin-and-water. So much for the pure spirit; now for the fancy +work or "flavourings." The quantity of sugar in the samples examined +ranged from 3 oz. 4 drms. 23 grains, to 13 oz. 4 drms.; two of them +contained oil of cinnamon, or, more probably, of cassia; seven contained +cayenne pepper, some of them in very large quantities; and most of the +samples contained combined sulphates; whilst there is good authority for +stating that sulphate of zinc, or white vitriol, is often used. The very +"beaded bubbles winking at the brim," which are considered to be a proof +of the strength of the article, are produced artificially. Mr. Mitchell, +in his "Handbook of Commerce," states that this is done by adding a +mixture compounded of alum, carbonate of potash, almond-oil, sulphuric +acid, and spirits of wine. "The earth hath bubbles as the water hath, and +these are of them." One would think that it would be to the interest of +the trade to keep their illicit practices "dark:" but the publican has his +"Handbook" to teach him how to adulterate spirit as well as beer. For +instance, in a little work on Brewing and Distilling, written by a Mr. +Shannon, the following recipe is given:-- + + "_To reduce unsweetened Gin._ + + A tun of fine gin 252 gallons. + Water 36 " + --- + Which added together makes 288 " + _The doctor is now put on_, and + it is further reduced with water 19 " + --- + Which gives 307 gallons. + + "This done, let one pound of alum be just covered with water, and + dissolved by boiling; _rummage_ the whole together, and pour in the + alum, and the whole will be fine in a few days." + +We wonder that Mr. Gough, the great temperance advocate, never armed +himself with one of these recipes, in order to convince people of the +noxious liquids they are invited to drink under the most inviting names. +In every quarter of the town we see gin-palaces seizing upon the corner +houses of the streets, just as scrofula seizes upon the joints of the +human frame, and through their ever-open doors streams of squalid wretches +are continually pouring in and out. Could they be informed that they enter +to gulp oil of vitriol, oil of turpentine, and sulphuric acid, among other +acrid and deleterious compounds--that the tap of the publican spouts +corroding fire, like that which leaped up from the wooden table at the +command of Mephistopheles, in Auerbach's cellar, they would feel inclined +to exclaim with Siebald to the fiend:-- + + "What, sir, how dare you practise thus + Your hocus-pocus upon us?" + +Gin, it appears, is almost exclusively doctored in this highly deleterious +manner, although all spirits are open to sophistication, but especially +brandy, which, on account of its price, pays well for the trouble. Mr. +Shannon, deeply versed in the "art and mystery" of the trade of the +publican, informs us that brandy should be "made up" for "retail" by the +addition of 10 per cent. of flavoured raisin wine, a little of the +tincture of grains of paradise, cherry-laurel water, and spirit of +almond-cake: "add also 10 handfuls of oak sawdust, and give it +_complexion_ with burnt sugar." + +If we can give the dram-drinker little comfort, we can at least reassure +the smoker. "Everybody says" that common cigars are made out of cabbages, +and tobacco has always been suspected of containing many adulterations. +These charges have been made, however, at random, and the result of +chemical analysis and examinations by the microscope has proved that this +article of daily consumption is remarkably pure. The carefully-searching +microscope of Dr. Hassall has not succeeded in finding any other than the +genuine leaf among forty samples of manufactured tobacco; neither were +there any sophistications discovered, with the exceptions of salt, sugar, +and water. An inquiry into the specimens of the rolled and twisted article +was equally consoling to the maker and chewer. Now and then, it is true, +the excise officers make seizures in the warehouses of the tobacco +manufacturers, of dock, rhubarb, coltsfoot, and other leaves, but to a +very insignificant extent, considering the value of the article and the +heavy duty upon it. + +He who, like Byron, prefers the naked beauties of the leaf in the shape of +a cigar, will be equally gratified to hear that such a thing as +adulteration scarcely exists in this form of tobacco--at least, not when +purchased in the shops. Even if we descend to a penny "Pickwick," we find +nothing in it but the pure leaf. Out of fifty-seven samples examined, only +one was sophisticated, and that, apparently from its contents, by +accident. The only adulterated samples discovered at all, were exactly +where we might have expected to have found them, in the possession of a +hawker at Whitechapel. These, on examination, turned out to be made up of +two twisted wrappers or layers of thin paper, tinted of a bistre colour, +while the interior consisted entirely of hay, not a particle of tobacco +entering into their composition. The second example of a spurious cigar +was purchased at a review in Hyde Park. It consisted externally of +tobacco-leaf, but was made internally of hay. Our readers are familiar +enough with the fellows who vend these fraudulent articles, made to sell +and not to smoke; they are generally to be found at fairs and races, or +any crowded place in the open air, where they can escape speedily from +their victimized customers. There is a class of men who make a very good +livelihood in the metropolis by perambulating the streets and looking out +for ingenuous youths. Towards such they furtively approach, and, like the +tempter of old, whisper in their ear of forbidden fruit. The unwary are +constantly taken in by one of these serpents, in the shape of a sailor +straight from the docks, who intimates, in a hurried manner, that, if we +wanted any "smuggled cigars," he has just a box to sell cheap round the +corner. In general these worthies need not fear the exciseman, as the +article they have to sell does not come under the name of tobacco at all. + +If, however, cigars are not open to the charge of being adulterated, they +are the subject of innumerable frauds, inasmuch as those of English +manufacture are passed off as foreign ones. Thus, the so-called Bengal +cheroots are _all_ home-made imitations of Chinsurah cheroots. In order to +pass them off as the genuine article they are sold in boxes, branded and +labelled in exact imitation of those sent from India. It may be asked why +such cigars, if made out of the tobacco-leaf, are not as good as those of +Eastern or Spanish manufacture. The real reason is, that the tobacco loses +much of its fine flavour and aroma by packing and keeping; otherwise the +English cigar would be equal to any other. The old impression that the +Manilla cheroot is impregnated with opium would not appear to be correct, +from the investigations of Dr. Hassall, who has failed to discover that +narcotic in any of the specimens which he tested for it. + +We have to mention one preparation of tobacco of which we cannot speak +quite so favourably as of the others. Snuff is, we are sorry to say, +vilely adulterated, and some kinds poisonously. The law allows the use of +salt and water and lime-water in its manufacture--a privilege which the +snuff-makers take advantage of to increase its weight, all moist snuffs +averaging full twenty-five per cent. of water. If these were the only +adulterations to the titillating powder, no harm would be done; but we +have positive evidence afforded us in the report of the "Lancet" +Commission, that, in addition to ferruginous earths, such as red and +yellow ochre, no less than three poisonous preparations are also +introduced into it--chromate of lead, red-lead, and bichromate of potash! +When a man taps his snuff-box and takes out a pinch, he little dreams that +he is introducing an enemy into his system, which in the long-run might +master his nerves and produce paralysis; nevertheless it is an undoubted +fact. Many persons have been deprived of the use of their limbs through a +persistence in taking snuff adulterated with lead in less proportions than +that found in the samples examined by Dr. Hassall. Bi-chromate of potash +is a still more deadly poison. M. Duchâtel of Paris found that dogs were +destroyed by doses of from one twenty-fifth of a grain to one +five-hundredth of a grain. We have heard of inveterate snuffers keeping +this comfort open in their waistcoat pockets, and helping themselves by +fingers'-full at a time; if their snuff contained anything like the +proportion of deleterious ingredients now to be found in the same article, +"dropped hands" and colic would soon have cured them of this dirty and +disagreeable habit. + +It is not our purpose to follow further the trail which Accum and others, +and more lately and particularly Dr. Hassall, have discovered for us. +Before closing the pages of the latter gentleman's report, however, from +which we have drawn so largely, we cannot avoid stating that the +community is under the greatest obligation to both himself and the editor +of the _Lancet_--to the one for the energy with which he pursued his +subject, and to the other for his singular boldness in rendering himself +liable for the many actions which the publication of the names of +evil-doers was likely to bring upon his journal, a liability which Dr. +Hassall has since taken upon himself by the reprint of the report under +his own name. This report is, in fact, as far as it goes, a handbook to +the honest and fraudulent food-dealers in the metropolis; and every man +who values wholesome aliment, and thinks it a duty to society to support +the honest tradesman in preference to the rogue, should procure it as a +valuable work of reference. We have not followed the author into +personalities, as no further purpose could be served by so doing; but we +have shown enough to convince the public that the grossest fraud reigns +throughout the British public commissariat. Like a set of monkeys, every +man's hand is seen in his neighbour's dish. The baker takes in the grocer, +the grocer defrauds the publican, the publican "does" the pickle +manufacturer, and the pickle-maker fleeces and poisons all the rest.[7] + +As guardian of the revenue, the government is deeply interested in this +question, independently of the view it must take of its moral aspect, for +the excise is without doubt cheated to the extent of hundreds of thousands +a year by the same unlawful practices which demoralize a large portion of +the community, and defraud and deceive the remainder. + + + + +THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. + + +To furnish every possible link in the grand procession of organized life, +is the aim of the science of zoology. Its professors have explored the +wilds of Africa, and have penetrated far into the interior of South +America; have endured the last extremities of hunger and thirst to catch +some curious humming-bird; have been consumed by fevers to the very socket +of life, in order to pin an unknown beetle, or to procure some rare and +gorgeous-coloured fly. The passion for this science seems to have long +dwelt in the English race: our love of field-sports, and keen relish of +rural life, coupled with a habit of minute observation, have all had a +tendency to foster an acquaintance with the beasts of the field and the +fowls of the air, and scarcely a village but boasts of some follower of +White or Waterton. This taste we carry with us to our vast colonial +possessions, and to that chain of military posts whose morning guns echo +round the world. With such splendid opportunities for observing and +collecting animals, we have succeeded in gathering together a menagerie +which is by far the first in existence, and which includes typical forms +of most living things--from the chimpanzee, in whose face and structure we +trace the last step but one of the highest form of mammal, to the +zoophyte, which shakes hands with the vegetable world. + +Ancient Rome, it is true, in her degenerate days, witnessed vaster +collections of animals, and saw hippopotami, ostriches, and giraffes, +together with the fiercer carnivora, turned by hundreds into the arena; +but how different the spirit with which they were collected! With the +debased and profligate Roman emperors the only object of these bloody +shows was to gratify the brutal appetite of their people for slaughter; +with us the intention is to display the varying wonders of creation. + +Most of our readers in the full flush of summer have leaned over the +balustrade of the carnivora terrace. From this elevated situation the +whole plan of the south side of the grounds is exposed. To his right, +fringing a still pool whose translucent waters mirror them as they stand, +the spectator sees the collection of storks and cranes: more immediately +in front of him softly tread the llamas and alpacas--the beasts of burthen +of the New World: farther, again, we see the deer in their paddocks; and +beyond, the sedgy pools of the water-fowl, set in the midst of graceful +shrubberies which close the Gardens in from the landscape of the Regent's +Park. Passing over to the northern side of the terrace he sees the eagle +aviary, tenanted by its royal and solitary-looking occupants; the otters +swimming their merry round, and perchance the seal flapping beside his +pool; while the monkeys, with incredible rapidity and constant chatter, +swing and leap about their wire enclosure Immediately beneath him the +Polar bears pace to and fro, or, swaying their heads, walk backwards with +a firmness which a lord chamberlain might study with advantage; and close +at hand the long neck of the "ship of the desert" is seen sailing out from +the gateway of the pretty clock-house. That the dread monarch of the +forest and the other "great cats" are beneath his feet, he is made aware +by angry growls and the quivering sound of shaken iron bars, as the keeper +goes round with his daily beef-barrow. No one can help feeling a certain +sense of strangeness at seeing these creatures of all climes scattered +amid a flourishing garden--to witness beasts, ensanguined in tooth and +claw, impatiently pacing to and fro between banks of scarlet geraniums or +beds brilliant with the countless blooms of early dahlias--or, still more +oddly, to witness birds of prey which love to career in the storm +surrounded by monthly roses. Had it been possible to have given each class +of bird and animal its appropriate vegetation, it would doubtless have +been preferable; but such an arrangement was manifestly impossible. + +Descending from this general survey, the long row of dens which run below +the terrace on either side are the first to attract the visitor's +attention. Before this terrace was constructed in 1840, the larger +carnivora were cooped up in what is now the reptile-house. The early dens +of the establishment form a good example of the difficulty Englishmen +experience in suiting themselves to altered circumstances. On the first +formation of the gardens the society seems to have taken for its model +some roving menagerie, as many of the houses of the beasts were nothing +better than caravans dismounted from their wheels, and the managers +encamped their collection in a fashion little more permanent than Wombwell +would have done upon a village green. It was speedily found that the +health of the felidæ suffered materially from their close confinement, +which did not even admit of the change of air experienced in the +travelling caravan. In fact, the lions, tigers, leopards, and pumas, did +not live on an average more than twenty-four months. To remedy this state +of things the terrace dens were constructed, and, rushing from one extreme +to the other, tropical animals were left exposed to the full rigour of +winter. The drifting rain fell upon their hair, and they were exposed in +cold, wet weather to a temperature which even man, who ranges from the +torrid zone to the arctic circle, could not resist unprotected. The +consequences were manifested in the increase of inflammatory lung +diseases, and it is now found necessary to protect the dens by matting and +artificial heat from the extreme cold and damp of the winter months. In +the summer the exposure suits them admirably, and it must be confessed +that the tigers look only too fat and comfortable. One of the most +interesting cages is that which contains a family party, consisting of the +mastiff with the lion and his mate. They were brought up together from +cub-hood, and agree to a marvel; though the dog would prove little more +than a mouthful for either of his noble-looking companions. Visitors +express a vast deal of sympathy for him, and fancy that the lion is only +saving him up, as the giant did Jack, for a future feast. But their +sympathy, we believe, is thrown away. "Lion" has always maintained the +ascendancy he assumed when a pup, and any rough handling on the part of +his huge playfellows is immediately resented by his flying at their noses. +Although the dog is allowed to come out of the den every morning, he shows +a great disinclination to leave his old friends. It is, however, thought +advisable to separate them at feeding-time. Both the lion and lioness are +of English birth, and it is singular that out of the great number that +have been born in the society's garden full fifty per cent. have come into +the world with cleft palates, and have perished in consequence of not +being able to suck. If the keepers were to fill their nostrils with tow, +we fancy they could accomplish this act, as well at least as children who +are suffering from cold in the head. The male affords us an opportunity of +showing the difference between the African variety to which he belongs and +the East Indian specimen at the other end of the terrace. Our young Cape +friend has a fine mane, and a tail but slightly bushed at the top, which +droops towards the ground. The full-grown animal from Goojerat, is, on the +contrary, comparatively maneless, and his tail takes a short curl upwards +at the end. The caudal extremity of both is furnished with a rudimentary +claw. This little appendage was supposed by the ancients to be +instrumental in lashing the lion into fury, and Mr. Gordon Cumming informs +us that the natives of South Africa believe it to be the residence of an +evil spirit which never evacuates its post until death overtakes the beast +and gives it notice to quit. The Goojerat or maneless lion is supposed to +be the original of the heraldic beast we regard with such respect as a +national emblem, but which foreigners maintain is nothing better than a +leopard. + +But why do we coop these noble animals in such nutshells of cages? What a +miserable sight to see them pace backwards and forwards in their box-like +dens! Why should they, of all the beasts of the forest, be condemned to +such imprisonment? The bear has his pole, the deer his paddock, the otter +his pool, where at least they have enough liberty to keep them in health; +but we stall our lions and tigers as we would oxen, till they grow +lethargic, fat, and puffy, like city aldermen. With half an acre of +enclosed ground, strewn with sand, we might see the king of beasts pace +freely, as in his Libyan fastness, and with twenty feet of artificial +rock, might witness the tiger's bound. Such an arrangement would, we are +convinced, attract thousands to the gardens, and restore to the larger +carnivora that place among the beasts from which they have here been so +unfairly degraded. We commend this idea to the able secretary to the +society, who has shown, by his system of "starring," how alive he is to +the fact that it is to the sixpenny and shilling visitors who flock to the +gardens by tens of thousands on holidays that he must look to support the +wise and liberal expenditure he has lately adopted. + +On the other side of the terrace, in addition to the leopards and hyænas, +is to be found a splendid collection of bears, from the sharp-muzzled +sun-bear (who robs a beehive in a hollow tree as artistically as a London +thief cuts a purse) to the enormous Russian Bruin, the largest perhaps +ever exhibited. "Prince Menschikoff,"[8] as he is called by the keepers, +grew into exceeding good condition in the gardens at Hull, where it +appears he chiefly dieted upon his brethren, the cannibal having consumed +no less than five bears; and they appear to have had the same effect upon +him as cod-liver oil upon a human invalid. His neighbours, the white Polar +bears, contrast with him strangely in physiognomy and form; their heads, +sharp as polecats', seem fashioned, like cutwaters, to enable them to make +their way in the sea; and if they would lift their huge paws, we should +see that they were clothed almost entirely with hair, to aid them in +securing a firm footing on the ice. The largest of these beasts managed to +get out of his inclosure before the top of it was barred in; but he was +peaceably led back again. Indeed, even the wildest of the beasts, after a +little confinement, seem so frightened at recovering their liberty, that +they easily allow themselves to be recaptured. + +In one year the Felidæ alone consumed beef, mutton, and horseflesh to the +value of £1,367. 19_s._ 5_d._ This sum is entirely irrespective of the +fish, snakes, frogs, and other "small deer" given to the birds and +inferior carnivora. They all live here like gentlemen, emancipated from +the drudgery of finding their daily food. They have their slaughter-houses +close at hand in the gardens, where sheep, oxen, and horses are weekly +killed expressly for them. Some of them will only eat cooked meat. Soon +after the establishment of the gardens experiments were made as to the +best manner of feeding them, which proved that while they gained flesh and +continued active upon one full meal a day, they lost weight and became +drowsy on two half-meals. In the endeavour to follow nature still closer, +they were dieted more sparely, and even fasted at certain seasons. This +treatment, however, resulted in a catastrophe--a female leopard and puma +killing and eating their companions: a strong hint for fuller rations, +which was not neglected. + +Let us now cross over from the cages of the king of beasts to the aviary +of the king of birds. The collection of eagles, vultures, and condors, +numbers upwards of twenty species, among which we recognized "the oldest +inhabitant" of the Gardens--the vulture presented to the society by Mr. +Brooks, the surgeon, more than thirty years ago. Notwithstanding his age, +he looks one of the finest birds in the collection. We question, however, +if the last new-comer of the same species will not "put his bill out," +arriving as he does from a distant shore to which thousands of anxious +hearts have turned. We allude to the vulture lately sent from the Crimea. +He was caught near the monastery of Saint George, and the proximity of his +retreat to many a battle-field suggests reflections too painful to dwell +upon. The prominent impression produced in glancing at this aviary is the +perfect isolation which each bird maintains as he crowns the topmost +pinnacle of the heap of rocks reared in the centre of his den, where he +perches, motionless as a stone. There seems to be no recognition of +fellow-prisoners--no interchange of either blows or courtesies between the +iron netting. Each seems an enduring captive that will not be comforted +or won over to the ways of men. Now and then unsheathing his piercing eye, +we perceive the huge wings spread, and perchance remembering the callow +eaglets in some Alpine eyrie, the bird soars upwards for a moment, beats +his pinions against the netting, and falls to the earth again with the +ignominious flop of a Christmas turkey. It is impossible to contemplate +these birds without pity, not unmixed with pain. Who can recognize, in the +motionless bunch of feathers before us, Audubon's magnificent description +of the Bald Eagle as he swoops upon his prey?-- + + "The next moment the wild trumpet-like sound of a yet distant but + approaching swan is heard.... Now is the moment to witness a display + of the eagle's powers. He glides through the air like a falling star, + and like a flash of lightning comes upon the timorous quarry, which + now, in agony and despair, seeks, by various manoeuvres, to elude the + grasp of his cruel talons. It mounts, doubles, and willingly would + plunge into the stream were it not prevented by the eagle, which, long + possessed of the knowledge that by such a stratagem the swan might + escape him, forces it to remain in the air by attempting to strike it + with its talons from beneath. The hope of escape is soon given up by + the swan. It has already become much weakened, and its strength fails + at the sight of the courage and swiftness of its antagonist. Its last + gasp is about to escape, when the ferocious eagle strikes with his + talons the under side of his wing, and with unresisted power forces + the bird to fall in a slanting direction upon the nearest shore." + +This is the romance of the noble bird's mode of obtaining food--here, as +he marches off with a dead rat in his claw, or a piece of raw beef, we +behold its prose. But however unpoetical this treatment, it cannot be said +to disagree with him, as fine plumage and good condition prove. Passing on +our way to the monkey-house, the merry otters are seen playing +"follow-my-leader" round their rock-house, now plunging headlong in search +of the flat-fish which shines at the bottom of the water--now bringing it +to shore, and crushing flesh, vertebræ, and all. + +The admirably-arranged but vilely-ventilated monkey-house is always a +great source of attraction. The mixture of fun and solemnity, the odd +attitudes and tricks, and the human expression of their countenances, all +tend to attract, and at the same time to repel. Mr. Rogers used to say, +that visiting them was like going to see one's poor relations; and +wondrous shabby old fellows some of them appear. We have only to look into +their faces for a moment to see that they differ from each other as much +as the faces of mankind. There is a large, long-haired, black-faced +rascal, who looks as murderous as a Malay; a little way off we see another +with great bushy whiskers and shaggy eyebrows (the mona), the very picture +of a successful horse-dealer; a third, with his long nose and keen eye, +has all the air of a crafty old lawyer. The contemplation of them brings +involuntarily to the mind the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. The +apes and baboons are indeed purely brutal, and only excite disgust: +towards the latter the whole company of smaller monkeys express the utmost +hatred--as may be seen when the keeper by way of fun takes one of them out +of his cage and walks him down the room. The whole population rush to the +front of their cages, and hoot, growl, and chatter at him as only Eastern +County shareholders can do when their chairman takes his seat. The +vivacious little capuchin monkeys are evidently the favourites, and bag +most of the nuts; the brown capuchin appears to be particularly knowing, +as he keeps a big pebble at hand, and when he finds that his teeth are not +equal to the task, he taps the nut with the stone with just sufficient +force to break the shell without bruising the kernel. We have often seen +this little fellow take a pinch of snuff, and assiduously rub his own and +his companion's skin with it, with a full knowledge, no doubt, of the old +recipe for killing fleas. He will also make use of an onion for a similar +purpose. Among the other quadrumana in this house we find the lemurs, +which look more like long-legged weasels than monkeys, and the +bright-faced little marmosets, who cluster inquiringly to the front of +their cage looking in their cap-shaped headdress of fur like so many +gossips quizzing you over the window-blinds. + +At the present moment there is no specimen of either the uran or +chimpanzee in the Gardens, but there have been at least half a dozen +located here within the last ten years, one of which, "Jenny," maintained +her health for five years. The damp, cold air of the Gardens at last +brought on consumption; and the public must remember the poor, wheezing, +dying brute, with a plaster on her chest and blankets around her, the very +picture of a moribund old man. The only specimen now in Europe is in the +Jardin des Plantes, at Paris. This animal, one of the finest ever seen, is +in excellent health, and promises to maintain it in the bright air of La +Belle France. An accomplished naturalist has kindly furnished us with the +following particulars of this brute, which clearly indicate that he is a +very Dr. Busby among his fellows:-- + + "He passed through London on his way to Paris, having landed at + Plymouth. There were then two female Chims resident in the Gardens in + the Regent's Park, and the French Chim was allowed to lodge in their + hotel for a couple of nights. On his appearance both of these young + ladies uttered cries of recognition, which however evinced more fear + than anything else. Chim was put into a separate compartment, or room + with a double grille, to prevent the probable injuries which + discordant apes will inflict on each other. He had scarcely felt the + floor under his feet when he began to pay attention to his + countrywomen thus suddenly and unexpectedly found. Their fear and + surprise gradually subsided, and they stood watching him attentively, + when he broke out into a characteristic _pas seul_, which he kept up + for a considerable time, uttering cries scarcely more hideous than + seem the notes of a Chinese singer, and not far out of unison with his + loudly-beating feet. The owner, who was present, said that he was + imitating a dance of the negroes, which the animal had often seen + while resident in his house in Africa. The animal was upwards of a + year and a half old, and had spent one year of his life in this + gentleman's house. The Chim maidens gradually relaxed their reserve as + the vivacity of the dance increased, until at last, when it was over, + each stealthily put a hand through the grille and welcomed their + friend and brother to their home in a far land. As the weather was + severe--it was early in December--it is possible that their talk was + of their native palm-groves and their never-ending summer. Chim + thenceforth made himself as agreeable as possible, and when the time + for his departure came, the maidens exhibited the liveliest regret, + short of tears, at losing him. At Paris he increased rapidly in + stature and intelligence. The climate, diet (he drinks his pint of + Bordeaux daily), and lively society of the French seem to be more + congenial to Chim's physique than our melancholy London. He makes + acquaintance not only with the staff but with the _habitués_ of the + Garden. The last time I saw him (May, 1854) he came out to taste the + morning air in the large circular enclosure in front of the Palais des + Singes, which was built for "our poor relations" by M. Thiers. Here + Chim began his day by a leisurely promenade, casting pleased and + thankful glances towards the sun, the beautiful sun of early summer. + He had three satellites, coati-mundis, either by chance or to amuse + him, and while making all manner of eyes at a young lady who supplies + the Singerie with pastry and cakes, one of the coati-mundis came up + stealthily behind and dealt him a small but malicious bite. Chim + looked round with astonishment at this audacious outrage on his + person, put his hand haughtily upon the wound, but without losing his + temper in the least. He walked deliberately to the other side of the + circle, and fetched a cane which he had dropped there in his + promenade. He returned with majestic wrath upon his brow, mingled, I + thought, with contempt; and, taking Coati by the tail, commenced + punishment with his cane, administering such blows as his victim could + bear without permanent injury, and applied with equal justice to the + ribs on either side, in a direction always parallel to the spine. + When he thought enough had been done, he disposed of Coati without + moving a muscle of his countenance, by a left-handed jerk, which threw + the delinquent high in air, head over heels. He came down a sadder and + a better coati, and retired with shame and fear to an outer corner. + Having executed this act of justice, Chim betook him to a tree. A + large baboon, who had in the mean time made his appearance in the + circle, thought this was a good opportunity of doing a civil thing, + and accordingly mounted the tree and sat down smilingly, as baboons + smile, upon the next fork. Chim slowly turned his head at this attempt + at familiarity, measured the distance, raised his hind foot, and, as + composedly as he had caned the coati, kicked the big baboon off his + perch into the arena below. This abasement seemed to do the baboon + good, for he also retired like the coati, and took up his station on + the other side. To what perfection of manners and development of + thought the last year and a half may have brought him I can scarcely + guess; but one day doubtless some one will say of him, as an Oriental + prince once said to me, after looking at the uran 'Peter,'--'Does he + speak English yet?'" + +The monkeys before they were transferred to this house suffered a great +mortality, and indeed, on taking possession of their new apartment, the +keepers used to remove the dead by the barrowful in the morning. This +extreme mortality was produced by want of ventilation, and a system of +heating which burnt the air and induced inflammation of the lungs. Dr. +Marshall Hall and Dr. Arnott, upon being consulted, directed the +substitution of an open stove, when the deaths ceased. + +As we pass towards the small building once used as the parrot-house, but +now dedicated to the smaller felidæ, we go by the seal-pond, and see that +strange beast which resembles a Danish carriage-dog with his legs +amputated. He is an epicure as regards his regular meals, and turns up his +nose at any fish less _recherché_ than whiting, of which expensive +delicacy he consumes ten pounds weight daily. Meanwhile, however, he is "a +snapper-up of unconsidered trifles," and we see him, as the visitors +circulate round his enclosure, flop, flop, around the margin of his pond, +keeping a sharp look-out above the railings for stray favours. The house +of the smaller carnivora is generally overlooked, but it is worthy of a +visit, if only to see the beautiful clouded tigers as they are misnamed, +for they more resemble hunting leopards both in size and skin-markings. +These elegant creatures are quite tame, and permit the utmost +familiarities of their keeper; but their neighbour, the caracal or lynx, +never seems tired of making the most ferocious rushes at the bars, +accompanied by a vindictive and incessant spitting, which impresses us +with the idea that it possesses the very quintessence of catlike nature. +There is one little cage in this apartment which is deserving of especial +inspection--that containing a specimen of the indigenous black rat, which, +according to Mr. Waterton, was entirely eaten out of the country by the +grey rats of Hanover, which came over in the same ship with _Dutch +William_, and which are, according to that hearty naturalist, the very +emblems of "Protestant rapacity." Those who have read his delightful +essays know well with what perseverance the author hunts the grey rodent +through every chapter of his book. + +If we now retrace our steps along the border of the plantation, which +forms a deep green background for countless dahlias, and moreover screens +the garden from the biting east, we shall, by turning to the right hand, +come upon the Aquarium, the latest and most attractive sight in the +gardens. How cool and delicious! Around us we perceive slices of the deep +sea-bed and the rapid river. Were we mermen we could not examine more at +ease the rich pavement of the ocean set with strange and living flowers. +In the midst of the green walls of water which surround us, mimic caves, +waving with sea-weed and other marine plants, afford shelter and +lurking-holes for bright fish which stare and dart, or for shambling +crustaceæ which creep over the pebbly bottom. Against the dark verdure of +these submerged rocks, the sea-anemone rears its orange base tipped with +flower-like fans, or hangs its snake-like tentacles, writhing as the +head-dress of Medusa. But we must look narrowly into each nook and under +every stone, if we wish to realize the amount of animal life, which here +puts on such strange vegetable forms. Let us consider well for a few +minutes one of the tanks running down the middle of the building. For +months all the minute animal and vegetable life has been multiplying and +decaying, and yet the water remains pure and bright. The explanation of +this phenomenon affords one of the most beautiful examples of the manner +in which nature on a grand scale holds the balance true between her +powers. If we were to put these little bright-eyed fish alive into the +crystal tank, in a week's time they would die, because they would have +withdrawn all the oxygen it originally contained, and contaminated it with +the poisonous carbonic acid gas exhaled from their lungs. To prevent this, +the philosopher hangs these mimic caves with verdant seaweed, and plants +the bottom with graceful marine grasses. If the spectator looks narrowly +at the latter, he finds them fringed with bright silver bells: these bells +contain oxygen, which the plants have eliminated from their tissues under +the action of light, having previously consumed the carbonic acid gas +thrown out by the fishes and zoophytes. Thus plants and animals are +indispensable to the preservation of each other's life. But even now we +have not told the entire causes which produce the crystal clearness of the +water. The vegetable element grows too fast, and if left to itself the +sides of the tank would be covered with a confervoid growth, which would +speedily obscure its inmates from our view. + +We want scavengers to clear away the superfluous vegetation, and we find +them in the periwinkles which we see attached by their foot-stalk to the +glass. These little mollusca do their work well: Mr. Gosse, who has +watched them feeding with a pocket-glass, perceived that their saw-like +tongues moved backwards and forwards with a crescentic motion, and thus, +as the animal advances, he leaves a slight swathe-like mark upon the +glass, as the mower does upon the field. But it is clear that there are +not enough labourers in the tank we are inspecting to accomplish their +task, as the lobster, who comes straggling over the stones in such an +ungainly manner, is more like a moving salad than any living thing, so +thickly are back, tail, feelers, and claws, infested with a dense +vegetable growth. A few more black mowers are imperatively called for. The +fish, the weed, and the mollusc having secured to us a clear view of the +inhabitants of the tank, let us inspect them one by one. Here we see the +parasitic anemone. Like the old man of the sea, it fixes itself upon some +poor Sinbad in the shape of a whelk, and rides about at its ease in search +of food. Another interesting variety of this zoophyte is the plumose +sea-anemone, a more stay-at-home animal, which generally fixes itself upon +a flat rock or an oyster-shell, and waits for the food to come to it, as +your London housewife expects the butcher and baker to call in the +morning. + +The pure white body of the neighbouring actinia renders it more +observable. Its tentacles, displayed in plumes over the central mouth, +which is marked with yellow, give it the exact appearance of a +chrysanthemum, and should be much in favour with the mermaids to adorn +their hair. A still more extraordinary creature is the _Tabella +ventilabrum_. The tube of this strange animal is perfectly straight, and +its large brown silk-like radiating fans, whilst in search of food, +revolve just as the old-fashioned whirling ventilators did in our windows. +The instant this fan is touched it is retracted into the tube, the ends +just appearing outside, and giving it the appearance of a camel's-hair +brush. + +We shall not attempt to describe the different species of zoophytes and +annelides, amounting to hundreds--indeed, they are not all familiar to +scientific men. We have little more to say of the crustacea that go +scrambling about, yet it would be impossible to overlook that peripatetic +whelk-shell, which climbs about the stones with such marvellous activity. +On a narrower inspection we perceive that it moves by a foreign agency. +Those sprawling legs protruding from its mouth discover the hermit crab, +which is obliged to dress its soft body in the first defensible armour it +can pick up. A deserted whelk or common spiral shell is its favourite +resort, but, like many bipeds, it has a love of changing its house; and +those who have narrowly watched its habits state that it will deliberately +turn over the empty shells upon the beach, and, after examining them +carefully with its claws, pop its body out of one habitation into another, +in order to obtain the best possible fit. But there are still stranger +facts connected with this intelligent little crustacean. We have before +observed that the parasitic sea-anemone invariably fixes itself when +possible upon this movable house, perfectly regardless of the many bumps +and rubs which necessarily fall to its lot. Another warm friend, the +cloak-anemone, clings still closer, for it perfectly envelopes the lip of +the shell with its living mantle. Our hermit has still a third intimate +acquaintance, who sponges upon him for bed and board, in the shape of a +beautiful worm, _Nereis bilineata_, which stows itself behind the crab in +the attic of the whelk-shell, and, the moment its protector by his motions +indicates that he has procured food, glides between the two left-foot +jaws, and drags a portion of the morsel from his mouth, the crab appearing +to evince no more animosity at the seizure than the Quaker who suddenly +finds his spoons taken for church-rates. The interesting specimens we have +dwelt upon are confined to the sea-water tanks, which line the Aquarium on +the side opposite the door, and those which run down the centre of the +apartment. _Vis-à-vis_ are the fresh-water tanks, in which we may watch +the habits of British fishes. There is a noble pike lying as still as a +stone--a model sitter for the photographer who lately took his portrait. +The barbel, bream, dace, and gudgeon are seen going about their daily +duties as though they were at the bottom of the Thames, instead of +sandwiched between two panes of glass, and inspected on either side by +curious eyes. Those who go early in the morning will have a chance of +seeing the lampreys hanging like leeches from the glass by their circular +mouths, and breathing by the seven holes which run beside their pectoral +fins. The marine fish should also be studied; strange forms with +vicious-looking jaws, the dog-fish for example, which is a young fry as +yet, but which will grow a yard or two in length. + +At the east end of the building the alligators' pool discovers here and +there a floating reptile's head, the outline of which reminds us of the +hippopotamus. In both cases the habit of resting in the water with the +head and body almost entirely submerged necessitates a raised form of the +nostril and eyesocket, in order to allow the animal to see and breathe. A +similar formation of the face is observable in the wart hog (in another +portion of the gardens), which wallows up to its eyes in slush and mire. +The alligators have the tank to themselves, with the exception of a +couple of turtles, which are too hard nuts for even them to crack. + +The council has only established the aquarium a few years, and already it +is well stocked with specimens of British zoophytes and annelides, for the +most part dredged from the neighbourhood of Weymouth. If these are so +beautiful, what must be the wonders of the deep sea in tropical climates? +Who knows what strange things a bold adventurer might pick up who, like +Schiller's diver, would penetrate the horrid depths of the whirlpool, not +for the jewelled cup of the monarch, but for the hidden living treasures +nature has planted there? Doubtless, among the rusty anchors and +weed-clung ribs of long-lost armadas, there nestle gigantic zoophytes and +enormous starfish, which would make the fortune of the Gardens in a single +season. At all events, we hope to see the aquarium greatly extended, as it +will afford the means of studying a department of natural history of which +we have hitherto been almost wholly in the dark. + +If we pursue our walk down the broad path which skirts the paddocks +enclosing the deer and llamas, we cannot help being struck with the fact +that the finest half of the gardens--that which is open to the setting +sun--is not yet built on, whilst the more exposed portion is +inconveniently crowded. The reason is, that the Commissioners of the Woods +and Forests will not allow any permanent buildings to be erected on these +parts, for what cause we cannot tell. We trust the prohibition will be +withdrawn, and that we shall see constructed here an enclosed +exercising-ground for the poor confined inhabitants of the terrace-dens. +At the northern extremity of the path we have been following we come upon +the paddock and pool dedicated to cranes and storks. What spectre birds +have we got among? See yonder, on the very edge of the pool, the gaunt +adjutant, his head muffled up in his shoulders, looking like some +traveller attempting to keep his nose warm in the east wind. They say +every man has his likeness among the lower animals, and we have seen +plenty of adjutants waiting on a winter's night for the last omnibus. What +an elegant gentleman seems the Stanley crane beside him! There is as much +difference between the two as between a young guardsman in full dress at +the opera and the night cabman huddled up in the multitudinous capes of +his great-coat. A third claimant for our admiration steps forward like a +dancing-master, now bending low, now with the aid of his wings lifting +himself on the light fantastic toe, now advancing, now poussetting, and +all the time calling attention to his grotesque but not altogether +inelegant attitudes by a peculiar cry. We defy the gravest spectator to +watch the beautiful crowned crane at his antics without laughing. But we +hear the lady beside us exclaiming, "Is it possible that the Maraboo +feathers which so often gracefully sway in obeisance before the queen, +were ever portions of such ugly birds as these?" Unlikely as it may seem, +it is verily from these dirty ill-favoured looking Maraboo storks that +this fashionable plumage is procured. Close by, sitting upon a stone, we +see the melancholy-looking heron, and the audacious sparrows hop within a +foot of his legs, so inanimate he seems. Ah! it is the vile deceit of the +bird: in an instant he has stricken the intruder with his bill, and the +next the sparrow has disappeared down his throat. That elegant grey crane +is the "native companion" from Australia, so called from his love of +consorting with man in that country. We all know what familiars cranes and +storks are in Holland and the East, where they build on the chimney-pots +without the slightest fear; and we are glad to find that they possess the +same confidence in the savages of the New World. They are handsome birds, +but not richly plumed as the European crane, with his black and white +feathers and full-clustered tail. Once these cranes were common here, when +"England was merrie England;" that is, before windmills and steam-engines +were set to work to rescue many counties from a state of marsh. With +civilization they utterly disappeared from the land, and with civilization +we once more find them amongst us--a sight to gaze at. Not long since the +odd population of this paddock embraced a secretary-bird, whose velvet +breeches, white stockings, and reserved air gave him an official +appearance worthy of Somerset House in the last century. Take care, little +girl, how you feed them; a charge with fixed bayonets is scarcely more +formidable than the rush of sharp long bills through the railings which +immediately follows a display of provisions. + +A few steps take us to the magnificent aviary, 170 feet in length, +constructed in 1851, through the nineteen divisions of which a pure stream +of water is constantly flowing, and the space enclosed by iron netting is +so spacious that the birds have room freely to use their wings. The first +compartment contains two of the rarities of the gardens--the satin +bower-bird and the Tallagulla or brush-turkey. The former, a bird of a +shining blue-black colour, is the only remaining one of three brought to +this country in 1849. Immediately upon their arriving in the gardens they +commenced the construction of one of their bowers or "runs," which, +according to the secretary, has been constantly added to and re-arranged +from that period to the present time. The bower is, perhaps, one of the +most extraordinary things in bird-architecture, as it is constructed not +for the useful purpose of containing the young, but purely as a +playing-place--a decorated ball-room, in fact, wherein the young couple +flirt and make love previous to entering upon connubial life. The bower is +constructed, in the present instance, from the twigs of an old besom, in +the shape of a horse-shoe; or perhaps we should convey a better idea of it +by stating that the sticks are bent into a shape like the ribs of a +man-of-war, the top being open, and the length varying from six to twelve +inches. Against the sides, and at the entrance of the bower, the bird, in +a state of nature, places bright feathers, snail-shells, bleached +bones--anything, in fact, containing colour. When it is remembered that +Australia is the very paradise of parrots and gaudy-plumaged birds, it +will be seen that the little artist cannot lack materials to satisfy his +taste for ornament; nevertheless, we are told he goes for a considerable +distance for some of his decorations. When the structure is completed, he +sits in it to entice the female, fully aware, no doubt, that the fair are +attracted by a handsome establishment. Be that as it may, the couple +speedily commence running in and out of it, with as much sense, and +probably with as much enjoyment, as light-heeled bipeds perform a galop. +The consequence, however, of the male bird being bereft of his +companions, he seems careless of his bower, which is in a most forlorn +condition--a ball-room, in fact, a day after a _fête_. May a new companion +speedily arrive and induce him to put his house once more in order! The +satin bower-bird, like the magpie, is well-known by the natives to be a +terrible thief; and they always search his abode for any object they may +have lost. "I myself," says Mr. Gould, in his account of these birds, +"found at the entrance of one of them a small neatly-worked stone tomahawk +of an inch and a half in length, together with some slips of blue cotton +rags, which the birds had, doubtless, picked up at a deserted encampment +of the natives." + +Scarcely a less interesting bird is the brush-turkey. In appearance it is +very like the common black turkey, but is not quite so large; the +extraordinary manner in which its eggs are hatched constitutes its +singularity. It makes no nest, in the usual acceptation of the term, but +scratches decayed vegetable matter into a pyramid with its feet. It then +carefully dibbles in its eggs at regular intervals, with the small end +downward, and covers them over with the warm fermenting gatherings. The +pair in the gardens, shortly after they were received from Australia, +commenced making one of these hatching-mounds, which, by the time it was +finished, contained upwards of four cart-loads of leaves and other +vegetable matter. After the female had deposited sixteen eggs, each +measuring not less than four inches in length--an enormous size, +considering the bulk of the bird--the male began to keep watch over this +natural Eccaleobion, and every now and then scratched away the rubbish to +inspect them. After six weeks of burial, the eggs, in succession, and +without any warning, gave up their chicks--not feeble, but full-fledged +and strong: an intelligent keeper told us that he had seen one fly up out +of the ground at least five feet high. At night the chicks scraped holes +for themselves, and, lying down therein, were covered over by the old +birds, and thus remained until morning. The extraordinary strength of the +newly-hatched bird is accounted for by the size of the shell, which +contains sufficient nutriment to nourish it until it is lusty. +Unfortunately, all the young but one have perished through various +accidents quite independently of temperature; and the next brood will +probably be reared. As both the flesh and the eggs of these birds are +delicious, the council is anxious to naturalize them among us. In fact, +one of the objects of the gardens, under their enlightened management, is +to make it what Bacon calls in his "Atlantis," "a tryal place for beasts +and fishes." For centuries a system of extermination has been adopted +towards many indigenous animals; the wolf and buzzard have quite +disappeared, and the eagle is fast being swept away even from the +highlands of Scotland--so rapidly, indeed, that Mr. Gordon Cumming is +anxious, we hear, for the formation of a society for the protection of its +eggs. Noxious animals have been replaced by the acclimatization of many of +the foreign fauna, which are either distinguished for their beauty or +valuable for their flesh. This transfer, which adds so much to the +richness of the country, can be vastly accelerated through the agency of +these gardens, which are a kind of "tryal ground" for beasts, as the +fields of some of our rich agriculturists are for foreign roots and +grasses, in which those likely to be of service can be discovered, and +afterwards distributed throughout the land. + +If we may quote the brush-turkeys as instances of birds capable of +affording a new kind of delicate and easily-reared food, the splendid +Impegan pheasants, close at hand, bred here from a pair belonging to her +Majesty, and which endure, in the open air, the rigour of winter, may be +looked upon as "things of beauty," which may be produced among us to charm +the eye. The elands, again, on the north side of the garden, which have +bred so prolifically, and made flesh so rapidly, have been with advantage +turned out into our parks, where their beautiful forms prove as attractive +to the eye as their venison, of the finest quality, do to the taste. + +But we can no longer tarry to speculate further on the riches of this +aviary, which contains rare specimens of birds from all parts of the +world. Passing along the path which takes us by the north entrance, we +reach the pelicans' paddock, in which we see half a dozen of these +ungainly creatures, white and grey, with pouches beneath their bills as +capacious as the bag of a lady's work-table. The visitor may sometimes +have an opportunity of witnessing an explanation of the popular myth that +the old bird feeds its young from the blood of its own breast. This idea +evidently arose from the fact that it can only empty the contents of its +pouch into the mouths of its young by pressing it against its breast, in +the act of doing which the feathers often became insanguined from the +blood of the mangled fish within it. The close observance of birds and +beasts in zoological collections has tended to reduce many fabulous tales +to sober reason. On the other side of the walk may be seen in immature +plumage one of the red flamingoes from South America, which are said to +simulate so closely a regiment of our soldiers, as they stand in rows +fishing beside the banks of rivers; and here, too, are the delicate +rose-colour specimens of the Mediterranean, which are likewise exceedingly +beautiful. Those accustomed to navigate the Red Sea frequently witness +vast flights of these birds passing and re-passing from Arabia to Egypt; +and we are informed by a traveller that on one occasion, when he had a +good opportunity of measuring the column, he convinced himself that it was +upwards of a mile in length! What a splendid spectacle to see the pure +eastern sky barred by this moving streak of brilliant colour! + +But we have not yet explored the north side of the grounds, where the huge +pachydermatous animals are lodged. The difficulty caused by the +carriage-drive running between the two gardens has been vanquished by +means of the tunnel, the ascent from which on the opposite side, flanked +as it is with graceful ferns, is one of the most charming portions of the +grounds on a hot summer's day. If after passing through the subterranean +passage we turn to the right, we come immediately upon the reptile-house. +Unless the visitor selects his time, he will generally find little to +amuse him here. The great snakes have either retired from public life +under their blankets, or lie coiled upon the branches of trees in their +dens. The reptiles are offered food once a week, but will not always feed +at this interval. One huge python fasted the almost incredible time of +twenty-two months, having probably prepared himself for his abstinence by +a splendid gorge. After a fast of seven days, however, the majority of the +serpents regain their appetites. Three o'clock is the feeding-time, and +the reptiles which are on the look-out seem to know full well the errand +of the man who enters with the basket, against the side of which they hear +the fluttering wings of the feathered victims and the short stamp of the +doomed rabbits. The keeper opens the door at the back of the den of the +voluminous serpents on our right--for of these there is no fear,--takes +off their blanket, and drops in upon the clattering pebbles a scampering +rabbit, who hops from side to side, curious to inspect his new habitation; +presently, satisfied, he sits on his haunches and leisurely begins to wash +his face. Silently the rock-snake glides over the stones, uncurling his +huge folds, which, like a cable, seem to move as though by some agency +from without, looks for an instant upon his unconscious victim, and the +next has seized him with his cruel jaws. His constricting folds are +twisted as swiftly as a whip-lash round his shrieking prey, and for ten +minutes the serpent lies still, maintaining his mortal knot until his prey +is dead, when, seizing him by the ears, he draws him through his vice-like +grip, crushing every bone, and elongating the body preparatory to +devouring it. The boa and the rock-snake always swallow their prey head +foremost. How is that fine neck and delicate head to make room for that +bulky rabbit? thinks the spectator. Presently he sees the jaws gape, and +slowly the reptile _draws himself over_, rather than swallows, his prey, +as you draw a stocking upon your leg. The huge lump descends lower and +lower beneath the speckled scales, which seem to stare with distension, +and the monster coils himself up once more to digest his meal in quiet. +Rabbits and pigeons form the food of the pythons in these gardens. While +the smaller birds are preyed upon in the reptile-house, their big +brothers, the storks in the paddock, are reciprocating the law of nature +by eating snakes. As we pass to the opposite side of the serpent-room, +where the venomous kinds are kept, we perceive that a more cautious +arrangement is made for feeding. The door opens at the top instead of at +the sides of their dens, and with good reason; for no sooner does the +keeper remove with a crooked iron rod the blanket from the cobra, than the +reptile springs, with inflated hood, into an S-like attitude, and darts +laterally at his enemy. He seems incapable of striking well any object +above or below his level: watch, for instance, that guinea-pig: again and +again he dashes at it, but misses his aim; now he hits it, but only to +drive the poor frightened creature with a score of flying pebbles before +him: when at last he succeeds in piercing the sides of his victim, tetanic +spasms immediately commence, and it dies convulsed in a few seconds. It is +said by those who have watched venomous snakes, that the manner of dying +exhibited by their stricken prey discloses the nature of the reptile that +inflicted the poisoned wound. It is scarcely necessary to state that the +popular idea that the tongue darts forth the venom is a fallacy. The +poison is contained in glands which lie at the root of the fangs on either +side, and, by the compression of the powerful muscles which make the head +appear so broad and flat, it is forced into the fine tube which runs at +the sides of the fang, and finds its exit near the point by a minute +opening. The cobra at present in the collection, with its skin a glossy +black and yellow, its eye black and angry, its motions agile and graceful, +seems to be the very personification of India. As we watch it when ready +to spring, we suddenly remember that only a film of glass stands between +us and "pure death." But there is nothing to fear: the python, in the +adjoining room, which weighs a hundred and twenty pounds, being incensed +on his first arrival at being removed from his box, darted with all his +force at a spectator. Yet the pane of glass had strength enough to bring +him up, and he fell back so bruised about the head and muzzle by the +collision, that he could not feed well for several months. The cobra that +we see is the same that destroyed its keeper. In a fit of drunkenness, the +man, against express orders, took the reptile out, and, placing its head +inside his waistcoat, allowed it to glide round his body. When it had +emerged from under his clothes from the other side, apparently in good +humour, he squeezed its tail, when it struck him between his eyes; in +twenty minutes his consciousness was gone, and in less than three hours he +was dead. Before we leave this reptile-room, let us peep for a moment into +the little apartment opening from the corner, where, hanging from the +wall, we see all the cast-off dresses of the serpents. If the keeper will +allow us to handle one of them for a moment, we shall see that it is +indeed an entire suit of light-brown colour and of gauzy texture, which +covered not only the body and head, but the very eyeballs of the wearer. + +The Python-house on the other side of the Museum contains two enormous +serpents. The adventures of one of them--the _Python reticulatus_--deserve +to be written: when small enough to be placed in the pocket, he was, with +a companion now no more, taken from Ceylon to Brazil by American sailors; +they were then exhibited in most of the maritime towns of South America, +and were publicly sold for a high price at Callao to the captain of a +ship, who brought them to the gardens, and demanded £600 for the pair; +fully persuaded of their enormous value, he had paid £30 to insure them on +the voyage, and it was not until he had long and painfully cogitated that +he agreed to sell them for £40. We have before referred to the +extraordinary length of time a python has been known to fast without +injury. Their fancies as well as their fastings are rather eccentric. +Every one has heard of the snake which swallowed his blanket, a meal which +ultimately killed him. A python who had lived for years in a friendly +manner with a brother nearly as large as himself, was found one morning +solus. As the cage was secure, the keepers were puzzled to know how the +serpent had escaped: at last it was observed that the remaining inmate had +swollen remarkably during the night, when the horrid fact became plain +enough; the fratricide had succeeded in swallowing the entire person of +his brother; it was his last meal, however, for in some months he died. A +friend informs us that he once saw in these gardens a rat-snake of Ceylon +devour a common _Coluber natrix_. The rat-snake, however, had not taken +the measure of his victim, as by no effort could he dispose of the last +four inches of his tail, which stuck out rather jauntily from the side of +his mouth, with very much the look of a cigar. After a quarter of an hour, +the tail began to exhibit a retrograde motion, and the swallowed snake was +disgorged, nothing the worse for his living sepulchre, with the exception +of the wound made by his partner when first he seized him. The ant-eater, +who lately inhabited the room leading out of the python apartment, has +died of a want of ants. + +As we issue again into the open air, we have before us the whole length of +the avenue, arched with lime-trees, in summer a veritable isle of verdure. +What a charming picture it used to be to see the docile elephant pacing +towards us with ponderous and majestic steps, whilst, in the scarlet +howdha, happy children swayed from side to side as she marched. She, who +was our delight for so many years, died some time since of a storm of +thunder and lightning. Such indeed was what may seem at first the singular +verdict of the medical man who made his _post mortem_. The terror, +however, inspired by the storm appears to have produced some nervous +disease, under which she succumbed. There is a suspicion that the carcase, +five thousand pounds and upwards in weight, which was disposed of to the +nackers, ultimately found its way to the sausage-makers. Do not start, +good reader; elephant's flesh is considered excellent eating by the tribes +of South Africa, and the lion-slayer tells us that the feet are a true +delicacy. He used to eat them as we do Stilton cheese, scooping out the +interior and leaving the rind; he exhibited to his audience some of these +relics, which looked like huge leather fire-buckets. And now we have only +the young animal left, that once sucked his huge mother, to the delight of +the crowd of children, and to the disgust of the rhinoceros, who is the +sworn enemy to all elephants. The little one is growing apace, however, +and has already been promoted to carry the long-deserted howdha. The +rhinoceros, close at hand, is the successor of the fine old fellow +purchased in 1836 for 1,050_l._, the largest sum ever given by the society +for a single animal. The specimen now in the gardens cost only 350_l._ in +1850, so much do these commodities fluctuate in value. His predecessor, +who departed this life full of years, was constantly forced upon his belly +by a pugnacious elephant, who pressed his tusks upon the back of his +neighbour when he came near the palings which separated their inclosures. +This rough treatment appears to have led to his death, as Professor Owen +found, on dissecting the massive brute, which weighed upwards of two tons, +that the seventh rib had been fractured at the bend near the vertebral +end, and had wounded the left lung. + +Not far from the picturesque house built by Decimus Burton, in one of the +cages fronting the office of the superintendent of the gardens, is to be +seen a beaver. The wonderful instinct of this little animal is certainly +not inferior to that of the huge elephant. As yet he has not been placed +in circumstances to enable the public to witness his building capacities; +but it is the intention, we understand, of the Council to give him a +stream of running water and the requisite materials to construct one of +those extraordinary dams for which this animal is so famous. In Canada, +where he used to flourish, the backwoodsmen often came upon hill-sides +completely cleared of good-sized trees by colonies of these little +creatures, who employed the felled timber to construct their dams--dams, +not of a few feet in length, but sometimes of a hundred and fifty feet, +built according to the best engineering formula for resisting the pressure +of water, namely, in an angle with its apex pointed up the stream, and +gradually narrowing from base to summit. In short, Mr. Brunel himself +could not outdo your beaver in his engineering operations. Even in +confinement this sagacious Rodent loves to display his skill, as we may +learn from Mr. Broderip's account of his pet Binney:-- + + "Its building instinct," says that accomplished naturalist, "showed + itself immediately it was let out of its cage, and materials were + placed in its way, and this before it had been a week in its new + quarters. Its strength, even before it was half-grown, was great, it + would drag along a large sweeping-brush, or a warming-pan, grasping + the handle with its teeth, so that the load came over its shoulder, + and advancing in an oblique direction till it arrived at the part + where it wished to place it. The long and large materials were always + taken first; and two of the longest were generally laid crosswise, + with one of the ends of each touching the wall, and their other ends + projecting out into the room. The area caused by the cross-brushes and + the wall he would fill up with hand-brushes, rush baskets, books, + boots, sticks, cloths, dried turf, or anything portable. As the work + grew high, he supported himself on his tail, which propped him up + admirably; and he would often, after laying on one of his building + materials, sit up over against it, appearing to consider his work, or, + as the country people say, 'judge it.' This pause was sometimes + followed by changing the position of the materials, and sometimes they + were left in their place. After he had piled up his materials in one + part of the room (for he generally chose the same place), he proceeded + to wall up the space between the feet of a chest of drawers which + stood at a little distance from it, high enough on its legs to make + the bottom a roof for him, using for this purpose dried turf and + sticks, which he laid very even, and filling up the interstices with + bits of coal, hay, cloth, or anything he could pick up; the last place + he seemed to appropriate for his dwelling, the former work seemed to + be intended for a dam. When he had walled up the space between the + feet of the chest of drawers, he proceeded to carry in sticks, cloths, + hay, cotton, and to make a nest; and when he had done, he would sit up + under the drawers, and comb himself with the nails of his hind feet." + +Well done, Binney! If the beaver in the garden will only work out his +natural instincts as perfectly, we may expect some amusement. Up to a late +period the beaver had become rather a scarce animal, the exigencies of +fashion having nearly exterminated him. When silk hats came in, however, +the annual slaughter of hundreds of thousands of his race, for the sake of +the fur, gradually slackened, and now he is beginning to increase in his +native retreats,--a singular instance this of the fashions of Paris and +London affecting the very existence of a prolific race of animals in the +New World! In the very next compartment is a hare, who for years played +the tambourine in the streets of the metropolis, but his master, finding +that his performances did not draw, exchanged him at these gardens for a +monkey; and now, whilst he eats his greens in peace, poor Jacko, in a red +cloak and a feathered cap, has probably to earn his daily bread by +mimicking humanity on the top of a barrel-organ. But the hippopotamus +surges into his bath in the inclosure as we pause, and there is a rush of +visitors to see the mighty brute performing his ablutions. He no longer +gives audience to all the fair and fashionable folks of the town. Alas for +the greatness of this world! the soldier-crab and the Esop prawn now draw +better "houses." Whether or no this desertion has embittered his temper, +we cannot say, but he has certainly lost his amiability, notwithstanding +that he still retains the humorous curl-up of the corners of his mouth +which Doyle used to hit off so inimitably. At times, indeed, he is +perfectly furious, and his vast strength has necessitated the +reconstruction of his house on a much stronger plan. Those only who have +seen him rush with extended jaws at the massive oaken door of his +apartment, returning again and again to the charge, and making the solid +beams quiver as though they were only of inch-deal, can understand the +dangerous fits which now and then are exhibited by a creature, who was so +gentle, when he made his _début_, that he could not go to sleep without +having his Arab keeper's feet to lay his neck upon. This affection for his +nurse has undergone a great change, for, on Hamet's countryman and +coadjutor, Mohammed, making his second appearance with the young female +hippopotamus, Obaysch very nearly killed him in the violence of his rage. +He has a peculiar dislike to the sight of working men, especially if they +are employed in doing any jobs about his apartment. The smith of the +establishment happening one day to be passing along the iron gallery which +runs across one side of his bath, the infuriated animal leapt out of the +water, at least eight feet high, and would speedily have pulled the whole +construction down, had not the man run rapidly out of his sight. We trust +his temper will improve when his young bride in the adjoining room is +presented to him; but she is as yet but a baby behemoth, although growing +fast. The enormously strong iron railings in front of his apartments are +essential to guard against the rushes he sometimes makes at persons he +does not like. Look at that huge mouth, opened playfully to receive +nic-nacs! What is a bun or a biscuit to him? Down that huge throat goes +one hundred pounds weight of provender daily. Surely the dragon of Wantley +had not such a gullet. + +The giraffes in the adjoining apartment have been in the gardens so long +that they are no longer thought a rarity; but it should be remembered that +the four procured in 1835 from Khordofan by the agent of the society were, +like the hippopotamus, the first ever exhibited in Europe since the days +of ancient Rome. Of these only one female now remains; but very many have +been bred in the gardens, and have continued in excellent health. At the +present moment three of their progeny are housed in the apartment we are +entering. The finest, a male, is a noble fellow, standing nearly seventeen +feet high. When he strides out into the inclosure, high up as the trees +are protected by boarding, he yet manages to browse as in his African +forests, and it is then that the visitor sees the full beauty of the +beast, which is lost in the house. The giraffe, in spite of his mild and +melancholy look, which reminds us forcibly of the camel, yet fights +ferociously with his kind at certain seasons of the year. Two males once +battled here so furiously that the horn of one of them was actually driven +into the head of the other. Their method of fighting is very peculiar: +stretching out their fore and hind legs like a rocking-horse, they use +their heads, as a blacksmith would a sledgehammer, and swinging the +vertebral column in a manner calculated, one would think, to break it, +they bring the full force of the horns to bear upon their antagonist's +skull. The blow is severe in the extreme, and every precaution is taken to +prevent these conflicts. + +As we pass along a narrow corridor in which the ostriches are confined, we +reach at length the last inhabitant of the garden, and the most curious +creature, perhaps, which it contains. If the keeper is at hand, he will +open the door of the box in which it lives, and drive out for us the +bewildered-looking apteryx--the highest representative, according to +Professor Owen, of the warm-blooded class of animals that lived in New +Zealand previous to the advent of man. Strange and chaotic-looking as are +most of the living things brought from Australia and the adjacent islands, +this creature is certainly the oddest of the bird class, and is, we +believe, the only one ever seen out of New Zealand. As it vainly runs into +the corners and tries to hide itself from the light of day, we perceive +that it is wingless and tailless; it looks, in short, like a hedgehog +mounted upon the dwarfed yet powerful legs of an ostrich, whilst its long +bill, which seems as though it had been borrowed from a stork, is employed +when the bird leans forward, to support it, just as an old man uses a +stick. This strange creature seems to hold among the feathered bipeds of +Polynesia a parallel position to the New Holland mole (_Ornithorhynchus +paradoxicus_)--which possesses the bill and webbed feet of a duck with the +claws of a land animal--among the quadrupeds. Mr. Gould remarks that +nature affords an appropriate vegetation to each class of animal life. Our +universal mother seems to have matched her Flora to her Fauna in this +portion of the globe; at least, the paradoxical creatures we have +mentioned seem in happy accord with Australian vegetation, where the +stones grow outside the cherries, and the pear-shaped fruits depend from +the branch with their small ends downwards! The apteryx is entirely +nocturnal in its habits, pursuing its prey in the ground by smell rather +than by sight; to enable it to do which, the olfactory openings are placed +near the point of the beak. Thus the bird scents the worm on which it +feeds far below the surface of the ground. We must not regard the apteryx +as an exceptional creature, but rather as the type of a large class of +birds peculiar to the islands of New Zealand, which have been destroyed, +like the dodo in the Mauritius, since the arrival of man. Professor Owen, +long before the apteryx arrived in England, pronounced that a single bone +found in some New Zealand watercourse had belonged to a wingless, tailless +bird that stood at least twelve feet high.[9] This scientific conjecture +has lately been transformed into a certainty by the discovery of a number +of bones, which demonstrate that several species of Moas once roamed among +the fern-clad islands which stud the bright Polynesian ocean. These bones +have been found mixed with those of the apteryx, which thus becomes linked +to a race of mysterious creatures, which, it is supposed, have long passed +away, although a tale is told--an American one, it is true--of an +Englishman having come across a dinornis, whilst out on its nocturnal +rambles, and of his having fled from it with as much terror as though it +had been a griffin of old. + +Our walk through the gardens has only enabled us to take a cursory glance +at a few of the 1,300 mammals, birds, and reptiles at present located +there; but the duty of the zoologist is to dwell minutely on each. To such +these gardens have, for the last twenty-six years, been a very +fountain-head of information. During that time a grand procession of +animal life, savage and wild, has streamed through them, and for the major +part has gone to that "bourne from which no traveller returns." Let us +rank them, and pass them before us:-- + + Quadrumana 1,069 + Carnivora 1,409 + Rodentia 1,025 + Pachydermata 204 + Ruminantia 1,098 + Marsupialia 219 + Reptilia 1,861 + Aves 7,320 + +--making a total of 14,205. Out of this large number many curious animals +have doubtless left no trace; but through the care of the Council, no rare +specimen has died, within these five years at least, without previously +sitting for his portrait. The first part of the valuable collection of +coloured drawings, from the inimitable pencil of Mr. Wolf, accompanied by +a description from the pen of the late Mr. Mitchell, the editor of the +work, is published, under the title of "Zoological Sketches, &c.," and the +others will speedily follow. The work, when completed, will be unique in +the annals of zoology, both for the extreme beauty of the drawings, which +may be said to daguerreotype the subjects in their most characteristic +attitudes, and for the nature of the letterpress, which proves that the +editor has written from the life. + +This splendid collection has been got together by presents, purchase, +breeding, and exchanges. Out of the 14,205 specimens, however, which have +been in the possession of the society, scarcely a tithe were bought. The +Queen, especially, has been most generous in her presents, and the stream +of barbaric offerings in the shape of lions, tigers, leopards, &c., which +is continually flowing from tropical princes to the fair Chief of the +nation, is poured into these gardens. Her Majesty evidently pays no heed +to the superstition once common among the people, that a dynasty was only +safe as long as the lions flourished in the royal fortress. In fact, the +gardens are a convenience to our gracious monarch as well as to her +subjects; for wild animals are awkward things to have in one's back +premises. Neither must we overlook the reproduction which has taken place +in the gardens; to such an extent, indeed, has the stock increased, that +sales to a large amount are annually made. The system of exchanges which +exists between the various British and continental societies helps to +supply the garden with deficient specimens in place of duplicates. Very +rare, and consequently expensive animals, are generally purchased. Thus, +the first rhinoceros cost 1,000_l._; the four giraffes 700_l._, and their +carriage an additional 700_l._ The elephant and calf were bought in 1851 +for 800_l._; and the hippopotamus, although a gift, was not brought home +and housed at less than 1,000_l._--a sum which he more than realized in +the famous Exhibition season, when the receipts were 10,000_l._ above the +previous year. The lion Albert was purchased for 140_l._; a tiger in 1852 +for 200_l._ The value of some of the smaller birds will appear, however, +more startling: thus, the pair of black-necked swans were purchased for +80_l._ (they are now to be seen in the three-island pond); a pair of +crowned pigeons and two maleos, 60_l._; a pair of Victoria pigeons, +35_l._; four mandarin ducks, 70_l._ Most of these rare birds (now in the +great aviary) came from the Knowsley collection, at the sale of which, in +1851, purchases were made to the extent of 985_l._ It would be impossible +from these prices, however, to judge of the present value of the animals. +Take the rhinoceros, for example: the first specimen cost 1,000_l._; the +second, quite as fine a brute, only 350_l._ Lions range again from 40_l._ +to 180_l._, and tigers from 40_l._ to 200_l._ The price is generally ruled +by the state of the wild-beast market, and by the intrinsic rarity of the +creature. A first appearance in Europe, of course, is likely to draw, and +is therefore at the top price; but it is wonderful how demand produces +supply. Let any rare animal bring a crowd to the gardens, and in a +twelvemonth numbers of his brethren will be generally in the market. The +ignorance displayed by some persons as to the value of well-known objects +is something marvellous. We have already spoken of the sea captain who +demanded 600_l._ for a pair of pythons, and at last took 40_l._! On +another occasion, an American offered the society a grisly bear for +2,000_l._, to be delivered in the United States; and, more laughable +still, a moribund walrus, which had been fed for nine weeks on salt pork +and meal, was offered for the trifling sum of 700_l._! + +We could go on multiplying, _ad nauseam_, instances of this kind, but must +conclude the catalogue of absurdities by stating that there is a firm +belief on the part of many persons that it is the Zoological Society which +has proposed the large reward, which every one has heard of, for _the_ +tortoiseshell Tom. "The only one ever known" has been offered accordingly +at the exceedingly low figure of 250_l._ On one occasion a communication +was received from some person of consideration in Thuringia, requesting to +be informed of the amount of the proffered prize, which he was about to +claim. This was shortly followed by a letter from another person, +evidently written in a fury, cautioning the society against giving the +prize to the previous writer, as he was not the breeder of the cat, but +was only trying to buy it for less than its value, "in which he would +never succeed so long as the true breeder lived." To prevent further +applications on the behalf of growers of this unique animal, we may as +well state that tortoiseshell Toms may be had in many quarters. + +We have said that the value of animals depends upon the state of the +wild-beast market. "Wild-beast market!" exclaims the reader; "and where +can that be?" Every one knows that London can furnish anything for money; +and if any lady or gentleman wants lions or tigers, there are dealers in +Ratcliffe Highway and the adjacent parts, who have them on the premises, +and will sell them at five minutes' notice. They "talk as familiarly of +lions as ladies do of puppy dogs;" and a gentleman who purchased a bear of +one of them, lately informed us that the salesman coolly proposed that he +should take him home with him in a cab! We once had occasion to visit the +establishment of one of these dealers, and were shown up a ladder into a +cockloft, where, hearing a bumping, and perceiving a lifting motion in a +trap-door, we inquired the reason, which called forth the dry remark that +it was only three lions at play in a box below. Although these men +generally manage to secure their live stock in a satisfactory manner, yet +accidents will occur in the best-regulated lion-stores. A wild-beast +merchant, for instance, informed us that one night he was awakened by his +wife, who drew his attention to a noise in the back-yard, where he had +placed two lions on the previous evening. On putting his head out of the +window--his room was on the ground-floor--there were the lions loose, and, +with their paws on the window-sill, looking grimly in upon him. A good +whip and a determined air consigned Leo to his cage again without further +trouble. On another occasion this same man, hearing a noise in his back +premises, found to his horror that an elephant, with his pick-lock trunk, +had let out a hyæna and a nylghau from their cages, and was busy undoing +the fastenings of a den full of lions! The same resolute spirit, however, +soon restored order. Amateurs have not always the same courage or +self-possession, and they immediately have recourse to the garden-folks to +get them out of their difficulties, as a housekeeper would send to the +station-house on finding a burglar secreted in his cellar. On one occasion +a gentleman, who had offered a rattlesnake and its young to the gardens at +a high price, sent suddenly to the superintendent to implore immediate +assistance, as the said snake, with half a score venomous offspring, had +escaped from their box and scattered themselves in his nursery. The +possessor, to avoid worse losses, was only too glad to be rid of his +guests at any pecuniary sacrifice. + +We cannot close our survey without touching upon the cost of the +commissariat. The slaughtered beasts appropriated to the carnivora, we +have before stated, cost in the year 1854 no less a sum than 1,367_l._ +19s. 5d. If we go through the other items of food, we shall give some +notion of the expense and the variety of the banquet to which the animals +daily sat down during that year. Thus we see hay figures for 912_l._ 14s.; +corn, seeds, &c., 700_l._ 8s. 8d.; bread, buns, &c. (for the monkeys), +150_l._ 16s. 8d.; eggs, 87_l._ 4s. 1d. (for the ant-eater principally); +milk, 69_l._ 6s. 2d.; mangold-wurzel, carrots, and turnips, 22_l._ 6s.; +dog-biscuit, 135_l._ 19s. 10d. (for the bears and wolves and dogs +chiefly); fish (for the otters, seal, pelicans, &c.), 214_l._ 8s. 8d.; +green tares, 23_l._ 16s. 8d.; rabbits and pigeons (for the snakes), 33_l._ +13s. 2d.; rice and oil-cake, 66_l._ 15s.; sundries, including fruit, +vegetables, grasshoppers, snakes, mealworms, figs, sugar, &c. (for the +birds principally), 157_l._ 1s. 11d.: making a total of 3,942_l._ 8s. 3d.; +a great increase on the food bill of 1853, and which was caused entirely +by the advance of prices. + +The pitch of excellence to which the gardens have arrived has naturally +resulted in drawing the increased attention of the public towards them. We +have only to contrast, for instance, the number of people who entered in +the year 1848--the first in which a more liberal system of management came +into play--with those who passed in in 1854, to see that the establishment +flourishes under the auspices of the new management; for while in the +former year only 142,456 persons passed through the turnstiles, the number +had risen in the latter to 407,676. It is interesting to observe that, +although an increase of full 100 per cent. took place upon the privileged +and ordinary shilling visitors during that interval, yet that the +reduction of the admittance-charge to sixpence on Mondays and holidays was +the main cause of the gradual influx of visitors--the year 1848 showing +only 60,566 admittances of these holiday-folks and working-people, to +196,278 in 1854. Here, then, we have an increase of 135,712 persons, many +of whom were, no doubt, rescued, on those days at least, from the +fascinations of the public-house. With all this flood of life--the greater +portion of it undoubtedly belonging to the labouring-classes,--not the +slightest injury has been done to the gardens. A flower or two may have +been picked, but not by that class of Englishmen who were once thought too +brutal to be allowed access unwatched to any public exhibition. Every year +that passes over our heads proves that such shows as these are splendid +examples of the method of teaching introduced by Bell and Lancaster; that +they furnish instruction of a nature which is never forgotten, and which +refines at the same time that it delights. + + + + +RATS. + + +Boswell relates that the wits who assembled at the house of Sir Joshua +Reynolds to hear Grainger's poem on the "Sugar-cane" read in manuscript, +burst into laughter when, after much pompous blank-verse, a new paragraph +commenced with the invocation-- + + "Now, Muse, let's sing of rats." + +But if a mean topic for the bard, they are an interesting subject to the +naturalist, an anxious one to the agriculturist, and of some importance to +everybody. Though it was no easy matter to throw around them a halo of +poetry, and to elevate them into epic dignity--a difficulty which was +nowise surmounted by calling them, as Grainger subsequently did, "the +whisker'd vermin race"--yet there was nothing with which they had a more +serious practical connection than the "sugar-cane." It was reckoned that +in Jamaica they consumed a twentieth part of the entire crop, and 30,000 +were destroyed in one year in a single plantation. In fact, rats are to +the earth what sparrows are to the air--universally present. Unlike their +feathered analogues, we rarely see them, and consequently have little idea +of the liberality with which they are distributed over every portion of +the habitable globe. They swarm in myriads in the vast network of sewers +under our feet, and by means of our house-drains have free access to our +basements, under which they burrow; in the walls they establish a series +of hidden passages; they rove beneath the floors and the roof, and thus +establish themselves above, below, and beside us. In the remote islands +of the Pacific they equally abound, and are sometimes the only +inhabitants. But we shall not attempt to write the universal history of +the rat. It is enough if we narrate his doings in Great Britain. + +There are in England two kinds of land-rats--the old English black rat, +and the Norwegian or brown rat. According to Mr. Waterton, the black rat +is the native and proper inhabitant of the island; the brown rat not only +an interloper and exterminator, but a Whig rat--a combination which he +thinks perfectly consistent. In his charming essays on Natural History he +says-- + + "Though I am not aware that there are any minutes in the zoological + archives of this country which point out to us the precise time at + which this insatiate and mischievous little brute first appeared among + us, still there is a tradition current in this part of the country + (Yorkshire), that it actually came over in the same ship which + conveyed the new dynasty to these shores. My father, who was of the + first order of field naturalists, was always positive upon this point, + and he maintained firmly that it did accompany the House of Hanover in + its emigration from Germany to England." + +Having thus given the "little brute" a bad name, he pertinaciously hunts +him through the two volumes of his essays; nay, he does more, for, on +account of his Whiggism, he is the only wild animal banished for ever from +Waterton Hall, that happy home for all other fowls of the air and beasts +of the field, against which gamekeepers wage war as vermin. In Carpenter's +edition of Cuvier, however, an account is given of the brown rat, or +Surmulot, which, if true, entirely disposes of this pretty account of his +advent. We are there told that he originally came from Persia, where he +lives in burrows, and that he did not set out on his travels until the +year 1727, when an earthquake induced him to swim the Volga and enter +Europe by way of Astrakan.[10] When once he had set foot in England, he no +doubt treated his weaker brother and predecessor, the black rat, much as +the Stuart dynasty was treated by the house of Hanover. Though the black +rat was not himself an usurper, but rather an emigrant who took possession +of an unoccupied territory, his reign is also said by some to have been +contemporaneous with an earlier change in the royal line of England, for +he is asserted to have come over in the train of the Conqueror. He still +abounds in Normandy, and to this day is known in Wales under the name of +Llyoden Ffancon--the French mouse. + +Rats are no exception to the law which, Wordsworth says, prevails among +"all the creatures of flood and field." + + "The good old rule, + Sufficeth them--the simple plan, + That they should take who have the power, + And they should keep who can." + +But the black rat has kept more than is commonly imagined. Mr. Waterton is +mistaken when he adopts the popular notion that the old English breed +which came in with the Conqueror is almost totally annihilated by his +brown cousin. The first comer has no more been destroyed by the subsequent +invader than the Celt is annihilated by the triumphant Saxon. As we find +the former still holding their ground in Cornwall, Wales, and the +Highlands of Scotland, so we find the black rat flourishing in certain +localities. In the neighbourhood of the Tower, in Whitbread's brewery, and +in the Whitechapel sugar-refineries, he still holds his own, and woe be to +any brown trespasser who ventures into his precincts. The weaker animal +has learnt that union is strength, and, acting in masses, they attack +their powerful foe as fearlessly as a flight of swallows does a hawk; but +if an equal number of the two breeds are placed together in a cage without +food, the chances are that all the black rats will have disappeared before +morning, and, even though well fed, the brown Brobdingnags invariably eat +off the long and delicate ears of their little brethren, just as a +gourmand, after a substantial meal, amuses his appetite with a +wafer-biscuit. + +The rapid spread of the rat is due to the fearlessness with which he will +follow man and his commissariat wherever he goes. Scarcely a ship leaves +a port for a distant voyage but it takes in its complement of rats as +regularly as the passengers, and in this manner the destructive little +animal has not only distributed himself over the entire globe, but, like +an enterprising traveller, continually passes from one country to another. +The colony of four-footed depredators, which ships itself free of expense, +makes, for instance, a voyage to Calcutta, whence many of the body will +again go to sea, and land perhaps at some uninhabited island where the +vessel may have touched for water. In this manner many a hoary old +wanderer has circumnavigated the globe oftener than Captain Cook, and set +his paws on twenty different shores. The rat-catcher to the East-India +Company has often destroyed as many as five hundred in a ship newly +arrived from Calcutta. The genuine ship-rat is a more delicate animal than +the brown rat, and has so strong a resemblance to the old Norman breed, +that we cannot help thinking they are intimately related. The same fine +large ear, sharp nose, long tail, dark fur, and small size, characterize +both, and a like antipathy exists between them and the Norwegian species. +It is by no means uncommon to find distinct colonies of the two kinds in +the same ship--the one confining itself to the stem, the other to the +stern of the vessel. The same arrangement is often adopted in the +warehouses of seaports, the ship's company generally locating themselves +as near the water as possible, and the landsmen in the more inland portion +of the building. + +When rats have once found their way into a ship, they are secure as long +as the cargo is on board, provided they can command the great +necessary--water. If this is well guarded, they will resort to +extraordinary expedients to procure it. In a rainy night they will come on +deck to drink, and will even ascend the rigging to sip the moisture which +lies in the folds of the sails. When reduced to extremities, they will +attack the spirit-casks and get so drunk that they are unable to walk +home. The land-rat will, in like manner, gnaw the metal tubes which in +public-houses lead from the spirit-store to the tap, and is as convivial +on these occasions as his nautical relation. The entire race have a quick +ear for running liquid, and they constantly eat into leaden pipes, and, +much to their astonishment, receive a douche-bath in consequence. It is +without doubt the difficulty of obtaining water which causes them in many +cases to desert the ship the moment she touches the shore. On such +occasions they get, if possible, dry-footed to land, which they generally +accomplish by passing in Indian file along the mooring-rope, though, if no +other passage is provided for them, they will not hesitate to swim. In the +same manner they board ships from the shore, and so well are their +invading habits known to sailors, that it is common upon coming into port +to fill up the hawser holes, or else to run the mooring-cable through a +broom, the projecting twigs of which effectually stop the ingress of these +nautical quadrupeds. Their occupancy of the smaller bird-breeding islands +invariably ends in their driving away the feathered inhabitants, for they +plunder the nests of their eggs, and devour the young. The puffins have in +this way been compelled to relinquish Puffin's Island, off the coast of +Caernarvon. + +The ship-rat must not be confounded with the water-rat, which is an +entirely different species. The latter partakes of the habits of the +beaver, and is somewhat like him in appearance. He possesses the same +bluff head and long fur, in which are buried his diminutive ears. He +dwells in holes in the banks of rivers, which he constructs with a land +and water entrance to provide against destruction by the sudden rising of +the stream. This animal lives entirely upon vegetable food, which he will +now and then seek at some distance inland, and we suspect that to him may +be traced many of the devastations in the fruit and vegetable gardens for +which the poor sparrows get the blame. We have seen water-rats cross a +wide meadow, climb the stalks of the dwarf beans, and, after detaching the +pods with their teeth, shell their contents in the most workmanlike +manner. They will mount vines and feed on the grapes; and a friend informs +us that on one occasion he saw a water-rat go up a ladder which was +resting against a plum-tree, and attack the fruit. If a garden is near the +haunts of water-rats, it is necessary to watch narrowly for the holes +underneath the walls, for they will burrow under the foundation with all +the vigour of sappers and miners. Such is the cunning with which they +drive their shafts, that they will ascend beneath a stack of wood, a heap +of stones, or any other object which will conceal the passage by which +they obtain an entrance. The water-rat is, however, a rare animal compared +with its first-cousin, the common brown or Norway rat, which is likewise, +as Lord Bacon says of the ant, "a shrewd thing in a garden." They select, +according to Cobbett, the prime of the dessert--melons, strawberries, +grapes, and wall-fruit; and though they do but taste of each, it is not, +as he remarks, very pleasant to eat after them. Not many years since they +existed in millions in the drains and sewers of the metropolis. Several +causes have been in operation to diminish their numbers, and in some +quarters of the town almost wholly to extinguish them. In the first place, +the method of flushing the sewers lately adopted is exceedingly fatal to +them. When the sluices are opened, go they must with the rush of waters, +and they may be seen shot out by hundreds from the mouths of the culverts +in the Thames. The fact that rats are worth three shillings a dozen for +sporting purposes proves, however, the most certain means of their +destruction, for it insures their ceaseless pursuit by the great hunter, +man. The underground city of sewers becomes one vast hunting-ground, in +which men regularly gain a livelihood by capturing them. Before entering +the subterraneous world, the associates generally plan what routes they +will take, and at what point they will meet, possibly with the idea of +driving their prey towards a central spot. They go in couples, each man +carrying a lighted candle with a tin reflector, a bag, a sieve, and a +spade; the spade and sieve being used for examining any deposit which +promises to contain some article of value. The moment the rat sees the +light, he runs along the sides of the drain just above the line of the +sewage water; the men follow, and speedily overtake the winded animal, +which no sooner finds his pursuers gaining upon him, than he sets up a +shrill squeak, in the midst of which he is seized with the bare hand +behind the ears, and deposited in the bag. In this manner a dozen will +sometimes be captured in as many minutes. When driven to bay at the end +of a blind sewer, they will often fly at the boots of their pursuers in a +most determined manner. + +The favourite stronghold of the rat is that portion of the house-drain +which opens at right angles into the main sewer. Here he sits like a +sentinel, and in security watches with his keen but astonished eyes the +extraordinary apparition running with a light. It is a remarkable fact +that most untrapped house-drains are inhabited by their own particular +rats, and woe be to the intruder who ventures to interfere with those in +possession. The rat as well as the cat may thus be classed among the +domestic animals of the household, who acts as a kind of preventive puss +in keeping out the whole underground community of vermin, which otherwise +would have the run of our basements. + +These vermin congregate thickest in the neighbourhood of slaughter-houses, +or, in other words, where food is most plentiful. They are frequently +found sitting in clusters on the ledge formed by the invert of the sewers. +As the scavengers of drains, they undoubtedly do good service, but it is a +poor set-off for the mischief they perpetrate in destroying the brickwork +of the sewers--burrowing in every direction, and thus constructing lateral +cesspools, the contents of which permeate the ground and filter into the +wells. In making these excavations, moreover, they invariably transfer the +earth to the main sewers, and form obstructions to the flow. The +accumulations of their paw-work have regularly to be removed in small +trucks constructed for the purpose, and if this precaution were not taken, +they would in a few years entirely destroy the vast system of subterranean +culverts which have been laboriously constructed at the expense of +millions. The pipe-drains with smooth barrels, which the rat's tooth +cannot touch, alone baffle him; indeed, the rapid flow of water in their +narrow channel prevents his even retaining his footing in them. In revenge +for thus being circumvented, he has in many cases entirely ruined the +newly-laid channel of pipes by burrowing under them, and causing them to +dip and open at the joints. + +In France the sewer authorities hold an annual hunting-match, on which +occasion there is a grand capture of rats; these animals are not destined +to afford sport to the "fancy" under the tender manipulations of a dog +"Billy;" on the contrary, our neighbours have too much respect for the +integrity of his hide. We are informed that they have established a +company in Paris, upon the Hudson's Bay principle, to buy up all the rats +of the country for the sake of their skin. The soft nap of the fur when +dressed is of the most beautiful texture, far exceeding in delicacy that +of the beaver, and the hatters consequently use it as a substitute. The +hide is employed to make the thumbs of the best gloves, its elasticity and +texture rendering it preferable to kid. + +Parent Duchâtelet collected several particulars of the rats which in his +day frequented the knackers' yards at Montfaucon. Attracted by the +abundance of animal food, they increased so enormously that the +surrounding inhabitants, hearing that the government intended to remove +these establishments, were seized with apprehension lest the vermin, when +deprived of their larder, should spread through the neighbourhood, and, +like a flight of locusts, swallow up everything. The alarmists may even +have feared lest they should meet with a similar fate to that of the +Archbishop of Mayence, who, if old chronicles are to be believed, retired +to a tower in one of the isles of the Rhine to escape being devoured by a +host of these creatures whose appetites were set upon him, and who, +pertinaciously pursuing him to his retreat, succeeded in eating him up at +last. The report of the Commission instituted to inquire into the +circumstances of the Montfaucon case, showed that the apprehensions of +serious damage were by no means unfounded. + + "If the carcases of dead horses be thrown during the day in a corner, + the next morning they will be found stripped of their flesh. An old + proprietor of one of the slaughter-houses had a certain space of + ground entirely surrounded by walls, with holes only large enough for + the ingress and egress of rats. Within this inclosure he left the + carcases of two or three horses; and when night came, he went quietly + with his workmen, stopped up the holes, and then entered into the + inclosure, with a stick in one hand and a lighted torch in the other. + The animals covered the ground so thickly that a blow struck anywhere + did execution. By repeating the process after intervals of a few + days, he killed 16,050 rats in the space of one month, and 2,650 in a + single night. They have burrowed under all the walls and buildings in + the neighbourhood; and it is only by such precautions as putting + broken glass bottles round the foundation of a house attached to the + establishment, that the proprietor is able to preserve it. All the + neighbouring fields are excavated by them; and it is not unusual for + the earth to give way and leave these subterraneous works exposed. In + severe frost, when it becomes impossible to cut up the bodies of the + horses, and when the fragments of flesh are almost too hard for the + rats to feed upon, they enter the body and devour the flesh from the + inside, so that, when the thaw comes, the workmen find nothing below + the skin but a skeleton, better cleared of its flesh than if it had + been done by the most skilful operator. Their ferocity, as well as + their voracity, surpasses anything that can be imagined. M. Majendie + placed a dozen rats in a box in order to try some experiments; when he + reached home and opened the box, there were but three remaining; these + had devoured the rest, and had only left their bones and tails." + +We have been informed that these rats regularly marched in troops in +search of water in the dusk of the evening, and that they have often been +met in single file stealing beside the walls that lined the road to their +drinking-place. As the pavement in Paris overhangs the gutters, the rats +take advantage of this covered way to creep in safety from street to +street. Their migratory habits are well known, and every neighbourhood has +its tale of their travels. Mr. Jesse relates an anecdote, communicated to +him by a Sussex clergyman, which tends to prove that the old English rat +at least shows a consideration and care for its elders on the march which +is worthy of human philanthropy. "Walking out in some meadows one evening, +he observed a great number of rats migrating from one place to another. He +stood perfectly still, and the whole assemblage passed close to him. His +astonishment, however, was great when he saw amongst the number an old +blind rat, which held a piece of stick at one end in its mouth, while +another had hold of the other end of it, and thus conducted its blind +companion." A kindred circumstance was witnessed in 1757 by Mr. Purdew, a +surgeon's mate on board the _Lancaster_. Lying awake one evening in his +berth, he saw a rat enter, look cautiously round, and retire. He soon +returned leading a second rat, who appeared to be blind, by the ear. A +third rat joined them shortly afterwards, and assisted the original +conductor in picking up fragments of biscuit and placing them before their +infirm parent, as the blind old patriarch was supposed to be. It is only +when tormented by hunger that they appear to lose their fellow-feeling and +to prey upon one another. + +The sagacity of the rat in the pursuit of food is so great, that we almost +wonder at the small amount of its cerebral development. Indeed, he is so +cunning, and works occasionally with such human ingenuity, that accounts +which are perfectly correct are sometimes received as mere fables. +Incredible as the story may appear of their removing hens' eggs by one +fellow lying on his back and grasping tightly his ovoid burden with his +fore-paws, whilst his comrades drag him away by the tail, we have no +reason to disbelieve it, knowing as we do that they will carry eggs from +the bottom to the top of a house, lifting them from stair to stair, the +first rat pushing them up on its hind and the second lifting them with its +fore legs. They will extract the cotton from a flask of Florence oil, +dipping in their long tails, and repeating the manoeuvre until they have +consumed every drop. We have found lumps of sugar in deep drawers at a +distance of thirty feet from the place where the petty larceny was +committed: and a friend saw a rat mount a table on which a drum of figs +was placed, and straightway tip it over, scattering its contents on the +floor beneath, where a score of his expectant brethren sat watching for +the windfall. His instinct is no less shown in the selection of suitable +food. He attacks the portion of the elephant's tusks that abounds with +animal oil, in preference to that which contains phosphate of lime; and +the rat-gnawn ivory is selected by the turner as fitted for billiard-balls +and other articles where the qualities of elasticity and transparency are +required. Thus, the tooth-print of this little animal serves as a +distinguishing mark of excellence in a precious material devoted to the +decorative arts. The rat does not confine himself to inert substances: +when he is hard pressed for food, he will attack anything weaker than +himself. Frogs, Goldsmith says, had been introduced into Ireland some +considerable time before the brown rat, and had multiplied abundantly, but +they were pursued in their marshes by this indefatigable hunter, and eaten +clean from off the Emerald Isle. He does not scruple to assault domestic +poultry; though a rat which attempted to capture the chicken of a +game-fowl was killed by the mother with beak and spur in the course of +twelve minutes. The hen seized it by the neck, shook it violently, put out +an eye, and plainly showed that the fowl in a conflict would be the more +powerful of the two, if he was only equally daring. The number of young +ducks which the rats destroyed in the Zoological Gardens rendered it +necessary to surround the pools with a wire rat-fencing, which half-way up +has a pipe of wirework, the circle of which is not complete by several +inches in the under part, and the rat, unable to crawl along the concave +roof which stops his onward path, is compelled to return discomfited. + +The rats have been for a long time the pests of these gardens, attracted +by the presence of large quantities of food. The grating under one of the +tigers' dens is eaten through by this nimble-toothed burglar, who makes as +light of copper wire as of leaden pipes. Immediately upon the construction +of the new monkey-house, they took possession, and eat through the floors +in every direction to get at poor Jacko's bread. Vigorous measures were +taken to exclude them; the floors were filled in with concrete, and the +open roof was ceiled; but they quickly penetrated through the plaster of +the latter, as may be seen by the holes to this day. They burrowed in the +old inclosure of the wombat till the ground was quite rotten; and they +still march about the den of the rhinoceros and scamper over his +impregnable hide. It is only by constantly hunting them with terriers that +they can be kept down; and as many as a hundred in a fortnight are often +despatched, their carcases being handed over to the vultures and eagles. +Many of them seek in the daytime a securer retreat. They have frequently +been seen at evening swimming in companies across the canal to forage in +the gardens through the night, and in the morning they returned to their +permanent quarters by the same route. + +The proprietors of the bonded-wheat warehouses on the banks of the Thames +are forced to take the utmost precautions against the entrance of these +depredators; otherwise, they would troop in myriads from the sewers and +waterside premises, and, as they are undoubtedly in the habit of +communicating among their friends the whereabouts of any extraordinary +supplies, they would go on increasing day by day as the report of the good +news spread through rat-land. To repel their attentions, the wooden floors +and the under parts of the doors of the granaries are lined with +sheet-iron, and the foundations are sometimes set in concrete mixed with +glass--matters too hard for even their teeth to discuss. + +Country rats in the summer take to the fields, and create enormous havoc +among the standing corn. They nibble off the ears of wheat, and carry them +to their runs and burrows, where large stores have been found hoarded up +with all the forethought of the dormouse. Farmers are often puzzled to +account for the presence of rats in wheat stacks which have been placed +upon the most cunningly-contrived stands. The fact is, these animals are +tossed up with the sheaves to the rick, where they increase and multiply +at their leisure, and frequently to such an extent, that a rick, seeming +fair on the outside, is little better than a huge rat-pie. + +The propensity of the rat to gnaw must not be attributed altogether to a +reckless determination to overcome impediments. The never-ceasing action +of his teeth is not a pastime, but a necessity of his existence. The +writer of an interesting paper on rats in _Bentley's Miscellany_ has +explained so clearly the dentistry of the tribe, that we extract his +account:-- + + "The rat has formidable weapons in the shape of four small, long, and + very sharp teeth, two of which are in the upper and two in the lower + jaw. These are formed in the shape of a wedge, and by the following + wonderful provision of nature have always a fine, sharp, cutting edge. + On examining them carefully, we find that the inner part is of a soft, + ivory-like composition, which may be easily worn away, whereas the + outside is composed of a glass-like enamel, which is excessively hard. + The upper teeth work exactly into the under, so that the centres of + the opposed teeth meet exactly in the act of gnawing; the soft part is + thus being perpetually worn away, while the hard part keeps a sharp, + chisel-like edge; at the same time the teeth grow up from the bottom, + so that as they wear away a fresh supply is ready. The consequence of + this arrangement is, that, if one of the teeth be removed, either by + accident or on purpose, the opposed tooth will continue to grow + upwards, and, as there is nothing to grind them away, will project + from the mouth and turn upon itself; or, if it be an under-tooth, it + will even run into the skull above. There is a preparation in the + museum of the Royal College of Surgeons which well illustrates this + fact. It is an incisor tooth of a rat, which, from the cause above + mentioned, has increased its growth upwards to such a degree, that it + has formed a complete circle and a segment of another; the diameter of + it is about large enough to admit a good-sized thumb. It is + accompanied by the following memorandum, addressed by a Spanish priest + to Sir J. Banks, who presented it to the Museum: 'I send you an + extraordinary tooth of a rat. Believe me, it was found in the Nazareth + garden (to which order I belong). I was present when the animal was + killed, and took the tooth; I know not its virtues, nor have the + natives discovered them.'" + +We once saw a newly-killed rat to whom this misfortune had occurred. The +tooth, which was an upper one, had in this case also formed a complete +circle, and the point in winding round had passed through the lip of the +animal. Thus the ceaseless working of the rat's incisors against some hard +substance is necessary to keep them down, and if he did not gnaw for his +subsistence, he would be compelled to gnaw to prevent his jaw being +gradually locked by their rapid development. + +The destructive nature of the rat, the extraordinary manner in which he +multiplies, and his perpetual presence--for where there is a chink that he +can fill, and food for him to eat, there he will be, notwithstanding that +a long line of ancestors have one after another been destroyed on the +spot[11]--necessitates some counteracting influence to keep him within due +bounds. This is done by making him the prey of hunting-animals and +reptiles, beginning with man, and running down the chain of organized life +to the gliding snake. The poor rat, although he doubtless does service as +a scavenger, and must have his use in fulfilling some essential purpose of +creation, finds favour nowhere: every man's hand, nearly every feline paw, +and many birds' beaks are against him. The world thinks of him, as of the +pauper boy in "Oliver Twist,"--"Hit him hard; he ain't a'got no friends." +Dwelling in the midst of alarms, he might be supposed to pass an uneasy +and nervous existence. But it is nothing of the kind. The same Providence +which has furnished him with the teeth suitable to the work they have to +perform, has endowed him with the feelings proper to his lot; and no +animal, if he be watched from a distance, appears more happy and +complacent. In danger he preserves a wonderful presence of mind, and acts +upon the principle that while there is life there is hope. His cunning on +such occasions is often remarkable, and evinces a reasoning power of no +contemptible order:-- + + "A traveller in Ceylon," says Mrs. Lee, in her entertaining "Anecdotes + of Animals," "saw his dogs set upon a rat, and, making them relinquish + it, he took it up by the tail, the dogs leaping after it the whole + time. He carried it into his dining-room, to examine it by the light + of the lamp, during the whole of which period it remained as if it + were dead,--limbs hanging, and not a muscle moving. After five minutes + he threw it among the dogs, who were still in a state of great + excitement, and, to the astonishment of all present, it suddenly + jumped upon its legs, and ran away so fast that it baffled all its + pursuers." + +The sagacity of the rat in eluding danger is not less than his craftiness +in dealing with it when it comes. A gentleman, Mr. Jesse relates, who fed +his own pointers, observed through a hole in the door a number of rats +eating from the trough with his dogs, who did not attempt to molest them. +Resolving to shoot the intruders, he next day put the food, but kept out +the dogs. Not a rat came to taste. He saw them peering from their holes, +but they were too well versed in human nature to venture forth without the +protection of their canine guard. After half an hour the pointers were let +in, when the rats forthwith joined their hosts, and dined with them as +usual. If it comes to the worst, and the rat is driven to bay, he will +fight with admirable resolution. A good-sized sewer-rat has been known to +daunt for a moment the most courageous bull-terrier, advancing towards him +with tail erect, and inflicting wounds of the most desperate nature. The +bite of any rat is severe, and that of a sewer-rat so highly dangerous, +that valuable dogs are rarely allowed by their masters to fight them. The +garbage on which they live poisons their teeth, and renders the wounds +they make deadly. Even with his great natural enemy and superior, the +ferret, he will sometimes get the advantage by his steady bravery and the +superiority of his tactics. Mr. Jesse describes an encounter of the kind, +the circumstances of which were related to him by a medical gentleman at +Kingston:-- + + "Being greatly surprised that the ferret, an animal of such slow + locomotive powers, should be so destructive to the rat tribe, he + determined to bring both these animals fairly into the arena, in order + to judge of their respective powers; and having selected a fine large + and full-grown male rat and also an equally strong buck ferret, which + had been accustomed to hunt rats, my friend, accompanied by his son, + turned these two animals loose in a room without furniture, in which + there was but one window. Immediately upon being liberated, the rat + ran round the room as if searching for an exit. Not finding any means + of escape, he uttered a piercing shriek, and with the most prompt + decision took up his station directly under the light, thus gaining + over his adversary (to use the language of other duellists) _the + advantage of the sun_. The ferret now erected his head, sniffed about, + and began fearlessly to push his way towards the spot where the scent + of his game was strongest, facing the light in full front, and + preparing himself with avidity to seize upon his prey. No sooner, + however, had he approached within two feet of his watchful foe, than + the rat, again uttering a loud cry, rushed at him with violence, and + inflicted a severe wound on the head and neck, which was soon shown by + the blood which flowed from it; the ferret seemed astonished at the + attack, and retreated with evident discomfiture; while the rat, + instead of following up the advantage he had gained, instantly + withdrew to his former station under the window. The ferret soon + recovered the shock he had sustained, and, erecting his head, once + more took the field. This second rencontre was in all its progress and + results an exact repetition of the former--with this exception, that, + on the rush of the rat to the conflict, the ferret appeared more + collected, and evidently showed an inclination to get a firm hold of + his enemy; the strength of the rat, however, was very great, and he + again succeeded not only in avoiding the deadly embrace of the ferret, + but also in inflicting another severe wound on his neck and head. The + rat a second time returned to his retreat under the window, and the + ferret seemed less anxious to renew the conflict. These attacks were + resumed at intervals for nearly two hours, all ending in the failure + of the ferret, who was evidently fighting to a disadvantage from the + light falling full on his eye whenever he approached the rat, who + wisely kept his ground and never for a moment lost sight of the + advantage he had gained. In order to prove whether the choice of this + position depended upon accident, my friend managed to dislodge the + rat, and took his own station under the window; but the moment the + ferret attempted to make his approach, the rat, evidently aware of the + advantage he had lost, endeavoured to creep between my friend's legs, + thus losing his natural fear of man under the danger which awaited him + from his more deadly foe." + +Driven from his defensive position, the rat continued his attacks, but +with an evident loss of courage, and the ferret ultimately came to the +death-grapple with his crafty antagonist. A similar battle was witnessed +by a friend, with the difference that the rat, being undisturbed in his +advantageous position with regard to the light, finally beat off the +ferret, which was absolutely bitten into shreds over the head and muzzle. +The repetition of the same conduct by a second animal shows that this +particular species of cunning is a general faculty of the tribe. The main +superiority of the ferret is in his retaining his hold when once he has +fastened on his prey, sucking his life's blood the while; whereas the rat +fights by a succession of single bites, which wound but do not destroy. +The snake prevails by his venom. Mrs. Lee relates the particulars of a +combat in Africa, in which rat and snake repeatedly closed and bit at one +another, separating after each assault, and gathering up strength for a +fresh attack. At length the rat fell, foamed at the mouth, swelled to a +great size, and died in a few minutes.[12] + +If he can be savage when self-protection requires, he also has his softer +moments, in which he shows confidence in man almost as strong as that +exhibited by the dog or cat. An old blind rat, on whose head the snows of +many winters had gathered, was in the habit of sitting beside our own +kitchen fire, with all the comfortable look of his enemy, the cat; and +such a favourite had he become with the servants, that he was never +allowed to be disturbed. He unhappily fell a victim to the sudden spring +of a strange cat. A close observation of these animals entirely conquers +the antipathy which is entertained towards them. Their sharp and handsome +heads, their bright eyes, their intelligent look, their sleek skins, are +the very reverse of repulsive; and there is positive attraction in the +beautiful manner in which they sit licking their paws and washing their +faces--an occupation in which they pass a considerable portion of their +time. The writer on rats in _Bentley's Miscellany_ relates an anecdote of +a tame rat, which shows that he is capable of serving his master as well +as of passing a passive existence under his protection. The animal +belonged to the driver of a London omnibus, who caught him as he was +removing some hay. He was spared because he had the good luck to be +piebald, became remarkably tame, and grew attached to the children. At +night he exhibited a sense of the enjoyment of security and warmth, by +stretching himself out at full length on the rug before the fire; and on +cold nights, after the fire was extinguished, he would creep into his +master's bed. In the daytime, however, his owner utilized him. At the word +of command, "Come along, Ikey," he would jump into the ample great-coat +pocket, from which he was transferred to the boot of the omnibus. Here his +business was to guard the driver's dinner; and if any person attempted to +make free with it, the rat would fly at them from out the straw. There was +one dish alone of which he was an inefficient protector. He could never +resist plum-pudding; and though he kept off all other intruders, he ate +his fill of it himself. These are by no means extraordinary instances of +the amiable side of rat nature when kindly treated by man, and we could +fill pages with similar relations. But it seems, in addition to his other +merits, that he possesses dramatic genius. We have heard of military +fleas, we have seen Jacko perform his miserable imitation of humanity on +the top of a barrel-organ; but who ever heard of a rat's turn for tragedy? +Nevertheless, a Belgian newspaper not long since published an account of a +theatrical performance by a troop of rats, which gives us a higher idea of +their intellectual nature than anything else which is recorded of them. +This novel company of players were dressed in the garb of men and women, +walked on their hind legs, and mimicked with ludicrous exactness many of +the ordinary stage effects. On one point only were they intractable. Like +the young lady in the fable, who turned to a cat the moment a mouse +appeared, they forgot their parts, their audience, and their manager, at +the sight of the viands which were introduced in the course of the piece; +and, dropping on all-fours, fell to with the native voracity of their +race. The performance was concluded by their hanging in triumph their +enemy the cat, and dancing round her body. + +The rat, as we have said, has many enemies: the weazel, the pole-cat, the +otter, the dog, the cat, and the snake hunt him remorselessly all over the +world. Man, however, is his most relentless and destructive enemy. In some +places he is killed for food, as in China, where dried split rats are sold +as a dainty. The _chiffonniers_ of Paris feed on them without reluctance. +Nor is rat-pie altogether obsolete in our own country. The gipsies +continue to eat such as are caught in stacks and barns, and a +distinguished surgeon of our time frequently had them served up at his +table. They feed chiefly upon grain; and it is merely the repulsive idea +which attaches to this animal under every form that causes it to be +rejected by the same man who esteems the lobster, the crab, and the shrimp +a delicacy, although he knows that they are the scavengers of the sea. +They were not always so nice in the navy. An old captain in her Majesty's +service informs us that on one occasion, when returning from India, the +vessel was infested with rats, which made great ravages among the biscuit. +Jack, to compensate for his lost provisions, had all the spoilers he could +kill, put into pies, and considered them an extraordinary delicacy. At the +siege of Malta, when the French were hard pressed, rats fetched a dollar +apiece; but the famished garrison marked their sense of the excellence of +those which were delicately fed by offering a double price for every one +caught in a granary. Man directs his hostility against the rat, however, +chiefly because he considers him a nuisance; and the gin and poison, cold +iron and the bowl, a dismal alternative, are accordingly presented to him. +With the former he is not so easily caught, and will never enter a trap or +touch a gin in which any of his kind have fretted and rubbed. Poison is a +more effectual method, but it is not always safe. Rats which have been +beguiled into partaking of arsenic instantly make for the water to quench +their intolerable thirst, and, though they usually withdraw from the +house, they may resort in their agony to an in-door cistern, and remain +there to pollute it.[13] The writer who calls himself "Uncle James," and +who, for a reason that will shortly appear, is exceedingly anxious to +impress the public with the belief that the best mode of getting rid of +the rat is to hunt him with terriers, states that a dairy-farmer in +Limerick poisoned his calves and pigs by giving them the skim milk at +which rats had drunk when under the pangs produced by arsenic. One mode of +clearing them out of a house is either to singe the hair of a devoted rat, +or else to dip his hind-quarters into tar, and then turn him loose, when +the whole community will take their leave for a while. But this is only a +temporary expedient, and in the interim the offenders are left to +multiply, and perchance transfer their ravages to another part of the +domain where they are equally mischievous. The same objection applies to +the remedy of pounding the common dog's-tongue, when gathered in full sap, +and laying it in their haunts. They retire only to return. The Germans +turn the rat himself into a police-officer to warn off his burglarious +brethren. Dr. Shaw, in his General Zoology, states that a gentleman who +travelled through Mecklenburg about thirty years ago saw one at a +post-house with a bell about its neck, which the landlord assured him had +frightened away the whole of the "whiskered vermin" which previously +infested the place. Mr. Neele says that at Bangkok, the Siamese capital, +the people are in the habit of keeping tame rats, which walk about the +room, and crawl up the legs of the inmates, who pet them as they would a +dog. They are caught young, and, attaining a monstrous size by good +feeding, take the place of our cats, and entirely free the house of their +own kind. But the most effectual and in the end the cheapest remedy is an +expert rat-catcher. Cunning as an experienced old rat becomes, he is +invariably checkmated when man fairly tries a game of skill with him. The +well-trained professor of the art, who by long habit has grown familiar +with his adversary's haunts and tactics, his hopes and fears, his +partialities and antipathies, will clear out a house or a farmyard, where +a novice would merely catch a few unwary adventurers and put the rest upon +their guard. The majority of the world have, happily for themselves, a +better office, and the regular practitioner might justly address the +amateur in much the same words that the musician employed to Frederick the +Great, when the royal flute-player was expecting to be complimented on his +performance: "It would be a discredit to your Majesty to play as well as +I." + +"Uncle James," however, is of a different opinion. This author considers +that every man should be his own rat-catcher, which he evidently believes +to be the most improving, dignified, and fascinating calling under the +sun, as he considers rats themselves to be the crying evil of the day, +second only in his estimation to the grand injustice of the old corn-law. +Indeed, we cannot see from his own premises how the evil can be second to +any great destructive principle, earthquakes included. He takes a single +pair of rats, and proves satisfactorily that in three years, if +undisturbed, they will have thirteen litters of eight each at a birth, and +that the young will begin littering again when six months old; by this +calculation he increases the original pair at the end of three years to +six hundred and fifty-six thousand eight hundred and eight. Calculating +that ten rats eat as much in one day as a man, which we think is rather +under than over the fact, the consumption of these rats would be equal "to +that of sixty-four thousand six hundred and eight men the year round, and +leave eight rats in the year to spare." Now, if a couple of rats could +occasion such devastation in three years after the original pair marched +out of the ark, how comes it that the descendants of the myriads which +ages ago co-existed among us have not eaten up the earth and the fullness +thereof? Uncle James conveniently forgets that animals do not multiply +according to arithmetical progression, but simply in proportion to the +food provided for them. He must not, however, be expected to be wiser than +Malthus on the subject of animal reproduction, and he has the additional +incentive to error, that he evidently paints up his horrors for an artful +purpose. There can be no sort of doubt that he has several well-bred +terriers to dispose of, and hence the following panacea for all the evils +which afflict society. + + "A dog, to be of sound service, ought to be of six to thirteen pounds + weight; over that they become too unwieldy. I would also recommend, + above all others, the London rat-killing terrier: he is as hard as + steel, courageous as a lion, and as handsome as a racehorse!--[Uncle + James is a Londoner, of course.] Let the farmers in each parish meet + and pass resolutions calling upon their representatives in parliament + to take the tax off rat-killing dogs. Let them devise plans for + procuring some well-bred terriers and ferrets, and spread the young + ones about among their men. Let there be a reward offered of so much + per head for dead rats, and let there be one person in each parish + appointed to pay for the same. Rats are valuable for manure; let there + be a pit in each locality, and let this man stick up an announcement + every week, in some conspicuous place, as to the number of rats + killed, and by whom. Then, what will be the result? Why, a spirit of + emulation will rise up among the villagers, and they will be + ransacking every hole and corner for rats. _Thus will a tone of + cheerful enterprise, activity, and pleasantry come in among them_, + 'with a fund of conversation;' and instead of that crawling, dogged + monotony which characterizes their general gait and manner, they will + meet their employers and go to their labour with joyous steps and + smiling countenances." + +The coming man, so long expected, is it seems the rat-catcher. Here is +manure multiplied, agriculture improved, food husbanded, a smiling, +enlightened, and conversible peasantry--and all the result of +rat-catching. But a difficulty has been overlooked. When the entire +population is converted into rat-catchers, rats must shortly, like the +dodo, be extinct. For a while we shall become an exporting country, but +this resource must fail us at last, and England's glory will expire with +its rats. Then once more we shall have a sullen, silent, discontented +peasantry; "their fund of conversation" will be exhausted, or at best the +villagers will be reduced to talk with a sigh of the golden age, never to +be renewed, when the country enjoyed the unspeakable blessing of +rat-catching. In short, we fear that Uncle James has been so exclusively +devoted to the science of rat-catching, that he has neglected to cultivate +the inferior art of reasoning; but, interested as we suspect it to be, we +join in his commendation of the virtues of the terrier. The expedition +with which a clever dog will put his victims out of their misery is such +that a terrier not four pounds in weight has killed four hundred rats +within two hours. By this we may estimate the destruction dealt to the +race by that nimble animal, "hard as steel, courageous as a lion, and +handsome as a race-horse." A custom has sprung up within the last twenty +years of watching these dogs worry rats in a pit, and there are private +arenas of the kind where our fair countrywomen, leaning over the cushioned +circle, will witness with admiration the cleverness of their husbands' or +brothers' terriers. "Uncle James" might commend their taste, and think the +sport calculated to furnish them with "a fund of conversation, and a +spirit of cheerful enterprise and pleasantry;" but except the fact had +proved it to be otherwise, we should have supposed that there was not an +educated man in Great Britain who would not have been shocked at this +novel propensity of English ladies. + + + + +LUNATIC ASYLUMS. + + +Horace Walpole, whose pen has graven so deeply the social characteristics +of his age, in describing to his friend Mann the terrors excited by the +Lord George Gordon mob, says "they threaten to let the lions out of the +Tower, and the madmen out of Bedlam." In this short sentence we have a +clear view of the opinion which our forefathers entertained of +lunatics--an opinion which the pictures of Hogarth's Madhouse Cells have +impressed on the popular mind even to this day. And in truth it is not +fifty years since the state of things which now exists only in the +imagination of the ignorant, was both general and approved. The interior +of Bethlehem at that date could furnish pictures more terrible than +Hogarth ever conceived. It is not our purpose, however, to dwell upon +these horrors of former days. Through the instrumentality of the late +Samuel Tuke, of York, Gardner Hill, Charlesworth, Winslow, and Conolly, of +London, the old method of treatment, with its whips, chains, and manacles, +has passed away for ever; and as a true emblem of the revolution which has +taken place, we may mention that some years since a governor, in passing +through the laundry of Bethlehem, perceived a wrist-manacle, which had +been converted by one of the women into a stand for a flat iron! + +In spite of the ameliorations in the condition of the insane, many among +the higher, and nearly all among the lower classes, still look upon the +County Asylum as the Bluebeard's cupboard of the neighbourhood. These +unfounded ideas act as a powerful drawback to the successful treatment of +insanity, for as the vast majority of cures are effected within three +months of the original attack, whatever deters the friends of the patient +from bringing him under regimen at the earliest possible moment, probably +ensures the perpetuation of the disease. We can well imagine the undefined +awe and tribulation of spirit with which the unhappy creatures who are +stricken in mind enter the gates of an abode in which they are supposed to +be given over to a durance worse than death; but so mistaken is the +impression, that the feelings of desperation are almost immediately +succeeded by the inspiriting dawnings of hope. The furious maniac who +arrives at Colney Hatch or Hanwell in a cart, or a hand-barrow, bound with +ropes like a frantic animal, the terror of his friends and himself, is no +sooner within the building which imagination invests with such terrors, +than half his miseries cease. The ropes cut, he stands up once more free +from restraint, kind words are spoken to him, he is soothed by a bath, +and, if still violent, the padded room, which offers no aggravating +mechanical or personal resistance, calms his fury, and sleep, which has so +long been a stranger to him, visits him the first night which he spends in +the dreaded asylum. An old lady--a relapsed patient--whose silver locks +hung dishevelled on her shoulders, was, when we visited Hanwell, waiting +in a cab in a state of the wildest excitement. Immediately she was +admitted, and recognised the faces of the nurses who had formerly been +kind to her, her whole countenance changed. "What, you Burke and you +Thomson again!" she exclaimed, delighted at renewing former friendships; +and settling herself down peaceably in the ward, she appeared as +comfortable as at her own fireside. + +Not only have the old methods of treatment been abandoned, but many +changes have been made to render the houses for the insane less repulsive +to the eye. Thousands of pounds have been spent in replacing the +dungeon-like apertures (often without glass) with light-framed windows, +undarkened by dismal bars; the gratings have been removed from the +fireplaces; and that all the other associations may be in harmony with the +improved appearance of the building, the harsh title of keeper has given +place to that of attendant, and the madhouse has become the asylum. In the +old plan, the entire treatment seemed to consist in secluding the patient +from every sight which renders life sweet, and in wrenching him violently +from all the conditions which formerly surrounded him; the new idea is to +bring within the walls as much of the outside world as possible. Here the +artisan finds employment in various handicrafts, the agricultural labourer +renews his commerce with the soil, and the female plies her needle or +pursues her accustomed occupations in the laundry or the kitchen. +Amusement takes its turn, and those who travel by the Great Western train +on winter evenings are surprised to see the lights streaming from the +great hall of Hanwell, and to hear perchance the sounds of music. These +issue from the ball-room of the establishment! In place of the dark +dungeon, the bonds and the blows which once added outward to inward woe, +the inmates are realising the poetic picture of Gray,-- + + "With antic Sport and blue-eyed Pleasures, + Frisking light in frolic measures; + Now pursuing, now retreating, + Now in circling troops they meet: + To brisk notes in cadence beating + Glance their many-twinkling feet." + +Mental aberration is not of necessity the bane of mental enjoyment. There +are many sweets by which its bitterness may be diluted and diminished, +though our ancestors were so ignorant of the fact, as to believe that the +best thing to be done for a mind o'erthrown was to pour vinegar to gall. + +Dr. Conolly, in his lately-published volume on "The Treatment of the +Insane without Mechanical Restraint," looks upon the banishment of the +strait-waistcoat with a just pride, for to him we owe the abolition of the +last mechanical means of coercing temporary violence; but we cannot +participate in his fear that the selfishness and ignorance of human nature +will ever be able to restore the gloomy reign which has at last been +brought to a close. We can no more go back to the days of hobbles and +handcuffs, chains and stripes, than we can go back to the days of the rack +and thumbscrew. We may have, it is true, lamentable exposures, such as +took place at Bethlehem in 1851, but the depth of the public outcry, and +the promptness with which the irregularities were remedied, is of itself +an evidence that general opinion will prove the corrective of occasional +abuses. Nor can we, from a fancied apprehension of the return to obsolete +practices, join in the fanaticism which forbids the use of the +strait-jacket as a means of coercion under all circumstances. There can be +no doubt that the treatment which requires its frequent use is a bad one; +but to deny that there are cases which call for its restraints would be to +deny the evidence of our senses. Mr. Wilkes, the late medical officer to +the Stafford County Lunatic Asylum, and now Commissioner in Lunacy, in +answer to a series of questions issued by the Commissioners on Lunacy upon +the subject, makes the following remarks:-- + + "With every disposition to advocate the disuse of restraint to the + utmost extent, I am compelled to admit that the result of my + experience in this asylum, up to the present time, leads me to the + conclusion that cases may occur in which its temporary employment may + be both necessary and justifiable. Besides the occasional use of some + means of confining the hands when feeding patients by means of the + stomach-pump, a more prolonged use of restraint was necessary in two + cases which occurred some years since. One of these was a man of so + determined a suicidal disposition, that on more than one occasion he + nearly effected his purpose by trying to beat his head and face + against the walls, to throw himself from tables and chairs, and thrust + spoons and other articles down his throat. When first admitted, he was + not suspected of having any suicidal tendency, and for some weeks did + not show any; as a matter of precaution he slept in a padded room, and + one night he so battered his head with a tin vessel that he was found + nearly dead from loss of blood, and his life was subsequently in much + danger from extensive sloughing of the scalp. In this case it was + absolutely necessary to confine the hands to keep any dressings on the + head, and after the wounds had healed, and the confinement of the + hands had been discontinued, he wore a thickly-padded cap for many + months. Several years after this, he bit both his little fingers off; + and though the suicidal disposition has in a great measure subsided, + he is still at times much excited, but does not require any restraint. + The second case was one of acute mania. A powerful young man refused + all food under the impression that it was poisoned, and imagined that + every one who went near him intended to murder him. Every inducement + to get him to take food was in vain, and though a sufficient body of + attendants, under my own inspection, attempted to do what was + necessary for him, he became so much bruised in holding him in his + struggles to assail the attendants, when it was urgently requisite + that food should be administered into the stomach, that I decided upon + confining his hands, and both food and medicine were then readily + administered. The result certainly justified the means employed, as + the excitement subsided, and he soon recovered." + +So much for the experience of the medical attendant of a public asylum; +now let us hear the testimony of Dr. Forbes Winslow, whose experience in +his private asylum, Sussex House, Hammersmith, has been as great perhaps +as that of any man, since he has lived with his family for ten years in +the very midst of his patients, and who is surpassed by no one in his +enlightened and gentle treatment of the insane. + + "Patients," he says, in his Report to the Commissioners, "have often + expressed a wish to be placed under mechanical restraint, should I, in + my judgment, believe that they would, when much excited, commit overt + acts of violence, and be dangerous to themselves and others. In cases + like these, mechanical restraint may for a short period be applied, + not only without detriment, but with positive advantage as a curative + process. Several instances relative of this fact have come under my + observation. I have seen cases where no food or medicine could be + administered without subjecting the patient to restraint. In these + cases, if all idea of cure had been abandoned, and I could have + reconciled it to my conscience to allow the disease to take its + uninterrupted course, and have permitted the patient to exist upon the + minimum amount of nutriment, and take no medicine, all restraint might + easily be dispensed with; but considering the cure of my patient + paramount to every other consideration, I had no hesitation as to the + humane and right mode of procedure." + +In a case which came under our knowledge, a patient imagined that the +text, "If thine eye offend thee pluck it out," was literally intended, +and, after various attempts to comply with the command, he succeeded in +destroying the sight of one orbit. Such instances are rare, but the +medical man should at all times be prepared to meet them, instead of +folding his arms and looking helplessly on whilst the mischief is being +done, through a craven fear of the non-restraint cry. The strait-waistcoat +is certainly liable to great abuse, but less than the padded room, which +may be converted into a cruel means of coercion in the hands of unwatched +attendants. + +There yet remains a vast amount of restraint, which is almost as +irritating, if not so strongly reprobated, as the implements which bind +the limbs of the suicidal or violent. Restraint is only comparative. The +strait-waistcoat is the narrowest zone of confinement, and the padded room +but a little wider. Next to these comes the locked gallery for a class, +then the encircling high wall for the entire lunatic community; and +lastly, that aërial barrier the parole, for those who can be trusted to go +beyond the asylum. The efforts of philanthropists will not, we are +convinced, cease, until all the methods of confinement, down to the +parole, are removed; or at least so disguised as to hinder their present +irritating action upon the inmates. As long as the chief idea in +connection with these establishments is that they are receptacles for the +_detention_ of the insane, so long perhaps the means taken to prevent +flight will obtain; but when they are simply regarded as hospitals for the +cure of mental disease, we shall witness the abandonment of many +arrangements which are as barbarous and ineffectual as the cruelties +practised in the last century. The asylums where the restraint is greatest +are precisely those from which the largest number of patients contrive to +escape; whereas, when restrictions of all kinds are abolished, as at the +insane pauper colony of Gheel, in Belgium, but few persons ever attempt to +get away. + + +In former days the public were admitted to perambulate Bedlam on the +payment of twopence. A writer in the _World_ gives a narrative of a visit +to it in Easter-week, 1753, when he found there a hundred holiday-makers, +who "were suffered unattended to run rioting up and down the wards, making +sport of the miserable inhabitants." Richardson, the novelist, had, a few +years earlier, depicted the scene in the assumed character of a young lady +from the country, describing to her friends the sights of London. + + "I have this afternoon been with my cousins to gratify the odd + curiosity most people have to see Bethlehem, or Bedlam Hospital. A + more affecting scene my eyes never beheld. I had the shock of seeing + the late polite and ingenious Mr. ---- in one of these woful chambers. + No sooner did I put my face to the grate, but he leaped from his bed, + and called me with frightful fervency to come into his room. The + surprise affected me pretty much, and my confusion being observed by a + crowd of strangers, I heard it presently whispered that I was his + sweetheart and the cause of his misfortune. My cousin assured me that + such fancies were frequent upon these occasions; but this accident + drew so many eyes upon me as obliged me soon to quit the place. I was + much at a loss to account for the behaviour of the generality of + people who were looking at these miserable objects. Instead of the + concern I think unavoidable at such a sight, a sort of mirth appeared + on their countenances, and the distempered fancies of the miserable + patients provoked mirth and loud laughter in the unthinking auditors; + and the many hideous roarings and wild motions of others seemed + equally entertaining to them. Nay, so shamefully inhuman were some, + among whom, I am sorry to say it, were several of my own sex, as to + endeavour to provoke the patients into rage to make them sport." + +Supposed to be degraded to the level of beasts, as wild beasts they were +treated. Like them they were shut up in dens littered with straw, +exhibited for money, and made to growl and roar for the diversion of the +spectators who had paid their fee. No wonder that Bedlam should have +become a word of fear; no wonder that in popular estimation the bad odour +of centuries should still cling to its walls, and that the stranger, +tempted by curiosity to pass beneath the shadow of its dome, should enter +with sickening trepidation. But now, instead of the howling madhouse his +imagination may have painted it, he sees prim galleries filled with +orderly persons. Scenes of cheerfulness and content meet the eye of the +visitor as he is conducted along well-lit corridors, from which the bars +and gratings of old have vanished. He stops, surprised and delighted, to +look at the engravings of Landseer's pictures on the walls, or to admire +the busts upon the brackets; he beholds tranquil persons walking around +him, or watches them feeding the birds which abound in the aviaries fitted +up in the depths of the ample windows. Indeed the pet animals, such as +rabbits, squirrels, &c., with the verdant ferneries, render the +convalescent wards of this hospital more cheerful than any we have seen in +similar institutions. At intervals the monotony of the long-drawn +corridors is broken by ample-sized rooms carpeted and furnished like the +better class of dwellings. If we pass along the female side of the +hospital, we find the apartments occupied by a score of busy workers, the +majority of whom appear to be gentlewomen. Every conceivable kind of +needlework is dividing their attention with the young lady who reads aloud +"David Copperfield," or "Dred;" while beside the fire, perhaps, an old +lady with silver locks gives a touch of domesticity to the scene, which we +should little have expected to meet within these walls. In traversing the +male side, instead of the workroom we find a library, in which the +patients, reclining upon the sofas or lolling in arm-chairs round the +fire, beguile the hours with books or the _Illustrated News_. Many a +scholar, the silver chord of whose brain jingles for the moment out of +tune, here finds a congenial atmosphere, and such materials for study as +he often could not obtain out-of-doors; and here many an artist, +clergyman, officer, and broken-down gentleman, meets with social converse, +which the world does not dream could exist in Bedlam.[14] + +No cases of more than twelve months' standing are admitted within the +walls of Bedlam, and only ninety persons termed incurables are allowed to +remain beyond that period. These regulations exclude the idiotic and +epileptic patients, who form such distressing groups in other +establishments, and the interest required to obtain admission into this +amply endowed charity ensures at the same time a much higher class of +inmates. Clergymen, barristers, governesses, literary men, artists, and +military and naval officers make up the staple of the assembly. The +representatives of the lower orders are also present, but the educated +element prevails, and the tone of dress and manners is vastly above that +to be found in the pauper-swarming county asylums. There is a ball on the +first Monday in every month, and the company that gathers in the crystal +chamber at the extreme end of the south wing would not disgrace in +behaviour and appearance any sane and well-bred community. The polka, the +waltz, and the mazurka, performed with grace and ease, declare the social +standing of the assembly; and many a pedestrian who sees the dark +silhouettes of the dancers as they whirl across the light, is astonished +at the festivities of the inmates. In the summer evenings the spacious +courts are crowded with the patients, not gloomily walking between four +dismal walls in which the very air seemed placed under restraint, but +enjoying themselves in the bowling-green or in the skittle alley. The +garden is at hand for those who love the culture of flowers. When we +contrast the condition of the Bethlehem of fifty years ago with the +Bethlehem of to-day, we see at a glance what a gulf has been leaped in +half a century--a gulf on one side of which we see man, like a demon, +torturing his unfortunate fellows, on the other like a ministering angel +carrying out the all-powerful law of love. Can this be the same Bethlehem +where, in 1808, Mr. Westerton, Mr. Calvert, and Mr. Wakefield saw ten +patients in the women's gallery, each fastened by one arm or leg to the +wall, with a length of chain that only allowed them to stand up by their +bench, and dressed in a filthy blanket thrown poncho-like over their +otherwise naked bodies? Can this be the same institution in which poor +Norris, like a fierce hound in a kennel, was favoured with a long chain +that passed through the wall into the next room, and which, while +permitting him a little extra tether, enabled the keeper to haul him up to +the side of the cell when it was necessary to approach him? But this +indulgence did not last, and from the pages of Esquirol we learn the +infernal torture which was finally put upon him. + + "A stout iron ring was riveted round his neck, from which a short + chain passed to a ring made to slide upwards or downwards on an + upright massive iron bar, more than six feet high, inserted into the + wall. Round his body a strong iron bar, about two inches wide, was + riveted; on each side of the bar was a circular projection, which, + being fastened to and enclosing each of his arms, pinioned them close + to his side." + +In this position, in which he could only stand upright or lie upon his +back, he lived for twelve years! But in nothing, perhaps, is the contrast +between the past and the present more apparent than in the two pictures +presented by Dr. Hood, the resident physician, from the case book of the +Bethlehem Hospital, which at once show the difference of treatment and the +different results which attended it. + + "A. F., admitted into the Hospital, February 6, 1808, aged 34. This + woman was born at Derby. At the age of 20 she came to London to seek + for service, but she soon lost her character. The natural violence of + her disposition was increased by her intemperance. She was the most + turbulent of all the females that disturb the night about Fleet + Market, and has been repeatedly flogged at Bridewell for her extreme + violence and disorder. She became at length the horror of the + watchmen, for punishing and imprisonment had no effect in checking her + career. She was known to her companions by the name of 'Ginger.' In + one of her paroxysms of rage she attacked the windows of the Mansion + House, and on her examination before the Lord Mayor, it appeared that + her violent disposition had gradually passed into a state of complete + madness. Under these circumstances she was sent, February 6th, 1808, + to the Hospital, and placed on the curable establishment. At the + expiration of twelve months, her lunacy continuing, she was admitted + on the incurable list. There is no record of the manner in which she + conducted herself during the first year, but it appears _that she was + chained to her bed of straw for eight years without any covering or + apparel_. So long as she continued thus coerced the violence + continued. The last entry is '_coercion still makes her ferocious, but + when left at liberty she is not in the least degree dangerous_.'" + + "M. C., admitted into this Hospital, Sept. 30, 1853, in a state of + violent raging excitement, depending upon acute mania. She had been in + this state three days previous to her admission, and had wandered + about the streets in a comparatively naked state, under the excitement + of religious enthusiasm. She was a powerful, muscular woman; and to + bring her to the Hospital it was necessary to impose upon her the + restraint of a strait-jacket. She screamed violently all the way to + the Hospital, and used the most threatening language, refusing to + listen to anything that was said to her, but when tired of + vociferating, contented herself with kicking and spitting at those + within her reach. On admission, the mechanical restraint was removed; + she was ordered a warm bath, and two grains of the acetate of morphia, + and afterwards placed in a bed in a padded room. She continued noisy + for an hour or two, and then became quieter; but the attendant, who + looked at her every half-hour, always found her sleepless. The + following day she continued tranquil, but when addressed, responded + with an oath. She was ordered one grain and a half of acetate of + morphia. The third day she continued quiet and sullen, but permitted + the nurse to dress her and place her in a chair in the day-room with + the other patients. The following day (the fourth) she continued + tranquil and rational, rather shrinking from conversation; and being a + little feverish, was ordered 'henbane,' with a saline. From that day + she speedily became convalescent, and was discharged cured, November + 11, 1853, having been a patient in the Hospital forty-two days." + +Thus diversely does disordered nature answer to an appeal according to the +spirit in which it is made. There is a reverse, however, to every medal, +and the skeleton cupboards of Bethlehem are the male criminal lunatic +wards. These dens, for we can call them by no softer name, are the only +remaining representatives of old Bedlam. They consist of dismal, arched +corridors, feebly lit at either end by a single window in double irons, +and divided in the middle by gratings more like those which enclose the +fiercer carnivora at the Zoological Gardens than anything we have +elsewhere seen employed for the detention of afflicted humanity. Here +fifty male lunatics are herded together without regard to their previous +social or moral condition. Thus the unfortunate clergyman, the Rev. Hugh +Willoughby, who fired a pistol two years since at the judge at the Central +Criminal Court, is herded with the plebeian perpetrator of some horrible +murder. Side by side with the unfortunate Captain Johnson, of the ship +"Tory," who, in a fit of extraordinary excitement during a mutiny on board +his vessel, cut down some of his crew, but is now perfectly sane, sits +perhaps the ruffian who murdered the warder in cold blood at Coldbath +Fields--a villain brought in mad by a tender-hearted jury who shrunk from +the responsibility of hanging him. Here also poor Dad, the artist, who +killed his father whilst labouring under a sudden paroxysm of insanity, is +obliged to weave his fine fancies on the canvas amidst the most revolting +conversation and the most brutal behaviour. Those who contend that all +criminal lunatics should be treated alike, do not consider the vast +difference between the tone of mind in an abandoned wretch who has lived a +life of villany, and the gentleman who has committed a casual offence. As +the former advances towards sanity the brutal disposition, which early +training in vice and dissipation has engraved upon his nature, comes into +strong relief, whilst the good breeding which is natural to the latter, +and which was but temporarily eclipsed in him, resumes its sway. Nay, +nothing is more certain than that the previous habits and manners of the +lunatic are to a great extent unaffected by his unfortunate malady, even +when it is at its height. The disgrace of thus caging up together the +coarse and the gentle, the virtuous and the abandoned, rests wholly upon +the shoulders of the Home Secretary. The governors of the hospitals, the +medical officers, and the lunacy commissioners, have over and over again +remonstrated against the enormity, and to our national shame have +remonstrated in vain. It is proposed to build a special asylum for all the +state lunatics who are now distributed among county asylums, hospitals, +licensed houses, workhouses and jails, to the number of 591,[15] and it is +a duty which we trust will not be longer delayed. There can be little +doubt that the presence of these crime-tainted individuals is felt deeply +by the innocent lunatics, and that their recovery is retarded by the +indignation excited at their degrading companionship with the outcasts of +society. The erection of a criminal asylum upon a large scale would both +compel a better system of classification, and would necessitate some +solution of the difficult question--What shall be done with criminal +patients who have recovered? One class of cases at least, as Dr. Tyler +Smith has pointed out, leaves no room for doubt. The females who have +committed offences whilst under the influence of the delirium attendant +upon puerperal fever, and who, having recovered, are past the age of +child-bearing, should at once be released. They are no longer liable to a +recurrence of mental aberration, and to keep them incarcerated for life, +is to treat past misfortune as an inexpiable crime. Nothing can be more +cruel, unjust, and motiveless. + +It is proposed to remove Bethlehem Hospital into the country, on the plea +that ground cannot be obtained in sufficient quantity for the use of the +inmates. If by this is meant that agricultural pursuits cannot be carried +on in St. George's Fields, we rejoice in the fact. A sane man, accustomed +to the busy scene of a large town, would be wretched if he was condemned +to pass the remainder of his days amid the silence of the fields, and the +lunatic remains for the most part under the same domination of former +habits. The notion that his faculties are universally disordered, all his +perceptions destroyed, all his tastes obliterated, and all his sympathies +extinct, is one of the grossest errors which can prevail. Nor do the +better class of patients (such as form the inmates of Bethlehem) require +the hard exercise which is necessary for the maintenance of health with an +agricultural pauper. They find far more recreation in strolling through +the streets in the neighbourhood of the asylum, under the care of an +attendant, than in wading through ploughed fields, or in taking a turn at +spade husbandry. To this we must add, that insanity is often a sudden +seizure, that individuals go raving mad in the streets; that, in short, +there are frightful casualties of the mind, as of the body, which require +the instant attention of the mental physician. For this reason alone every +lunatic asylum should no more be removed into the country than every +ordinary hospital. But, apart from this circumstance, we repeat that +Bethlehem, within call of friends and within the hum of the busy world, +glimpses of which can be caught by the patients from the loopholes of +their retreat, and into which they are occasionally allowed to enter, is +far better placed for purposes of cure than in any rural district, however +well supplied with the means of pursuing agricultural labour. At present +all the sights of the metropolis are from time to time enjoyed by the +inmates. "The male patients last year," says Dr. Hood, the resident +physician, "who were not fit to be discharged, were allowed to spend a day +at Kew; another day they went by steamboat to the Nore; and, conducting +themselves well under the charge of careful attendants, visited many +public exhibitions--the National Gallery, the Crystal Palace, Marlborough +House, the Zoological Gardens, Smithfield Cattle-show, &c." Who can doubt +that people accustomed to such sights and sounds would infinitely prefer +them to the delights of walking between hedge-rows, hoeing weeds, or +digging potatoes? Who can doubt that these little excursions of the +wall-bound inmates into the cheerful life of the outside world are a vast +advantage to the slowly-recovering brain, and constitute just that +desirable transitional training necessary to their safe restitution to +unlimited freedom? In fact, under the old system, when convalescent +patients, who had been confined for months in dungeon-like cells, +bristling with bars, were taken to the gates and returned suddenly to +unrestrained liberty, the effect of the contrast was often so great, that +they set off running in a paroxysm of excitement, and were frequently +brought back again in a few days, reduced by a too abrupt release to their +old condition. It would not perhaps be undesirable to add to Bethlehem +some small rural establishment, answering to the _succursales_ of foreign +lunatic asylums; but this should be strictly an appendage, to which +patients should be sent for a short time, for change of air and scene, +just as all the world now and then take a trip to the country to refresh +the wearied eye with the sight of green trees and fields, and to cure that +moral scurvy contracted by perpetually dwelling upon the dismal vistas of +blackened bricks which constitute metropolitan prospects. + +For the fullest development of the prevalent system of treating the insane +we must go to Colney Hatch and Hanwell, the two great lunatic asylums for +the county of Middlesex. The former, situated on the Great Northern +Railway, only six miles from the metropolis, is the largest and perhaps +the most imposing-looking non-metropolitan building of the kind in Europe. +In this establishment, built within the last six years, we may study the +merits and demerits of modern asylums. Containing within its walls a +population, inclusive of officers and attendants, of 1,380 persons, which +is equal to that of our largest villages, and presenting the appearance of +a town, its wards and passages amounting in the aggregate to the length of +six miles, it is here that we shall find the completest system of +organization, and, if we may use the term, of official routine. The +enormous sum of money expended upon Colney Hatch, which has reached +already to £270,000, prepares us for the almost palatial character of its +elevation. Its _façade_, of nearly a third of a mile, is broken at +intervals by Italian campaniles and cupolas; and the whole aspect of the +exterior leads the visitor to expect an interior of commensurate +pretensions. He no sooner crosses the threshold, however, than the scene +changes. As he passes along the corridor, which runs from end to end of +the building, he is oppressed with the gloom; the little light admitted by +the loop-holed windows is absorbed by the inky asphalte paving, and, +coupled with the low vaulting of the ceiling, gives a stifling feeling and +a sense of detention as in a prison. The staircases scarcely equal those +of a workhouse; plaster there is none, and a coat of paint or whitewash +does not even conceal the rugged surface of the brickwork. In the wards a +similar state of things exists: airy and spacious they are, without doubt; +but of human interest they possess nothing. Upwards of a quarter of a +million has been squandered principally upon the exterior of this +building; but not a sixpence can be spared to adorn the walls within with +picture, bust, or even the commonest cottage decoration. This is the vice +which pervades the majority of county asylums lately erected. The visiting +justices doubtless believe that it would be a superfluous and even +mischievous refinement to trouble themselves about pleasing the eye or +amusing the brain of the lunatic; but this is a mighty error, as every +person knows who understands how keenly sensitive are the minds of the +majority of the insane. + + "Stone walls do not a prison make, + Nor iron bars a cage," + +sings the graceful Lovelace; but it should be remembered that the lunatic +has no divine Althea to muse upon in his house of detention, and the +majority of the insane have no healthy wings by which their minds can leap +beyond the dreariness of the present. To divert them from the demon in +possession, all the ingenuity of philanthropy should be employed; but this +truth has been overlooked both here and at Hanwell; and we are lost in +astonishment when we reflect upon the folly of lavishing hundreds of +thousands upon outward ornamentation, whilst the decorations common among +the poorest labourers are denied to the inmates for whom all this expense +has been incurred. There is no more touching sight at Colney Hatch than to +notice the manner in which the female lunatics have endeavoured to +diversify the monotonous appearance of their cell-like sleeping-rooms with +rag dolls, bits of shell, porcelain, or bright cloth placed symmetrically +in the light of the window-sill. The love of ornament seems to dwell with +them when all other mental power is lost; and they strew gay colours about +them with no more sense, but with as much enjoyment, as the bower-bird of +the Zoological Gardens adorns his playing-bower.[16] The prison dress of +the male patients is in keeping with the desolate walls. It is infinitely +depressing, even to the visitor, to see nothing but dull grey garments; +and the lunatics themselves feel degraded by a uniform dedicated to the +gaol-bird. The medical officers of both this asylum and Hanwell are deeply +impressed with its injurious effects, and they have long denounced it. +Happily the system is confined to the men, not, however, from any +benevolent feeling towards the females, but simply because gown-pieces of +the same pattern cannot be procured in sufficient quantities to clothe the +entire community. Among the sane, self-respect is increased by the +possession of decent clothes, and the lunatic is often still more amenable +to their influence. A refractory patient at Colney Hatch was in the habit +of tearing his clothes into shreds. Mr. Tyerman, one of the medical +officers, ordered him to be dressed in a bran-new suit. The poor man, a +tailor by trade, either from a professional appreciation of the value of +his new habiliments, or from being touched by this mark of attention, +respected their integrity, and from that moment rapidly recovered. Before +leaving the asylum he stated that he owed his cure to the good effect +produced upon his mind by being intrusted with this new suit of clothes. +At Hanwell, the patients who destroy their dresses are put into strong +canvas garments, bound round with leather and fastened with padlocks. This +plan is adopted at some other lunatic asylums; but it always looks +repulsive. + +It is only, we believe, in the metropolitan county asylums, which should +be model establishments, that the grey prison dress is retained. In the +majority of county asylums the smock-frock of the district is used, and +the patient moves about undistinguished from the rest of the population by +any repulsive badge. In France and Belgium they manage better still. Dr. +Webster, in his notes on foreign lunatic asylums, published in the +_Psychological Journal of Medicine_, speaks of the bright head-dresses and +vivid shawls used in France, as giving a cheerful appearance to the +assembled inmates. Nothing less could be expected from the known +disposition of a people of whom it has been said, that if any man among +them was thrown naked into the sea, he would rise up clothed from head to +foot with a sword, bag-wig, and ruffles to boot. In the present matter +they have been wiser in their generation than ourselves; and we can +imagine with what surprise they would learn that at Hanwell, the most +celebrated English establishment for the treatment of the insane, patients +are rewarded for good conduct by allowing them to wear a fancy waistcoat. +This fact of itself shows the aversion to the prison garb, and the +necessity of discarding it. But the same visiting committee which inspects +the county gaol governs the asylum, and we regret to say that they allow +the organization of the former to be introduced into the latter. + +In spite of these drawbacks, the progress made within the last twenty +years has been immense. A walk through the wards and workshops of Colney +Hatch will prove that the lunatic is at last treated as though he had +human sympathy and desires, and was capable of behaving in many respects +like a rational being. All large asylums possess an advantage over smaller +ones in their greater ability to classify their inmates. The wards and +corridors of Colney Hatch and Hanwell are so extensive that they may be +likened to different streets inhabited by distinct classes. It is usual to +name the compartments according to the mental condition of the patients +contained in them. Thus in most asylums we have the refractory ward, the +epileptic ward, the paralytic ward, the ward for dirty patients, and the +convalescent ward. At Colney Hatch it is considered better to use numbers +instead, as the patients soon become acquainted with the denomination of +the class to which they belong, and often behave in conformity with it. +Thus the lunatic, finding himself in a refractory ward, will sometimes act +up to the part assigned to him, when he would otherwise be peaceable. The +vice of classification is that it separates the population of an asylum +into so many mental castes, which in some measure prevents that easy +transition from lunacy to sanity, which it is desirable to maintain. In +the choice of difficulties, however, there can be little doubt that these +divisions in lunatic establishments, as at present constructed, present +the most convenient as well as the best means of treating the insane, and +the errors to which it is liable can at all times be obviated by the +careful supervision of the medical officers. + +Nothing strikes the visitor with greater admiration than the care taken of +the paralytic and imbecile patients, who form so large a per-centage of +the inmates of the county asylums. In most cases the sleeping apartments +of these poor creatures at Colney Hatch and Hanwell are padded round +breast-high, in order that they may not damage themselves against the +walls whilst seized with convulsions in bed; and a pillow has been +invented perfectly permeable to the air, on which they can lie with their +faces downward during the paroxysm of a fit, without the risk of +suffocation. In extreme cases even the floor is padded, lest the sufferer +should unconsciously throw himself upon it. The bed-ridden paralytic +reclines upon a water-bed, and is tended night and morning as sedulously +as a helpless babe. The test of the care which prevails in an asylum is to +be found in the condition of the persons who cannot help themselves. Where +trouble begins, negligence begins also, in an ill-regulated establishment. +Nowhere do the alleviations of humanity seem more required than with the +idiots and paralytics. Of all the wards at Colney Hatch, these are the +most depressing. It is impossible to contemplate a room full of creatures +moving about on their seats with a monotonous action like a company of +apes, or when paralyzed in their lower limbs, to see them dragging +themselves like seals along the floor by the aid of their arms, without +being oppressed by the sense of the dreadful condition to which man can be +reduced when the mind is ruined and the nerve-power diseased. It is only +in these wards and the refractory that on ordinary occasions the stranger +would discover that he was among the mentally afflicted. It is reported +that a lady, after she had been shown over a large asylum by the +celebrated Esquirol, inquired, "But where are the mad people?" All the +infinitely finely-shaded stages of lunacy which lie between mental health, +wild fury, and chronic dementia are, in the popular idea, merged in the +raving maniac. Yet it is rare for a casual visitor to witness scenes of +violence in a lunatic asylum. Those who are mischievous are trained to +concentrate their dislike upon the medical officers and attendants rather +than upon their fellow-patients. The matron of Hanwell Asylum, in her +report for 1856, thus speaks of one of the criminal lunatics who belongs +to this refractory class:-- + + "She seldom interferes with any other patient, the officers and + attendants being the special objects of her furious attempts, and her + mode of attack is peculiar; there is not usually anything in her + manner or appearance to indicate mischief, and she has perhaps + previously spoken calmly to the person upon whom--having watched until + she has turned her back; for as long as the face is towards her the + individual is safe--she springs with the quickness and velocity of a + tigress, fastening her hands in the hair, and bringing her victim to + the ground in an instant. If not immediately rescued, the head of the + unfortunate person is dashed repeatedly upon the floor; and it has + been found impossible hitherto to detach the hand of this patient + without a quantity of hair being torn by her from the head of the + sufferer." + +The visiting magistrates are also highly obnoxious to the patients; and +their passage through a ward generally leaves behind it a trail of +excitement which often generates outbreaks that do not subside for some +hours. On the whole, however, it is remarkable how small an amount of +violence is attempted by the insane. In Colney Hatch, with its 1,250 +patients, there are far fewer personal assaults in a year than would take +place in any village containing half the number of inhabitants. Still +precautions are always necessary; and the attendants, from long +observation, are generally forewarned, and, consequently, forearmed. +Special arrangements are made for those persons who have an unusual +tendency to injure themselves or their companions. The suicidally inclined +are always placed at night in dormitories with other patients, an +arrangement which effectually prevents any attempts at self-destruction; +while those who have a propensity to commit homicide are provided with +separate cells. There is at the present moment a person at Colney Hatch +who labours under the delusion that he can only recover his liberty by +killing one of the keepers, and in accordance with this idea he has +already made several attempts on their lives. A lamentable death took +place at Hanwell the year before last, through the neglect on the part of +an attendant to see a homicidal patient properly secured in his apartment +for the night. + + "On the 12th of April, the patients of No. 7 ward (twenty-five in + number) having had their supper, were going to bed at a quarter before + eight o'clock--all of them, being more or less refractory, have a + single bedroom each. The attendant, in seeing them to bed, + inadvertently locked up two (B. and W.) in one room; he stated that, + observing the day-clothing of all outside their doors, he supposed + that the patients were in their rooms, and, therefore, did not take + the precaution to look into them. The room No. 19 was the one usually + occupied by W., a man of exceedingly clean habits, of a mild + expression of countenance, but very violent, prone to strike suddenly + and without provocation any person within reach of him; so frequently + had he done this, that he was not allowed to sit near other patients, + even at meals, but took his food apart from them at a side-table. B., + whose room was No. 10, directly opposite to No. 19, was occasionally + violent, always dirty in his habits, and destructive of clothing. It + is supposed that this man entered No. 19 room by mistake, and that his + presence there excited the homicidal tendency of the other into + action. What is known is, that the night-attendant, when he visited + the ward at half-past ten o'clock, and went as usual to the room No. + 10, found it unoccupied, and the patient's clothes outside the door; + then hearing a noise in the room 19, he opened the door, and saw B. + extended at full length on his back on the floor, naked and quite + dead. W. came out of the room in his shirt immediately the door was + opened, and, pointing to B., said, 'That fellow will not allow me to + sleep.' There was a mark round B.'s neck as if caused by a cord, which + had produced strangulation, and a mark of a severe blow on the top of + the nose, and of a bruise on the chest: the bedclothes were in great + disorder; amongst them were found the shirt and flannel of B.; one + sleeve of the former was twisted like a rope, as if W. had strangled + B. with it." + +The utmost precaution will not always insure safety, for patients +considered quite harmless will now and then commit the most horrible acts. +A black man, a butcher, who had been many years in an American asylum, and +had never shown any violence, one night secreted a knife, and induced +another patient to enter his cell. When his companion had lain down, he +cut his throat, divided him into joints, and arranged the pieces round his +cell as he had been accustomed to arrange his meat in his shop. He then +offered his horrible wares to his fellow-lunatics, carrying such parts as +they desired to those who were chained. The keeper, hearing the uproar, +examined the cells, and found one man missing; upon inquiring of the black +butcher if he had seen him, he calmly replied, "He had sold the last +joint!" Even those who have apparently harmless delusions, will sometimes, +if thwarted, commit unlooked-for atrocities. Not many years since, an +inquisition was held before Mr. Commissioner Winslow upon a young +gentleman who would travel considerable distances to see a windmill, and +sit watching it for days. His friends, to put an end to his absurd +propensity, removed to a place where there were no mills. The youth, to +counteract the design, murdered a child in a wood, mangling his limbs in a +terrible manner, in the hope that he should be transferred, as a +punishment, to a situation whence a mill could be seen. + +Idleness is perhaps a greater curse to the majority of lunatics than to +sane individuals. Occupation diverts the mind from its malady. Colney +Hatch and Hanwell, from their populousness, and from the fact of their +being filled principally by metropolitan lunatics, afford admirable +examples of the new method of employing patients in the trades they have +been accustomed to follow when in health. As the ranges of workshops at +Colney Hatch are the most extensive, we will draw our description from +that establishment. Of the male patients, only 245, out of an average of +514 in the house during the year 1855, were employed in labour at all, the +remainder consisting of violent maniacs and those afflicted with +paralysis, epilepsy, and idiocy, none of whom are capable of undertaking +any work. Sixty-five persons were allotted to the gardens, grounds, and +farms, leaving 180 to be distributed in the workshops and various offices +of the asylum. The tailoring department is the most extensive. Upon the +occasion of our visit, there were at least a score of cross-legged +lunatics cutting out and making up grey dresses for the inmates, or +repairing old clothing, their conduct being in no manner distinguishable +from that of sane journeymen. The shoemakers numbered a dozen, every man +handling his short knife. Those unaccustomed to lunatics will find it a +nervous proceeding to thread their way among so many armed madmen, and +will wish themselves well out of this apparently dangerous assembly. Yet, +in truth, they are no more to be feared than any similar number of lucid +workmen, as the homicidally inclined are carefully excluded. The +carpenters planed away merrily among their chips in an adjoining +apartment, using now and then chisel, gouge, and saw in perfect freedom. +Many excitable patients have been placed in these shops without any bad +result; and even those who are disposed to be mischievous when suspected, +have become quiet when trusted with edge-tools of the most formidable +description. The greater the confidence reposed in the majority of the +insane, the more does it tend to insure good behaviour. Of the other +artificers in different departments, we may mention painters, +upholsterers, bakers, butchers, brewers, and coopers; whilst a still +larger number are employed in the kitchen and dining-hall, or as helpers +in the corridors and wards. The services of all these lunatic artisans and +labourers were valued last year at 1,059_l._ 3_s._ + +As far as possible, the men work at the trades they have previously +followed; but there are many patients whose skilled labour cannot be +utilized in this comparatively confined community; such, for instance, as +rule-makers, jewellers, whale-bone-cutters, coach-painters, gold-beaters, +buhl-cutters, wax-doll makers, and a score of other heterogeneous +craftsmen, who are only to be found in a great metropolis. These persons +engage in the employment most suited to them, and thus many of them leave +the asylum skilled in two trades. Equally efficacious is the occupation on +the farm, which contains seventy-six acres of pasture and arable land, +principally dedicated to the rearing and maintenance of stock. On the 1st +of January, 1856, there were 28 cows, 1 bull, 2 calves, 152 pigs, 40 +sheep, 7 horses, &c. The tending of these animals, the culture of the +fields and of the thirty-one acres of ornamental grounds, the milking the +cows, the slaughtering of the meat, and the production of the butter, +afford varied and healthy employment to the sixty-five agriculturists. +Some persons who never handled a spade before, here set to work cheerfully +and with a will, and a French polisher, a Wesleyan minister, a school +teacher, or a law writer, may be seen digging away at a field of potatoes; +or a ship-carpenter, saddler, cabman, coalheaver, and organ-player, +diligently engaged in filling a manure-cart. They would, it is true, be +better employed in occupations more in accordance with their previous +habits; but these cannot be found for them, and labour of any kind is +preferable to idleness. On the female side of the house industry is +resorted to as a means of cure to a still larger extent. Of the 503 equal +to labour, 270 work as needlewomen, 7 are employed in the kitchen, 72 +wash, iron, and clearstarch in the laundry, 125 help in the wards, and 29 +attend school, and are otherwise engaged. The total value of the female +labour of the house is computed at 500_l._ per annum. + +Colney Hatch is not so extensively embarked in industrial and agricultural +pursuits as the North and East Riding Asylum, where the patients are +received from a mixed manufacturing and agricultural population, and the +produce of their fields and workshops is much greater than could be +extracted from worn-out metropolitan patients. Not only do the lunatics +rear the vegetables, but they take them to the asylum gates and dispose of +them to the public. The result affords a proof of what we hold to be a +settled principle, that chronic cases of insanity are greatly benefited by +as much intercourse as possible with the saner part of the community. + +In accordance with the opinion that pursuits of lunatics should be similar +to their pursuits in former days, the south wing of Haslar Hospital is +devoted to the officers, seamen, and marines of her Majesty's fleet who +are afflicted with insanity. Every window of the building commands a fine +view of Spithead and the Isle of Wight, and here the old Salts can sit and +watch the splendid panorama crowded with vessels, and active with that +nautical life which recalls so many happy associations to their minds. +They form fishing parties, make nets, and go on pleasure excursions in row +and sailing craft. The "madman's boat" of eight oars, manned by patients +and steered by an attendant, is well known to the sailors on the Solent, +and so harmless are they considered, that young ladies often accompany +them on trips to the Isle of Wight, implicitly trusting in their +seamanship and politeness. + +Mental labour, as a means of cure, has not been adopted in England to any +great extent; most asylums have their libraries, in which attentive +readers are always to be found, but the inmates rarely attempt to produce +amusement or instruction for their fellows. There is one signal exception +to this rule in Murray's Royal Asylum at Perth. This establishment, under +the superintendence of Dr. Lauder Lindsay, appears to be the very focus of +intellectual activity. The programme for the winter session of 1856-7 +reads more like the prospectus of the Athenæum of some large city than the +bill of fare for a lunatic asylum. Famous professors reflect in its +lecture-room the philosophy and science of the outer world, and their +choice of subjects would not be disavowed by the committee of a London +Scientific Institution. + + _Lecturer._ | _Subject._ + 1. PROFESSOR BLACKIE, University| Beauty. + of Edinburgh. | + | + 2. HUGH BARCLAY, Esq., LL.D., | Authenticity of Ossian's Poems. + Sheriff-Substitute of | + Perthshire. | + | + 3. THOMAS MILLER, Esq., LL.D., | Chemical Affinity. + Rector of Perth Academy. | + | + 4. GEORGE LAWSON, Esq., | Vital Phenomena of Vegetation. + Demonstrator of Botanical | + Histology, University of | + Edinburgh. | + | + 5. REV. DR. CROMBIE, of Scone, | Winter: its lessons and associations. + late Moderator of General | + Assembly. | + | + 6. REV. JOHN ANDERSON, Kinnoull.| Sketches from the History of Ancient + | Nations. + | + 7. REV. WM. MURDOCH, Kinnoull. | Education: its aims and uses. + | + 8. DR. BROWNE, Crichton Royal | The Genesis of Thought. + Institution, Dumfries. | + | + 9. DR. FAIRLESS, Crieff. | Electricity: its phenomena and + | applications. + | + 10. DR. STIRLING, Perth. | Natural History of Man. + | + 11. ALEX. CORALL, Esq., Montrose.| Natural History of Zoophytes. + | + 12. THOMAS R. MARSHALL, Esq., | Art: in its applications to common + Edinburgh. | life. + +These scientific and philosophic expositions are attended by all the +better class patients. The paupers have a separate set of lectures and +classes, the major part of which are delivered and conducted by the +inmates themselves. Galvanism, the Blood, Time, Economic Botany, are among +the subjects which the deranged brains of the Perth asylum are contented +to hear elucidated. The activity of the place does not stop here: chamber +concerts, in which the patients perform; grand concerts, in which artists +from without supply the leading stars; and theatrical performances, in +which the different characters are all taken by "resident actors," are +among the resources which were employed to amuse and interest the inmates +during the winter months just past. A pit full of lunatics watching "Box +and Cox" played by their fellows, is a curious subject for contemplation. +Not content with these efforts, they seem to think that they are nothing +unless critical, and accordingly they have set up a journal, in which they +review their own performances. The first number of _Excelsior_ is now +before us, in which we find poetry, news, and criticisms on music, and +contemporary literature; and he who reads with the idea of finding +anything odd in this production, will most certainly be mistaken; for no +one could divine that there was a "bee in the bonnet" of printer, +publisher, and contributor. Balls and conversaziones form the staple of +the lighter recreations of this singular community, whilst the more +athletic games of running, leaping, hurdle-racing, Highland dancing, +putting the stone, footing the bar, and lifting dead weights, are pursued +with such success, that the lunatics boast with pride that they have +beaten some of the prize-holders of the outer world. + +It might be supposed that intellectual striving was not the medicine to +offer to a diseased brain; but we are informed by Dr. Lindsay that in the +vast majority of cases the best results flow from this method of +treatment, and that a large percentage of cures is obtained. Such patients +as would be injured by stimulating their faculties are debarred by the +physician from their undue exercise, and others must be too far gone, or +be too uninformed, to be capable of the pursuit. The surprise that +lunatics should be susceptible of healthy mental exertion, arises from the +common forgetfulness that many understandings are slightly affected, or +are only deranged upon particular points. When Nat Lee was in Bedlam, he +said that it was very difficult to write like a madman, and very easy to +write like a fool. The works of the fools are more voluminous than the +works of the madmen, because there are more fools than lunatics; but those +who are completely mad are so far from experiencing a difficulty in +writing in their own character, that they cannot write in any other. As +many, however, who are not altogether right in their minds, are no more +exclusively insane than people who are not absolutely wise are entirely +foolish, it is easy to see that they may still be equal to much profitable +mental exertion. In these days poor Christopher Smart would not be +deprived of his pen and ink, and compelled to indent his long poem on +"David" with a key on the panels of his cell; nor perhaps would the +following epigram, which a woman in Bedlam wrote on Martin Madan's +argument in favour of polygamy, be handed about as a phenomenon to be +wondered at:-- + + "If John marry Mary, and Mary alone, + It is a good match between Mary and John: + But if John marry more wives, what blows and what scratches! + 'Tis no longer a match, but a bundle of matches." + +In France, and we believe in some other continental countries, it is the +habit to employ lunatic labour in the private farms surrounding the +asylum. This plan was in the olden time pursued in England; but it appears +to have gone out with the ancient system of coercion. When radical +revolutions are accomplished, good ideas sometimes perish with the bad; +and we cannot help thinking that the abandonment of this method of +exercising lunatics was an error, and that a return to the old practice, +under proper regulations, would be of advantage both to employer and +employed. Never must we lose sight of the wisdom of freeing the patient as +much as practicable from the companionship of his fellows, and of placing +him, to the utmost of our power, in the same free condition which he +enjoyed in his days of sanity. + +At Colney Hatch, as at Hanwell, and indeed all other public asylums, the +sexes occupy separate portions of the building, and are only allowed to be +present together on particular occasions. This unnatural arrangement +undoubtedly arose from the introduction into asylums of prison and +workhouse systems of management; for certainly nothing can tend to render +the life of the patient more dreary than to find himself carefully +excluded from the company of the other half of creation. It is stated by +the advocates of separation that the mingling of the sexes among the +insane would be productive of occasional misbehaviour; but nothing could +be more unjust than to deprive the majority of the benefits which would +arise from frequent social reunion, in consequence of the erotic +tendencies of the few. It is with pleasure, therefore, we see the attempts +which are being made to assimilate the intercourse of lunatics to that of +the sane at Hanwell, Colney Hatch, and other asylums. The most interesting +feature of the former establishment is the ball which takes place every +Monday night. Shortly after six o'clock the handsome assembly-room, +brilliantly lit with gas, becomes the central point of attraction to all +the inmates, male and female, who are considered well enough to indulge +their inclinations for festivity. On the occasion of our visit there were +about 200 patients present, together with a few visitors and many of the +attendants. In a raised orchestra five musicians, three of whom were +lunatics, soon struck up a merry polka, and immediately the room was alive +with dancers. In the progress of this amusement we could see nothing +grotesque or odd. Had the men been differently dressed, it would have been +impossible to have guessed that we were in the midst of a company of +lunatics, the mere sweepings of the parish workhouses; but the prison +uniform of sad-coloured grey presented a disadvantageous contrast to the +gayer and more varied costumes at Bethlehem, and appeared like a jarring +note amid the general harmony of the scene. In the corners of the room +whist-players, consisting generally of the older inmates, were seen intent +upon their game; not a word was uttered aloud, not a gesture took place +that would have discredited any similar sane assembly; yet not a patient +was free from some strange hallucination, or some morbid impulse. Among +the merriest dancers in Sir Roger de Coverley was a man who believed +himself to be our Saviour, and who wore in his hair a spike in imitation +of the crown of thorns; and one of the keenest whist-players was an old +lady, who, whilst her partner was dealing, privately assured us she had +been dead these three years, and desired as a favour that we would use our +influence with the surgeon to persuade him to cut off her head. In the +midst of such strange delusions, it was curious to notice how rationally +those who were their dupes enjoy themselves; and it is impossible to deny +that such reunions are eminently calculated to hinder the mind from +morbidly dwelling upon its own unhealthy creations. It is found that the +too prolonged and frequent repetition of the balls somewhat diminishes +their interest--an evil provided against at Hanwell by restricting the +time allotted to them. At nine precisely, although in the midst of a +dance, a shrill note is blown, and the entire assembly, like so many +Cinderellas, breaks up at once, and the company hurry off to their +dormitories. These hebdomadal balls have not yet been introduced at Colney +Hatch. A movement has, however, been made latterly towards a limited +association between the sexes by allowing them to dine together. Of the +500 patients who assemble in the ample dining-hall, 200 are females and +300 males. The scene when the women first made their appearance is +described as something remarkable; the men rose in a body apparently +delighted beyond measure, and the presence of the softer sex has not only +tended to break the former monotony, but to keep the assembly in order and +good humour. Before this happy meeting there were occasional outbreaks of +some of the more excited patients; but now, when any of the men are +inclined to be fractious or discontented, the women turn them into joke, +and they are silenced immediately. As yet the two sexes are not allowed to +sit at the same table, but are located on opposite sides of the room. By +far the better plan would be to seat them on different sides of the long +tables; but as many persons in authority, wanting confidence in human +nature, object to this natural arrangement, the innovators must be +satisfied for the moment with the present imperfect concession. When it +was first proposed to introduce a billiard-table at Bethlehem, the scheme +was rejected by a majority of two-thirds of the governors, on the score +that the players would fight each other with the cues and balls, and +bagatelle, as a kind of half measure, was permitted instead. As the +patients confined the balls to their legitimate purpose, and the mace was +not turned into an offensive weapon, the billiard-table was at last with +reluctance established. The same thing will doubtless happen with respect +to the dining arrangements at Colney Hatch; and before long we trust male +and female lunatics will exchange courtesies across the table instead of +across the room. + +In the chapels of nearly all the larger lunatic asylums the quieter +inmates are accustomed to meet at the daily morning and evening service. +In the spacious chapels of Hanwell and Colney Hatch, the attendance on +week days, as well as on the Sabbath, is far better than can be found +among the same number of people out of doors, 250 on the average attending +on week days, and 500 on Sundays. We do not suppose that the lunatic is +more religious than the sane, but the _ennui_ which, to a certain extent, +still attaches to the asylum renders any form of reunion agreeable; and as +the going to chapel is "something to do," numbers of the inmates obey the +summons who might stay at home if they were at large. The conduct, +nevertheless, of this congregation is most exemplary. "The heartiness," +says the chaplain, in his report for 1856, "with which they join in the +responses and the psalmody is very encouraging, while their quiet, orderly +conduct--the prayer offered up by many on entering chapel, the regularity +with which they all kneel or sit, according to the order of the +service--would, I think, if generally witnessed, put to the blush many of +our parochial congregations." Now and then an epileptic patient will +disturb the chapel by his heavy fall; but as those who are thus afflicted +are located near the doors, the interruption is but momentary. The +chaplain of Colney Hatch has trained twelve male and female patients to +practise church music and psalmody. The choral service is well performed, +and, in conjunction with the organ, has a visible effect in soothing the +wilder patients, and in pleasing all. The sacrament is not denied to those +who are fit to receive it, and no more touching scene can be witnessed +than that which is presented in the chapel, when a score of communicants, +disordered though their minds sometimes be, humbly kneel, and + + "Drain the chalice of the grapes of God." + +The out-of-door games of the insane are very much regulated by the extent +of ground attached to the asylum. Where this is ample, as at Colney Hatch, +cricket is the favourite summer recreation; a skittle-alley, a +bowling-green, and a fives-court, are found in most county asylums. In +America, where women adopt more masculine habits than in England, female +lunatics play matches on the bowling-green; and in France gymnastic +exercises are employed for the exercise of both sexes, and may, we think, +be introduced into the English asylums with advantage. The idiotic +patients and those who are incapable of much exertion may be seen in the +airing courts enjoying the monotonous swinging motion of the machine known +in domestic life under the name of "the nursery yacht," being nothing more +than a rocking-horse with the horse left out by particular desire. In +addition to these means of diverting the minds of the patients, walking +parties, under the superintendence of officers of the establishment, are +made up two or three times a week. During the haymaking season it is +customary to allow the inmates of asylums to which farms are attached to +go forth into the fields to assist with the rake and the pitchfork. This +permission is always looked upon as a great treat, and its effect upon the +patients is of the happiest kind, especially _if the scene of their +temporary labour admits no sight of the asylum and its wearisome walls_. +Here for a few hours they seem to realize the liberty and delight of +younger days. The physician on such occasions may read in their "grateful +eyes" that we are at present arrived only half way on the road of +non-restraint. Individual patients, again, are suffered to leave the +public asylums on a day's visit to their friends, under the care of a +nurse; and some who are nearly convalescent are permitted to go and return +of their own accord. It is the custom of Colney Hatch and Hanwell, and we +believe of most asylums in England, to grant the patients a certain period +of probation among their friends, in order to test their fitness to be +discharged as cured; to give them, in short, mental tickets-of-leave. This +is an admirable plan, inasmuch as it secures to the patient the full +enjoyment of liberty, at the same time that it enables him to keep himself +well in hand, knowing that, as he is not unconditionally released, an +immediate recall to the asylum would follow any sign of returning +irrationality. + +The dietary in public asylums is ample, and the quality excellent. Hanwell +may, perhaps, be considered the model establishment in this respect. It is +the joke of the other asylums, that one man has been regaled there daily +for years with chicken and wine. Even the fancies of the patients are now +and then gratified at some expense. There is an old lady in Hanwell who +believes that the whole establishment is her private property; and, on one +occasion, she complained to the medical superintendent that, +notwithstanding all the expense she was at to keep up the grounds and +forcing-houses, she never could get any grapes. The next day she was +presented with a bunch, which had been purchased to appease her repinings. +This humouring method of treatment, as it is called in other asylums, is +much patronized by the matron, a person who seems to enjoy as much power +as the medical officers. In her report for 1856 she thus speaks of a +patient who died in the course of last year:-- + + "She had been employed many years in the laundry, and always imagined + she was to be removed elsewhere--that on Monday morning a waggon would + call at the gate for herself and her property. Accordingly, every + Monday morning throughout the year, at 10 o'clock, she was accompanied + to the gate, dressed with a coloured handkerchief pinned fancifully + over her cap instead of a bonnet, and carrying a small parcel (_her + property_) of the most heterogeneous contents--thimbles, ends of tape, + polished bones, pebbles, pieces of smooth coal, &c. The waggon was + never found to be in waiting, and Mary, without evincing any + disappointment, walked cheerfully back to the laundry, telling the + superintendent that 'The waggon would be sure to come next Monday, but + that she need not lose time, so she would work all this week.'" + +In many asylums this method of treatment is thought calculated to feed the +original delusion; but here, again, the judgment of the physician ought +alone to determine the course to be taken in each individual case. In +patients labouring under violent excitement, to oppose an hallucination, +however absurd, would add fuel to the fire. Again, in a chronic case like +that of the laundry-maid, the harmless fancy of the poor creature might +not only be indulged in with impunity, but served to renew week by week +her stock of cheerfulness. + +The lunatic colony of Gheel, situated twelve miles south of Turnhont, in +Belgium, amid a vast uncultivated plateau consisting of heath and sand, +called the Campine, affords an extraordinary example of the pre-eminent +advantages of the present mode of managing lunatics. Until the era of +railroads this spot was so out of the ordinary track of the world, that +but few persons even of those who were interested in the treatment of the +insane were aware of its existence. Here we discover, like a fly in amber, +a state of things which has lasted with little change for twelve hundred +years. Here we see the last remnants of the priestly treatment of +insanity, coupled with a system of non-restraint which certainly existed +long before the term was ever heard of in England and France. Gheel owes +its origin to a miracle. Saint Dympna, the daughter of an Irish king, +suffered martyrdom in this place from the hand of her father in the sixth +century. So great was her fame as the patron saint of lunatics, that her +shrine, erected in the church dedicated to her, speedily became the resort +of pilgrims, who journeyed hither in the hope of being cured of their +madness or of preventing its advent. Her elegantly-sculptured tomb +contains among other bassi-relievi one in which the devil is observed +issuing from the head of a female lunatic, while prayers are being offered +up by some priests and nuns, and close at hand another chained maniac +seems anxiously awaiting his turn to be delivered from the demon. The idea +carefully inculcated by the priests, that lunacy meant nothing more than a +possession by the devil, has long been banished from other lands. Here, +however, it has flourished for many centuries, and the ceremony of +crawling beneath the tomb has existed so long, that the hands and knees of +the devotees have worn away the pavement. The act is still occasionally +performed amid a scene in which superstition and terror are combined in a +manner calculated to cure any lunatic, if deep mental impressions were +alone required to purge away his malady. But what is far more interesting +and astonishing to those accustomed to the bolts and bars, the locks, +wards, and high walls of crowded European asylums, is the almost entire +liberty accorded to the lunatics resident in the town of Gheel and its +neighbouring hamlets, to the number of 800, or one-tenth of the whole +district. No palatial building, such as we encounter in nearly every +county in England, is to be seen. The little army of pauper and other +patients gathered from the whole superficies of Belgium, instead of being +stowed away in one gigantic establishment, in which all ideas of life are +merged in the iron routine of an enormous workhouse, are distributed over +five hundred different dwellings, three hundred of which are cottages, or +small farmhouses, in which the more violent and poorer classes are +dispersed, and the remaining two hundred are situated in the town of +Gheel, and are appropriated to quieter lunatics and those who are able to +pay more liberally for their treatment. In these habitations the sufferers +are placed under the care of the host and hostess; more than three persons +never being domiciled under one roof, and generally not more than one. The +lunatic shares in the usual life of the family; his occupations and +employment are theirs, his little cares and enjoyments are the same as +theirs. He goes forth to the fields to labour as in ordinary life; no +stern walls perpetually imprison him, and make him desire to overleap +them, as Rasselas desired to escape even from the Happy Valley. If it is +not thought fit for him to labour with plough or spade, he remains at +home, and takes care of the children, prunes the trees in the garden, and +attends to the potage on the fire; or if a female, busies herself in the +ordinary domestic duties of the house. The lunatics, as may be supposed, +are not left to the discretionary mercies of the host and hostess. A +strict system of supervision prevails, somewhat analogous to that of the +lunacy commissioners and the visiting justices of England. The entire +country is divided into four districts, each having a head guardian and a +physician, to whom is entrusted the medical care of every inmate belonging +to that section. There are, in addition, one consulting surgeon and one +inspecting physician for the whole community. The general government of +the colony is vested in the hands of eight persons, who dispense a code of +laws especially devised for it. The burgomaster of Gheel presides over +this managing committee, whose duties are to distribute the patients among +the different dwellings, to watch over their treatment, and to admit or +discharge them. A visiting commissioner is annually appointed, who +inspects the dwellings of the different hosts, and sees that the patients +are properly cared for. The oversight of the lunatics falls almost wholly +upon the hostess, the man rarely interfering, unless called upon to +control a disorderly patient. The people of Gheel, from having been +engaged for ages in the treatment of the insane, are said to have acquired +extraordinary tact in their management, which, Dr. Webster remarks, may be +considered to exhibit a most judicious mixture of "mildness and force." +Although instruments of restraint, such as the strait-waistcoat, and the +long leathern thong below the leg, to prevent patients from running away, +are occasionally resorted to, the sectional physician must be instantly +informed of their imposition, and their use cannot be continued without +his sanction. So little are they required, that Dr. Webster found less +restraint in this colony, unconfined by walls, than in the asylum at +Mareville, in France, containing a similar number of lunatics. Yet there +were fewer escapes than from the strictly-guarded restraint-abounding +prison, only eleven persons having fled from Gheel in the course of last +year, and nineteen from Mareville. Here also, it will be observed, there +is no separation of the sexes. The lunatics live the life of the other +inhabitants, and males and females associate in the same household. If we +compare the effects of this simple treatment with that of the most +expensive of our own asylums, we are compelled to admit that the balance +is in favour of Gheel, where, notwithstanding the free admission of +chronic cases, upwards of twenty-two per cent. of cures takes place +annually, while at Hanwell and Colney Hatch the cures never exceed +fifteen per cent. No fair comparison can be instituted between the expense +per head at Gheel and in our English establishments, inasmuch as living is +much cheaper in Belgium; but we may state, that the average cost of board +and lodging for each pauper in the colony is 10_l._ per annum, or exactly +the sum charged for lodging alone in our county asylums.[17] + +A plan, towards which we have been slowly advancing during the last +half-century, will speedily, we hope, be more closely followed. A trial is +already, to some extent, being made of it in the neighbourhood of existing +asylums, and might supplant, with immense advantage, the prevailing custom +of building new wings, and over-populating old wards. The present system +of enormous buildings, which destroys the individuality of the inmates, +and suppresses all their old habits and modes of life, is evidently +disapproved by the commissioners, as appears from the language they hold +in their tenth annual report:-- + + "We have the best reason for believing that the patients derive a + direct benefit, in many ways, from residing in cheerful, airy + apartments detached from the main building, and associated with + officials engaged in conducting industrial pursuits. A consciousness + that he is useful, and thought worthy of confidence, is necessarily + induced in the mind of every patient, by removal from the ordinary + wards where certain restrictions are enforced, into a department where + he enjoys a comparative degree of freedom; and this necessarily + promotes self-respect and self-control, and proves highly salutary in + forwarding the patient's restoration. As a means of treatment, we + consider this species of separate residence of the utmost importance, + constituting in fact a probationary system for patients who are + convalescing; giving them greater liberty of action, extended + exercise, with facilities for occupation; and thus generating + self-confidence, and becoming not only excellent tests of the sanity + of the patient, but operating powerfully to promote a satisfactory + cure. The want of such an intermediate place of residence is always + much felt; and it often happens that a patient just recovered from an + attack of insanity, and sent into the world direct from a large + asylum, is found so unprepared to meet the trials he has to undergo, + by any previous use of his mental faculties, that he soon relapses, + and is under the necessity of being again returned within its walls. + Commodious rooms contiguous to the farm-buildings are now in the + course of construction at the Somerset County Asylum; and there is + every reason to believe that the patients will derive benefit by + residing in these apartments, which at once possess a domestic + character, and afford every facility to carry on agricultural + pursuits." + +It strikes us forcibly that the commissioners have tended to create the +evil they deprecate in not protesting against the erection of gigantic +asylums; but it is cheering to find that the idea of supplemental +buildings possessing a "domestic character" has taken possession of their +minds, and that they are now enforcing it on the minds of others with +their well-known zeal and ability. The Devon Asylum, among others, has +adopted the plan; and its accomplished physician, Dr. Bucknill, the editor +of the _Asylum Journal_, bears important testimony to the great advantages +to be derived from it. + + "I have recommended the erection of an inexpensive building, detached + from, but within the grounds of the present asylum, in preference to + an extension of the asylum itself. My reasons for this recommendation + are, that such a building will afford a useful and important change + for patients for whom a change from the wards is desirable. The system + of placing patients in detached buildings, resembling in their + construction and arrangements an ordinary English house, has been + found to afford beneficial results in the so-called cottages which + this institution at present possesses. _These cottages are much + preferred to the wards by the patients themselves, and permission to + reside in them is much coveted._ I am also convinced that such + auxiliary buildings can be erected at much less expense than would be + incurred by the enlargement and alteration of the asylum itself. I + propose that in the new building the patients shall cook and wash for + themselves." + +"These cottages are much preferred to the wards by the patients +themselves, and permission to reside in them is much coveted." In these +few lines we read the condemnation of huge structures like Colney Hatch, +built externally on the model of a palace, and internally on that of a +workhouse, in which the poor lunatic but rarely finds any object of human +interest, where his free-will is reduced to the level of that of a +convict, and the very air of heaven necessary to his health is doled out +at intervals, when, with infinite lockings and unlockings, the attendants +order a batch of persons into the stagnant and tiresome airing courts. +Infinitely better for the lunatics would be the freedom and homeliness of +the smallest cottage to the formal monotony of cheerless wards; better far +that they should, as Dr. Bucknill suggests, cook and wash for themselves, +than that the offices should be performed wholesale in the steam-laundry +and the steam-kitchen. A patient would undoubtedly feel a far greater +interest in peeling his own potatoes for the pot, and in cooking his own +bit of bacon, than in receiving them ready cooked. It is the duty of the +physician to interest the patient in his daily work, and no more effectual +method of accomplishing this could be suggested than in putting him to +work for himself. + +Wherever large asylums are already erected, no better plan could perhaps +be suggested than the building of satellite cottages, which would form a +kind of supplementary Gheel to the central establishment; but we should +like to see the experiment tried, in some new district, of reproducing in +its integrity the Belgian system. The colony of Gheel was once a desert +like the country which surrounds it; it is now, through the happy +application of pauper lunatic labour, one of the most productive districts +of the Low Countries. Have we no unoccupied Dartmoors on which we could +erect cottages, and train the cottagers to receive the insane as members +of the family? The performance of domestic offices, the society of the +goodwife and goodman, and the influence of the children, would do far more +to restore the disordered brain of the lunatic--pauper or otherwise--than +all the organization of the asylum, with its daily routine, proceeding +with the inexorable monotonous motion of a machine, and treating its +inmates rather as senseless atoms than as sentient beings, capable, though +mad, of taking an interest in things around them, and especially awake to +the pleasure of being dealt with as individuals rather than as +undistinguishable parts of a crowd. The children are of particular +moment. Lunatics are singularly gentle to them, and are interested in all +their actions. At Gheel it is customary to send the bairns into the fields +to conduct the patients home from their labour in the evening; and we +learn from Dr. Webster that a violent madman, who would not stir upon the +command of his host, will suffer himself to be led, without a murmur, by +an urchin scarcely higher than his knee. The presence of the young in the +ward of an asylum seems to light it up like a sunbeam. The love of +children does indeed lie at the very foundation of the human heart, and we +cannot estimate too highly their beneficial influence upon the brain which +is recovering from the horrors of insanity. + +One of the most important points in reference to insane paupers, as we +have already intimated, is the bringing them as speedily as possible under +treatment. The reluctance of the lunatic himself to be removed is usually +extreme, and it is marvellous what ingenuity he will often employ to +thwart the design. Southey relates that a madman who was being conveyed +from Rye to Bedlam slept in the Borough. He suspected whither he was +going, and, having contrived by rising early to elude his attendant, he +went to Bedlam, and told the keepers that he was about to bring them a +patient. "But," said he, "in order to lead him willingly, he has been +persuaded that I am mad, and accordingly I shall come as the madman. He +will be very outrageous when you seize him, but you must clap on a +strait-waistcoat." The device completely succeeded. The lunatic returned +home, the sane man was shut up, and until he was exchanged at the end of +four days, remained in his strait-waistcoat, having doubtless exhibited a +violence which amply justified its use. The aversion of the sufferer +himself to be taken away coincides with an equal aversion on the part of +his relatives and friends to send him from home, nor do they take the step +till the madness grows intolerable. Precious time is thus lost at the +outset, and when the removal occurs it is mostly to the workhouse. Here +the patient is usually kept during the remainder of the curable stage of +his malady. The parochial authorities are generally guided by an immediate +consideration for the pockets of the rate-payers, rather than by any care +for the welfare of the lunatic; and, as they can maintain him in the +"house" at three shillings a-week--when they would have to pay nine if +they transferred him to the county asylum--in the workhouse he remains +until he becomes so dirty or troublesome in his habits that the guardians +are willing to pay the difference to get rid of him. The first few months +of the disease, within the narrow limits of which full 60 per cent. of the +recoveries take place, are thus allowed to run to waste. Months fly by, +and the victim subsides into the class of incurables. This produces a +second evil. As the drafts of incurables are perpetually flowing into the +asylums, they become "blocked up" in the course of a few years, and are +converted into houses for the detention of hopeless cases. To this +condition three-fourths of the asylums are already reduced, and the +efforts of philanthropic medicine are brought to a dead lock by the +short-sightedness of the parish authorities, who do not consider that for +the sake of saving a few shillings in the board of Betty Smith in the +first weeks of her craziness, they are converting her into a chronic +burthen, seeing that she will probably live on to a good old age in the +asylum, and cause them an ultimate expenditure of hundreds of pounds. To +the swifter removal after the outbreak of the disorder we must look for a +permanent remedy; but in the mean time something must be done to +disembarrass the public asylums of the dead-weight of hopeless cases, if +we seriously intend to take advantage of the curative appliances we +already possess. The commissioners seem inclined to favour the erection of +separate asylums for those who are beyond the reach of medical art. To us +it seems that the more economical plan would be to apportion certain wards +in the various workhouses for the reception of chronic cases, and to draft +off the idiots alone to special establishments. By this means our +water-logged asylums would speedily right themselves, and again become +what they should never have ceased to be--hospitals for the _cure_ of the +insane. At present we encourage an elaborate system for the manufacture of +life-long lunatics. It is well known that the cures of early cases of +insanity throughout England amount to 45 per cent., and at Bethlehem and +St. Luke's, where no others are received, the cures have amounted to 62 +per cent. and 72 per cent. respectively; whereas at Colney Hatch, Hanwell, +and the Surrey County Asylum, the three great receptacles for the weepings +of the metropolitan workhouses, the average cures do not exceed 15 per +cent. If we take the lowest averages of cures, there is still a difference +of 30 per cent. of human creatures who sink down into the cheerless night +of chronic dementia and idiotcy, or who dream away the remainder of their +lives in hopeless childishness. Another ground of complaint is, that a +degree of clerk's work is imposed upon the medical superintendents of +large asylums which is quite inconsistent with a proper discharge of their +chief duty--the recovery of their patients. Irrespective of the +routine-labour of making daily and quarterly and yearly reports, which is +very considerable, they have far more to do in their strictly professional +capacity than they can possibly accomplish. The three great asylums near +the metropolis contain upwards of 3,000 patients, or the population of a +good-sized country town; and their moral and physical training is confided +to exactly six medical men, or as many as will be found in an hospital of +a hundred beds! It is needless to observe how little attention can be paid +to each individual, and that the more promising patients must be +inevitably swamped in the sea of hopeless lunatics. As long as our asylums +remain mere houses of detention, the want of medical superintendence is +not so apparent; but immediately these establishments are restored to +their proper functions, we predict that the evil will become too glaring +to last. + +In many boroughs the authorities have entirely evaded the requirements of +the Act of Parliament relative to their insane pauper poor, and have not +only neglected to erect proper asylums, but have resisted for years the +attempts of the commissioners to compel them to do their duty. In all such +cases the lunatics not only suffer the ills consequent upon insufficient +care, but when too numerous for home accommodation are subjected to a +system of _transportation_, which is not only disgraceful to the +municipal authorities themselves, but to the age for permitting it. True +to their economical instincts, the guardians of the poor often "farm out" +their insane paupers to the proprietor of some private asylum, quite +regardless of distance. The commissioners, justly indignant at this sordid +practice, state in one of their Reports that-- + + "At present, large numbers of these patients are sent to licensed + houses far from their homes, to distances (sometimes exceeding, and + often scarcely less than, 100 miles) which their relations and friends + are unable to travel. The savings of the labouring poor are quite + insufficient, in most cases, to defray the expense of such journeys, + and their time (constituting their means of existence) cannot be + spared for that purpose. The consequence has been, that the poor + borough lunatic has been left too often to pass a considerable portion + of his life, _and in some cases to die, far from his home, and without + any of his nearest connexions having been able to comfort him by their + occasional presence_. The visits of his parish officers are + necessarily cursory and unfrequent, and he is, in fact, cast upon the + humanity of strangers, whose prosperity depends upon the profits which + they derive from maintaining him and others of his class." + +This is a system which we are confident is as illegal as it is heartless, +and we are astonished that bodies of Englishmen should dare to insult the +miseries of lunatics by thus punishing them and their friends for their +affliction. There were not long since twenty-five insane paupers at +Camberwell House, London, who had been sent from Southampton, a distance +of eighty miles, though the Hants County Asylum is situated within sixteen +miles of the borough. Seventeen persons were in like manner banished from +Great Yarmouth to Highbridge House, near London, and their relations, who +had to travel 146 miles to see them, passed, in the course of their +journey, the Norfolk and Essex County Asylums, both of which +establishments had many vacancies and would willingly have received them. +The pauper lunatics of Ipswich, King's Lynn, Dover, Canterbury, +Portsmouth, and various other boroughs, are in the same way transferred by +the local authorities to some of the metropolitan licensed houses. + +The feelings of the poor for their afflicted relatives are often of the +deepest kind, and the utmost distress is entailed upon them by these cruel +separations from those they love. In one case, a native of Ipswich, too +poor to go by the railway, walked to London and back on foot, a distance +of 140 miles, for the sole purpose of visiting his wife, who had been +wickedly banished to Peckham House, London. In other cases parents have +pleaded so piteously to be conveyed to their children, that the +commissioners have suggested that the expenses should be paid out of the +parish funds, but the authorities who had contrived the original +proceeding in order to save two or three shillings a head, could not of +course be induced to furnish money for so sentimental a purpose. The +commissioners have resolutely refused their sanction to such disgraceful +transactions whenever they have come within their knowledge and +jurisdiction--one instance out of many which prove that, however much the +borough authorities may denounce them as a centralized power, they have +done excellent service in checking local ignorance, selfishness, and +inhumanity. + +If we now turn to consider the condition of private asylums, we shall find +much in them to praise as well as to condemn. When men of reputation, +acknowledged skill, and character--such as Drs. Conolly, Forbes Winslow, +Sutherland, and Munro, of London; Drs. Hitch, Noble, Newington, Fox, in +the provinces, have the management of private asylums, the public need be +under no apprehension of patients being improperly received, illegally +detained, or cruelly and unscientifically treated. The licensed houses in +the metropolitan district directly under the control of the Lunacy +commissioners, amounting to forty-one in number, represent, without doubt, +the fairest specimens of these establishments. Liable as they are at any +moment to the inspection of the commissioners, and presided over as many +of them are by the most eminent members of the profession, they are +generally maintained in a high state of efficiency. They are principally +devoted to the care of the higher classes of the community, and afford +perhaps the nearest approach yet made to a perfect method of treatment, +being conducted in most cases on the principle of a private family. The +bolts, bars, high walls, and dismal airing-courts of the public asylum +are either unknown, or so hidden as no longer to irritate the susceptible +mind of the lunatic. The unwise division of the sexes is not as a rule +adopted. Scrupulous attention to dress and all the forms of polite society +are enjoined alike for their own sake, and as a method of interesting +patients in the daily life of the community. When we partook of the +hospitalities of one of these establishments, we could detect nothing in +the countenances or the appearance of the guests which was characteristic +of their condition: the restless eye, the incoherent conversation, the +sudden movement of the peculiarly formed head, which our preconceived +notions led us to expect, were none of them observable. One individual +indeed there was whom we mentally concluded to be certainly mad. Yet, +singular to say, this gentleman was the only sane individual in the room, +besides ourselves and the medical superintendent; and on further +acquaintance, having told our ill-placed suspicions, he frankly confessed +that he had in his own mind paid ourselves a similar compliment. The eager +glance of curiosity natural to inquisitive strangers was the nearest +approach in this lunatic party to the outward appearance of lunacy. So +much for the "unmistakeable" countenance of the insane! It is not to be +supposed that the more violent can be allowed this social freedom even in +private establishments, or that madness is different in a metropolitan +licensed house from what it is in a public asylum; but we unhesitatingly +assert that in the vast majority of cases the large amount of freedom and +the absence of any prison-like characteristics have an undoubted effect, +not only in calming the mind of the patient, but in expediting his +recovery. Hence the per-centage of cures in a high-class private asylum +are immeasurably beyond those of any public establishment. The +pleasure-ground, out-of-door games, carriage and riding parties, +billiards, whist and evening parties, all contribute their aid in +restoring the unhinged mind. We have seen four or five patients leave the +doors of one of these licensed metropolitan houses (the establishment of +Dr. Forbes Winslow, "Sussex House," Hammersmith), and remain out for hours +without any attendant, their word of _honour_ being the only tie existing +between them and the asylum.[18] + +The condition of a few of the provincial licensed houses is still +glaringly bad, and shows that old ideas, with respect to insanity, are not +entirely obsolete. The Report of the Commissioners of Lunacy for 1856, +relates circumstances which lead us back to the old days of Bedlam. Thus +at Hanbury House the Commissioners found "one young lady fastened by +webbing wristbands to a leathern belt; she was also tied down to her chair +by a rope." Again, they found on their last visit to the Sandford Asylum, +in December, 1855, "a patient just dead, his body exhibiting sores and +extensive sloughs, arising necessarily, we think, from want of +water-pillows or other proper precautions. The room has a stone or plaster +floor, and is without a fire." It is, however, encouraging to find that, +as far as personal restraint goes, the very worst of our private asylums +are far superior to some of the best of the public asylums of France. Dr. +Webster, our great authority on this point, gives in Dr. Winslow's +Psychological Journal, the results gleaned in his visits to these +establishments in the August and September of 1850:-- + + "Forty male lunatics out of 1464 then resident were in _camisole_ + (strait-waistcoats), some being also otherwise restrained, thereby + giving an individual in restraint to every 33-1/4 male inmates, or + three per hundred. Amongst the female lunatics, again, the proportion + was somewhat larger, 72 persons of that sex, out of the total 1902 + resident patients, being under medical coercion; thus making one + female in restraint to every 26-1/3 inmates, or at the rate of 3·78 + per cent. In contrast with this report respecting the above-named + French provincial asylums, I would now place an official statement of + the practice pursued at Bethlehem Hospital during the same period. At + this establishment, where formerly the strait-waistcoat, with various + kinds of personal coercion, were even in greater use than on the other + side of the Channel, _not one_ insane patient, among an average + population of 391 lunatics, was under constraint of any description + during the five weeks ending the 25th of September, when I first + visited that institution after my return from the Continent, and which + embraced the whole time referred to in this memorandum." + +From these curious facts it will be seen that we are far in advance of our +French, and, we may also add, of our other continental neighbours.[19] +When the beneficent thought struck the great Pinel to knock off the +fetters of the English captain, he sounded a note which reverberated +through Europe, and the poor insane captives issued from their dungeons in +which they had been so long immured as the prisoners emerge from their +prison to the divine strains of Beethoven's "Fidelio." But when this vast +step was accomplished there still remained an immense amount of coercion +scarcely less injurious than the old darkness and chains, and to +Englishmen is mainly due the credit of abolishing it. Nor shall we rest +where we are. It is our belief as well as our hope that, before another +generation has gone by, the last vestige of restraint, in the shape of +dismal airing-courts, and outside walls, which serve to wound the spirit +rather than to enslave the limbs, will pass for ever among us, and only be +remembered with the hobbles and the manacles of the past. + +It has been asserted by some psychologists that lunacy is on the increase, +and that its rapid development of late years has been consequent upon the +increased activity of the national mind. This statement is certainly +startling and calculated to arrest the attention of all thoughtful men. Is +it true that civilisation has called to life a monster such as that which +appalled Frankenstein? Is it a necessity of progress that it shall ever be +accompanied by that fearful black rider which, like Despair, sits behind +it? Does mental development mean increased mental decay? If these +questions were truly answered in the affirmative, we might indeed sigh for +the golden time when + + "Wild in woods the noble savage ran," + +for it would be clear that the nearer humanity strove to attain towards +divine perfection, the more it was retrograding towards a state inferior +to that of the brute creation. A patient examination, however, of the +question entirely negatives such a conclusion. Dr. Ray, of the United +States, in taking the opposite view of the case, says:-- + + "If we duly consider the characteristics of our times, we shall there + find abundant reason for the fact that insanity has been increasing at + a rate unparalleled in any former period. In every successive step + that has led to a higher degree of civilisation; in all the means and + appliances for developing the mental resources of the race; in the + ever-widening circle of objects calculated to influence desire, and + impel to effort, we find so many additional agencies for tasking the + mental energies, and thereby deranging the healthy equilibrium which + binds the faculties together, and leads to an harmonious result. The + press and the rostrum, the railway and the spinning-jenny, the steam + engine and the telegraph, republican institutions and social + organizations, are agencies more potent in preparing the mind for + insanity than any or all of those vices and casualties which exert a + more immediate and striking effect." + +Such is the burthen of the story of all those psychologists who believe +that insanity is fast gaining upon us; but if "in the ever-widening circle +of objects calculated to influence desire and impel to effort, we find so +many additional agencies for tasking the mental energies, and thereby +deranging the healthy equilibrium which binds the faculties together," it +should appear that those classes of society which are in the van of +civilization should be the chief sufferers. Bankers, great speculators, +merchants, engineers, statesmen, philosophers and men of letters--those +who work with the brain rather than with their hands,--should afford the +largest proportion to the alleged increase of insanity. How does the +matter really stand? In the Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy for the +year 1847 we find the total number of private patients of the middle and +upper classes then under confinement in private asylums, amounted to +4,649. Now, if we skip eight years, and refer to the Report of 1855, we +find that there were only 4,557 patients under confinement, or about 96 +less, notwithstanding the increase of population during that period. If we +compare the number of pauper lunatics under confinement at these two +different periods, we shall find a widely-different state of things; for +in 1847 there were 9,654 in our public and private asylums, whilst in 1855 +they numbered 15,822. In other words, our pauper lunatics would _appear_ +to have increased 6,170 in eight years, or upwards of 64 per cent. It is +this extraordinary increase of pauper lunatics in the county asylums which +has frightened some psychologists from their propriety, and led them to +believe that insanity is running a winning race with the healthy +intellect. But these figures, if they mean anything, prove that it is not +the intellect of the country that breeds insanity, but its ignorance, as +it cannot be for one moment contended that the grent movements now taking +place in the world originate with the labouring classes. We shall be told, +we know, that there is a constant descent of patients from private asylums +to the public asylums; that the professional man and the tradesman, after +expending the means of his friends and family for a year or two, in the +vain hope of a speedy cure, becomes necessarily in the end a pauper +lunatic, and that this stream aids to swell the numbers in the county +institution. Allowing its due weight to this explanation--and those who +know public asylums are well aware how small, comparatively speaking, is +the educated element--yet as the same disturbing element in the +calculation obtained at both periods, we may safely conclude that the +figures are not thereby essentially altered. + +A still more convincing proof that mental ruin springs rather from mental +torpidity than from mental stimulation, is to be found by comparing the +proportion of lunatics to the population in the rural and the +manufacturing districts. Sir Andrew Halliday, who worked out this +interesting problem in 1828,[20] selected as his twelve non-agricultural +counties--Cornwall, Cheshire, Derby, Durham, Gloucester, Lancaster, +Northumberland, Stafford, Somerset, York (West Riding), and Warwick, which +contained a population at that time of 4,493,194, and a total number of +3,910 insane persons, or one to every 1,200. His twelve agricultural +counties were Bedford, Berkshire, Bucks, Cambridge, Hereford, Lincoln, +Norfolk, Northampton, Oxford, Rutland, Suffolk, and Wilts, the total +population of which were 2,012,979, and the total number of insane persons +2,526--a proportion of 1 lunatic to every 820 sane. Another significant +fact elicited was, that whilst in the manufacturing counties the idiots +were considerably less than the lunatics, in the rural counties the idiots +were to the lunatics as 7 to 5! Thus the Hodges of England who know +nothing of the march of intellect, who are entirely guiltless of +speculations of any kind, contribute far more inmates to the public +lunatic asylums than the toil-worn artisans of Manchester or Liverpool, +who live in the great eye of the world, and keep step with the march of +civilization, even if they do but bring up its rear. Isolation is a +greater cause of mental ruin than aggregation--our English fields can +afford _crétins_ as plentifully as the upland valleys of the mountain +range, seldom visited by the foot of the traveller; whilst, on the other +hand, in the workshop and the public assembly, "As iron weareth iron, so +man sharpeneth the face of his friend." + +If we required further proof of the groundless nature of the alarm that +mental activity was destroying the national mind, we should find it in the +well-ascertained fact that the proportion of lunatics is greater among +females than males. It may also be urged that Quakers, who pride +themselves on the sedateness of their conduct, furnish much more than +their share; but for this singular result their system of intermarriage is +doubtless much to blame. Still the fact remains, that within a period of +eight years, extending from 1847 to 1855, an increase of 64 per cent. took +place in our pauper lunatic asylums. These figures, however, afford no +more proof of the increase of pauper lunatics than the increase of +criminal convictions since the introduction of a milder code of laws and +the appointment of the new police afford a proof of increased crime. As +the commissioners very justly observe, medical practitioners of late years +have taken a far more comprehensive as well as scientific view of insanity +than formerly; and many forms of the disease now fall under their care +that were previously overlooked, when no man was considered mad unless he +raved, or was an idiot. But the great cause of the increase of lunatics in +our asylums is to be ascribed to the erection of the asylums themselves. +With the exception of three or four Welsh counties, and two or three in +the north of England, there is not a shire in England which does not +possess some palatial building. These establishments, in which restraint, +speaking in the ordinary acceptance of the term, is unknown, and in which +the inmates are always treated with humanity, have drained the land of a +lunatic population which before was scattered among villages or +workhouses, amounting, according to the computation of the commissioners, +to upwards of 10,500--just as the deep wells of the metropolitan brewers +have drained for miles around the shallow wells of the neighbourhood in +which they are situated. For the same reason the number of lunatic paupers +has declined in registered hospitals since 1847 from 384 to 185, and in +"licensed houses" from 3,996 to 2,313. Upon the whole, we may safely +predict that, when these disturbing causes have ceased to act, the annual +returns of the commissioners will show that, as the treatment of insanity +is every day better understood, so the pauper lunatics in our public +asylums, instead of increasing in a ratio for beyond that of the general +population, show a diminished proportion. Already there are symptoms that +the flood is returning to its proper level; for while the lunatics of all +classes in the public asylums, licensed houses, and in the Royal Hospital +at Haslar, were 20,493 in 1855, they had only advanced in 1856 to 20,764, +which is an increase in the twelvemonth of but 271. + + + + +THE LONDON COMMISSARIAT. + + +If, early on a summer morning before the smoke of countless fires had +narrowed the horizon of the metropolis, a spectator were to ascend to the +top of St. Paul's, and take his stand upon the balcony, that with gilded +rail flashes like a fringe of fire upon the summit of the dome, he would +see sleeping beneath his feet the greatest camp of men upon which the sun +has ever risen. As far as he could distinguish by the morning light he +would behold stretched before him the mighty map of the metropolis; and +could he ascend still higher, he would note the stream of life overflowing +the brim of hills which enclose the basin in which it stands. + +In the space swept by his vision would lie the congregated habitations of +two millions and a half of his species--but how vain are figures to convey +an idea of so immense a multitude. If Norway, stretching from the Frozen +Ocean down to the southern extremity of the North Sea, were to summon all +its people to one vast conclave, they would number little more than half +the souls within the London bills of mortality. Switzerland, in her +thousand valleys, could not muster such an army; and even busy Holland, +within her mast-thronged harbours, humming cities, and populous plains, +could barely overmatch the close-packed millions within sound of the great +bell at his feet. As the spectator gazed upon this extraordinary prospect, +the first stir of the awakening city would gradually steal upon his ear. +The rumbling of wheels, the clang of hammers, the clear call of the human +voice, all deepening by degrees into a confused hum, would proclaim that +the mighty city was once more rousing to the labour of the day, and the +blue columns of smoke climbing up to heaven that the morning meal was at +hand. At such a moment the thought would naturally arise in his mind,--In +what manner is such an assemblage victualled? By what complicated wheels +does all the machinery move by which two millions and a half of human +beings sit down day by day to their meals as regularly and quietly as +though they only formed a sung little party at Lovegrove's on a summer's +afternoon? As thus he mused respecting the means by which the supply and +demand of so vast a multitude is brought to agree, so that every one is +enabled to procure exactly what he wants, at the exact time without loss +to himself or injury to the community, thin lines of steam, sharply marked +for the moment, as they advanced one after another from the horizon and +converged towards him would indicate the arrival of the great commissariat +trains, stored with produce from all parts of these isles and from the +adjacent continent. Could his eye distinguish in addition the fine threads +of that far-spreading web which makes London the most sensitive spot on +the earth, he would be enabled to take in at a glance the two +agents--steam and electricity--which keep the balance true between the +wants and the supply of London. + +If our spectator will now descend from his giddy height, and will +accompany us among the busy haunts of men, we will attempt to point out to +him whence those innumerable commodities, which he has seen pouring into +the town, have been obtained, the chief marts to which they are consigned, +and the manner in which they are distributed from house to house. Had +London like Paris its _octroi_, the difficulty of our task would be +limited to the mere display of official figures, but, thanks to a free +policy, we have no such means of getting at strictly accurate estimates, +and must therefore content ourselves with the results of patient inquiry +among the foremost carriers--the railway companies--aided by such other +information as we have been able to procure. For the sake of convenience, +and of sequence, let us imagine that the principal daily meal is +proceeding, and, according to the order of the courses, we will endeavour +to trace the various edibles to their source--the fish to its sea--the +beast to its pasture--the wild animal to its lair--the game to its +cover--and the fruit to its orchard; to point out how they are netted, +fattened, bagged, gathered, and conveyed to their ultimate +destination--the _great red lane_ of London humanity. Let us begin with +fish, and that unrivalled fish-market which all the world is aware rears +its head by London Bridge. + +Those who remember old Billingsgate, with its tumble-down wharf, and dock +half choked with corruption and oyster-shells--a dirty remnant of the days +of Elizabeth--will enter with pleasure Mr. Bunning's new market. Through +its Italian colonnade are seen the masts of the fishing smacks, and the +brown wharves of the opposite side--a pleasing picture, which instantly +fixes the artistic eye. The busy scene within the market between the hours +of five and seven in the morning, is one of the marvels of the metropolis. +Billingsgate is the only wholesale fish-market in London, and it may +therefore be imagined how great must be the business transacted within its +walls. Of old, nine-tenths of the supply came by way of the river, the +little that came by land being conveyed from the coast, at great expense, +in four-horse vans. Now the railways are day by day supplanting smacks, +and in many cases steamers; for by means of its iron arms, London, whilst +its millions slumber, grasps the produce of every sea that beats against +our island coast, and ere they have uprisen it is drawn to a focus in this +central mart. Thus every night in the season the hardy fishermen of +Yarmouth catch a hundred tons (12,081 yearly), principally herring, which, +by means of the Eastern Counties Railway, are next morning at +Billingsgate. The South-Western Railway sends up annually, with the same +speed, 4,000 tons of mackerel and other fish, the gatherings of the south +coast. The North Western collects over night the "catch" from Ireland, +Scotland, and the north-east coast of England, and adds to the +Thames-street mart 3,578 tons, principally of salmon, whilst the Great +Northern delivers to the early morning market, or sometimes later in the +day, 3,248 tons of like sea produce. The Great Western brings up the +harvest of the Cornish and Devonshire coasts, chiefly mackerel and +pilchards, to the amount of 1,560 tons in the year; and the Brighton and +South Coast conveys the incredible number of 15,000 bushels of oysters, +besides 4,000 tons of other fish. Nearly one-half in fact of the +fish-supply of London, instead of following as of old the tedious route of +the coast, is hurried in the dead of night across the length and breadth +of the land to Billingsgate, and, before the large consumers in Tyburnia +and Belgravia have left their beds, may be seen either lying on the marble +slabs of the fishmongers, or penetrating on the peripatetic barrow of the +costermonger into the dismal lanes and alleys inhabited by "London Labour +and the London Poor." These prodigious gleanings from what Goldsmith might +well call the "finny deep," are conveyed from the termini in spring-vans, +drawn by two and occasionally by four horses. Salmon comes in boxes, +herrings in barrels, and all other kinds of fish in baskets. Sometimes as +many as sixty of these vans will arrive in the narrow street leading to +the market in the course of two or three hours, and the scene of confusion +occasioned by their rushing among the fishmongers' carts and the +costermongers' barrows, the latter often amounting to more than a +thousand, is almost as great as that at Smithfield; for the fish, like the +live-stock trade, has long outgrown its mart: and Billingsgate, as much as +Smithfield, is choked for want of space. Let the visitor beware how he +enters it in a good coat, for, as sure as he goes in in broad cloth, he +will come out in _scale_ armour. They are not polite at Billingsgate, as +all the world knows, and "by your leave" is only a preliminary to your hat +being knocked off your head by a bushel of oysters or a basket of crabs. +In the early part of the morning, the traffic is carried on in comparative +quiet, for the regular fishmongers, who have the first of the market, +conduct their business with little disturbance, but it would gladden the +heart of a Dutch painter to see the piled produce of a dozen different +seas glittering with silver and brilliant with colour. Gigantic salmon, +fresh caught from the firths and bays of Scotland, or from the productive +Irish seas, flounder about, as the boxes in which they have travelled +disgorge them upon the board. Quantities of delicate red mullet, that have +been hurried up by the Great Western, all the way from Cornwall, for the +purpose of being furnished fresh to the fastidious palates at the West +End; smelts brought by the Dutch boats, their delicate skins varying in +hue like an opal as you pass; pyramids of lobsters, a moving mass of +spiteful claws and restless feelers, savage at their late abduction from +some Norwegian fiord; great heaps of pinky shrimps; turbots, that lately +fattened upon the Doggerbank, with their white bellies bent as for some +tremendous leap; and humbler plaice and dabs, from our own craft--all this +bountiful accumulation forms a mingled scene of strange forms and vivid +colours, that no one with an eye for the picturesque can contemplate +without interest. Neither is the scene always one of still life, for it is +no rare occurrence for the visitor to behold a yelling knot of men +dragging with ropes through the excited crowd a royal sturgeon, nine feet +in length. If the spectator now peeps down the large square opening into +the dismal space below, which appears like the hold of a ship lately +recovered from the deep, he will see the shell-fish market, where piles of +blue-black muscles, whelks, and grey cockles turned up with yellow, give +the place a repulsive aspect of dirt and slop. There are but few buyers +seen here, and they are generally women belonging to the costermonger +class, for the men rather disdain the shell-fish trade. These female +itinerants may be noticed wandering about from basket to basket, +occasionally gouging out a whelk from the shell with the thumb, to test +the lot, and then passing on to the next. + +Busiest among the busy is seen the "Bommeree," or middleman--sometimes +called the forestaller. The province of this individual is to purchase the +fish as it comes into the market, and divide it into lots to suit large +and small buyers, separating the qualities according as they are designed +for St. James's or St. Giles's. These worthies used at one time to +forestal the market extensively, when they felt certain, from the state +of the tide, that no fish supplies could be poured in for the day, but now +the railway defeats their tactics, and the utter uncertainty of the +arrivals has done away with this branch of their business. After the +"trade" has been supplied, and the serge-aproned "regulars" have loaded +their light spring carts, there comes, especially in certain fish seasons, +an eruption of purchasers of a totally different character--the +costermongers of streets. This nomade tribe, which wanders in thousands +from market to market, performs a most important part in the distribution +of food. They are for the greater part the tradesmen of the poor, and by +their energy and enterprise secure to our working-classes many of the +fruits of both sea and land, which they would never taste but for them. +About seven o'clock the army of street-vendors, foot and "donkey," for the +greater number rattle up in barrows drawn by that useful animal, begin +visibly to change the whole hue and appearance of the place. Young fellows +in fustian coats and Belcher handkerchiefs throng the market, and board +the smacks, "chaffing," higgling, joking, and swearing--but never +fighting, for the costermonger has too much to do at present to make +physical demonstrations. Among the most eager of the itinerant salesmen +the visitor speedily distinguishes the Judaic nose. The Hebrews, who are +in great force about this neighbourhood on account of the dried-fruit +trade, which is mainly in their hands, deal largely also in fish. The +poorer members of the fraternity purchase the bigger portion of the +fresh-water supply, such as plaice, roach, dace, &c., in fact, nearly +everything caught by the Wandsworth fisherman, whose picturesque "bawley" +boats, which often contain both his family and fortune, may generally be +seen moored in the stream between Battersea reach and Kew bridge, a mass +of brown nets and umber canopies lit up by the brilliant red caps of their +owners, just such as Constable loved to paint in the foregrounds of his +landscapes. These fish, if not alive, must at least retain the spasmodic +quivering of the flesh which remains immediately after death, or the Jews +will not buy, for reasons we suppose connected with their religion, since +their chief trade is among the rich and poor of their own people. The +Wandsworth fishermen also supply all the white-bait that is consumed at +Greenwich and Blackwall: it is caught generally between the latter place +and Woolwich at night, and it is singular that a fish which is among the +most delicate we have, should flourish in one of the foulest parts of the +foulest river in Europe. The area of the market, as soon as the +costermongers appear, speedily becomes broken up into numbers of little +circles, strictly intent upon the eye of individuals who take up a +position high over their heads upon the boards or stands. These are the +salesmen, disposing by auction of the fish consigned to them. Some of the +dealers are moneyed men, and will lay out their fifty pounds of a morning, +re-selling to their fellows again at a profit. The smaller capitalists +combine in threes and fours, and thus manage to get their commodities at +wholesale prices. The activity of the market mainly depends upon the +season of the year and the amount of fish. The energy of these +peripatetics is surprising: they look in at Billingsgate, and if the +supply runs short they are off again immediately to Covent Garden, for +they deal in everything, and the barrow that one morning you see filled +with fresh herrings, the next is blooming with plums. If, on the contrary, +a large cargo of sprats comes suddenly into London, or if soles should be +unusually plentiful, it is known in an incredibly short space of time all +over the town, and they flock to the market in thousands; as many as five +thousand is the usual attendance on such occasions. These costermongers +absorb more than a third of the whole Billingsgate supply; of sprats and +fresh herrings they take fully two-thirds. Turbot and all the costlier +fish they purchase sparingly, but they buy largely when it chances to be +cheap, as in the cholera year of 1849, when prime salmon went a-begging at +four-pence a pound! If the market is dull, and prices are high, the fact +is speedily known, and the cry of "No smacks at the Gate," is sufficient +to turn the current immediately in the direction of the "Garden." + +Steam, as we have already intimated, has revolutionized the fish-trade, +and is rapidly sweeping away the whole fleet of smacks propelled by sails, +as ruthlessly as the rail did stagecoaches. A few years ago all the +oysters were brought by water to Billingsgate; but a short time since a +great natural bed, called the Mid Channel Bed, which stretches for forty +miles between the ports of Shoreham and Havre, was discovered, and, the +dredging-ground being free to all comers, a vast field of wealth has been +opened to fishermen, especially as from the proximity of the Brighton and +South Coast Railway the produce can be sent immediately to town, and +escape the dues of metage and other tolls to which all fish landed at the +market is liable. Seaborne oysters are thus placed at a great +disadvantage, and the different companies owning them justly complain at a +city exaction which takes a large sum annually out of their pockets, +besides the charge for porterage it entails upon the purchasers. Mr. +Alston, who is, without doubt, the largest oyster-fisher in the world, +sent up in one year between 40,000 and 50,000 bushels from his fishery, +Cheyney Rock, near Sheerness, and paid 800_l._ for metage. The whole trade +paid no less than 3,000_l._, and this for services which their own men +could do as well as themselves, were it not for a custom which enforces +idleness upon the smack people.[21] + +The "scuttle-mouths," as they are termed from their huge shell, pay no +attention to season, and consequently oyster-day has now in a great degree +lost its significance. The 4th of August is still, it is true, the opening +day at Billingsgate, but the supply from without has taken the wind out of +its sails. Only those who have witnessed the crowds filling all the +streets leading to the market long before the hour of business--six +o'clock in the morning--can understand the eagerness exhibited of old to +obtain some of the first day's oysters. All this is now gone. There were +not more than eighteen smacks at the opening of the present year, and, few +as were the arrivals, the buyers were not eager. The Mid-Channel oysters, +which have thus disturbed the old trade, are of a large and by no means +delicate kind, such as come from Tenby, Jersey, &c.--coarse fish, eaten by +rough men--third-class oysters, in fact, which rarely penetrate to the +West End, unless to make sauce. Real natives are greater aristocrats among +their fellows than ever; the demand for them has for a long time far +exceeded the supply, and the price has consequently risen. Of the birth, +parentage and nurture of this delicate fish, a curious tale could be told. +Designed for fastidious palates, much care and attention is bestowed upon +its breeding. The _habitué_ of the Opera, who strolls up the brilliantly +lighted Haymarket towards midnight, and turns into any one of the fish +supper-rooms that line its western side, little dreams of the organization +at work to enable him to enjoy his native. Most of the oysters, with the +exception of the Mid-Channel bed, are regularly cultivated by different +companies, who rear and tend them at different parts of the south coast, +and of the Thames at its mouth. Of these companies there are nine, in +addition to individuals who possess and work what might be called +sea-farms, several of which are miles in extent. In all the beds there is +a certain space dedicated to natives. At Burnham, Essex, the "spat," or +fecundated sperm, is stored in large pits, and sold as native brood, which +is afterwards "laid" in that portion of the different beds appropriated to +privileged oysters. Here the young natives remain for three years, when +they are generally brought to market. So far their education is left, in a +certain degree, to nature; but once in the possession of the +fish-shopkeepers, art steps in to perfect their condition. They are now +stored in large shallow vats, being carefully laid with their proper sides +uppermost, and supplied daily with oatmeal: a process which is calculated +rather to fatten than to flavour, and there are many who think that, like +show cattle, they are none the better for over-feeding. "Natives," packed +in barrels, form one of the articles of food that is largely sent out of +London into the country, as all persons know who travel much at Christmas +time, and notice with astonishment the pyramids of oyster-barrels which +crowd the platforms of all the termini of the metropolis. + +The frying-pans of London are mainly supplied with soles all the year +round by the trolling-boats of Barking, of which there are upwards of 150 +belonging to different companies. They fish the North Sea off the coasts +of Yorkshire and Holland, particularly the Silver and Brown banks. Of old +the smacks used to carry their own catch to Billingsgate, but the loss of +time was so great, that latterly fast-sailing cutters have been employed +to attend upon the fishing-smacks and bring their produce to market packed +in ice. Of this splendid craft, which can sail almost in the eye of the +wind, there are forty; and the total number of seamen employed is not less +than 2,000, the greater part of whom have been taken as boys from the +workhouse, and trained by this capital service into first-rate seamen. It +is curious to follow the small proceedings of the world into their +ultimate results. The gastronome, smiling complacently as he withdraws the +cover and reveals a well-browned pair of soles, would never guess that +they and their kind are the immediate cause of a happy transmutation of +parish burthens into the right arm of our strength. Eels are constantly +imported to Billingsgate by the Dutch boats. The galliots never moor close +alongside the wharf, as the wells in which they bring their fish alive +cause them to draw too much water, but they anchor midway in the stream, +by twos and threes--their brown sides, flat bows, with high cheek-bones, +like their navigators, and bright verd-green rudders, adding to the +picturesque appearance of the river. The great fat creatures brought by +them mainly supply the eel-pie houses, and contribute largely, we are +informed, to that oleaginous kind of soup which people too hungry to be +curious mistake for veritable oxtail and calves' head. The Dutch boats do +not, however, confine themselves to eels. They deal in turbot, soles, and +all kinds of flat-fish, such as frequent the Dogger Bank, much to the +discredit of our native enterprise, neglecting, as we do, the splendid +deep-sea fishing-ground off the south-west coast of Ireland, where cod and +salmon are to be found in abundant quantities, whilst those who know the +west coast well, declare there is turbot enough in Galway Bay "to supply +the whole of Europe for the next hundred years." + +We believe, however, it is now in contemplation to go to work upon a large +scale in those waters, having screw-steamers to collect the produce, and +bring it to Milford Haven alive in wells, from which port it would come, +_viâ_ the South Wales and Great Western Railways, to Billingsgate, within +twenty-four hours after it was caught. The value of screw steamers having +capacious wells has been fully tested by Mr. Howard, of Manningtree, +Essex, who fitted an engine and screw into one of his welled +fishing-smacks. Scarcely a lobster, out of twenty thousand put alive into +the boat, was lost, whilst large numbers of those brought in sailing +smacks perish. Salmon, cod, and other fish, are brought alive with the +same success in the welled steamers from the North Sea and the coast of +Scotland. It is almost time that some new ground were found in place of +the famous Dogger Bank, which has now been preyed upon by so many nations +for centuries, and has supplied so many generations of Catholics and +Protestants with fast and feast food. No better proof that its stores are +failing could be given than the fact that, although the ground, counting +the Long Bank and the north-west flat in its vicinity, covers 11,800 +square miles, and that in fine weather it is fished by the London +companies with from fifteen to twenty dozen of long lines, extending to +ten or twelve miles, and containing from 9,000 to 12,000 hooks, it is yet +not at all common to secure even as many as four score fish of a night--a +poverty which can be better appreciated when we learn that 600 fish for +800 hooks is the catch for deep-sea fishing about Kinsale. + +Towards the latter end of August the great herring season commences. +Yarmouth is the chief seat of this branch of the piscatory trade. Every +night when the weather is fine the fishermen of this old port "shoot" +upwards of 300 square miles of net. Neptune in his ample arms never gave +the ocean so magnificent an embrace. The produce of this wholesale +sweeping of the sea is brought to town by the Eastern Counties Railway. +They come up to Billingsgate packed in barrels and in bulk, and the number +sold in the year seems almost fabulous, being upwards of a _billion_. Next +to the herring fishery the sea-harvest of most importance to the poor of +London is that of sprats, which come in about Lord Mayor's Day, and it is +a popular belief that the first dish is always sent to the chief +magistrate of the city. If a telegraph were to be laid down to all the +alleys and courts, the fact of a large arrival of these little creatures +at Billingsgate would not be sooner made known to the lower orders than, +by some mysterious process, it is at present. Mr. Goldham, the clerk of +the market, accustomed as he is to the sudden invasions of the +costermongers, informs us that the scene on board the smacks laden with +sprats is really frightful. The people hang thick as sea-weed from the +rigging, throng the decks, and swarm on every available inch of plank, +until the wonder is that the whole of the puny fleet does not capsize with +the weight. The cause of the scramble is that the street sellers will not +buy until they have seen the sample, and every one consequently tries to +gain the highest point, that he may look down into the hold, whilst a man +tumbles about the sprats with a shovel, in silver showers. The plaice +season succeeds to that of sprats, with the interval of mackerel, which +continues until the end of May, when Scotland and Ireland begin to pass +down their salmon into the market. But where do all the lobsters come +from? The lovers of this most delicious of the crustaceæ tribe will +probably be astonished to learn that they are mainly brought from Norway. +France and the Channel Islands, Orkney, and Shetland, do, it is true, +contribute a few to the metropolitan market, but full two-thirds are +reluctantly, and with much pinching and twisting, dragged out of the +thousand rock-bound inlets which indent the Norwegian coast. They are +conveyed alive in a screw-steamer and by smacks, in baskets, sometimes to +the extent of 20,000 of a night, to Great Grimsby, and are thence +forwarded to town by the Great Northern Railway--another 10,000 arriving +perhaps from points on our own and the French coast. The fighting, +twisting, blue-black masses are taken as soon as purchased to what are +termed the "boiling-houses," of which there are four, situated in Duck and +Love Lanes, close to the market; and here, for a trifling sum per score, +they change their dark for scarlet uniforms. They are plunged into the +boiling cauldron, basket and all, and in twenty minutes they are done. +Crabs are cooked in the same establishments, but their nervous systems are +so acute, that they dash off their claws in convulsive agony if placed +alive in hot water. To prevent this mutilation, which would spoil their +sale, they are first killed by the insertion of a needle through the head. +The lobster trade is mostly in the hands of one salesman, Mr. Saunders, of +Thames Street, who often has upwards of 15,000 consigned to him of a +morning, and who causes no less than 15,000_l._ a year to flow into the +fishy palms of Norwegians for this single article of commerce. As to the +total supply of fish to the London market, we borrow the following +estimate from Mr. Mayhew's very clever book on "London Labour and the +London Poor." The figures seemed to us at first sight so enormous, that we +hesitatingly submitted the table to one of the largest salesmen who +assured us that it was no over-statement:-- + + +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Description of Fish. | No. of Fish.| Weight of Fish.| + |----------------------------------------|-------------|----------------| + | WET FISH. | | | + | | | lbs. | + |Salmon and salmon trout (29,000 boxes,} | | | + | 14 fish per box) } | 406,000| 3,480,000 | + |Live cod (averaging 10 lbs. each) | 400,000| 4,000,000 | + |Soles (averaging 1/4 lb. each) | 97,520,000| 26,880,000 | + |Whiting (averaging 6 oz. each) | 17,920,000| 6,720,000 | + |Haddock (averaging 2 lbs. each) | 2,470,000| 5,040,000 | + |Plaice (averaging 1 lb. each) | 33,600,000| 33,600,000 | + |Mackerel (averaging 1 lb. each) | 23,520,000| 23,520,000 | + |Fresh herrings (250,000 barrels, 700 } | | | + | fish per barrel) } | 175,000,000| 42,000,000 | + |Ditto in bulk |1,050,000,000| 252,000,000 | + |Sprats | | 4,000,000 | + |Eels from Holland (principally), }| |{ 1,505,280 | + | England, and Ireland (6 fish per lb.)}| 9,797,760 |{ 127,680 | + |Flounders (7,200 qrtns., 36 fish per }| | | + | qtn.) }| 259,200 | 43,200 | + |Dabs (7,500 qrtns., 36 fish per qrtn.) | 270,000 | 48,750 | + | | | | + | DRY FISH. | | | + | | | | + |Barrelled cod (15,000 barrels, 40 fish }| | | + | per barrel) }| 750,000 | 4,200,000 | + |Dried salt cod (5 lbs. each) | 1,600,000 | 8,000,000 | + |Smoked haddock (65,000 barrels, 300 }| | | + | fish per barrel) }| 19,500,000 | 10,920,000 | + |Bloaters (265,000 baskets, 150 fish per}| | | + | basket) }| 147,000,000 | 10,600,000 | + |Red herrings (100,000 barrels, 500 fish}| | | + | per barrel) }| 50,000,000 | 14,000,000 | + |Dried sprats (9,600 large bundles, 30 }| | | + |fish per bundle) }| 288,000| 96,000 | + | | | | + | SHELL FISH. | | | + | | | | + |Oysters | 495,896,000 | | + |Lobsters (averaging 1 lb. each fish) | 1,200,000 | 1,200,000 | + |Crabs (averaging 1 lb. each fish) | 600,000 | 600,000 | + |Shrimps (324 to a pint) | 498,428,648 | | + |Whelks (227 to half bushel) | 4,943,200 | | + |Mussels (1,000 to half bushel) | 50,400,000 | | + |Cockles (2,000 to half bushel) | 67,392,000 | | + |Periwinkles (4,000 to half bushel) | 304,000,000 | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +And now for the _pièce de résistance_. + +London has always been celebrated for the excellence of its meat, and her +sons do justice to it; at least it has become the universal impression +that they consume more, man for man, than any other town population in the +world. It was a sirloin, fresh and ruddy, hanging at the door of some +Giblett or Slater in a former century, that inspired, we suspect, the song +which ever since has stirred Englishmen in a foreign land, "The Roast Beef +of Old England." The visitor accustomed to the markets of our large +provincial towns would doubtless expect to find the emporium of the +live-stock trade for so vast a population of an imposing size. The +foreigner, after seeing the magnificence of our docks--the solidity and +span of our bridges--might naturally look for a national exposition of our +greatness in the chief market dedicated to that British beef which is the +boast of John Bull. What they do see in reality, if they have courage to +wend their way along any of the narrow tumble-down streets approaching to +Smithfield, which the great fire unfortunately spared, is an irregular +space bounded by dirty houses and the ragged party-walls of demolished +habitations, which give it the appearance of the site of a recent +conflagration--the whole space comprising just six acres, fifteen perches, +roads and public thoroughfares included. Into this narrow area, surrounded +with slaughter-houses, triperies, bone-boiling houses, gut-scraperies, +&c., the mutton-chops, scrags, saddles, legs, sirloins, and rounds, which +grace the smiling boards of our noble imperial capital throughout the +year, have, for the major part, been goaded and contused for the benefit +of the civic corporation installed at Guildhall.[22] The best time is +early in the morning--say one or two o'clock of the "great day," as the +last market before Christmas-day is called. On this occasion, not only the +space--calculated to hold 4,100 oxen and 30,000 sheep, besides calves and +pigs--is crammed, but the approaches around it overflow with live stock +for many hundred feet, and sometimes the cattle are seen blocking up the +passage as far as St. Sepulchre's church. If the stranger can make his way +through the crowd, and by means of some vantage-ground or door-step can +manage to raise himself a few feet above the general level, he sees before +him in one direction, by the dim red light of hundreds of torches, a +writhing party-coloured mass, surmounted by twisting horns, some in rows, +tied to rails which run along the whole length of the open space, some +gathered together in one struggling knot. In another quarter, the moving +torches reveal to him now and then, through the misty light, a couple of +acres of living wool, or roods of pigs' skins. If he ventures into this +closely wedged and labouring mass, he is enabled to watch more narrowly +the reason of the universal ferment among the beasts. + +The drover with his goad is forcing the cattle into the smallest possible +compass, and a little further on half a dozen men are making desperate +efforts to drag refractory oxen up to the rails with ropes. In the scuffle +which ensues the slipping of the ropes often snaps the fingers of the +persons who are conducting the operation, and there is scarce a drover in +the market who has not had some of his digits broken. The sheep, squeezed +into hurdles like figs into a drum, lie down upon each other, "and make no +sign;" the pigs, on the other hand, cry out before they are hurt. This +scene, which has more the appearance of a hideous nightmare than a weekly +exhibition in a civilised country, is accompanied by the barking of dogs, +the bellowing of cattle, the cursing of men, and the dull blows of +sticks--a charivari of sound that must be heard to be appreciated. The +hubbub gradually abates from twelve o'clock at night, the time of opening, +to its close at 3 P.M. next day; although during the whole period, as +fresh lots are "headed up," individual acts of cruelty continue. Can it +excite surprise that a state of things, the worst details of which we have +suppressed, because of the pain which such horrors excite, sometimes so +injures the stock that, to quote the words of one of the witnesses before +the Smithfield Commission, "a grazier will not know his own beast four +days after it has left him?" The meat itself suffers in quality; for +anything like fright or passion is well known to affect the blood, and +consequently the flesh. Beasts subjected to such disturbances will often +turn green within twenty-four hours after death. Mr. Slater, the +well-known butcher of Kensington and Jermyn-street, states that mutton is +often so disfigured by blows and the goad, that it cannot be sold for the +West-end tables. Many of the drovers we doubt not are ruffians, but we +believe the greater part of this cruelty is to be ascribed to the +market-place itself, which, considering the immense amount of business to +be got through on Mondays and Fridays, is absurdly and disgracefully +confined. According to the official account, the number of live stock +exhibited in 1853 was-- + + Oxen. Sheep. Calves. Pigs. Total. + 294,571 1,518,040 36,791 29,593 1,893,888 + +But this is far from giving a true idea of the whole amount brought into +London. Much stock arrives in the capital which never enters the great +mart. For example, Mr. Slater, who kills per week, on the average, 200 +sheep and from 20 to 25 oxen, says, in his evidence before the Smithfield +Commission, that he buys a great deal of his stock from the graziers in +Norfolk and Essex. Again, "town" pigs are slaughtered and sent direct to +the meat market, while many sheep are bought from the parks, where they +have been temporarily placed till they find a purchaser. A much more +correct estimate of the flocks and herds which are annually consumed in +London may be gathered from a report of the numbers transmitted by the +different lines of railway, compiled from official sources by Mr. Ormandy, +the cattle-traffic manager of the North-Western Railway. From this able +pamphlet we extract the following table:-- + + +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | Oxen. | Sheep. |Calves.| Pigs. | Total | + | | | | | |for 1853.| + | |-------|---------|-------|-------|---------| + |By Eastern Counties | 81,744| 277,735| 3,492| 23,427| 386,398| + | " L. & N. Western | 70,435| 248,445| 5,113| 24,287| 348,280| + | " Great Northern | 15,439| 120,333| 563| 8,973| 145,308| + | " Great Western | 6,813| 104,607| 2,320| 2,909| 116,649| + | " L. & S. Western | 4,885| 100,960| 1,781| 516| 108,142| + | " South Eastern | 875| 58,320| 114| 142| 59,451| + | " L. & B. & S. Coast | 863| 13,690| 117| 54| 14,724| + | " Sea from North of | | | | | | + | England and Scotland | 14,662| 11,141| 421| 3,672| 29,896| + | " Sea from Ireland | 2,311| 3,472| 21| 5,476| 11,280| + |Imported from the Continent| 55,065| 229,918| 25,720| 10,131| 320,834| + |Driven in by road, and from| | | | | | + | the neighbourhood of the | 69,096| 462,172| 62,114| 48,295| 641,647| + | metropolis (obtained from| | | | | | + | the toll-gate lessees) | | | | | | + | |-------|---------|-------|-------|---------| + |Total |322,188|1,630,793|101,776|127,852|2,182,609| + +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +These numbers show at a glance what a part the railway plays in supplying +animal food to the metropolis, and how trifling in comparison is the +amount that travels up on foot. The Eastern Counties lines, penetrating +and monopolizing the rich breeding and fattening districts of Norfolk and +Essex, bring up the largest share. Many of the little black cattle, that +tourists see in Scotland climbing the hills like cats, come directly from +these counties, having some months before been sent thither from their +native north to clothe their bones with English substance. By the same +line we receive a fair portion of that great foreign contribution to our +larders, the mere shadow of which so frightened our graziers some years +ago, principally Danish stock, which finds its way from Tonning to +Lowestoff, a route newly opened up by the North of Europe Steam-ship +Company. The North-Western is next in rank as a carrier of live stock. +This line takes in the contributions from the Midland Counties, and, by +way of Liverpool, abundance of Irish and Scotch cattle. The Great Northern +is perhaps destined to surpass both in the quantities of food it will +eventually pour into London, running as it does through the northern +breeding districts, and receiving at its extremity the herds which come +from Aberdeen and its neighbourhood. + +The foreign supply last year of cattle, sheep, pigs, and calves, was more +than a seventh of the entire number sent to London. The daily bills of +entries at the Custom House furnishes us with a valuable indication of the +fields from which we have already received, and may in future expect to +receive still further additions of what Englishmen greatly covet--good +beef and mutton at a moderate price. The arrivals by steam in the port of +London in 1853 were as follows:-- + + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + | _From_ |_Oxen._| _Sheep._ | _Calves._|_Pigs._|_Total._| + |-----------------|-------|----------|----------|-------|--------| + |Holland | 40,538| 172,730| 24,280| 9,370| 246,918| + |Denmark | 9,487| 7,515| 60| .. | 17,062| + |Hanseatic Towns | 4,366| 37,443| 1| 632| 42,442| + |Belgium | 449| 12,006| 1,244| .. | 13,699| + |France | 105| 224| 135| 129| 593| + |Portugal | 100| .. | .. | .. | 100| + |Spain | 17| .. | .. | .. | 17| + |Russia | 3| .. | .. | .. | 3| + | |-------|----------|----------|-------|--------| + |Total | 55,065| 229,918| 25,720| 10,131| 320,834| + -----------------------------------------------------------------+ + +Holland, Denmark, and the Hanseatic Towns, it will be seen, were the +principal contributors. A more striking example of the influence of the +legislation of one country in modifying the occupations of the people of +another could not be cited, than the manner in which Sir Robert Peel's +tariff revolutionized the character of Danish and Dutch farming. Before +1844 the pastures of the two countries, more especially the rich marshes +of Holland, were almost exclusively devoted to dairy purposes: the +abolition of the duty on live stock in that year quickly introduced a new +state of things. The farmers began to breed stock, and consequently +turnips and mangel-wurzel have been creeping over fields, where once the +dairy-maid carried the milking-pail, as gradually as one landscape +succeeds another in the Polytechnic dissolving views. We get now from both +countries excellent beef, especially from Jutland, whose lowing herds used +formerly to go to Hamburg--and who has not heard of the famous Hambro' +beef? We may expect in time to receive still finer meat from this quarter, +for the Danes have been sedulously improving their breed, and +agriculturists, who saw the beasts which were sent over to the last +Baker-street show, admitted that they were in every respect equal to our +own short-horns. It is gratifying to note how ready the world is to follow +our lead in the matter of stock-breeding. Bulls are bought up at fabulous +prices by foreigners, and especially by our cousins on the other side of +the Atlantic, for the purpose of raising the indigenous cattle to the +British standard. An American, for instance, purchased, for 1,000_l._, a +celebrated bull bred by Earl Ducie, though unfortunately the animal broke +his neck on his passage out. Another noble specimen was secured, we have +heard, for the same quarter, for 600_l._ + +The supply of sheep and lambs has, during the last twenty years, stood +nearly still; for in 1828 there were brought to market 1,412,032, and in +1849 but 1,417,000, or only an extra 4,000 for the 500,000 mouths which +have been added to the metropolis between these two periods. That London +has of late years abjured mutton, as our immediate ancestors appear to +have done pork, the evidence of our senses denies. How, then, are we to +explain this stagnation in the Smithfield returns? By the fact that a new +channel has been found in the rapid rise of Newgate market, the great +receptacle of country-killed meat brought up to town by the railways. +Those who remember the place forty years ago state that there were not +then twenty salesmen, and now there are two hundred. This enormous +development is due to steam, which bids fair to give Newgate, in the cold +season at least, the lead over Smithfield. The new agent has more than +quadrupled the area from which London draws its meat. Twenty years ago +eighty miles was the farthest distance from which carcases ever came; now +the Great Northern and North-Western railways, during the winter months, +bring hundreds of tons from as far north as Aberdeen, whilst some are +fetched from Hamburgh and Ostend. Country slaughtering will in time, we +have little doubt, deliver the capital from the nuisances which grow out +of this horrible trade. Aberdeen is in fact becoming little else than a +London _abattoir_. The style in which the butchers of that place dress and +pack the carcases leaves nothing to be desired, and in the course of the +year mountains of beef, mutton, pork, and veal arrive the night after it +is slaughtered in perfect condition. According to returns obligingly +forwarded to us by the different railway companies, we find that the +following was the weight of country-killed meat by the undermentioned +lines:-- + + Tons. + Eastern Counties 10,398 + North-Western 4,602 + Great Western 5,200 + Great Northern 13,152[23] + South-Eastern 1,035 + South-Western 2,000 + Brighton and South Coast 100 + ------ + 36,487 + +Thus no less than 36,487 tons of meat are annually "pitched" at Newgate +and Leadenhall markets. As the Scotch boats convey about 700 tons more, we +have at least 37,187 tons of country-killed meat brought into London by +steam, and these immense contributions are totally independent of the +amount slaughtered at Smithfield, which is estimated to average weekly +1,000 oxen, 3,000 sheep and lambs, and 400 calves and pigs. We have given +the average supply; but on some occasions the quantity is enormously +increased. The Eastern Counties line during one Christmas week deposited +at Newgate about 1,000 tons of meat; and the weight sent by other +companies on the same day would be proportionately large. No less than +forty waggons were waiting on one occasion to discharge their beef and +mutton into the market. And what does our reader imagine may be the area +in which nine-tenths of this mass of meat are sold? Just 2 roods 45 +perches, having one carriage entrance, which varies from 14 to 18 feet in +width, and four foot entrances, the widest of which is only 16 feet 6 +inches, and the narrowest 5 feet 8 inches. No wonder that, as we are +informed by more than one of the witnesses before the Smithfield Inquiry +Commission, there is often not sufficient space to expose the meat for +sale, and it becomes putrid in consequence. Though we have acquired the +fame of being a practical people, it must be confessed that we conduct +many of our every-day transactions in a blundering manner, when we cannot +provide commodious markets for perishable commodities, or even turn out an +omnibus that can be mounted without an effort of agility and daring. + +Mr. Giblett, the noted butcher, late of Bond Street, calculates that the +amount of meat brought by the railways into Newgate is three times that +supplied by the London carcase butchers, who annually send 52,000 oxen, +156,000 sheep, 10,400 calves, and 10,400 pigs. Taking this estimate, and +applying it also to the Leadenhall market, we shall have at + + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | |_Beasts._| _Sheep._|_Calves._| _Pigs._| + |----------------------------|---------|---------|---------|--------| + |Newgate, meat | 156,000 | 468,000| 31,200 | 31,200| + |Leadenhall, ditto | 5,200 | 41,600| .. | .. | + | |---------|---------|---------|--------| + | | 161,200 | 509,600| 31,200 | 31,200| + |Live stock brought to London| 322,188 |1,630,793| 101,776 | 127,852| + | |---------|---------|---------|--------| + |Total supply of live stock }| | | | | + | and meat to London }| 483,388 |2,140,393| 132,976 | 159,052| + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +This we are convinced is still below the truth, for we have not included +the country-killed meat sold at Farringdon and Whitechapel markets.[24] +The total value of this enormous supply of flesh cannot be much less than +fourteen millions annually. + +These figures demonstrate that the falling off of sheep sent to London is +solely because they now come to town in the form of mutton. It is sent to +a much greater extent than beef, in consequence of its arriving in finer +condition, being more easily carried, and better worth the cost of +conveyance on account of the larger proportion of prime joints. Indeed, +the entire carcase of the oxen never comes, since the coarse +boiling-pieces would have to pay the same carriage as the picked +"roastings." Newgate, be it remembered, is eminently a West End market, +and fully two-thirds of its meat find its way to that quarter of the town. +Accordingly, most of the beef "pitched" here consists of sirloins and +ribs; and, in addition to whole carcases of sheep, there are numerous +separate legs and saddles of mutton. This accounts for a fact that has +puzzled many, namely, how London manages to get such myriads of chops. Go +into any part of the metropolis, and look into the windows of the thousand +eating-houses and coffee-shops in the great thoroughfares, and in every +one of them there is the invariable blue dish with half a dozen juicy, +well-trimmed chops, crowned with a sprig of parsley. To justify such a +number, either fourfold the supply of sheep must come to London that we +have any account of, or in lieu of the ordinary number of vertebræ they +must possess as many as the great boa. When the prodigious store of +saddles which the country spares the town have once been seen the wonder +ceases. "Sometimes I cut 100 saddles into mutton-chops to supply the +eating-houses," says Mr. Banister, of Threadneedle Street. + +The weather preserves a most delicate balance between Newgate and +Smithfield. Winter is the busy time at the former market, when meat can be +carried any distance without fear of taint. As soon as summer sets in, +Smithfield takes its turn; for butchers then prefer to purchase live +stock, in order that they may kill them the exact moment they are +required. Sometimes as many as 1,200 beasts and from 12,000 to 15,000 +sheep are slaughtered in hot weather on a Friday night, in the +neighbourhood of Smithfield, for Saturday's market. Every precaution is +taken on the railways to keep the meat sweet. The Eastern Counties Company +provide "peds," or cloths cut to the shape of the carcase or joint, for +the use of their customers, and sometimes it is conveyed from the north in +boxes. When, in spite of care, it turns out to be tainted, the salesman to +whom it is consigned calls the officer of the market, by whom it is +forthwith sent to Cow Cross, and there burnt in the nacker's yard. +According, however, to a competent witness--Mr. Harper--bad meat in any +quantity can be disposed of in the metropolis to butchers living in low +neighbourhoods, who impose it upon the poor at night. "There is one shop, +I believe," he says, "doing 500_l._ per week in diseased meat. This firm +has a large foreign trade. The trade in diseased meat is very alarming, +and anything in the shape of flesh can be sold at about 1_d._ per pound or +8_d._ per stone." + +If the reader is not already surfeited with the mountains of meat we have +piled before his eyes, let us beg his attention for a few minutes to game +and poultry, which we bring on in their proper course. Leadenhall and +Newgate, as all the world knows, are the great metropolitan depôts for +this class of food, especially the former, which receives perhaps +two-thirds of the entire supply. The quantities of game and wild birds +consigned to some of the large salesmen almost exceeds belief. After a few +successful battues in the Highlands, it is not at all unusual for one firm +to receive 5,000 head of game, and as many as 20,000 to 30,000 larks are +often sent up to market together. All other kinds of the feathered tribe +which are reputed good for food are received in proportionate abundance. +If it were not for the great salesmen, many a merry dinner would be +marred, for the retail poulterers would be totally incapable of executing +the constant and sudden orders for the banquets which are always +proceeding. The good people at the Crystal Palace have already learned to +consume, besides unnumbered other items, 600 chickens daily; and from this +we may guess how vast the wants of the entire metropolis. The sources from +which game and poultry are derived are fewer than might be imagined. The +Highlands and Yorkshire send up nearly all the grouse; and scores of +noblemen, members of Parliament, and other wealthy or enthusiastic +sportsmen, who are at this present moment beating over the moors, and +walking for their pleasure twenty-five miles a day, assist to furnish this +delicacy to the London public at a moderate rate. + +Pheasants and partridges mainly come from Norfolk and Suffolk; snipes from +the marshy lowlands of Holland, which also provides our entire supply of +teal, widgeon, and other kinds of wild fowl, with the exception of those +caught in the "decoys" of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. From Ostend +there are annually transmitted to London 600,000 tame rabbits, which are +reared for the purpose on the neighbouring sand dunes. We are indebted to +Ireland for flocks of plovers, and quails are brought from Egypt and the +south of Europe. In most of our poulterers' windows may be seen the long +wooden boxes, with a narrow slit, in which these latter birds are kept +until required for the spit. Not long since upwards of 17,000 came to +London _viâ_ Liverpool, whither they had been brought from the Campagna, +near Rome. Of the 2,000,000 of fowls that every year find a resting-place +_vis-à-vis_ to boiled tongues on our London tables, by far the greatest +quantity are drawn from the counties of Surrey and Sussex, where the +Dorking breed is in favour. Ireland also sends much poultry. No less than +1,400 tons of chickens, geese, and ducks are brought to town annually by +the Great Western Railway, most of which are from the neighbourhood of +Cork and Waterford, whence they are shipped to Bristol. Londoners are +accustomed to see shops of late years which profess to sell "West of +England produce," such as young pork, poultry, butter, and clouted cream. +All these delicacies are brought by the Great Western Railway, and are +principally the contributions of Somersetshire and Devonshire. The bulk of +the geese, ducks, and turkeys, however, come from Norfolk, Cambridge, +Essex, and Suffolk--four fat counties, which do much to supply the London +commissariat, the Eastern Counties Railway alone having brought thence +last year 22,462 tons of fish, flesh, fowl, and good red herrings. + +For pigeons we are indebted to "our fair enemy France," as Sir Philip +Sydney calls her, but now we trust our fast friend. They proceed +principally from the interior, and are shipped for our market from +Boulogne and Calais. How many eggs we get from across the Channel we +scarcely like to say. Mr. M'Culloch considers that the capital receives +from 70,000,000 to 75,000,000--a number which we think must be much below +the mark, seeing that the Brighton and South Coast line brings annually +2,600 tons, the produce of Belgium and France. At Bastoign, in the latter +country, there is a farm of 200 acres entirely devoted to the rearing of +poultry and the production of eggs for the supply of London. + +No perfectly accurate account can be given of the number per annum of +poultry, game, and wild birds which enter Leadenhall and Newgate markets; +but the following estimate was handed to us by a dealer who turns over +100,000_l._ a year in this trade. As the list takes no account of the +quantity which goes direct to the retailer, nor of the thousands sent as +presents, it must fall short of the actual consumption:-- + + Grouse 100,000 + Partridges 125,000 + Pheasants 70,000 + Snipes 80,000 + Wild Birds (mostly small) 150,000 + Plovers 150,000 + Quails 30,000 + Larks 400,000 + Widgeon 70,000 + Teal 30,000 + Wild Ducks 200,000 + Pigeons 400,000 + Domestic Fowls 2,000,000 + Geese 100,000 + Ducks 350,000 + Turkeys 104,000 + Hares 100,000 + Rabbits 1,300,000 + --------- + Total 5,759,000 + +In addition to its dead game and wild fowl, Leadenhall market is quite a +Noah's ark of live animals. Geese, ducks, swans, pigeons, and cocks, +bewilder you with their noise. Intermingled with these birds of a feather +are hawks, ferrets, dogs and cats, moving about in their wicker cages, and +almost aggravated to madness by the proximity of their prey. The major +portion of the live stock is designed either for sporting purposes or for +"petting" and breeding, and do not belong to the commissariat department. +Of the dead game and poultry, the seven railways bring to London about +7,871 tons weight in the course of the year. + +In taking leave of the poultry-yard we are reminded of the dairy, and of +the large establishments required to fill the milk-jugs of London. There +are at the present moment, as near as we can learn, 20,000 cows in the +metropolitan and suburban dairies, some of which number 500 cows apiece. +Even these gigantic establishments have been occasionally exceeded, and +one individual, several years ago, possessed 1,500 milkers--a fact fatal +to the popular superstition, that notwithstanding many attempts, no +dairyman could ever muster more than 999. The terrible ravages of +pleuro-pneumonia, which many believe to be a contagious disease, have +cured the passion for such extensive herds. The larger dairies of the +metropolis are on the whole admirably managed, and the cows luxuriate in +airy outhouses, but the smaller owners are often confined for space, and +the animals are sometimes cooped in sheds, placed in tiers one above +another. The country dairymaid laughs at the ignorance which the Londoner +betrays of rural matters when on a visit to her master, but she would be +perplexed in her turn if told that in the capital they fed the cows +chiefly upon brewers' grains, and milked them on the _second story_? A +few years since Mr. Rugg appalled the town, which had forgotten Matthew +Bramble, Esq., and the "New Bath Guide," by detailing a nauseous process +which he affirmed was in use among cunning milkmen for the adulteration of +their milk. There was, however, a great deal of exaggeration in the +account, and Dr. Hassell, whose analysis of various articles of food in +the _Lancet_ are widely known, states that the "iron-tailed cow" is the +main agent employed in the fraud, and that the only colouring matter he +has been enabled to discover is annatto. Nearly all the cream goes to the +West-End; and one dairyman living at Islington informed us that he made +1,200_l._ a year by the trade he carried on in that single article with +the fashionable part of the town. It must be evident, upon the least +consideration, that the London and suburban dairies alone could not supply +the metropolis. If each of the 20,000 cows give on the average twelve +quarts a day, the sum total would only be 240,000 quarts. If we suppose +this quantity to be increased by the exhaustless "iron-tailed cow," of +which Dr. Hassell speaks, to 300,000 quarts, the allowance to each +individual of the two millions and a quarter of population would be little +more than a quarter of a pint. This is clearly below the exigencies of the +tea-table, the nursery, and the kitchen, and we do not think we shall make +an overestimate if we assume that half as much again is daily consumed. +Here again the railway, which in some cases brings milk from as far as +eighty miles, makes up the deficiency. The Eastern Counties line conveyed +in 1853 to London, 3,174,179 quarts, the North-Western 144,000 quarts, the +Great Western 23,400 quarts, the Brighton and South Coast 100 tons, and +the Great Northern as much perhaps as the North-Western. The milk is +collected from the farmers by agents in the country, who sell it to the +milkmen, of whom there are 1,347, to distribute it over the town. In +course of time it is possible that town dairies may entirely disappear. +Cowsheds, often narrow and low, in thickly-populated localities, cannot be +as healthy for the animals as a purer atmosphere; and though experiment +has shown that they thrive admirably when stalled, the food they get in +these urban prisons can hardly be as wholesome as that provided by the +verdant pastures of the farm. The milk which comes by railway has, +however, this disadvantage, that it will not keep nearly so long as the +indigenous produce of the metropolitan dairies. The different companies +have constructed waggons lightly hung on springs, but the churning effect +of sudden joltings cannot be altogether got rid of. + +Of the vegetables and fruit that are brought into the various markets of +the capital, but especially to Covent Garden, a very large quantity is +grown in the immediate neighbourhood. From whatever quarter the railway +traveller approaches London, he perceives that the cultivation of the land +gradually heightens, until he arrives at those suburban residences which +form the advanced guards of the metropolis. The fields give place to +hedgeless gardens, in which, to use a phrase of Washington Irving, "the +furrows seem finished rather with the pencil than the plough." Acre after +acre flashes with hand-glasses, streaks of verdure are ruled in close +parallel lines across the soil with mathematical precision, interspersed +here and there with patches as sharp cut at the edges as though they were +pieces of green baize--these are the far-famed market-gardens. They are +principally situated in the long level tracts of land that must once have +been overflowed by the Thames--such as the flat alluvial soil known as the +Jerusalem Level, extending between London Bridge and Greenwich--and the +grounds about Fulham, Battersea, Chelsea, Putney, and Brentford. Mr. +Cuthill, who is perhaps the best authority on this subject, estimates that +there are 12,000 acres under cultivation for the supply of vegetables and +5,000 for fruit-trees. This seems an insufficient area for the supply of +so many mouths, but manure and active spade husbandry compensate for lack +of space. By these agencies four and sometimes five crops are extracted +from the land in the course of the year. The old-fashioned farmer, +accustomed to the restrictions of old-fashioned leases, would stare at +such a statement, and ask how long it would last. But his surprise would +be still greater at being told that after every clearance the ground is +deeply trenched, and its powers restored with a load of manure to every +thirty square feet of ground. This is the secret of the splendid return, +and it could be effected nowhere but in the neighbourhood of such cities +as London, where the produce of the fertilizer is sufficiently great to +keep down its price. And here we have a striking example of town and +country reciprocation. The same waggon that in the morning brings a load +of cabbages, is seen returning a few hours later filled with dung. An +exact balance as far as it goes is thus kept up, and the manure, instead +of remaining to fester among human beings, is carted away to make +vegetables. What a pity we cannot extend the system, and turn the whole +sewerage by drain-pipes entirely into the rural districts, to feed the +land, instead of allowing it, as we do, to run into the Thames and pollute +the water to be used in our dwellings. + +The care and attention bestowed by the market-gardeners is incredible to +those who have not witnessed it; every inch of ground is taken advantage +of--cultivation runs between the fruit-trees; storming-parties of cabbages +and cauliflowers swarm up to the very trunks of apple-trees; +raspberry-bushes are surrounded and cut off by young seedlings. If you see +an acre of celery growing in ridges, be sure that, on a narrow inspection, +you will find long files of young peas picking their way along the +furrows. Everything flourishes here except weeds, and you may go over a +150-acre piece of ground without discovering a single one. Quality, even +more than quantity, is attended to by the best growers; and they nurse +their plants as they would children. The visitor will sometimes see "the +heads" of an acre of cauliflowers one by one folded up in their own leaves +as carefully as an anxious wife wraps up an asthmatic husband on a +November night; and if rain should fall, attendants run to cover them up, +as quickly as they cover up the zoological specimens at the Crystal Palace +when the watering-pots are set to work. + +Insects and blight are also banished as strictly as from the court of +Oberon. To such a pitch is vigilance carried, that, according to a writer +in _Household Words_, blight and fungi are searched after with a +microscope, woodlice exterminated by bantems dressed in socks to prevent +too much scratching, and other destructive insects despatched by the aid +of batches of toads, purchased at the rate of six shillings a dozen! + +The continual extension of London is, however, rapidly encroaching upon +all the old market-gardens, and they are obliged to move farther a-field: +thus high cultivation, like a green fairy-ring, is gradually widening and +enlarging its circle round the metropolis. The coarser kinds of vegetables +are but sparingly grown in these valuable grounds, but come up in large +quantities from all parts of the country; and some of the choice kinds are +now reared far away in Devonshire and Cornwall, where they are favoured by +the climate. It would be interesting to get an authentic statement of the +acreage dedicated to fruit and vegetables for the London market, but we +find the information unattainable. Mr. Cuthill calculates that there are +200 acres employed around the metropolis in the growth of strawberries, +and 5 acres planted as mushroom-beds. Cucumbers were once very largely +cultivated. He has seen as many as 14 acres under hand-glasses in a single +domain, and has known 200,000 gherkins cut in a morning for the +pickle-merchants. Strangely enough, they have refused to grow well around +London ever since the outbreak of the potato disease. The disastrous +epidemic of 1849, we have little doubt, had much to do with the diminished +supply, for the cholera soon brought about the result desired by Mrs. +Gamp, "when cowcumbers is three for twopence," prices quite explanatory of +the indisposition of the land to produce them. The very high state of +cultivation in the metropolitan market-gardens necessitates the employment +of a large amount of labour; and it is supposed that no less than 35,000 +persons are engaged in the service of filling the vegetable and +dessert-dishes of the metropolis. This estimate leaves out those in the +provinces and on the Continent, which would, we doubt not, nearly double +the calculation, and show a troop of men and women as large as the entire +British army. There are five marts in London devoted to the sale of +fruit--Covent Garden, Spitalfields, the Borough, Farringdon, and +Portman-markets,--besides a vast number of street offsets, such as +Clare-market, in which hawkers generally stand with their barrows. Covent +Garden is not only their type, but it does nearly as much business as all +of them put together, and for that reason we shall dwell upon it to the +exclusion of the others. + +At the first dawn of morning in the midst of squalid London, sweet country +odours greet the early-riser, and cool orchards and green strawberry +slopes seem ever present to the mind. + +If those who seek pleasure in gaiety have never visited the market in its +prime, let them journey thither some summer morning, and note how fresh +will seem the air, and how full of life the people, after the languid +waltz in Grosvenor Square. The central alley of the "Garden," as it is +called by the costermongers, is one of the prettiest lounges in town; and, +whether by chance or design, it exhibits, in its arrangement from east to +west, a complete march of the seasons. At the western entrance the visitor +is greeted with the breath of flowers; and there they show in smiling +banks piled upon the stalls, or sorted with frilled edges into ladies' +bouquets. As he proceeds, he comes upon the more delicate spring +vegetables--pink shafts of the oriental-looking rhubarb, delicate cos +lettuce, &c.; still further along the arcade, the plate-glass windows on +either side display delicate fruits, done up in dainty boxes, and set off +with tinted paper shreds. Behind these windows also might be seen those +rarities which it is the pride of London market-gardeners to provide, and +in producing which they all struggle to steal the longest march upon +time--a sieve-full of early potatoes, each as small and costly as the egg +of a Cochin-China fowl--a basin-full of peas, at a guinea a pint--a +cucumber marked 5_s._, and strawberries 18_s._ the ounce. + +The market-gardeners of Penzance are beginning to send up many of these +early vegetables, the mildness of the south-western extremity of Cornwall +giving them a wonderful advantage over every other part of the kingdom. +Gentlemen's gardeners also contribute somewhat, by sending to the salesmen +such of the produce of their glazed houses as is not consumed in the +family, and receive articles in return of which they happen to have an +insufficient quantity themselves. These forced vegetables give way, it is +true, as the season advances; but when in, they are always most to be +found at that end of the walk nearest the rising sun. As the year +proceeds, the lustier and more natural fruits are displayed--peaches that +have ripened with blushing cheek to the wind, gigantic strawberries, +raspberries, nectarines, or blooming plums. Feathery pines add their +mellow hue; and when these fail, the colour deepens into amber piles of +oranges, umber filberts, and the rich brown of Spanish chestnuts, the +produce of the waning year. + +To leave, however, our fancied procession of the seasons, and to return to +the actual business of the market. As early as two o'clock in the morning, +a person looking down the dip of Piccadilly will perceive the first influx +of the daily supply of vegetables and fruit to Covent Garden market: +waggons of cabbages, built up and regularly faced, with the art rather of +the mason than the market-gardener; light spring-vans fragrant with +strawberries; and milk-white loads of turnips which slowly roll along the +great-western road, and bring the produce of the fertile alluvial shores +of the Thames to the great west-end mart. The pedestrian proceeding along +the southern and eastern roads sees the like stream of vegetable food +quietly converging to the same spot. From this hour, especially upon a +Saturday morning, until nine o'clock, the scene at the market itself is of +the most exciting description. + +Without some organization it would be impossible to receive and display to +the advantage of the buyer and seller the varied products that in the grey +of the morning pours into so limited a space. Accordingly, different +portions of it are dedicated to distinct classes of vegetables and fruits. +The finest of the delicate soft fruit, such as strawberries, peaches, &c., +are lodged, as we have mentioned, in the central alley of the market--the +inmost leaf of the rose. On the large covered space to the north of this +central alley is the wholesale fruit-station, fragrant with apples, pears, +greengages, or whatever is in season. The southern open space is +dedicated to cabbages and other vegetables; and the extreme south front is +wholly occupied by potato-salesmen. Around the whole quadrangle, during a +busy morning, there is a party-coloured fringe of waggons backed in +towards the central space, in which the light green of cabbages forms the +prevailing colour, interrupted here and there with the white of turnips, +or the deep orange of digit-like carrots; and as the spectator watches, +the whole mass is gradually absorbed into the centre of the market. +Meanwhile the space dedicated to wholesale fruit sales is all alive. +Columns of empty baskets twelve feet high seem progressing through the +crowd "of their own motion." The vans have arrived from the railways, and +rural England, side by side with the Continent, pours in its supplies from +many a sheltered mossy nook. It is very easy to discover by a glance which +are the home-grown, which the foreign contributions. There stand the +English baskets and sieves, solid and stout as Harry the Eighth, amidst +little hampers, as delicate as French ladies, and seemingly as incapable +of withstanding hard usage. Yet some of these have come from Algiers, +others from the south of France with greengages, and the majority from +Normandy. France is beginning to send large quantities of peaches and +nectarines, carefully packed with paper-shavings in small boxes; and even +strawberries this summer have found their way here from the same quarter. +The frosts which sometimes occur in the early part of the year, destroy +nearly all the fruit-crops in the neighbourhood of London; and were it not +for the bountiful stores which are brought from abroad, Covent Garden +would be little better than a desert. + +The repeal of the high duty upon foreign fruit has so far widened the +field of supply that it can no longer be destroyed by an unusual fall of +the mercury. By means of the telegraph, the steamboat, and the railroad, +we annul the effects of frost, obliterate the sea, and command, at a few +hours' notice, the produce of the Continent. When there is a dearth in +this country the fact is immediately noticed by the great fruit-dealers in +the City: the telegraph forthwith conveys the information to Holland, +France, and Belgium; and within forty hours steamers from one or other of +these countries will be seen making towards the Downs and adjoining +coasts, and in another six their cargoes, fresh plucked from the +neighbourhoods of old Norman abbeys and quaint Flemish stadthouses, are +blooming in Covent Garden. Fruit that will bear delay comes up the Thames +by boat, and is discharged at the wharfs near London Bridge, but the major +part eventually finds its way to the "Garden." The South-Western and +South-Eastern are the two principal lines for foreign fruit: the former +brings large quantities of Spanish and Portuguese produce--such as +oranges, grapes, melons, nuts, &c.; the latter conveys apples, pears, +strawberries, peaches, nectarines, &c., from Dover, to which place they +are brought by steamers. To show how enormous is the supply from abroad, +we give, on the authority of the goods-manager of the South-Eastern line, +the amount brought by them in one night:-- + + 100 tons of green peas from France. + 50 " of fruit from Kent. + 10 " of filberts from Kent. + 25 " of plums from France. + 10 " of black currants from France. + +In all 195 tons; out of which 135 were from across the water. The Brighton +and South Coast transmit the produce of Jersey and Dieppe--apples, pears, +and plums--to the extent last year of about 300 tons. Of vegetables the +Great Northern is the principal carrier; last year they brought to town +the enormous quantity of 45,819 tons of potatoes, besides 1,940 tons of +other vegetables. The potatoes mainly proceed from the fen country. +Walnuts generally come by the Antwerp boats, which sometimes carry cargoes +of between 400 and 500 tons. Everybody who has travelled in the Low +Countries remembers the magnificent walnut-trees which grow along the +sides of the canals as commonly as elms in our own country. These eke out +our scantier native stores, and help to make cosier the after-dinner chat +over the glass of port. During two mornings that we visited Covent Garden +we saw 613 bushel-baskets of strawberries that had just come from +Honfleur, and upwards of 1,000 baskets of greengages arrived from the same +neighbourhood during the week. As we gazed, on one of these occasions upon +the solid walls of baskets extending down the market, crowned with +parapets of peach and nectarine boxes, we wondered in our own minds +whether it would ever be all sold, and the wonder increased as waggon +after waggon arrived, piled up as high as the second-floor windows of the +piazza. Venturing to express this doubt to a lazy-looking man who was +plaiting the strands of a whip, "Blessee, sir," he replied without looking +up from his work, "the main part on 'em will be at Brummagem by +dinner-time." True enough, while we had been guessing and wondering, a +nimble fellow had run to the telegraph and inquired of Birmingham and a +few distant towns whether they were in want of certain fruits that +morning. The answer being in the affirmative, the vans turned round, +rattled off to the North-Western station, and in another hour the +superfluity of Covent Garden was rushing on its way to fill up the +deficiency of the midland counties. Thus the wire and steam, both at home +and abroad, cause the supply to respond instantly to the demand, however +wide apart the two principles may be working. + +The strawberry trade of Covent Garden is not likely, however, at present +to fall into the hands of foreigners. The London market-gardeners have +long looked with justice upon this fruit as particularly their own. By the +skill they have bestowed upon its culture it has advanced enormously, both +in flavour and size, from the old standard "hautboy" of our fathers, and +which foreigners mainly cultivate to the present day. Mr. Miatt, of +Deptford, is the great grower; by judicious grafting he has produced from +the old stock half-a-dozen different kinds, the most celebrated being the +"British Queen," which attains a prodigious size. Large quantities of +strawberries are sent to the market in light spring-vans. They are placed +in 1 lb. punnets or round willow baskets, or they are carefully piled in +pottles, and the process of "topping-up," as it is called, is considered +quite an art in the trade. The rarest and ripest fruit, which goes direct +to the pastrycooks, is still more deftly treated. Lest it should be +injured by jolting, horse is exchanged for human carriage. A procession of +eight or ten stout women, carrying baskets full of strawberry-pottles upon +their heads, may often be seen streaming in hot haste up Piccadilly, +preceded by a man, like so many sheep by a bell-wether. It is probable +that they have trudged all the way from Isleworth with the fruit, and, as +they frequently make two journeys in the day, the distance traversed is +not less than twenty-six miles. + +After strawberries, perhaps peas are the most important article produced +by the market-gardeners. Dealers, in order to consult the convenience of +hotel-keepers and such as require suddenly a large supply for the table, +keep them ready for the saucepan; and not the least curious feature of +Covent Garden, about midday, is to see a dense mass of women--generally +old--seated in rows at the corner of the market, engaged in shelling them. +One salesman often employs as many as 400 persons in this occupation. The +major part of these auxiliaries belong to the poor-houses around; they +obtain permission to go out for this purpose, and the shilling or eighteen +pence a-day earned by some of the more expert is gladly exchanged for the +monotonous rations of the parish. In the autumn, again, there will be a +row of poor creatures, extending along the whole north side of the square, +shelling walnuts, each person having two baskets, one for the nuts, +another for the shells, which are bought by the catsup-makers. The poor +flock from all parts of the town directly a job of the kind is to be had. +If a fog happens in November, thousands of link-boys and men spring up +with ready-made torches; if a frost occurs, hundreds of men are to be +found on the Serpentine and other park waters, to sweep the ice or to put +on your skates: there are, in the busy part of the town half-a-dozen +fellows ready of a wet day to rush simultaneously to call a cab "for your +honour;" and every crossing when it grows muddy almost instantly has its +man and broom. A sad comment this upon the large floating population of +starving labour always to be found in the streets of London. + +The busiest time at the market is about six o'clock, when the +costermongers surround Covent Garden with their barrows, and hundreds of +street hawkers, with their hand-baskets and trays, come for their day's +supply. The same system of purchase is pursued here as at +Billingsgate--the rich dealers buy largely and sell again, and the poorer +club their means and divide the produce. The regular street vender who +keeps his barrow, drawn by a donkey or a pony, looks down with a certain +contempt upon the inferior hawkers, principally Irish. They only deal in a +certain class of vegetables, such as peas, young potatoes, broccoli, or +cauliflowers, and have nothing to do with _mere greens_. Another class of +purchasers are the little girls who vend watercresses. Such is the demand +for cresses, that they are now largely cultivated for the market, the +spontaneous growth proving quite inadequate to the demand. They are +produced principally at "Spring Head," at Walthamstow, in Essex, and at +Cookham, Shrivenham, and Faringdon, on the line of the Great Western, +which brings to town no less than a ton a week of this wholesome breakfast +salad. The best, however, come from Camden Town. Most people fancy that +clear purling streams are necessary for their production; but the Camden +Town beds are planted in an old brick-field, watered by the Fleet Ditch; +and though the stream at this point is comparatively pure, they owe their +unusually luxuriant appearance to a certain admixture of the sewerage. A +great many hundreds of bunches are sold every morning in Covent Garden; +but the largest share goes to Farringdon Market. The entire supply to the +various metropolitan markets cannot be less than three tons weekly. +Rhubarb is almost wholly furnished by the London market-gardeners. It was +first introduced by Mr. Miatt forty years ago, who sent his two sons to +the Borough Market with five bunches, of which they only sold three. From +this time he continued its cultivation, notwithstanding the sneers at what +were called his "physic pies." As he predicted, it soon became a +favourite, and now hundreds of tons weight are sold in Covent Garden in +the course of the year. It would be impossible to give any precise account +of the fruit and vegetable produce that is poured day by day into London; +for the authorities themselves only know how many baskets arrive, not how +much they contain. The railway returns give us the quantity brought from a +distance, and we find that the seven lines transmit annually somewhere +about 70,000 tons of vegetables and soft green fruit. This is irrespective +of dried fruit, oranges, &c.--a business of itself, involving great +interests, and employing an immense capital, and of which we will say a +few words. + +The foreign-fruit trade has its head-quarters in the city. The pedestrian +who walks down Fish Street Hill would assuredly never surmise that at +certain seasons a regular fruit exhibition is kept up within those dull +brick houses, before which the tall column lifts its head. All the world +knows the Messrs. Keeling and Hunt, whose effigies seem to stand, in the +public eye, upon a vast pyramid of pine-apples. This firm hold sales of +various kinds of fruit in their auction-rooms in Monument Yard. On these +occasions the long apartments make a show, before which, for quantity at +least, that of Chiswick pales. Pine-apples by thousands, melons, forbidden +fruit, and mangoes, fill the room from end to end; so famous indeed is the +display, that there are lithographic engravings of it, in which the +salesmen are seen walking about as perplexed, apparently by the luscious +luxuriance around them, as Adam might have been in his own happy garden. +The pine-apple market is of modern date. The first cargo was brought over +about twenty years ago, and since that time the traffic has rapidly +increased, and at the present moment 300,000 pines come yearly into the +port of London, of which nine-tenths are consigned to Messrs. Keeling and +Hunt, the original importers. They are principally from the Bahamas, in +the West Indies, where they grow almost spontaneously; but of late years +they have been more carefully cultivated, and grafts of our best hothouse +pines have been taken out to improve their quality. There is a fleet of +clippers appropriated to the carriage across the sea of this single fruit. +The melons come from Spain, Portugal, and Holland. Spain is known to +abound in melons, for Murillo's beggar-boys are perpetually eating them; +but we believe it will be news to most Englishmen that the land of dykes +supplies London with fragrant cargoes of an almost tropical fruit. The +largest foreign-fruit trade, however, by far, is that in oranges. We +shall perhaps astonish our readers when we tell them that upwards of +60,000,000 are imported for the use of London alone, accompanied by not +less than 15,000,000 lemons. Any time between December and May the orange +clippers from the Azores and Lisbon may be seen unloading their cargoes in +the neighbourhood of the great stores in Pudding and Botolph Lanes. There +are 240 of these fast-sailing vessels engaged in the entire trade, and of +this fleet seventy at least are employed in supplying the windows of the +fruiterers and the apple-stalls of London. All these fruits, together with +nuts and walnuts, apples, plums, pears, and some peaches, &c., are +disposed of weekly at the auction sales in Monument Yard to the general +dealers, the majority of whom are located in Duke's Place, close at hand, +and are mostly Jews. Indeed we are informed that many of them are the +identical boys grown up to manhood that used some twenty-five years ago to +sell oranges about the streets, and whose old place has gradually been +taken by the Irish. They act as middlemen between the importers and the +tribe of peripatetics who, at certain times of the day, resort hither to +fill their baskets and barrows. Covent Garden also supplies retailers with +oranges and nuts, especially on Sunday mornings, when the place is +sometimes crowded like a fair. The following bill of quantities, drawn up +by Mr. Keeling, is derived, we believe, from the Custom House returns:-- + + _Fruit._ + + Apples 39,561 bushels. + Pears 19,742 " + Cherries 264,240 lbs. + Grapes 1,328,190 + Pine-apples 200,000 + Oranges 61,635,146 + Lemons 15,408,789 + + _Nuts._ + + Spanish nuts} 72,509 bushels + Barcolena } + Brazil 11,700 " + Chestnuts 26,250 " + Walnuts 36,088 " + Cocoa-nuts 1,255,009 " + +Of the amount of bread consumed in London we have no specific information, +but there are data which enable us to approximate to the truth. Porter, in +his "Progress of the Nation," gives us the returns of eight schools, +families, and institutions, containing 1,902 men, women, and children, +each of whom ate on the average 331-1/16 lbs. of bread per annum. Now if +we multiply this quantity by the number of the inhabitants of the +metropolis--2,500,000, or thereabouts--we have a total of 413,700,000 +half-quartern loaves of 2 lbs. weight each. The flour used in puddings, +pies, &c., we throw in as a kind of offset against the London babies under +one year old. Some of this bread is a contribution from the country, and +one Railway--the Eastern Counties--brought last year 237 tons 12 cwts. to +town. + +Now let us see how much sack goes to all this quantity of bread--with what +rivers of stout, &c., we wash down such mountains of flesh. According to +the excise returns, there were 747,050 quarters of malt consumed in London +in the year 1853 by the seventeen great brewers. As each quarter of malt, +with its proportionate allowance of hops, produces three and a half +barrels of beer, we get at the total brew of last year 1,614,675, or +pretty nearly a thousand million tumblers of ale and porter. On countless +sign-boards of the metropolis this last is advertised by the title of +"entire," and it is thus that the liquid and its name arose. Prior to the +year 1730, publicans were in the habit of selling ale, beer, and twopenny, +and the "thirsty souls" of that day were accustomed to combine either of +these in a drink called half-and-half. From this they proceeded to spin +"three threads," as they called it, or to have their glass filled from +each of the three taps. In the year 1730, however, a certain publican, +named Horwood, to save himself the trouble of making the triune mixture, +brewed a liquor intended to imitate the taste of the "three threads," and +to this he applied the term "entire." His concoction was approved, and, +being puffed as good porters' drink, it speedily came to be called porter +itself. Of the seventeen great London breweries, the house of Truman, +Hanbury, Buxton, and Co. stood in 1853 at the top of the list, having +consumed 140,000 quarters of malt, and paid to the excise 180,000_l._, or +enough to build two ninety-gun ships, at the usual cost of a thousand +pounds per gun. The visitor in proceeding through this establishment +realizes, perhaps better than in any other place, the enormous scale on +which certain creature-comforts for the use of the town are produced. As +he walks between the huge boilers in which 1,600 barrels are brewed nearly +every day, or makes the circuit of the four great vats, each containing +80,000 gallons of liquor, or loses himself amid the labyrinth of 135 +enormous reservoirs, which altogether hold 3,500,000 gallons--he begins to +fancy himself an inhabitant of Lilliput, who has gone astray in a +Brobdignagian cellar. There is a popular notion that the far-famed London +stout owes its flavour to the Thames water: this, however, is a "vulgar +error." Not even the Messrs. Barclay, who are upon the stream, draw any of +their supply from that source, but it is got entirely from wells, and +those sunk so deep, that they and the Messrs. Calvert, whose brewery is +half a mile distant upon the opposite side of the river, find they are +rivals for the same spring. When one brewery pumps, it drains the wells of +the other, and the firms are obliged to obtain their water on alternate +days. Whether it is owing to the increase of the great breweries and of +other manufactories, which alone consume millions of barrels of water +yearly, we know not, but it is an ascertained fact, that the depth of +water in the London wells has for the last twenty-five years been +diminishing at the rate of a foot a year. "It is comforting to reflect," +said one of the great brewers, "that the reason simply is, because the +water which used to be buried underground is now brought up to fill the +bodies, wash the faces, and turn the wheels of two millions and a half of +people." + +If the underground stock of water is shrinking, it has increased vastly on +the surface. The seven companies which supply the metropolis bring in +between them 44,000,000 gallons daily--a quantity which, large as it is, +could be delivered in twenty-four hours by a brook nine feet wide and +three feet deep, running at the rate of three feet per second, or a +little more than two miles per hour. + +The inability of figures to convey an adequate impression to the mind of +the series of units of which the sums are composed renders it impossible +to give more than a faint idea of the enormous supplies of food required +to victual the capital for a single year. But the conception may be +somewhat assisted by varying the process. Country papers now and then +astonish their readers by calculations to show how many times the steel +pens manufactured in England would form a necklace round their own little +town, or how many thousand miles the matches of their local factory would +extend if laid in a straight line from the centre of their market-place. +Let us try our hand on the same sort of picture, and endeavour to fill the +eye with a prospect that would satisfy the appetite of the far-famed +Dragon of Wantley himself. + +If we fix upon Hyde Park as our exhibition-ground, and pile together all +the barrels of beer consumed in London, they would form a thousand columns +not far short of a mile in perpendicular height. + +Let us imagine ourselves on the top of this tower, and we shall have a +look-out worthy of the feast we are about to summon to our feet. Herefrom +we might discover the Great Northern road stretching far away into the +length and breadth of the land. Lo! as we look, a mighty herd of oxen, +with loud bellowing, are beheld approaching from the north. For miles and +miles the mass of horns is conspicuous winding along the road, ten +abreast, and even thus the last animal of the herd would be 72 miles away, +and the drover goading his shrinking flank considerably beyond +Peterborough. On the other side of the park, as the clouds of dust clear +away, we see the great Western road, as far as the eye can reach, thronged +with a bleating mass of wool, and the shepherd at the end of the flock +(ten abreast) and the dog that is worrying the last sheep are just leaving +the environs of Bristol, 121 miles from our beer-built pillar. Along +Piccadily, Regent-street, the Strand, Fleet-street, Cheapside, and the +eastward Mile-end road line, for 7-1/2 miles, street and causeway are +thronged with calves, still ten abreast; and in the great parallel +thoroughfares of Bayswater-road, Oxford-street, and Holborn, we see +nothing for nine long miles but a slowly-pacing, deeply-grunting herd of +swine. As we watch this moving mass approaching from all points of the +horizon, the air suddenly becomes dark--a black pall seems drawn over the +sky--it is the great flock of birds--game, poultry, and wild-fowl, that, +like Mrs. Bond's ducks, are come up to be killed: as they fly wing to wing +and tail to beak they form a square whose superficies is not much less +than the whole enclosed portion of St. James's Park, or 51 acres. No +sooner does this huge flight clear away than we behold the park at our +feet inundated with hares and rabbits. + +Feeding 2,000 abreast, they extend from the marble arch to the round pond +in Kensington Gardens--at least a mile. Let us now pile up all the +half-quartern loaves consumed in the metropolis in the year, and we shall +find they form a pyramid which measures 200 square feet at its base, and +extends into the air a height of 1,293 feet, or nearly three times that of +St. Paul's. Turning now towards the sound of rushing waters, we find that +the seven companies are filling the mains for the day. If they were +allowed to flow into the area of the adjacent St. James's Park, they would +in the course of the 24 hours flood its entire space with a depth of 30 +inches of water, and the whole annual supply would be quite sufficient to +submerge the city (one mile square) ninety feet. Of the fish we confess we +are able to say nothing: when numbers mount to billions, the calculations +become too trying to our patience. We have little doubt, however, that +they would be quite sufficient to make the Serpentine one solid mass. Of +ham and bacon again, preserved meats, and all the countless comestibles we +have taken no account, and in truth they are little more to the great mass +than the ducks and geese were to Sancho Panza's celebrated mess--"the +skimmings of the pot." + +Such, then, is a slight sketch of the great London larder. It may be +imagined that many of these stores come to the metropolis only as to a +centre for redistribution, and are again scattered over the length and +breadth of the land. This, however, is not the case. The only line that +takes food in any quantities out of London is the North-Western. This +railway speeds into the midland counties, but especially to Birmingham, +350 tons of fish consigned to the country dealers, and to the nobility and +gentry. As we have before seen, van-loads of fruit are often despatched in +the same direction. The South-Eastern conveys large quantities of grain +down the line, and the London and Brighton and South Coast takes annually +to Brighton twenty-six tons of meat and 1,100 cattle; and here all the +food carried _out_ of London in bulk ends. A constant dribble of edibles, +it is true, is continually escaping by the passenger trains, of which the +railways take no notice in their goods-department traffic; but it must be +remembered that a much larger quantity is perpetually flowing unheeded +into the London commissariat through the same channels. Of the stout and +porter brewed in the metropolis by the great houses, again, one-seventh +perhaps finds its way abroad--a drop in comparison to that which must be +contributed by the 2,482 smaller brewers of the town, and the great +contingent supplied by Guinness, Allsopp, and other pale-ale brewers. This +simple statement will suffice to make it evident that in the foregoing +picture we have given anything but "heaped measure." + +The railways having poured this enormous amount of food into the +metropolis, as the main arteries feed the human body, it is distributed by +the various dealers into every quarter of the town, first into the +wholesale markets, or great centres, then into the sub-centres, or retail +tradesmen's shops, and lastly into the moving centres, or barrows of the +hawkers, by which means nourishment is poured into every corner of the +town, and the community at large is supplied as effectually as are the +countless tissues of the human body by the infinitely divided network of +capillary vessels. According to the census of 1851, these +food-distributors are classified in the following manner:-- + + _Males._ + + Grocers 6,475 + Cowkeepers and milksellers 3,372 + Cheesemongers 2,156 + Butchers 7,428 + Poulterers 551 + Fishmongers 2,238 + Other dealers in animal food 1,376 + Greengrocers 3,325 + Bakers 9,841 + Confectioners 1,806 + Other dealers in vegetable food 1,303 + Brewers 2,499 + Licensed victuallers and beer-shop-keepers, &c. 6,843 + Wine and spirit merchants 1,915 + Other dealers in drinks 3,805 + Saltmakers 37 + Water-providers 428 + Innkeepers 433 + ------ + 56,601 + + _Females._ + + Grocers 676 + Innkeepers 93 + Innkeepers' wives 217 + Cowkeepers 1,158 + Butchers 205 + Butchers' wives 3,086 + Fishmongers 151 + Others dealing in animal food 283 + Greengrocers 941 + Bakers 480 + Confectioners 542 + Other dealers in vegetable food 939 + Licensed victuallers and beer-shop-keepers 970 + Wives of ditto 4,440 + Wine and spirit merchants 15 + Other dealers in drinks 457 + ------ + 14,653 + +If to this total of 71,254 we add the wandering tribe of costermongers, +hawkers, and stall-keepers, estimated at 30,000 persons, we shall have an +army exceeding 100,000 persons; and, as indirectly there must be quadruple +this number of persons employed, the merest pauper among the population +has hundreds of invisible hands held out to provide him with the +necessaries and comforts of life. The smooth working of this great +distributive machine is due to the principle of competition--that spring +which so nicely adjusts all the varying conditions of life, and which, in +serving itself, does the best possible service to the community at large, +and accomplishes more than the cleverest system of centralization which +any individual mind could devise. + + + + +WOOLWICH ARSENAL. + + +In the year 1716 the brass guns which Marlborough had taken from the +French were being recast in the royal gun foundry in Moorfields, when a +young Swiss named Andrew Schalch, who was accidentally present, remarking +the dampness of the moulds and foreseeing the inevitable result, warned +Colonel Armstrong the then Surveyor-General, against being too close a +spectator of the operation. As Schalch foretold, an explosion took place, +and many workmen were killed. "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," +says the old proverb, and the bursting of the gun was the making of the +young foreigner's fortune; for in a few days an advertisement appeared in +one of the public papers requesting him to call upon Colonel Andrews, "as +the interview may be for his advantage." Andrew Schalch attended +accordingly, and was at once intrusted with the duty of seeking out a +better locality for the casting of the royal ordnance. He selected a +rabbit-warren at Woolwich, as the best site within twelve miles of the +metropolis, for the threefold reason that it was dry, near to the river, +and in the immediate neighbourhood of loam for the moulds. Strangely +enough, it has since been proved that the great nation of antiquity with +whom the British possess so many qualities in common, had been here +before. The Romans, whose second station on the Watling Street out of +London is supposed to have been at Hanging Wood, close at hand, seem to +have appropriated the sloping ground on which the original gun factory +stands for the purposes of a cemetery, for on digging the foundations of +some new buildings urns of their manufacture were discovered in large +quantities, and a very beautiful sepulchral vase, which is now in the +museum of the Royal Artillery Institution. Thus, where the conquerors of +the old world lay down to their last rest, we, the Romans of the present +age, forge the arms which make us masters of an empire beyond the dreams +of the imperial Cæsars. + +As the visitor enters the great gate of the Arsenal he finds no difficulty +in tracing the whereabouts of the labours of Andrew, for straight before +him, with a stately solemnity which marked the conceptions of its builder, +Vanbrugh, stands the picturesque gun factory, with its high-pitched roof, +red brickwork, and carved porch, looking like a fine old gentleman amid +the factory ranges which within these few years have sprung up around. It +is impossible to contemplate this building without respect, for forth from +its portals have issued that victorious ordnance which since the days of +George II. has swept the battle grounds of the old and the new world. Up +to as late a date as the year 1842 the machinery within these stately old +edifices was almost as antiquated in character as themselves. The three +great boring-mills, moved by horses, which had been imported in 1780 as +astonishing wonders from the Hague, were the only engines used in England +in making her Majesty's ordnance till eighteen years ago. Such was the +state of efficiency of the oldest of the three great manufacturing +departments of the Arsenal! The more modern departments, known as the +Royal Carriage Factory and the Laboratory, have flourished during the +present century in an unequal degree. For fifty years the former of these +branches of the Arsenal has been more or less in a high state of +efficiency, through the introduction of machinery from the workshops of +Messrs. Bramah and Maudslay, and of the contrivances of Bentham and Sir I. +Brunei. The improvements which were due to their inventive genius rendered +this department highly efficient during the French war, on the conclusion +of which a long period of inactivity followed; and it was not until 1847 +that symptoms were manifested of renewed life under the able +superintendence of General Gordon, and still later of Colonel Colquhoun. +The Laboratory during the same period appears to have remained entirely +stationary, and up to the year 1853 was far inferior to that of any +third-rate power. The backward condition of the sole arsenal of England +during the long interval of peace seems at first sight remarkable, when we +consider the amount of mechanical ingenuity which had penetrated into +every factory in the kingdom; but when we remember that the instruments +and munitions of war are special articles, wanted only for special +periods, occurring at uncertain intervals of time, the wonder ceases. +Private manufacturers had no interest in forging instruments of +destruction, and the State having conquered "a lasting peace," Vulcan was +allowed to fall into a profound sleep--a sleep so unbroken, that the +nation listened for a moment to the voice of those Manchester charmers who +would fain have persuaded us the time was come when our swords could with +safety be turned into pruning-hooks. In the midst of this amiable delusion +the Northern Eagle attempted to seize upon the sick man, and Britain +instinctively flew to arms. This sudden spasm of war following upon a +forty years' peace at once disclosed the fact that we were totally +unprepared to wage it. There were not shells enough in the Arsenal to +furnish forth the first battering-train that went to the East, and the +fuses in store were of the date of Waterloo. A fourth part of the money +which we joyfully expended when the wolf was at the door would have been +thought the demand of a madman, when Europe was supposed to be one big +sheepfold. Economy prevented efficient progress; and though the +authorities had latterly originated reforms, their exertions were limited +by their scanty resources. As the war proceeded, the Ordnance were at +their wits' end for coarse-grained gunpowder, which, as it was not an +article of commerce, had to be specially made for them. Small arms were +wanted in haste, and could only be constructed at leisure. In these +straits the private manufacturers of the country were applied to; but in +many cases they had to learn a new art. Do what they would, with the power +of charging fabulous prices for shot and shell, ammunition, and small +arms, their powers of production were totally inadequate to meet the +strain of the great siege, the proportions of which grew larger day by +day. All the mills in England could not make powder at the rate at which +it was shot away--a rate which consumed 100,000 barrels before Sevastopol +was taken; nor could all the armouries of London and Birmingham make +rifled muskets and sabres fast enough for our men; consequently we were +obliged to go to Liége for 44,000 Minié guns, 3,000 cavalry swords, and +12,000 barrels of powder, and to the United States for 20,000 barrels +more. + +It may seem passing strange that England, whose manufacturing power is so +enormous, should have to resort to foreign manufacturers for the arms +wherewith to fight. Money in such a country, it is often said, can procure +anything, and money in this case was no object. The want of suitable +machinery was the cause of the difficulty. The manufacturers could only +make the articles demanded of them by skilled labour, which is a thing +that must be acquired before it can be hired. Old machines can be put to +extra duty; fresh machines can be readily supplied; but skilled labour is +a fixed capital which cannot be suddenly increased. The result was a +lamentable slowness of production and an extraordinary dearness of +price--the munitions of war in some cases more than doubled in value. It +is calculated that the shells for the Baltic fleet alone, which were +fabricated entirely by private manufacturers, cost upwards of £100,000 +more than they would have done had they been made by the new machinery +lately introduced into the Arsenal. A still stronger case, to show the +extraordinary prices which the Government had to pay contractors when the +demand was imperative and supply confined to two or three houses, was that +of the six-pounder diaphragm shells. They were charged by the contractors +at 73_l._ per ton, whilst the very same article is now made in the Royal +Laboratory at 14_l._ 19_s._ 2_d._ per ton. These exorbitant demands and +the rapid drain of the stores led the War Department to consider whether +it would not be better to organize a government establishment on the most +extensive scale, and on the most improved system; and it was ultimately +determined to adopt a plan by which it would be possible to expand or +contract the productive power, according to the exigencies of the service, +by means of machines which could be tended by untutored labourers and +boys. Accordingly, a very large number of the most ingenious machines +were procured from the United States, where the Springfield and Harper +Ferry Arsenals have long been famous for their admirable contrivances to +save human skill; while others were procured from the Continent and at +home by Mr. Anderson, the superintendent of machinery. In a very short +time a powerful factory of the munitions of war sprung into life, +verifying, for the ten-thousandth time, the truth of the proverb that +necessity is the mother of invention, or at least, as in this case, of +improvement. + +The introduction of machinery on a large scale put to flight the old +traditions of the Arsenal, and the manufacturing spirit had to be +substituted for the military organization under which the establishment +had been conducted before. Such was the energy and rapidity with which the +old Arsenal reformed itself, that we question if any private factory in +the kingdom is conducted upon a better system than is already at work +there. Within these three years factories have sprung up on every side, +and the whir of wheels, and the measured stroke of the steam-engine, can +now be heard over the whole of its immense area. + +The three manufacturing departments into which the Woolwich Arsenal is +divided are as follows:--The Royal Gun Factory, the Royal Carriage +Department, and the Royal Laboratory Department. Through these factories +we will conduct our readers, and endeavour to give them an idea how human +ingenuity has perfected the means to destroy human life. The gun +factories, by right of age, take precedence, although in point of interest +they present the least attractive features to the spectator. The fact +which most strikes him as he threads his way amid the Cyclopean machinery +is the slow, inevitable manner in which the different processes are +carried on. Here you see a large lathe turning the outside of an +eighteen-pounder, revolving as noiselessly and as readily as though it +were only turning a brass candlestick--a fixed tool cutting off its thin +shavings of metal with as much ease as if it were box-wood. In the next +machine a gun is being bored, the drill twisting its way down the fixed +mass, and a dropping shower of bright chips proving how resistlessly its +tooth moves on towards its appointed goal. A third machine cuts off the +"dead head" of a cannon. All guns are cast in the pits in a perpendicular +position, breech downwards, and are made at least one-third longer than +they are intended to be when finished. The reason for this is, that the +superincumbent metal forming the "dead head" of the piece may by its +weight condense the portion below it which is to form the true gun--the +extraordinary pressure of the powder requiring the metal to be extremely +close in order to withstand the strain. Besides these lathes, which do the +more ordinary work of the factory, there are what are termed exceptional +machines, to finish those parts of the gun which the lathe cannot touch, +such as the projecting sight, the trunnions, and that portion of the +barrel which lies between them. No increase has taken place in the size of +the Brass Gun Factory, although, through the energetic action of Colonel +Wilmot, its produce has been doubled since the breaking out of the war: +fourteen pieces of brass ordnance--six, nine, and eighteen pounders--can +be turned out weekly. Brass is used for field-pieces on account of its +resisting power being greater than that of iron. Experiments which have +lately been made, however, tend to show that steel is a far lighter and +better material even than brass for this purpose. A German, named Krupp, +has produced some steel pieces which bear an enormous charge; in fact, +when well made, it is almost impossible to burst them. The Emperor of the +French has already ordered 350 of these guns to be introduced into the +service, and probably we shall have to follow suit. + +The fine building[25] recently erected in connection with this department +is intended for the manufacture of iron ordnance, which has hitherto been +produced exclusively by private manufacturers. The experience of the late +war, however, determined the Government to furnish at least a portion of +these stores themselves. A thoroughly reliable gun must be worth any price +that its efficient manufacture demands; for the failing of a single piece +may lose a battle, and bring with it consequences which would be cheaply +averted by a park of artillery cast in gold. In the late campaign we were +prevented from striking a great blow through this very cause alone. At the +bombardment of Sweaborg no less than seventeen of the thirteen-inch +mortars were destroyed through a want of tenacity in the iron of which +they were composed. Many of these ponderous engines split after a few +rounds, and may now be seen on the wharf of the Arsenal cleft in twain as +clean as Tell's apple. Yet these mortars were made by the Carron and Low +Moor Companies, the most celebrated private manufacturers of such articles +in England. Had they stood the strain, we should have utterly destroyed +the fortifications of this stronghold, instead of burning a few sheds, +which made a great blaze without doing much mischief; and had we possessed +a sufficient number of these formidable engines, the destruction of +Cronstadt and Sevastopol would only have formed the work of a few days. +Though ours is a land both of iron and manufactures, our guns are of +inferior quality to those of other nations. The cannon captured at +Sevastopol are of better iron than the cannon we brought against them. +Several thousand tons weight of the guns dismounted from Cronstadt, in +order to make way for pieces of heavier calibre, were bought, we +understand, the other day by an English firm with the intention of +converting them into cranks and boilers, which require the very best +material. The Americans insist upon a tenacity of cast-iron for their +ordnance equal to a pressure of 34,000 lbs. on the square inch, and +sometimes obtain it equal to 45,000 lbs., whilst we, the greatest +manufacturers of iron in the world, have hitherto seldom obtained it of a +strength equal to 20,000 lbs. This great difficiency Government hope to +remedy by the institution of a series of experiments on all classes of +iron both foreign and indigenous. There is a curious machine in the Gun +Factory specially invented for the purpose of testing the tenacity of each +sample, its capacity of withstanding compression, its transverse +strength, and its power of resisting torsion. It is curious to see this +iron-limbed Samson wrestling with mighty bars of metal, and twisting and +tearing them across the grain like bits of stick. The fractured remnants +of the specimens and of the guns rent in the testing process in the +Marshes and at Shoeburyness are collected in a museum, the history of each +specimen being minutely given. Thus a curious and instructive record is +gradually being acquired, which will prove of infinite use in the +manufacture of heavy ordnance. It has been already ascertained that guns +are universally strengthened by having wrought iron rings put round +them--a fact which was discovered during the course of experiments with +the heavy cannon bored with an oval rifle to receive the Lancaster shell. +Several of them having burst at the muzzle, this simple expedient was +tried, and the guns so girded now bear the most extraordinary charges +without flinching. + +The new building for casting, boring, and finishing iron guns, is both +externally and internally the most imposing-looking of all the structures +erected to meet the exigencies of the Crimean war. These spacious +factories present more the appearance of first-class railway termini than +of ordinary workshops. They are lighted with what are termed saw-roof +lights, having a northern aspect; for the Vulcans who can work all day in +the burning blaze of furnaces do not, it appears, like to be distracted +with the confusing rays of the sun! The number of turning, boring, +finishing, planing, shaping, drilling, slotting, and punching machines +that revolve, thump, and slide here in ponderous grandeur is prodigious, +and there can be very little doubt that it will be the most perfect and +powerful factory in the world of its kind. Travelling-cranes, which run +upon railways poised in air overhead, command every inch of the factories, +so that cannon of the heaviest calibre for both land and sea +service--98-pounders weighing many tons can be slung from machine to +machine with the greatest ease. When the machinery is completed, the +foundry will be capable of turning out ten guns of the largest size per +week. + +The most interesting portion of the gun department is the factory devoted +to the construction of Lancaster shells. This odd-looking missile has a +form very similar to a champagne bottle, and, unlike the ordinary shell, +is made out of a single sheet of wrought iron. The slab of metal having +been welded into a cylindrical form, is submitted to an ingenious lathe, +which, acting upon it simultaneously with a dozen different tools inside +and out, speedily reduces it to a given weight and a perfectly uniform +thickness. The cylinder, about eighteen inches in length and ten in +diameter, is then made red hot, and whilst in this state is placed in the +grip of a powerful machine, which by a series of blows, equally +distributed over every part, converts it into the likeness of a French +bottle in less than five minutes, without the slightest sign of crumpling +in any portion of the surface. The operation can only be compared to the +manner in which a potter shapes a vessel upon the wheel. No less than +forty machines are employed on this special manufacture, and upwards of a +hundred shells can be turned out daily. The expense incurred in producing +with extreme accuracy and speed these curious missiles for the first +rifled gun adopted by the service, is an earnest of the determination of +the authorities to carry the manufacture of artillery to the same +perfection of finish as their small arms. Lancaster guns will in all +probability play a very important part in the next war, if war there +should ever unhappily be, as those in use in the Crimea made most splendid +practice, firing with nearly the accuracy of a rifle, and attaining a +range of 5,000 yards, or very nearly three miles. As these shells cost +about 25_s._ each, the expense of "passing the bottle" to the enemy is +rather a serious affair. + +By far the largest department of the Royal Arsenal is devoted to the +construction of carriages and packing-cases for moving artillery, baggage, +and the various munitions of war. At the present moment the carriage +department employs no less than three thousand hands, together with three +hundred machines, moved by twenty-three steam-engines, which do the work +of an additional twelve thousand men! The bulky nature of the material +dealt with, and the store-houses required for stowing it away, together +with the numerous workshops called into existence by the Crimean war, +have caused this department to burst its old bounds and to invade 250 +acres of the adjoining marsh--the area of the workshops alone covering +255,152 superficial feet, and the entire ground occupied being no less +than 1,445,440 feet. This immense amount of elbow room has enabled Colonel +Tulloch, the superintendent of the department, to systematize the +manufacture, and cause the timber to pass along in one unbroken progress +from the time when it is landed upon the wharf to the time when the +finished articles are delivered over to the storekeeper. If we follow this +stream from stage to stage, we shall catch a flying view of the operations +of this department, whose province it is to provide package and carriage +for the British army at home and abroad. + +The timber which forms the principal raw material employed is brought by +ships to the mouth of the canal which runs along the eastern side of the +Arsenal; here it is transferred to lighters which convey it some distance +inland to the quay in the immediate neighbourhood of the timber field. By +means of powerful derrick cranes, which can make a long or a short arm at +pleasure, it is next unloaded and swung upon the trucks of the railway +which ramifies through every portion of the premises, and forms the means +of communication between its different points. The trucks, when full, +immediately start with their burthen for the contiguous timber field, a +square space covering 20 acres. Here the huge logs are deposited in long +lines, which extend from one end of the field to the other, having +roadways between them laid with rails. Over each line or row of timber +strides a powerful travelling crane which, with a slight impulse given by +one man, is made to traverse from end to end of the row, depositing or +taking up in its way logs of oak or teak of many tons weight as easily as +Gulliver could have picked up the Lilliputians he bestrode. Before the +introduction of this powerful machinery, from fifty to one hundred pairs +of horses were employed in this department alone, all of which are now +dispensed with, and a saving effected of 6,000_l._ a-year. + +The usual store in the timber-field amounts to 60,000 loads in various +stages of seasoning. The varieties of climate in which the British army +has to serve are so many, that foreign woods have been introduced to +supply the place of oak, which cannot be found in quantities equal to the +demand. Thus we find in the timber-field sabicu, a dense East-Indian wood +which is used for the heavy blocks of gun carriages; pedouk, from the same +country, which is employed for a similar purpose; and iron bark, an +Australian wood. Of English timber, such as ash, elm, and beech, there is +a very large store. What is called wheel timber, on the soundness and +proper adaptation of which depends the safety of the artillery and +transport service, is entirely composed of the most graceful trees of our +woodlands; the spokes being made of oak, the naves of elm, the felloes or +rims of ash. Beech is also largely used for the fuses of shells and the +woodwork of saddles. When any particular logs are required, they are +selected by the timber-master, picked up by the travelling crane, hoisted +into the railway truck, and conveyed at once to the saw-mills close at +hand. On the threshold of the largest mill the logs meet with a grim +reception from an immense circular saw 66 inches in diameter, which at +once attacks the huge log and separates it as expeditiously as your +Eastern soldier divides with his scimitar a floating handkerchief. This +formidable instrument traverses a space of 30 feet, and is thus enabled to +fix its teeth upon the log at whatever part of the entrance it may chance +to lie. This transverse section performed, the divided portions are drawn +up by machinery into the saw-frames, the largest of which is capable of +receiving a log 4 feet square. Once within the mill's maw, as many saws +are put in as are necessary to divide the wood into slabs of the required +thickness, and a few minutes suffice to reduce it to planks. From the +mills the timber is removed again upon the railroad to the seasoning shed, +which covers 4 acres of ground. Here it is allowed to remain for years, so +stacked that the air fairly circulates through every portion of the +immense mass. The seasoning shed is to the timber master what his +wine-cellar is to a _bon vivant_. Here he treasures his bins of nine years +old oak as though it were wine of a famous vintage. This he keeps as +carefully as a young whist-player keeps his best trumps to the end of the +game, but with far more judgment, for old oak is precious beyond price, +and cannot be got for love or money at a moment's notice. In the dim +shadow of this monster store are also piled the completed articles of +land-transport that improve by age. That perpendicular wall of finished +woodwork contains the bodies of a thousand carriages which were prepared +to remove the British army from the pleateau of Sevastopol in anticipation +of an inland campaign; the round towers at the corners are their wheels +built up and left to season. Upon the thorough preparation of this part of +the carriage its safety depends. The wheels of omnibuses are always +allowed to remain two years before they are used, and by permitting them +this grace they behave well when at work, generally running over 43,000 +miles of ground before they are worn out. The wheels of gun-carriages +require to be even better prepared and seasoned, as they have to bear the +weight of enormous guns, and have often to run over the roughest ground, +without being in any way relieved from sudden shocks by springs. + +Upon this store of mellow wood the different factories draw; and the +railway which traverses every portion of it speedily conveys the raw +material to the benches of the workmen. As the visitor passes up the main +avenues of these splendid shops he is bewildered with the activity of the +swarms of artizans, the whirling of shafting, and the grating sounds of +circular saws. Clouds of sawdust are flying about, and in a moment cover +the intruder from head to foot. The immense amount of work sometimes +required to be performed at a brief notice has necessitated the +introduction of machinery into this branch of handicraft, which heretofore +was entirely carried on by manual labour. Let us take the ammunition and +powder cases for instance; these have to be provided by the hundred +thousand in time of war, and accordingly we find machinery employed in +every direction to shorten the work. Circular saws cut the planks into the +required size to form the sides and tops and bottoms of the cases; as +these issue from the different machines, they are conveyed away upon a +circular band of canvas, placed at right angles, to a broader band which +runs from one end of the factory to the other: down this band, as on a +broad stream, the various pieces sail until they reach the receptacle, +from which they are again conveyed to the machinery which is to put them +together. Here the drilling, mortising, and dowelling processes are +carried on by wholesale with an exactitude and speed which would astonish +the joiner of the old school. Upwards of a thousand ammunition boxes +formed of cedar, for repelling the wood-eating white ants of the East, are +now being prepared daily for the use of the Indian army. The powder-boxes +for the navy are made of a hexagonal form, to enable them to fit into the +ship's hold like cells of honeycomb. They are carefully lined either with +pewter or copper, and when filled are hermetically sealed with wax. The +limber-boxes for the field artillery are also made here in large +quantities. These receptacles are of a far more elaborate character than +the powder-cases, as they are fitted to take all the stores requisite for +immediate action, which are stowed away in their different compartments, +as neatly as the articles in a gentleman's dressing-case. The common +cartridge barrels are shaped out of the solid wood almost as fast as you +can look. One machine cuts the oak into staves, curved to the right form; +another cuts the edges, so that they may fit in a circle; a fourth turns +the head; a fifth receives the staves, which are placed by the attendant +on end in the form of a barrel, within the grip of a hydraulic press, +claps a hoop on the top and bottom, and with one squeeze completes the +operation. By such appliances a piece of solid oak plank is converted +within five minutes into a finished barrel. The total produce of +carefully-prepared powder-cases during the financial year 1856 was 25,331, +and of boxes for ammunition, shell, &c., no less than 287,171. How many +barrels can be made at a pinch we do not know, for the machinery is only +just put up, but the number must be enormous, and when the visitor +witnesses the nimble fingers of machinery galloping over the work, he +wonders how the business was ever got through in the old time of the +chisel, gouge, hammer, and plane. + +In the shops devoted to the manufacture of the gun-carriages and trucks +for the land and sea service, skilled artisans are employed, except in the +wheel department. The vast strength requisite to support and withstand the +recoil of 56, 64, and 98-pounders, necessitates the most solid +construction and the best workmanship. Some of these platforms for +traversing cannon, made of teak, and bolted and finished at the ends with +bright copper bands, look like handsome pieces of furniture rather than +ship's gun-carriages. Compared with these ponderous articles, the light +constructions fitted for the field-artillery seem like children's +playthings. Here they may be met with in every variety and in every stage +of progress, so substantially put together that the marvel is that they +ever wear out. The sort of succession of earthquakes, however, to which +they are subjected in a campaign tells even upon those solid joints, and +but few of the gun-carriages employed in the Crimea, although new when +they went out, returned fit for further service. + +The wheel department is one of the most interesting sights in the Arsenal. +Here the most ingenious machinery has been brought together to insure +sound and speedy production. Formerly the wheels were made entirely by +hand; now they are turned out without the aid of a single skilled +wheelwright. What is called the copying process, produces the nave and +spokes of the wheel, three or four of which are seen working side by side, +and the whole batch under the care of only one man. The circular rim of +the wheel, or felloe, is cut out of the solid block by an ingenious +ribbon-saw, imported from France. This saw is merely a narrow band of +steel, toothed on one edge and running over a wheel like an ordinary +leathern band attached to shafting. The exquisite manner in which it +fashions the most intricate patterns from thick slabs of wood is really +surprising. The felloes, after being thus roughly formed, are stacked to +season in a shed by themselves, where they are piled one upon the other in +vast pillars, down vistas of which the visitor passes, full of amazement +at their number. There are at present in store some sixty thousand of +these felloes and an equal number of naves, with their due complement of +spokes. + +As wheels are required, their component parts are brought to the shop, +finished and mortised by machinery, and then lightly adjusted to each +other. They are immediately placed within the grip of six hydraulic +presses, which are so arranged as to thrust towards a common centre. +Directly the wheel is adjusted within them, you hear the hiss of the +resistless engines, whose motive power is only a few pints of water; the +solid timbers groan, the joints painfully accommodate themselves to each +other, and in less time than the process takes to describe, the wheel is +lifted out solidly jointed, and only awaiting the tire to travel at once +under its superincumbent gun. The wheels of gun, limber, and ammunition +carriages are all made of exactly the same size, in order that they may be +interchangeable in case of accident. + +The effect of the sudden outbreak of the late war was, perhaps, more +beneficially felt upon the laboratory department of the Arsenal than any +other. Shells, of all the stores of war, were most deficient when the army +left for Varna, and the want increased as soon as actual campaigning +commenced. The authorities accordingly permitted Captain Boxer to erect a +model manufactory of shells in the autumn of 1855. This he did with +surprising rapidity, and proved to their satisfaction that these +formidable missiles could be manufactured five pounds a ton cheaper than +they could be procured from the contractors--an important saving on an +article of which several hundred tons had to be supplied per day. The +success of this experiment led to the erection of the splendid +shell-foundry which is now attached to the Arsenal, and which is capable +of turning out sufficient shells for all the armies of the world. Here may +be seen the process by which the old scrap iron of the establishment is +transformed into the finished shot and shell, and transferred by its own +weight to the transport ready to convey it to the seat of war. The +smelting process is carried on in a dozen enormous cupola furnaces, into +which the iron and coal are heaped indiscriminately. The fierce heat +generated by the blast rapidly melts the iron, which is then allowed to +flow into the shell-moulds. From the moment the metal enters these moulds, +the shell, in war time, never touches the ground till it is landed at its +port of debarkation! The rough shells, after they have cooled a little, +are forwarded by railway to the cleaning-room, where they are placed in a +revolving iron barrel, seven feet long and seven feet in diameter. This +machine circulates with rapidity, and the friction of the contained shells +speedily cleanses them of all sand and dirt. From this point they roll +through all the succeeding stages of their manufacture. A +slightly-inclined plane receives them at the cleaning-drum, and conducts +them one by one to the machinery fixed in the great room of the laboratory +department. Upwards of ten thousand shells per day passed through this +apartment during the late war, and were, on their passage, drilled and +"bushed," or fitted with the socket made to receive the fuse. This simple +fact will alone serve to show how energetically the work was carried on to +meet the wants of the great siege. The shells, having rolled through the +labyrinth of successive machines which operate upon them, now move onward +to the painting department, where they receive a coating of black varnish, +which prevents oxidation. Hence they continue their journey right across +the open ground of the Arsenal to the pier, under the platform of which +they keep their course inside an iron tube which leads immediately into +the barge alongside the transport in the river. From this barge, into +which they sometimes shoot with a considerable impulse, they roll again, +through the open port of the ship, to their appointed place in the hold. + +The chief factory of the laboratory department is the great sight of the +Arsenal, as here the visitor witnesses twenty or thirty most curious +operations, the more important only of which he can stop to examine amid +the whirlwind of machinery that everywhere meets his sight and vibrates on +his ear. The manufacture of elongated bullets for the rifles affords +perhaps the most startling novelty of all. The rifle itself is not a +greater advance upon old Brown Bess than is the Minié bullet upon the old +one-ounce ball. The apparatus now employed to produce it contrasts as +forcibly with the simple bullet-mould formerly in use. Instead of heating +the lead to a fluid state, it is simply warmed, in which condition it is +subjected to hydraulic pressure in a large iron vessel, which has but one +small aperture at the top, of the size of the intended elongated bullet. +Out of this hole the metal is driven in the form of a continuous rod of +lead, which, as it issues forth, rolls itself upon iron reels as though it +were so much cotton! The reels are then attached to a machine which draws +the metal between its teeth, bites it off to the required size, moulds the +cone, depresses the cup, and condenses the mass at the same moment. These +wonderful bullet-makers, when in full work, turn out five hundred +elongated bullets a minute, or upwards of a quarter of a million daily. To +complete the missile, the cup has to be filled with a boxwood plug to +ensure its proper expansion whilst in the act of leaving the gun. Here +again a partially self-acting apparatus is called into play, one lad being +sufficient to feed several machines with square rods of wood, the ends of +which are embraced by a circular hollow cutter, which instantly reduces +them to the right conical form, and then cuts them off. These little plugs +are produced at the same rate as the bullets. + +An equally interesting operation is the manufacture of percussion caps. +The first process in this light and delicate work is the stamping of +sheet-copper into pieces of the required form to make the caps. For this +purpose the copper is placed beneath the punch of the machine, and +immediately it is put in action, small crosses of metal are seen to fall +from it into a box in a continual stream, whilst the sheet itself is +transposed by the punching process into a kind of trellis-work. These +crosses of equilateral arms are now transferred to another machine, which +instantly doubles up the four arms, and at the same time so rounds them, +that they form a tube just the size of the gun-nipple, and by a third +operation of the same machine a kind of rim is given to the free end, +which makes the cap take the form of a hat. This rim marks the difference +between the military and the ordinary percussion cap--the soldier, in the +hurry and confusion of battle, requiring this guide to enable him to +apply the proper end to the nipple. The metal portion of the cap +completed, it is transferred to a man who fills it with detonating powder. +As this is a very dangerous process, the artisan upon whom the duty +devolves sits apart from the boys, who perform all the other work, for +fear of an accidental explosion. To fix the fine dust in the cap, a very +pretty machine is employed, which gets through its work with extreme +rapidity. The caps are placed in regular rows in a frame-work, to which is +attached a lever, armed with as many fine points as there are caps in a +single row. The motion given by the hand alternately dips these fine +points into a tray of varnish, and then into each succeeding line of caps. +When the varnish is dry, the powder is fixed and effectually protected +from the effects of damp. The caps are now finished, and are ready for the +boy who counts and packs them. Machinery is even employed to perform the +part of cocker, and with one gentle shake does the brain-work of many +minutes. A frame is constructed, into which fit a number of small trays, +each tray being pierced with seventy-five holes. Upon this frame the boy +heaps up a few handfuls of caps, and then gives the whole machine a few +jerks, and when he sees that every hole is filled with a cap, he lifts out +each separate tray and empties it into appropriate boxes. In this manner +he is enabled, with extreme rapidity, to count out his parcels of +seventy-five caps, the regulation number served to each soldier with sixty +rounds of ball-cartridge--the excess of fifteen being allowed for loss in +the flurry of action. The British soldier's clumsy fingers are by no means +well calculated for handling and adjusting such light articles. + +Equally curious with the production of caps is the manufacture of +cartridge-bags. The visitor, as he mounts the stairs to the upper floor of +a large building close at hand, is made aware by the hum and collision of +shrill young voices that he is approaching a hive of children, and as he +rears his head above the banisters, he finds that he is in the midst of a +little army of urchins, varying from eight to fourteen years of age, +seated at long benches rolling up paper cartridge-bags. This process +requires some little nicety, as each bag is made up of three distinct +papers of different sizes and shapes, which have to be neatly adjusted +round a roller one upon another. By long practice some of these little +fellows complete the operation in a surprisingly short space of +time--rolling, twisting in the end, tying, and drawing it from the rod +almost as quickly as you can look at them, the swaying of the body during +the operation giving to the entire mass of eight hundred children a most +extraordinary aggregate movement as the room is surveyed from one end to +the other. Some boys are infinitely more nimble-fingered than others, and +the sharpest earn eight or nine shillings a-week at the work. + +Nimble as their little fingers ply, however, the hands of machinery laugh +them to scorn. In the room below we note as we descend strange wheel-like +frames revolving horizontally, and others working up and down into tanks +of paper pulp. These are the new machines destined to supplant the little +children over-head, and to hush the ceaseless hum of their human labour. +Throughout the entire range of the Arsenal there is no sight more +interesting than is exhibited by these machines, the _modus operandi_ of +which is extremely simple. Circles of brass tubing have short upright +tubes inserted into them at regular distances. These upright tubes, or +fingers, are pierced with fine holes, and the whole apparatus is attached +to an exhausting-pump. Worsted mittens are fitted to the fingers, and when +all is ready, the Briarean hand is dipped into the bath of pulp, the air +in the tubes is withdrawn, the liquid necessarily rushes towards the +fingers, and the water passing through, leaves the pulp adherent to the +mitten. The process is instantaneous, hand after hand drops into the +trough, gloves its fingers with pulp, and rises with a thousand cartridges +in its grasp, quicker than one of the boys up stairs has finished a single +bag. The process is not complete, however, until they are dry. Each mitten +is removed from its metal finger, and placed on a similar one heated with +steam. In ten minutes the desiccating process is finished, and the +cartridge-bag is removed, a far more perfect instrument for its deadly +purpose than that which is made up stairs by hand. The hint for this +beautiful machine was taken from the apparatus employed for making +conical seamless sugar-bags without the intervention of the paper +maker--so diverse are the developments which may spring from the same +idea. Of these small-arm cartridge-bags, 400,000 can be manufactured in a +day of ten hours; but as each cartridge is composed of a double envelope, +one fitting within the other, in order to separate the conical ball from +the powder, the product furnishes 200,000 cartridges--an enormous +quantity, but scarcely equal to the demand of such campaigners as +Havelock, whose men, day by day, consumed their sixty rounds per head. At +first sight it seems strange to find the Government turned paper makers, +and the visitor may think that these bags could be obtained, as the +sugar-bags are by the grocers, from the private manufacturer, but it is +absolutely necessary that they should be produced side by side with their +deadly contents. They are far more delicate things to maintain in their +integrity than even wafer-biscuits, which they very much resemble, and +they are required in such enormous numbers, that any mechanical +impediment, such as crushing, interposed to the filling of them with +powder and ball, would add immensely to the expense. The pressure in +packing necessary to convey them to the Arsenal would flatten, and hence +destroy them. + +But where, asks the visitor, is the small-arms factory for the +construction of those far-famed rifles which prevented a disaster at +Inkermann, and at once doubled the effective power of the steadiest +infantry of Europe? And well may he ask the question, for what more +natural place for this important manufacture than in connexion with +kindred Government establishments? When the War Office decided upon +erecting a factory to meet the sudden demands of the war, it was proposed +by the Inspector of Machinery to plant it within the walls of the Arsenal; +but the authorities, for some reason best known to themselves, decided +otherwise, and it was accordingly taken to Enfield Lock, which is twelve +miles from London on the Eastern Counties Railway, and where they had +before a small establishment for the repair and manufacture of a limited +number of muskets. The traveller who gets out at the factory station +finds himself at once in a road which leads him into a flat country laced +with streams, where Paul Potter might have found a study at every turn. +Here, amid flocks and herds peacefully grazing, or standing in the shadows +of the pollard willows, he espies the tall chimneys of the Enfield +factory, looking like a stray fragment of Manchester that had wandered out +of its way. In all England a more absurd spot for it could not have been +chosen. + +The establishment, however, is so worthy of a minute inspection, that we +will proceed to give a general view of the whole. The threshold of the +manufacturing process is the smithery, where the foreman presides to +deliver out the raw material and receive in return the work done. To each +smith is issued the particular size of bar iron or steel required for the +article he works upon. Opening out of this shop is the smithery itself, +with its fifty-five forges, together with steam hammers, hoppers, rider +hammers, and other contrivances by which our modern Vulcan economises +labour. In this department all the iron and steel work of the lock and +stock are moulded, for the ordinary method of forging conveys a very +inadequate idea of the manner in which the material is here manipulated. +Every sportsman knows that the lock of a gun is made up of many small +pieces of irregular form. To forge these with the hammer alone would be +far too expensive a process, as it would require highly-skilled labour, +nor even then would it be possible to produce the different pieces of +exactly the same size, so that any one may fit into any other with perfect +accuracy when the gun is ultimately put together. To accomplish this end, +the essential principle of the manufacture, each smith with his helper +takes in hand a particular piece of work. One man, for instance, makes +hammers, or cocks, as sportsmen call them. The irregular form of this part +of the lock would seem to preclude the possibility of its being made by +the hundred-thousand, each one being the counterpart of its brother to the +thousandth of an inch. Yet this is done, and with an ease that appears +astonishing to the beholder. Let us watch the brawny smith before us. He +draws a rod from the fire at white heat, lays it upon an indented part of +his anvil, and, together with his mate, deals alternate blows in half a +dozen different directions, and produces in a few seconds an irregular +mass, which we see bears a resemblance to the indentation in the anvil, +which, on closer inspection, we find to be a rude matrix of a guncock. +This is the first process, called swaging. These two men go on from one +year's end to another, giving alternate light and heavy blows and taps on +all sides of the metal. These blows, though sometimes delivered through a +swinging circle of eight or ten feet, fall upon exactly the same spot, for +practice so nicely co-ordinates the muscles as to produce a motion as +exact as that which draws from the bow of a Paganini the same delicate +note for any number of times in succession. The cock thus swaged, the +smith stamps his initials upon it, and transfers it to another smith, who +works with a steam-hammer, on which is a steel die of the exact form it is +required to take. A single blow of this instrument gives it its final +form, leaving the superfluous metal in the shape of a thin film, where it +has been squeezed into the opening between the dies, which is cut off by a +subsequent stamping process. By this method of swaging and stamping, the +lock-plate, bridle, cock, sear, trigger, sightleaf, breech-screw, and +swivel are formed so perfectly, that the tool is scarcely required to +touch them afterwards. + +Those parts of the lock made of steel, such as the mainspring, searspring +and tumbler, are simply swaged, the stamping process being omitted on +account of the sudden blow tending to break the grain and thus destroy the +elasticity of the metal. + +A curious operation of the smithery is the bayonet forging. The bars for +bayonet-work are never forged of such uniform width as to allow the smith +to cut off to a nicety the length he requires. In order to rectify this +difficulty, and enable him to tell how much will serve his purpose, he is +provided with a water-gauge, or tube filled with a given quantity of +water; into this the rod is plunged, and withdrawn when the fluid reaches +the top of the gauge. By this expedient the iron, however irregular in +form, is measured accurately by the displacement of the water. When the +bar is withdrawn, the smith cuts it off at the watermark, and his mate +thrusts it into the forge fire. Whilst this is going on, the visitor +becomes conscious of a strange machine close at hand, which perpetually +gnashes together a mouthful of hardened steel teeth; this is that useful +instrument called the rider hammer. These teeth bear upon their upper and +under surfaces grooves of the form the iron bar is required to take. The +short white-heated bit of bar is thrust in, and by a series of nabs is +instantly lengthened a couple of inches; the next tooth still further +attenuates it, the third forces it into the triangular form, and a fourth +and fifth reduce it to the graduated length required: thus the blade of +this terrible weapon is rough-drawn. The ring by which it is attached to +the barrel of the musket is forged separately, and welded to the shank at +right angles. These are the first of at least seventy-six distinct +operations before the weapon is fitted to fulfil its appointed design, +that of making the ugliest and most irreparable wound possible in the +human corpus. The work done, it is returned to the foreman, whose first +duty is to see that the material with which the man has been debited has +wrought into the requisite number of pieces; if it falls short the waste +is charged to him. The next scrutiny is into the quality of the work, and +the last and not the least important inquiry is, does it gauge? Unless the +work passes all these ordeals it is rejected, and the person in fault is +known by the distinguishing mark of the smith who prepared it. In some +cases, as in the making of the bands which bind the barrel to the stock, +this mark is ground off in passing through one of the presses; but is +immediately restored, that the work may be traced to the artisan who +constructed it. The effect of thus fixing the responsibility of every +single thing manufactured upon the maker is immense, and induces habits of +carefulness such as are seldom seen in ordinary workmen. The foreman now +issues the different pieces to the finishers, who convey them to the +annealing room, where they are rendered soft for working by heat, and +cleaned of their scale or oxide, which would otherwise injure the tool, by +means of dilute sulphuric acid. + +The barrel is welded and finished in a separate factory. The piece of +metal out of which the gradually tapering tube is ultimately fashioned +seems to bear no relation to such a form. You see the smith take a small +plate of quarter-inch iron, about a foot long by a few inches wide, heat +it to a welding heat, and then place it between the lips of a rolling +mill, with grooved instead of flat rollers, and in an instant it comes out +a tube. It has next to be drawn out to the requisite length and tapered, +which is done by passing it through a series of mills, each succeeding one +being grooved smaller than the preceding. The bore is kept hollow during +the operation by a central iron rod. The breech piece is welded on by a +single blow of a steam-hammer, and the process of turning the bore begins. +Four barrels are acted upon by one lathe, and the first operation is +performed in fifteen minutes. Only a slight cutting is made each time, and +the barrel has to be submitted to the action of many different boring +instruments until the exact size, ·577 of an inch, is attained. The +outside is now turned, the tool taking off the superfluous metal in one +continuous ringlet of iron. + +It now undergoes the most delicate process of all, that of being "viewed." +The viewer, who is a highly-skilled workman, with an exceedingly accurate +eye, puts himself opposite a gas-lamp, about thirty feet distance, and +which has a dark shade on its upper side. Towards this object he directs +the barrel so as to bring the dark edge half-way across his sight as he +looks through the bore. By this device he is enabled to direct a ray of +light with a defined edge down the tube, and by turning the barrel round, +instantly detects the slightest deviation from the straight line. As the +smoothest-looking sea is discovered to be a mass of dimpling ripples--(the +Greek poet's "infinite laughings of the sea")--when the setting sun throws +a golden shaft across its bosom, so the mathematically straight lines of +light gauge the inequalities of the rifle bore in a more exact manner than +any instrument that has yet been invented. When any irregularities are +discovered, the viewer taps the barrel with a fine hammer on a small +anvil, and repeats the operation until the tube is perfectly true. Upon +this depends the correct shooting of the gun, inasmuch as the least crook +near the end of the bore would send a bullet far on one side of the mark +long before it had attained the full range of 800 yards, to which the +Enfield rifle is sighted. The rifling of the barrel in three groves is +performed by fixing it in a lathe, and driving the cutter through it in a +spiral direction. + +In entering the finishing room, a noble apartment, 200 feet square, the +visitor cannot fail to be struck with astonishment at the scene this vast +workshop presents. He looks through a mass of wheels, levers, cranks, and +shafts, which fill the space from wall to wall, every foot alive with iron +and human limbs, and the whole superficies seeming to writhe and wrestle +like a cluster of worms. Although confusion looks triumphant to the casual +eye, the utmost order prevails. On one side of the room, at regular +intervals, small inclosed offices, with glazed fronts, are placed against +the wall, a little above the level of the floor. These are devoted to the +foremen of the different divisions into which the work is separated. Each +of these functionaries from his eyrie rakes the long avenues or streets of +machines, with their attendant workmen, which run in parallel lines across +the room. The first avenue is devoted to bayonets; then come in the +following order the divisions allocated to furniture, screw, sight, lock, +and stock. The work is so managed that all the different parts keep pace +together, and are finished in the required proportions; or in other words, +those pieces which are but slowly produced have allotted to them a greater +number of machines. By this arrangement all the requisite items are +brought at the same moment to the workmen who put them together in the +finished article. The fifty-six pieces of which the rifle is composed work +their way up one street of machinery and down another, constantly +following on from right to left on their way towards the top of the room. +Many of these pieces are passed through upwards of twenty different +machines, each one performing some simple and definite action, by which +means an accuracy is obtained that the most skilful gunmaker could never +equal by hand. + +The diversity of cutting-tools in these different machines strikes the +observer with astonishment; the oddest shapes, the most unlikely-looking +forms, proving admirably adapted for the purposes they are intended to +accomplish. Many of these work automatically--that is, they engage and +disengage themselves; setting to work only when they are fed with +material, and, when their rodent-like teeth have gnawed away as much metal +as is requisite, they stop of their own accord. The effect of this is so +extraordinary, that it almost seems as if those bright limbs of iron, +which stop and move on without human agency, must be directed by some sort +of metallic brain. The most common form of tool employed is what is termed +the circular cutter or milling-tool, which is constructed to fit every +class of work. These cutters will continue serviceable for months without +requiring to be sharpened, in consequence of each being restricted to its +own limited sphere. The amount of thought employed in the construction of +many of these machines must have been immense, and when they were +completed, two-thirds of the manufacturing difficulty was overcome, and +the musket more than half made. A most ingenious machine, the parent of a +numerous progeny, was, many years ago, invented by an Englishman, and +applied to copying the fine lines of statuary, and transferring them to +ivory and other materials. The applicability of this instrument to the +production of the irregular forms in the gun trade was first perceived by +our cousins across the Atlantic, and for many years they have employed it +for the rapid and true production of many parts of the musket, whilst our +own manufacturers in London and Birmingham have been content to execute +the same work, laboriously and expensively, by hand labour. The copying +machines now at Enfield have been imported direct from America. They are +principally employed in fashioning gun-stocks. They convert the rough +slabs of walnut-wood, just outlined in the proper form, which come from +France, Belgium and Italy, into the finished article, with all its +grooves, holes, and beddings for lock and barrel. This extraordinary +apparatus may be said to work with two hands: the one feeling the outline +of the pattern to be copied, the other directing a tool uniformly with it +and cutting the object to the required form. Let us, for example, take the +machine that hollows out the lock-bedding in the stock. Not only are the +outlines of the most irregular form, but they are sunk to three different +levels, and it would almost seem impossible that a machine should excavate +so complex a bedding with minute accuracy. Nevertheless, it is done in a +few minutes by an apparatus, which revolves and brings, one after the +other, some new tool into play according to the work to be done. Whilst +the operation is going on, a little blower clears out the chips as +cleverly as though the machine had human breath. The different portions of +the gun completed, they are, for the last time, gauged, and passed on to +the extreme end bench of the factory, near the west door, where the +"assembler," as he is termed, receives them in different bins, from which +he takes the part he requires and sets up the gun. As there is no +necessity for special fitting, this process is performed with remarkable +rapidity, seven minutes being sufficient to combine all the different +parts, which have never been near each other before--lock, stock, ramrod, +and bayonet--into the complete weapon. They now pass out of the western +door, packed in cases, and are taken to the proving-ground, where they are +tested with high charges and their range and accuracy duly examined; and +so perfect is the finish, that not one in a thousand fails to stand the +trying ordeal. They are now transferred by water to the Armoury at the +Tower, ready for service in the field. + +The Enfield rifle was adopted for the public service in the year 1853, and +is at the present moment the best infantry musket in Europe. There is +still room, however, as Mr. Whitworth has shown, for improvement in the +barrel. His rifle propels a bullet both farther and with greater accuracy, +in consequence of the greater care he bestows upon the barrel, which, +instead of being welded, is bored, at a great cost, out of the solid +metal. Its diameter also being smaller, the bullet encounters a less +resistance in the air during its flight. There is no reason why the +smaller bore should not be substituted for that of the Enfield rifle, +when this arm would be perfect. The difficulty the ablest minds experience +in getting out of an old groove was exemplified by the late Duke of +Wellington with respect to this question of the size of bore. His Grace +was obstinately wedded to Brown Bess, whose crushing fire, so superior to +that of the enemy, he had witnessed in his Peninsular campaigns, and which +he erroneously ascribed to the excellent quality of the arm instead of to +the steadiness of the men--mistaking, in fact, a moral for a physical +excellence. The longer the Commander-in-Chief lived, the firmer his faith +in the large smooth bore, and the necessity for making a big hole in the +enemy. When the rifle-musket of 1851 replaced this old arm, the large bore +was still retained, and the consequence was, that the bullet, being +elongated, was heavier than when round, and the soldier had to carry a +missile of 696 grains weight, instead of 490 grains. The bore of the +Enfield rifle pattern of 1853 was very properly reduced, and the Prichett +expanding bullet, of 530 grains, now carries its deadly weight in its +length. Though the wound it gives is not so large as that inflicted by the +old ball, it makes up for deficiency by its power of penetration. An +officer who was at the taking of the rifle-pits in the quarry before +Sevastopol informs us that a brother-officer was shot through the side by +a Russian Minié bullet, which afterwards passed through an ass, and his +two panniers of water, and did not stop in its career till it had broken a +man's arm at some distance off! Its deadly aim at vast distances, which +made it the dread of the sepoys, who termed it "the gun that kills without +making any sound," contrasts strangely with the performances of Brown Bess +of old, which at any range beyond a hundred yards was so uncertain in its +aim that it has been calculated that the soldier shot away the weight in +lead of every man that he hit. + +Before the breaking out of the war, our stores were hampered with +small-arms of all sizes and patterns. There were, at home and abroad, no +less than 109,725 flint-lock muskets, of fifteen different patterns, and +107,000 smooth-bore, percussion-lock muskets, of eight different patterns. +Very many of these were in service a few years ago; and as their bores +were all dissimilar, it often happened that the soldiers were provided +with cartridges that would not fit their guns. In peace little +difficulties of this kind are of no moment, but they are of the utmost +importance in the time of war. At the battle of Waterloo, the +Brunswickers, who held Hougoumont, were, for a short time, rendered +helpless, in consequence of cartridges having been sent to them that did +not fit their muskets. A battle, which, according to Professor Creasey, +ranks among the six decisive combats of the world, might thus have been +lost on account of the misfit of a cartridge. The necessity of preventing +the possible recurrence of such mischances induced the authorities, at the +breaking out of the Russian war, to make the bore of all muskets used by +the different branches of the service uniform with that of the Enfield +rifle. A thousand of these weapons can at present be completed in a +week--a number which appears large, but which is in reality far beneath +the real wants of the army. The private manufacturers of small-arms in +Birmingham denounced the establishment of this factory, on the plea that +Government were not warranted in fabricating goods which the private trade +of the country were capable of producing--an assertion which the Crimean +war totally disproved, as the authorities were so pressed for rifles that +they had to go to France,[26] Belgium, and the United States for supplies, +and at one time contemplated giving an order for 350,000 rifles at Liége. +The military rifle, like the shell, being a special article required only +by the army, the demand for it in large numbers is not constant, and hence +the low condition of the mechanical power brought to bear upon it by the +trade. The gunmakers of Birmingham have depended upon skilled labour for +the production of the different parts of a musket, and thus labour, in +times of pressure, becomes exorbitantly costly, to the embarrassment and +loss of the public service. It was this which led the Government to +introduce machinery into the manufacture--a thing the trade declared +impossible, but which they now see is not only possible but profitable, +since the same musket for which they charged 4_l._ 10_s._ is now made of a +superior quality by the Government for 3_l._ 15_s._ The experiment must be +of the greatest importance to the Birmingham gun trade, which, through its +own inherent vices, was fast yielding to the superior ingenuity of America +and Belgium, and which can only regain its old position by taking a lesson +from the organized mechanical resources of the Enfield Lock manufactory. +The private manufacturers need not fear that Enfield will monopolize even +Government work, the demands of the service being far beyond its +productive powers. As the Ordnance supplies rifles to our army in India, +as well as to the home and colonial force, no less than 400,000 are +required for the infantry and marines alone: a number which has to be +replaced every twelve years, even in times of peace. In active service the +destruction is immense; and now the cycle of war has returned, the annual +50,000 rifles turned out by the royal factory will prove but a small +instalment of the vast store of arms that England will require. + +At Waltham Abbey, not half an hour's walk from Enfield Lock, is situated +the only establishment for the manufacture of powder which the Government +possesses. Here dispersion, instead of concentration, is the order of the +day. The necessity for complete isolation causes the factories to be +distributed over a very large space of ground, and the visitor has to walk +from workshop to workshop through groves and avenues of willow and alder, +as though he were visiting dispersed farm-buildings rather than the +different departments of the same manufacturing process. There are not +perhaps more than a dozen detached buildings in the whole establishment, +yet these are scattered over upwards of fifty acres of ground. To such an +extent do meadows and woods and meandering canals predominate, that the +idea of being in a powder-mill is entirely lost in the impression that you +are walking in a Dutch landscape. The visitor who enters the great gates +of the mill, impressed with a belief in the dangerous nature of the ground +he is treading, is somewhat startled on finding a steam-engine at work on +the very threshold of the factory, and a tall chimney smoking its pipe in +what he supposed to be the vicinity of hundreds of barrels of gunpowder; +but in reality these boilers and furnaces are placed many hundred feet +from the mixing-houses. The English Government powder is composed of +seventy-five parts of saltpetre, fifteen parts of charcoal, and ten of +sulphur. The ingredients, being thoroughly powdered, prepared, and +purified, are submitted to the action of a machine, which completely mixes +them. The product is then conveyed by a covered boat, very much like an +aldermanic gondola in mourning, some hundred yards along the canal to the +incorporating houses, where the most important process of the manufacture +is carried on, and where the danger of an explosion first commences. The +incorporating machine is nothing more than a couple of runners or huge +wheels, weighing four and a half tons each, which revolve one after +another on their edges in a bed of metal supplied with a deep wooden rim, +which gives it much the appearance of a huge kitchen candlestick. Into +this dish the black powder is placed, together with a little water, which +varies in quantity, from four pints in winter, when the atmosphere is +charged with moisture, to ten in the summer, when the desiccating quality +of the air is very great. For four hours this pasty mass is crushed, +ground, and mixed by the action of the runners. The precautions taken +against explosion teach the visitor the dangerous nature of the ground he +is treading. Before he puts his feet across the threshold he must encase +them in leathern boots huge enough to fit Polyphemus, and guiltless of +iron in any form whatever; even his umbrella or stick is snatched from +him, lest the ferrule should strike fire, or accidentally drop among any +part of the machinery whilst at work. The machinery is even protected +against itself. In order to avoid the possibility of the linch-pins which +confine the cylinders to their axles falling down, and by the action of +"skidding" the runner, producing so much friction as to cause an +explosion, receptacles are formed to catch them in their fall. As small +pieces of grit, the natural enemy of the powder-maker, might prove +dangerous if mixed with any of the "charges," the axle sockets of nearly +all the wheels are constructed to expand, so as to allow any hard foreign +body to pass through just in the same manner in which the fine jaws of the +larger serpents are loosely hinged, to enable them to get over at one gulp +such a bulky morsel as a full-grown rabbit. + +Accidents will happen, however, in the best-regulated mills, and provision +is made for rendering an explosion when it occurs as innocuous as +possible. The new incorporating mills are constructed with three sides of +solid brickwork three feet thick, and the fourth side and roof of +corrugated iron and glass lightly adjusted. As they are placed in a row +contiguous to each other, the alternate ones only face the same way, so +that the line of fire, or the direction the explosion would take through +the weakest end, would not be likely to involve in destruction the +neighbouring mill. It does occasionally happen, however, that the +precautions are not sufficient to prevent danger spreading. In the great +explosion which took place in 1842 a second house was fired at a couple of +hundred yards distance from the spot where the original explosion took +place. There is now a further security against the houses going one after +another, like houses of cards. Over each mill a copper tank, containing +about forty gallons of water, is so suspended that on the lifting of a +lever it instantly discharges its contents and floods the mill. This +shower or douche bath is made self-acting, inasmuch as the explosion +itself pulls the string, the force of the expanding gas lifting up a +hinged shutter which acts like a trigger to let down the water. "But," it +may be said, "as the water does not fall until the explosion has taken +place, this contrivance is very like locking the stable door when the +steed is stolen!" And this is the case with respect to the mill where the +original mischief took place; but the lever first acted upon discharges +the shower-bath over the heads of all the others also, and by this means +the evil is limited to the place where it originated. From the +incorporating mills the kneading powder, or "mill cake," as it is termed, +is taken by another funeral-looking gondola to small expense-magazines, +where it is allowed to remain for twelve hours before being taken to the +breaking-down house. Here the hard lumps of mill cake are ground into fine +powder by the action of fine-toothed rollers made of gun-metal, which +revolve towards each other and crush the cake which falls between them to +dust. The broken-down mill cake once more travels between pleasant meadows +fringed with willow until it reaches the press house, where the meal is +subjected to hydraulic pressure between plates of gun-metal, and is +thereby reduced to dense plates about half an inch thick. These plates are +allowed to remain intact for a couple of days, by which time they become +as hard as a piece of fine pottery. Very many advantages are gained by +this pressure. The density of the powder is increased, which enables it to +be conveyed without working into fine dust; its keeping qualities are +improved, as it absorbs less moisture than if it were more porous; and +lastly, a greater volume of inflammable gas is produced from a given bulk. + +The pressed cake is now transferred to the maw of one of the most +extraordinary machines we have yet witnessed. The granulating house, where +the important process of dividing the powder into fine grains takes place, +is removed very far away from the other buildings. The danger of the +operation carried on within is implied by the strong traverse fifteen feet +thick at the bottom, which is intended to act as a shield to the workmen +in case of an accident. It was here an explosion took place in 1843, by +which eight workmen lost their lives--in what manner no one knows, as all +the evidence was swept away. To render the recurrence of such lamentable +accidents as rare as possible, the machine is made self-acting. At +certain times of the day it is supplied with food in the shape of fifteen +hundredweight of "pressed cake." This is stuffed into a large hopper or +pouch, and the moment the monster is ready, the men retire beyond the +strong traverse and allow it slowly to masticate its meal, which it does +with a deliberation worthy of its ponderosity and strength, emptying its +pouch by degrees, and by a triturating process performed by two or three +sets of fine rollers, dividing it into different-sized grains. These +grains it passes through a series of wire sieves, separating the larger +ones fitted for cannon powder from the finer kind required for rifles, and +depositing them in their appropriate boxes, which, when full, it removes +from its own dangerous proximity, and takes up empty ones in their place. +All the larger undigested pieces it returns again, like a ruminating +animal, to its masticating process until its supply is exhausted. Then, +and not till then, like Mademoiselle Jack, the famous elephant, it rings a +bell for some fresh "cake." The workmen allow it about five minutes' grace +to thoroughly assimilate the supply already in its maw, when the machine +stops, and they enter with another meal. The floors of all the different +houses are covered with leather neatly fastened down with copper nails, +and the brush is never out of the hands of the workman: even while you are +talking to him, he sweeps away in the gravest manner in order to remove +any particles of powder or grit that maybe on the floor; this he does +mechanically, when not a particle of anything is to be seen, just as a +sailor in a crack ship always holystones the deck, clean or dirty, the +moment he has any spare time. + +The powder thus separated into grains is still damp and full of dust. To +get rid of this it is taken by water to the dusting-house, where it is +bolted in a reel like so much flour. It has now to be glazed, a very +important operation, performed by placing it in large barrels, which +revolve with their load thirty-two times a minute for three hours +together. By the mere friction of the grains against each other and the +sides of the barrel, a fine polish is imparted to the surface of the +grain, which enables it to withstand the action of the atmosphere much +better than when it is left unglazed. It is now stoved for sixteen hours +in a drying-room heated by steam pipes to a heat of 130° Fahrenheit, and +is then finally dusted and proved. There are many methods of proving, but +the simplest and most efficacious is to fire the powder from the weapon it +is intended to serve. Thus cannon powder is proved by firing a 68-pound +solid shot with a charge of two ounces of powder--a charge which should +give a range of from 270 to 300 feet. If the powder passes the test, which +it generally does, it is packed in barrels holding 100 lbs. each, marked +L. G. (Large Grain), and F. G. (Fine Grain), as the case may be, and +carried to the provisional magazine. When 500 barrels have accumulated +they are despatched in a barge to the Government magazine at Purfleet, +near the mouth of the Thames, the Lea forming the connecting link of water +between the canals of the works and that river. + +The produce of this establishment, which had fallen so low as 4,500 +barrels per annum in 1843, is now so increased by improved machinery that +20,000 barrels a year can be manufactured, and of the very best quality. +Even this supply is far below the consumption during a time of war, and +contractors have, and always will have, to furnish a portion of the +required supplies; but it seems that a model mill is useful for the double +purpose of keeping up a due standard of quality,[27] and of keeping down +price. On the uniform strength of the powder depends the accuracy of +artillery fire: hence the necessity of having some known standard of +quality from which contractors should not be allowed to depart. The +improvements which have taken place in the manufacture are very marked. +About the year 1790, when powder was supplied to Government wholly by +contract, the regulation weight of charge for a cannon was half the weight +of the ball; it is now less than one-third: therefore two barrels are now +used instead of three, a reduction of bulk which economizes stowage on +board ship as well as in the field. Formerly powder had a range of 190 +feet only; the range is now increased to 268 feet! This vast improvement +is simply the consequence of the care with which the powder is worked, and +the attention bestowed on every detail of the mills since their direction +fell into the hands of Colonel Tulloh, Colonel Dickson, and Colonel +Askwith, the present Superintendent. + +There is a department at the Woolwich Arsenal to which we must now return, +of which the establishments at Enfield and Waltham Abbey may be considered +but outlying offshoots. Beyond the canal, at the extreme end of the +ground, lie the establishments devoted to the more dangerous portions of +pyrotechnic manufacture, such as the filling of rockets, of +friction-tubes, the driving of fuses, &c. These ticklish operations used +to be conducted in ill-built sheds in the laboratory square, where a sad +explosion took place during the war, and Captain Boxer, determining to +reduce the risk of accidents, transferred the whole of them in 1854 to +this open space, far away from the neighbourhood of fire. The sixteen +houses used for fuse-driving and friction-tube-making are isolated from +each other much in the same manner as the incorporating mills at Waltham +Abbey: we need not therefore describe them. The rocket manufactory is also +so carefully arranged that accidents can rarely happen. The method of +driving the composition into these frightfully destructive implements of +war was, until lately, not only barbarous but dangerous in the extreme, +being forced in by a "monkey," or small pile-driver, worked by eight men. +The pressure of water now does the work silently, effectually, and safely. +The rocket is so fixed while it is being filled, that in case of an +accident the discharge will fly through the roof; grit and iron are as +carefully excluded as in the powder mills; open spaces around the +buildings are covered with turf and planted with shrubs, and a raised +causeway of wood keeps the communications between the different magazines +free from all substances likely to produce friction. The visitor may no +more enter one of these carefully-guarded buildings with his shoes on than +he could walk into the mosque of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, similarly +shod. With equal care the process of greasing the bullet end of the +small-arm cartridges is carried on in this portion of the Arsenal. For a +long time no lubricating material could be found that remained unaffected +in all climates--a very important desideratum, considering the manner in +which our stores of war are moved about from the depths of arctic waters +to the burning summers of the torrid zone. Captain Boxer, however, in a +happy moment, thought of the little busy insect that builds a store-house +warranted to keep in all temperatures, and adopted bees' wax, which, added +to a little fat, makes a compound which answers the purpose perfectly. The +cartridges are dipped about an inch deep into a receptacle of this liquid +kept fluid by the heat of gas. As we watched the process going on, we +could not avoid reflecting from what insignificant causes great events +arise, and that a rebellion which well-nigh snatched India from our grasp +sprung from this very cauldron seething with "hell-broth thick and slab." + +The different departments of the Royal Arsenal are separated by large open +spaces, in which the rougher materials of war are deposited. The roadways, +laid with iron trams, which greatly facilitate the transfer of heavy guns, +are lined here and there with pyramids of shot and shell, lackered and +shining in the sun. These missiles are continually circulating along the +shoots from one spot in the Arsenal to another, passing at one time +underfoot, at another overhead, the action of gravity being pressed into +the service with other labour-saving contrivances, to remove 13-inch +shells and 98-pounder solid shot, sometimes to very considerable +distances. Vast as are the stores of these warlike implements, and far as +the vistas of pyramids stretch (and there are no less than 688,000 in the +Arsenal at present), they would speedily be drained by a short return of +war, in which artillery now plays so prominent a part. At the siege of +Sebastopol alone, which scarcely occupied eighteen months, no less than +253,042 shot and shell of all sizes were fired from our batteries, a +number which the enemy surpassed, in one attack alone, if we are to +believe the evidence afforded by some of the ravines, in which this iron +rain descended so thickly that it paved the ground and prevented the grass +from springing up. The French were even more prodigal of these +projectiles; for, according to the report made to the Emperor, 1,100,000 +of them were sent by our allies into the doomed city. + +The neighbourhood of each department is generally indicated by the class +of war stores to be seen at hand. We may be sure we are near the great-gun +foundry, for instance, when we see the long files of iron guns of all +sizes and patterns, from the light 32-pounders to the truly formidable +98-pounders of the naval service, flanking the road, compared with which +the light brass field-pieces that fringe the wall of the building itself +seem the merest toy-guns. Here and there trim grass-plots are seen with a +neat edging of three hundred 13-inch mortars, and at the grand entrance of +the foundry itself enormous shells, a yard in diameter, prepared for +Mallett's mammoth mortar, are planted, as if to show how daring are the +ideas of modern war, which proposes to throw such Titanic missiles at the +enemy. Here too may be seen veterans which have seen service--avenues of +wounded guns from the Crimea. These are the picked specimens of the +eighty-eight pieces of ordnance either disabled by the enemy or worn out +by their own fire in that ever-memorable siege. One, a 68-pounder, was +shattered by a singular accident; just as it was being discharged a shell +fired by the enemy exploded in its mouth, and destroyed it after it had +fired no less than 2,000 rounds. Another gun, which is split in the +muzzle, was hit thirteen times. There appears to have been luck in this +mystic number, however, for by the aid of an iron band the mishap was +repaired, and it went on doing duty until one of its trunnions was knocked +off, and even then, like the gallant Widderington, at Chevy Chase, it +fought upon its stumps; for, on being sunk into the ground, and fired at a +high elevation, it was kept at work up to the end of the siege. Some of +these guns are pitted with cannon-shot even as far back as the breech, and +one or two are hit in their very stern-most parts. These wounds are the +result of ricochet firing, a kind of practice which enables a shot to drop +in the most unexpected places. + +In the mounting yard, as it is termed, which lies between the gun and +carriage factories, the field-pieces are mounted upon their carriages and +fitted up for service previous to their removal to the depôt of artillery +near the Common. Since the war the captured cannon from Sebastopol have +been stored here preparatory to their being either broken up or +distributed as trophies to the various towns of the United Kingdom. Of +these guns 1079 are of iron and 94 of brass. They are of admirable metal, +and would have proved very serviceable, except that unfortunately their +bore does not suit any of our shot. Gun-carriages rent by the bursting of +guns, or so unscientifically constructed as inevitably to destroy +themselves, like the iron carriages taken from the enemy at Kertch, are +kept as lessons for the Captain Instructor to dwell upon, when he takes +round his bevy of young artillery cadets. This official performs the +essential duty of giving the future artillery officer a clear insight into +the method of constructing and repairing all the more essential engines +and tools he will have to work with--such as guns, gun-carriages, &c., and +of obtaining a general notion of the relative strength of metals, and of +the value of the various materials out of which the munitions of war are +formed. The vast workshops of Woolwich afford an admirable field for the +acquisition of this kind of knowledge. + +The neighbourhood of the Arsenal to the chief Military Academy in the +kingdom gives these embryo artillery officers an opportunity of witnessing +the experiments which are constantly going on in the Marshes, either for +the purpose of testing new guns, or of practically examining the +capabilities of new inventions. The extraordinary energy with which +projectors of all kinds (clergymen among the number) devoted themselves to +the task of inventing new implements of destruction during the Russian war +entirely belied that lamb-like spirit attributed by Mr. Cobden to his +fellow-countrymen. No less than 1976 new projects were submitted to the +Select Committee of Ordnance with respect to artillery alone. Of this +number a large proportion were of the most imbecile kind--such as +proposals to fill shells with Cayenne pepper, chloroform, and cacodyle, +the latter a most virulent material which has the property of poisoning +the air around it. The asphyxiating ball of the French was the true parent +of the whole brood. Only forty-three of the propositions were favourably +reported on, and of this number only thirty have been adopted into the +service. First and foremost among these is the plan of filling shells with +liquid iron. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the destructive effect +of this new application of an old material. At the second shot fired in +the Marshes against a perfectly new butt which cost 200_l._, it set it on +fire and entirely destroyed it. The engines of the Arsenal and the old +expedient of heaping earth against the burning wood were of no avail, the +molten iron having penetrated in all directions deep into the timber. It +is hard to believe that any ship will be able to resist the destructive +effect of these shells, or that masses of men will be found courageous +enough to withstand their devastating effects; for immediately the +percussion shell comes in contact with any object, it explodes and throws +the molten metal in all directions--splashing and striking objects that +are completely out of the way of the contents of ordinary shells, and +proving far more deadly both to animate and inanimate substances than the +famous Greek fire of old. This very invention was brought to the notice of +the authorities as early as 1803 by a workman in a London iron-foundry; +but the suggestion was so contrary to all the current notions of the time, +that it was rejected, and not heard of again until a new war brought into +play more advanced ideas. + +The new guns that were brought forward were innumerable, and many of them, +such as the Mersey steel gun, and the great mortar, are still under trial. +If this mortar, which is built up of a series of rings 9 inches broad and +3-1/2 inches thick, laid over one another, and fitting tightly, so as to +form a barrel, should ultimately prove capable of resisting the full +charge of 70 lbs. weight of powder, it will be the most destructive +implement yet invented for the purpose of crushing fortified places. In +some of the trials which have taken place in the Marshes, it threw its +36-inch shell, weighing 26 cwt., upwards of two miles; and when the +missile fell, it buried itself in the ground to so considerable a depth, +that after digging down 12 feet, and probing for 15 feet more, it still +remained undiscovered. The artillerymen say jestingly that it has dropped +down to Australia, No casemate at present in existence could withstand the +crushing weight of its fall, and its bursting charge of 200 lbs. of +powder. + +After contemplating this vast establishment for the manufacture of arms, +with its sixty steam-engines, which through the agency of upwards of three +miles of running shafting, give motion to upwards of a thousand machines, +we must not omit to mention the human labour which directs this enormous +manufacturing power. During the height of the Crimean war, upwards of +10,000 men and boys were employed in the Arsenal, an army of workers +engaged upon the production of the materials of destruction equal to the +entire force encamped at Aldershot, and double the number of men that +besieged and took Delhi. When such masses of men as this have to be dealt +with daily, it is obvious how necessary it must be to possess an organized +system by which the loss of what might otherwise be considered mere +fractions of time is noted. Let us suppose, for instance, that every man +and boy in the Arsenal lost only five minutes per day, and it would amount +in the aggregate to the loss of the labour of one man for twelve weeks to +the Government. + +The next problem to be solved is how to pay 10,000 men in any reasonable +time. It would be clearly impossible to calculate each man's wages at the +time of payment, even if a little army of clerks were employed. It is +therefore done beforehand by a staff of men employed for this purpose. The +amount due to each person having been ascertained, the money is laid out +on boards divided into partitions numbered consecutively. A corresponding +number for each man, with the amount to be given to him, is distributed +previously to the payment taking place, on what is termed a "pay ticket." +On pay-day the artisans take their places in single file, arranging +themselves according to their numbers, and, passing in front of the +pay-boards, receive their wages, and surrender their tickets, which are +receipts for the money. No money is exchanged if not brought back before +the man reaches a certain point, and in this space there are persons +stationed to watch that no exchange is made of bad money for good. To +search every man as he left would be impossible, yet it is highly +necessary to have some means of checking petty depredations of metal, &c. +Formerly peculations of this kind were constant, and the aggregate loss +must have been immense. When it was first determined to put a stop to it, +the men were told only a few minutes before leaving work that they would +be searched as they went out. The effect of this announcement was that the +whole Arsenal was strewed with small pilfered articles thrown hastily +away. Now a couple of policemen at the gate touch indiscriminately a +certain per-centage of the men as they are going, and these have to pass +through a side lodge to be searched. As no man can tell whether or no he +will be touched, the whole mass is kept honest. The mere lodging of such a +body of men was at first a difficulty, even in so large a town as +Woolwich: the demand, however, soon produced supply, and the means taken +to insure the fall of Sebastopol caused the rise of a new town of at least +two thousand houses in the immediate neighbourhood of the Arsenal. + +Complete as we have shown the organization of the Arsenal to be, both as +regards its mechanical resources and its staff, it is generally understood +that the Government do not intend to depend upon it wholly for the supply +of the munitions of war. In the case of small-arms, its powers, as we have +seen, are wholly inadequate to the task. In those branches, however, where +the manufacturing power is ample, they will not attempt to push it to the +point of excluding the private manufacturer from a share in the business. +This is, we think, a wise decision; for, however excellent may be the +present arrangements now everything is new and the broom is fresh, it +cannot be denied that the tendency of this and all other Government +establishments is to go to sleep, since they neither possess the stimulus +of private gain to teach them economy, nor that unity of direction which +gives such vigour to private enterprises. The principle of competition +ought therefore to be kept up, and we should run the private manufacturer +against the public one in order to keep down price, and pit the Royal +Factory against the trade in order to keep up quality. Another great gain +will accrue from the determination of the Government, which is, that the +private manufacturers will not lose the art of making certain stores of +war--an art which can not be learned in a day. It would be unwise for the +authorities to put all their eggs into one basket, and this they would +most assuredly do by entirely depending upon their own powers of +production, and in disassociating themselves from the great and fertile +manufacturing power of England, which generally knows so well how to +economize and progress. + +If the Government have shown judgment and foresight upon this point, we +cannot say as much for their inexcusable neglect to provide for the +security of this enormous establishment, which contains within its walls +not only the principal depôt of warlike stores in the island, but also the +means of producing them. We do not believe that our neighbours are going +to sail up the Thames quite as easily as the Dutch did, or that any +foreign army marching from Dover could destroy the Arsenal on its way to +the capital without our having ample notice of their approach. +Nevertheless we cannot think that the sole Arsenal of England, placed as +it is in a very accessible part of the island, should be left entirely +without the means of defence. The place itself could not be fortified, as +it is commanded by the heights of Shooter's Hill; but the neighbourhood is +admirably adapted for the purpose. In the opinion of military engineers, +it would not be necessary even to erect the requisite works until the +moment their services were required. Half a dozen earth batteries, mounted +with heavy guns, would command all the land approaches; and a few flats, +posted so as to sweep the reaches of the river, would effectually prevent +the approach of any hostile force by water. The scheme of these batteries +should, however, be settled beforehand in all their details, so that in +the moment of danger they could be completed almost in the presence of the +enemy, in case an invader should give the Channel Fleet the slip some +misty morning, and succeed in making good his footing upon our shores. + + + + +SHIPWRECKS. + + +There is no nobler or more national sight in our island than to behold the +procession of stately vessels as they pass in panoramic pride along our +shores, or navigate the great arterial streams of commerce,--to witness +the deeply-laden Indiaman warped out of the docks, or to see the emigrant +ship speeding with bellying sails down Blackwall Reach, watched by many +weeping eyes, and the depository of many aching hearts. It would, however, +spoil the enjoyment of the least-interested spectator if the veil could be +lifted from the dark future; if that gallant Indiaman could be shown him +broadside on among the breakers; or that stately vessel, with bulwarks +fringed with tearful groups looking so sadly to the receding shore, were +pictured by him foundering in mid ocean--gone to swell the numbers of the +dismal fleet that yearly sails and is never heard of more. Sadder still +would be his reflections if another passing ship could be shown him, +destined perhaps to circle the globe in safety, and when within sight of +the white cliffs of Albion, full of joyful hearts, suddenly, in the dark +and stormy night, fated to be dashed to atoms, like the _Reliance_ and +_Conqueror_, on a foreign strand. If such dramatic contrasts as these +could be witnessed, we should without doubt strain every nerve to prevent +their recurrence. As it is, the sad tale of disasters at sea comes to us +weakened by the lapse of time and the distance of the scene of the +catastrophe: instead of having the harrowing sight before our eyes, we +have only statistics which raise no emotion, and even rarely arrest +attention. In connection with these annual returns there is published a +fearful-looking map termed a wreck chart, in which the shores of Great +Britain and Ireland are shown fringed with dots,--the sites of wrecks, +collisions, and other disasters. From this we perceive how all the +dangerous headlands and sandbanks on the coast are strewn with-- + + "A thousand fearful wrecks, + A thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon; + Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, + Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels-- + All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea." + +Strange to say, these dismal finger-posts to marine disasters are +generally found grouped around the sites of lighthouses. If we analyze the +chart for the year 1857, we perceive at a glance the relative dangers of +the three seaboards of triangular England, and that a fatal pre-eminence +is given to the East coast. Out of a total of 1,143 wrecks and casualties +which took place in this year, no less than 600, or more than one-half, +occurred between Dungeness and Pentland Frith. Along this perilous sea, +beset with sands, shoals, and rocky headlands, no less than 150,000 +vessels pass annually, the greater part ill-constructed, deeply-laden +colliers, such as we see in the Pool, and wonder how they manage to +survive a gale of wind. The South coast, extending from Dungeness to the +Land's End, is comparatively safe, only 84 wrecks having taken place in +1847; whilst from the Land's End to Greenock, where the influence of the +Atlantic gales is most sensibly felt, the numbers rise again to 286, and +the Irish coast contributes a total of 173. + +If we take a more extended view of these disastrous occurrences by opening +the wreck chart attached to the evidence of the select committee on +harbours of refuge, given in 1857, containing the casualties of five years +from 1852 to 1856, both inclusive, we shall be better able to analyze +their causes. Within this period no less than 5,128 wrecks and collisions +took place, being an average of 1,025 a year. According to the evidence of +Captain Washington, R.N., the scientific and indefatigable hydrographer of +the Admiralty, these casualties consisted of + + Vessels. + Total losses by stranding or otherwise 1,940 + " " collisions 244 + Serious damage having to discharge 2,401 + Collisions with serious damage 543 + ----- + 5,128 + +The total losses from all causes, therefore, amounted to 2,184 vessels, or +to an average of nearly 437 in each year. The destruction of life +consequent upon these casualties was 4,148 persons, or, upon the average +of five years, nearly 830 in each year. In 1854 no fewer than 1,549 +persons were drowned. + +How such a calamity should have been so long tolerated in a civilized +country, without any proper attempt at a remedy, it is not easy to +comprehend. Still more incomprehensible, in a trading country, is the +apparent disregard of the pecuniary sacrifice. It appears in evidence that +the loss by total wrecks is estimated at 1,000,000_l._ a year at least, +and by other casualties at 500,000_l._, making together 1,500,000_l._ as +the annual loss to the country from the accidents on our own coasts--a sum +which in two years would be ample to build all the harbours of refuge that +are needed around our shores. + +The first step towards a remedy for this state of things is to inquire +into the causes of shipwreck. There can be little hesitation in naming +Marine Insurance as the chief destroyer. Unseaworthiness and overloading +of vessels; their being ill found in anchors, cables, sails, and rigging; +defects of compasses, want of good charts, incompetency of masters, may +all be attributed to this source. If the shipowners were not guaranteed +from loss, they would take care that their vessels were seaworthy, +commanded by qualified persons, and furnished with every necessary store. +The terms of the insurance, moreover, offer a direct premium to create in +all cases of casualty a "total loss." For instance, a ship strikes the +ground and becomes damaged, but, under able management, might be got off +and repaired. In this case, however, the assured has to bear one third +part of the loss; whereas, if the loss is total, he gets the whole of his +insurance. Under these circumstances, even when there is no deliberate +desire to perpetrate a wrong, the captain will leave the ship to her fate +instead of using his energies to preserve her to the detriment of his +employer. It is the opinion of many that if the insurers were to agree to +pay the whole insurance, whether the damaged vessel were got off or not, +that we should see a marked diminution in the list of total losses at +sea, for the natural inclination of the captain to save his ship would +then no longer be counterbalanced by his desire to save the pocket of the +owner. + +There is a class of casualties, however, which are the product of villany, +against which we see no protection excepting in the vigilance of the +insurers: we refer to those cases of wilful casting away, which are not +unknown even in this country, as the late trial of a captain, at the Old +Bailey, will testify; but which are most frequent on the Florida Reef. It +is notorious that our American friends are in the habit of sailing ships +into these waters, with the deliberate intention of steering them to +destruction. So well is this known, that those on shore can predict, with +tolerable accuracy, from the handling of the vessel, whether she is about +to be sunk or not. When it is not the skipper's interest to lose his +craft, he will allow the wreckers, who swarm as plentifully as sharks in +those waters, to act as pilots, and to put the ship in dangerous positions +for the purpose of making a claim for salvage, which the swindling captain +shares with them. In the years 1854, 1855, and 1856, 189 ships were either +lost or put into Key West. The salvage upon the latter class amounted to +298,400·05 dollars, a large portion of which was, without doubt, obtained +by fraud. It is far from our purpose to insinuate that the Americans are +worse than their neighbours in this particular; had the English the same +opportunity, there would always be found persons to enter upon similar +practices. The memory of wrecking is not yet extinct in Cornwall, and only +a few years since it was notorious that the pilots of the Downs were in +the habit of recommending the cables of the vessels in their charge to be +slipped in very moderate gales of wind, because these worthies had a good +understanding with the chain and anchor makers of the neighbouring ports +who would have to supply fresh tackle. + +It must be admitted, that the same cause which prompts these villanies, +operates in some measure as an antidote. The underwriters at Lloyd's and +the different marine insurance offices, act in a certain degree as the +police force of the seas. Their agents are as plentiful and ubiquitous as +flies, and there is no port of the old or new world without one or more +of them. Through the medium of these marine sentries, whose eyes are +always upon the ocean, disasters at sea are speedily made known to the +underwriters, and in those cases where the telegraph is at hand, a ship +has scarcely broken up or come ashore, before hundreds are reading the +account of the disaster upon the "Board" at Lloyd's. With this spider-like +web of intelligence spreading from port to port and from ocean to ocean, +the chances of wreckers either on shipboard or on land must certainly +diminish. The acuteness of the underwriters, sharpened by self-interest, +is brought to bear upon the distant point, and all the resources of a +powerful corporation are put in force to detect fraud when suspected, and +to punish it when confirmed. A singular instance of the vigour and +ingenuity displayed by their agents in pursuing the marine robber was +afforded by the case of the American ship _W. T. Sayward_. This vessel was +reported by her skipper to have been lost off Loo Choo, on her voyage from +San Francisco to Shanghai, and the sum claimed of the insurers in this +country was £50,000, the value of the cargo, which was reported to have +comprised, among other things, 50,000 Carolus dollars. It struck the +gentleman engaged to settle the claim that it was very unusual to ship +such a quantity of this "Pillar" dollar, and on inquiring of the +money-changers, he learnt that there was not a tithe of that number at +present in existence out of China. This discovery at once aroused +suspicion, and agents were sent to the spot where the ship had been lost, +when it was found that the sailors, suspecting some roguery, returned to +the wreck after the captain had departed, dived into her hold and +discovered that she had been wilfully scuttled. They lighted, by happy +chance, upon some of the boxes in which the "dollars" were shipped, and +they were found to contain only iron nails and leaden bullets. The nails +were selected for the sake of the chink. The assured, having heard of what +had occurred, never ventured to repeat their claim. + +In a more recent case, that of the brig _Cornelia_, a regular trader +between the coast of Mexico and San Francisco, which was wilfully +scuttled off San Quentin on the 27th of March last, it was reported that +she had 48,000 Mexican dollars on board, 19,000 shipped at Mazatlan by an +English house, and 29,000 by other persons. On the captain's own +confession the 19,000 dollars were removed by him just before he scuttled +the vessel, and hidden in the sand at Cape San Lucas, on the coast of +Lower California; the remaining sum of 29,000 dollars he admitted had +never been shipped at all, bills of lading having been fabricated, and a +mythical consignee improvised for the occasion. Had not the agent been on +the alert, this knave would have robbed the underwriters at one swoop of +48,000 dollars. + +From the chief moral, or rather immoral, cause of shipwreck and loss at +sea, we pass to a consideration of the physical agents which act directly +in producing these disasters. Of these there are so many, and of such +various natures, that it is difficult to group them. Currents of the +ocean, fog, lightning, icebergs, sandbanks, water-logged ships, defective +compasses, and imperfect charts, are all dangers which beset the path of +navigators, and especially of such as have to run the gauntlet in +ill-found ships. The effect of currents in taking the sailor out of his +reckoning is an old, and formerly perhaps a frequent, cause of shipwreck. +This source of danger is now much obviated by the more intimate knowledge +we are acquiring every day of the general laws which produce the currents. +One of the most effectual as well as simple methods of detecting surface +currents is that known to seamen as the bottle experiment. This has been +practised since 1808, but more especially of late years, and has been +deemed of sufficient importance by the Admiralty to justify an order by +which all Her Majesty's ships are enjoined to throw bottles overboard +containing a paper, on which is noted the position of the ship and the +time the frail messenger was sent forth on its voyage. The bottle, +carefully sealed up, traverses the ocean wherever the winds and +surface-drift may carry it, and, after a passage of longer or shorter +duration, is perhaps safely washed by the tide upon some beach. Without +doubt many are smashed upon the rocks, others again are sunk by weeds +growing to them, some are destroyed by the attacks of birds or the jaws of +hungry sharks, or if by chance they avoid all these dangers, they may be +consigned to oblivion upon an uninhabited shore. It is estimated, however, +that at least one-tenth are recovered. A collection of upwards of 200 has +been made at the Admiralty, and are laid down in a chart called the +Current Bottle Chart. + +A single glance at this chart displays the principal well-known currents +of the Atlantic ocean. The general tendency of the bottles to go to the +eastward in the northern parts of this sea, and to the westward in lower +latitudes, is at once apparent. It is equally evident that to the +southward of the parallel of 40° N. on the eastern side of the Atlantic +the bottles drift to the southward, while those again in the vicinity of +the Canaries and Cape Verd Islands take a westerly direction. Those +further south, lose themselves among the West-India Islands, and some +penetrating further are found on the coast of Mexico, between Galveston +and Tanessied. A few manifest the effects of the counter-current of the +celebrated Gulf-stream, while others again, on the western side of the +Atlantic, from about 40° N., are set to the eastward. Indeed, there seems +to be a determination of all to the northward of the parallel of 40°, or +that of Philadelphia on the American seaboard, to make their way to the +eastward--some to the coast of France, in the Bay of Biscay, others to the +western shores of Great Britain and Ireland, and others again to the +shores of Norway. + +We thus recognize distinctly, first the Portugal current, setting +southward; then the equatorial current, influenced by the trade winds; +then the extraordinary effects of the waters of the Gulf-stream flowing +northward along the American coast, over the banks of Newfoundland--one +portion following its north-east course and penetrating to Norway, and +another continuing easterly into the Bay of Biscay. But let us +particularize a few of the remarkable journeys made by these glass +voyagers over the deep. The _Prima Donna_ was thrown over off Cape Coast +Castle, on the west coast of Africa, and after a voyage of somewhere +within two years was found on the coast of Cornwall. Now, to have arrived +there, it must have been carried eastward by the well-known Guinea +current, and reaching the Bights of Biafra and Benin it would meet the +African current then coming from the southward, with which it would +recross the equator and travel with the equatorial current through the +West-India Islands, and getting into the Gulf-stream, would be carried by +this to the north-east, and thus would be landed on the Cornish coast, +after making a detour of many thousand miles. But curious as this is, it +is not the only instance, for we find that the _Lady Montagu_, setting out +in nearly 8° S. lat., about midway between Brazil and Africa, a position +which would fairly place it in the equatorial current, made the same +voyage, but landed at Guernsey, having accomplished the course in 295 +days, or between the 15th October, 1820, and the 6th of August, 1821. +Confining ourselves now to the area included between 30° N. lat. and the +equator, the general effect of the heat of the Gulf of Mexico in forcing +the waters thither is plainly indicated by the direction which the bottles +have followed that are included within those limits. Those thrown +overboard in the Mexican Gulf, to the north of Cape Catoche of Yucatan, +are hurried away with it and cast on the American shore, near St. +Augustine and Charleston. Other instances show the effects of the +counter-current of the Gulf-stream on its eastern or ocean side, in +driving bottles to the south-east, a current that must have affected the +ships of Columbus in his first discovery, and which, upon his return +northward among the islands, without doubt met and opposed his progress. + +A curious example of the effects of the wind on the surface-waters is +shown by a bottle thrown over from H.M.S. _Vulcan_ in the midst of the +Gulf-stream, about 130 miles southward of Cape Hatteras. The ship was on +her way to Bermuda, where she arrived, and the bottle, instead of being +carried by the current to the north-east like others, actually went after +her and arrived at Bermuda also. But we find noted on the paper that a +strong northerly wind was blowing when the bottle started. This must have +been sufficient to have checked its progress to the north-east, but +allowed it to approach the eastern border of the Gulf-stream, whence it +would drift into the eddy or counter-current, and thus become thrown on +Bermuda. Again, between the Gulf-stream and the American coast bottles +have found their way to that shore, while those to the northward of the +parallel of 40° have invariably gone eastward; and many thrown over near +the meridian of 20° have drifted into the Bay of Biscay, and been cast on +the French coast. + +Among the numbers of bottles which have travelled westward with the +equatorial and tropical current two are remarkable, as being thrown +overboard about 700 miles from each other and yet arriving at nearly the +same destination. They were thrown from sister-ships when on their errand +of carrying relief, by way of Behring Strait, to Franklin and his devoted +crew. The first was dropped from the _Investigator_, Sir R. Maclure, in +lat. 12°, long. 26°, the 27th of February, 1850, and was found on the 27th +August following on Ambergris Cay, on the Yucatan coast; the second was +sent afloat on the 3rd March, 1850, by Captain Collinson, in the +_Enterprise_, in lat. 1° N., long. 26° W., and drifted to the coast inside +of that cay, about 30 miles to the northward of it. That the two bottles +should take their western course was to be expected; but that they should +have gone to resting-places so near each other is singular, considering +that their points of starting were so far asunder. + +The Gulf-stream, the limits of which are so clearly intimated by these +little messengers, is but a sample of a grand system of currents which are +produced by the unequal temperature of the different zones. These currents +of hot and cold water are accompanied by atmospheric changes equally +extraordinary; and, taken together, they largely affect the course of the +navigator from the old to the new world, and, not unfrequently, are the +cause of the most fearful shipwrecks. + +Lieutenant Maury, in his Physical Geography of the Sea, has boldly likened +the causes at work to produce the celebrated Gulf-stream to the mechanical +arrangements by which apartments are heated. The furnace is the torrid +zone, the Mexican Gulf and the Caribbean Sea are the caldrons, and the +Gulf-stream is the conducting-pipe by which the warm water and the air +above it, are dispersed to the banks of Newfoundland and to the +north-western shores of the old world.[28] By this beneficent process the +cold of our northern latitudes is greatly ameliorated. The waters sent +north and north-east are edged by return currents, the one finding its way +close to the banks of Newfoundland and along the seaboard of the States, +and the other returning by the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay, and the west +coast of Africa, until about the latitude of the Cape de Verdes it crosses +westward again to fill up the void caused by the waters issuing from the +Gulf of Florida. Thus the grand circuit is for ever maintained, not +always, however, exactly in the same form, but varying according to the +season. In the winter, the cold current coming S.S.W. along the Atlantic +coast of North America is greatly augmented, and pushes the Gulf-stream +further to the south-east. With the return of summer this stream, in its +turn, thrusts aside the waters coming from the Polar Ocean. Between these +two periods the trough of the Gulf-stream, to use Lieutenant Maury's +forcible expression, "wavers about in the ocean like a pennon in the +breeze." The temperature of the Gulf-stream, even in the winter, is at the +summer level as it runs between two walls of nearly ice-cold water. Sir +Philip Brooke found the air on either side of it at the freezing point, at +the same time that that of the stream was at 80°. This difference in the +temperature of air and water is probably the cause of those terrible +hurricanes that occur in the Atlantic and among the West-Indian Islands, +and which make it the most dangerous navigation, during the winter, in the +world. The average of wrecks on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States +during these rigorous months is not less than three a day. Sailors term +the Gulf-stream "The weather-breeder;" and well they may, considering its +frightful effect in producing commotion in sea and air. In Franklin's time +it was no uncommon thing for vessels bound in winter for the Capes of +Delaware to be blown off land, and forced to go to the West Indies, and +there wait for the return of spring before they could attempt to make for +this point. The snow-storms and the furious gales which greet the ship as +she leaves the warm waters of the Gulf and nears the shores of North +America, are quite dramatic in their effect. One day she is sailing +through tepid water, and enjoying a summer atmosphere, the next, perhaps, +driving before a snow-storm, her rigging a mass of icicles, and her crew +frozen by the piercing blast. The Gulf-stream is answerable for another +phenomenon--the fogs which invariably shroud the Banks of Newfoundland, +and which render the approach to the North-American coast in winter so +particularly dangerous. The hot water of the Gulf-stream gives up its +vapour to the cold air, and hangs about the coasts an impenetrable +curtain, which baffles the navigator's skill, renders useless his +chronometer, and but too often sends his bark to destruction upon the +hidden shore. + +Another danger of the stormy Atlantic arises from the flow southward, in +the spring and summer months, of icebergs. These stupendous masses have +their breeding-place in Davis's Strait, from which they issue in +magnificent procession directly the current increases in a southerly +direction. Polar navigators have been surprised to find these huge +monsters moving against the wind, apparently by some inherent force, and +crashing through vast fields of ice, as if impatient to escape from the +silence and desolation of the Polar seas. The explanation of this singular +occurrence is, that powerful under-currents are acting upon the submerged +portions, which, in all cases, vastly preponderate over the glittering +precipices of crystal that appear above the water-line. As the icebergs +advance into the open waters of the Atlantic, they at last come to the +edge of the Gulf-stream, where, in "the great bend," about latitude 43°, +they harbour in dangerous numbers, and without doubt send many a noble +ship headlong to the bottom. In all probability the ill-fated _President_ +was thus destroyed, and some towering iceberg, that has long since bowed +its glittering peaks to the solvent action of the warm water of the +Gulf-stream, was, perhaps, the only witness of the calamity which placed +the noble _Pacific_ among the list of ships that have sailed forth into +eternity. + +If the northern latitudes of the Atlantic have their dangers of ice, the +southern latitude, especially the Caribbean Sea, in common with all +intertropical oceans, have their dangers of fire. The hurricanes of those +latitudes are generally accompanied by visitations of fearful +thunder-storms, in which many a good ship is enveloped and destroyed. In +the midst of a summer sea a clipper ship may be suddenly assailed by one +of those tremendous conflicts of the elements, of the approach of which +the silver finger of the barometer, unless carefully watched, has scarcely +had time to give warning. However prepared by good seamanship and an +active crew, there she must lie on the vexed ocean, her tall masts so many +suction-tubes to draw down upon her the destructive fire from heaven. In +his Report to the Admiralty, laid before Parliament in 1854, entitled +"Shipwrecks by Lightning," Sir William Snow Harris--whose exertions to +find a remedy for this evil are above all praise--states that in six +years, between 1809 and 1815, forty sail of the line, twenty frigates, and +ten sloops were so crippled by being struck as in many cases to be placed +for a time _hors de combat_. In fifty years there were 280 instances of +serious damage to ships in the British navy. Of these the _Thisbey_ +frigate, off Scilly, in January, 1786, affords a melancholy example. The +log represents her "decks swept by lightning, people struck down in all +directions, the sails and gear aloft in one great blaze, and the ship left +a complete wreck." In the merchant service the list of disasters is +fearful. Since the year 1820 thirty-three ships, varying from 300 to 1,000 +tons, have been totally destroyed by lightning, and forty-five greatly +damaged. + +"A great peculiarity," says Sir William Snow Harris, "may be observed in +cases of ships set on fire by lightning, viz. a rapid spreading of the +fire in every part of the vessel, as if the electric agency had so +permeated the mass as to render the extinction of the fire by artificial +means impossible." Take, for instance, the burning of the _Sir Walter +Scott_ in June, 1855. This fine passenger ship, of 650 tons, was struck +in the Bay of Biscay: the lightning shivered the foremast, completely +raked the vessel, and instantly set fire to the cargo. The passengers and +crew had scarcely time to jump from their beds and put on their clothes, +and leap into the boats, when the masts went over the sides, the flames +shot up into the air, and the ship went down like a stone. Such +extraordinary catastrophes as these seem to set forth in unmistakable +terms the feebleness of man in the presence of the tremendous powers of +nature. In reality, they are only forcible instances to call upon him to +use the means for dominating the peril. Of all the dangers that beset the +mariner at sea, danger by lightning is the only one that he can thoroughly +guard against. To Sir William Snow Harris we owe the perfecting of the +lightning-conductor for marine purposes, and the power of braving +unscathed the direst electric storms. The permanent conductor adopted in +the navy in 1842 is arranged so as to extend along the masts, from the +truck to the keelson, and so out to sea. In the hull various branches +ramify, and admit of a free dispersion of the electric fluid in all +directions. Thus armed, the ship is impregnable to all the forked +lightnings that may dart about her. Since the system of fitting men of war +with this apparatus has been adopted, no vessel of the Royal Navy has been +injured. The log of the frigate _Shannon_, commanded by the late gallant +Sir W. Peel on his voyage out to China, affords a striking example of the +manner in which the fury of such electric storms as are only to be met +with in the Indian Ocean, was baffled by a contrivance which may truly be +called, in the words of Dibdin-- + + "The sweet little cherub that sits up aloft, + And takes care of the life of poor Jack." + + "When the ship was about 90 miles south of Java she became enveloped + in a terrific thunderstorm, and at 5 p.m. an immense ball of fire + covered the maintopgallant-mast: at 5·15 the ship was struck a second + time on the mainmast by apparently an immense mass of lightning; at + half-past 5 another very heavy discharge fell upon the mainmast, and + from this time until 6 p.m. the ship was completely enveloped in sharp + forked lightning. On the next day her masts and rigging were carefully + overhauled, but, thanks to Sir Snow Harris's system of permanent + lightning-conductors, no injury whatever to ship or rigging was + discovered." + +If we compare this remarkable case with that of His Majesty's frigate +_Lowestoffe_, when near the island of Minorco in 1796, we perceive how +great is the protection science affords to the seaman. The frigate was +struck, it appears, at 12·25 P.M. by a heavy flash, which knocked three +men out of the tops, one of whom was killed on the spot. Within five +minutes the ship was again struck, and her topmast was shivered to atoms. +In another minute a third shock shivered the foremast and mainmast, and +set fire to the vessel in many places, raked the deck from end to end, +killed one man, paralyzed and burnt others, and knocked several persons +out of the tops. In two parallel cases, the addition of a rod of copper +made all the difference between safety and havoc. The example of the Royal +Navy is being followed by the merchant-service, but not so speedily as it +should be. When it is remembered that the treasure-clippers trading +between Australia and this country often bring home nearly a million +sterling in addition to a large complement of passengers, it does seem +remarkable that the lightning apparatus is not considered as essential to +their equipment as the boats, especially as they have to traverse an ocean +where thunder-storms are of common occurrence. The cost of the whole +apparatus is not above £100, and if the cupidity of the merchant is not +sufficient to induce him to supply it, we think that Government should +compel him, in order to insure the safety of the stream of passengers who +annually leave our shores. + +In the whole catalogue of disasters at sea, those which present the most +terrible features are water-logged timber ships. The timber trade between +Great Britain and her American colonies employs a very considerable fleet +of large vessels. As wood is a "floating cargo," old worn-out +West-Indiamen, which would not be used for any other purpose, are freely +employed. A few years since, in addition to a full cargo, they carried +heavy deck-loads, which so strained their shattered fabrics, that they +often became water-logged, and were sometimes abandoned in the middle of +the Atlantic. The sufferings of the crews on these occasions in their open +boats were appalling. Beating about for weeks on the waste of waters +without food or drink beyond the rain that fell from heaven, they were +obliged to sustain existence by preying on the bodies of their dead +companions, and not rarely they cast lots for the living. Since the +passing of the Act prohibiting deck-loading, these disasters are far less +frequent; but they have by no means ceased.[29] At the time we write there +are several timber-ships drifting about the ocean, floating heaps of +desolation, at the mercy of the Gulf-stream, which will ultimately cast +them on some European shore, or drift them into the North Sea, to serve as +fuel for the Esquimaux. In turning over the leaves of Lloyd's List, we +find indications of these dreary wrecks, which, clothed in seaweed, are +driven over the face of the waters, and sighted by passing ships, of which +they often cause the sudden destruction, whilst careering along in seeming +security. When these waifs and strays of the deep drift into +much-frequented ocean paths, they are doubtless the cause of many of those +dreadful catastrophes witnessed only by the eye of God, and our only +knowledge of which is a curt notice on the "Loss-book" at Lloyd's, +"Foundered at Sea, date unknown." A recent instance, in which possibly no +damage was done, will yet suffice to show the risk. The _Virago_, loaded +with teak from Moulmein, in the Indian Ocean, to Queenstown, Ireland, +became water-logged, and was abandoned on the 5th of March last, 155 miles +south-west of Cape Clear. The next day she was passed by the American +liner _Eagle_; on the 17th of the same month a steamer, on her way from +Rotterdam to Gibraltar, reports having seen her; on the 5th of April she +was passed by the _Naiad_ on her passage from Palermo to Milford; and on +the 15th the _Samarang_, on her way to Tenby, met with her; on the 18th +she was seen 160 miles off the Lizard, "in a very dangerous position," by +the _Champion of the Seas_; again, on the 3rd of May, the _Alhambra_ +steamer, on her voyage to Southampton, met her in latitude 47°; about the +same time and place she was seen by the _Peru_ steamer, "and appeared as +if run into;" and, finally, on the 20th of May, the telegraph sends word +that she was stranded near Brest, and her cargo was being discharged. It +is curious to note how, amid the tossing of the ocean, her name became +gradually obliterated, till it was totally effaced, a type of the +progressive decay and final destruction of the vessel herself. At first +she is properly reported to Lloyd's as the _Virago_; the next ship makes +her out to be the _Argo_; still later her cognomen is cut down to the +--_go_; and then the name disappears until the French find her upon their +strand. Here we suppose her half-obliterated papers were found, and our +neighbours, according to their usual wont, transmute the _Virago_ into the +_Neroggogi_. From these reports it is evident that a number of large +vessels passed quite close to the wreck, and it is even probable that a +collision may actually have occurred, and no one have been left to tell +the tale. In some cases, where the circumstances of wind and current are +favourable, water-logged ships are taken in tow by other vessels and +become valuable prizes. When, however, these wrecks are in such a +condition that it is clear they cannot be brought in, we think it would be +well if they could be destroyed. A few pounds of powder, judiciously +placed, or a beam or two sawn across by the ship's carpenter, would break +the bond that binds these logs together, and, once separated, they would +not be likely to do much damage. + +Many disastrous wrecks can be distinctly traced either to a defective +compass, or to an ignorance of the effects upon it of the magnetism of the +ship's iron. There is a melancholy example in the loss of H.M.S. _Apollo_, +of thirty-six guns, in 1803, with forty sail of merchant ships, out of a +convoy of sixty-nine vessels, bound for the West Indies. The _Apollo_ was +leading the way, with her train of outward-bound sugar ships following in +her wake, little suspecting the catastrophe which was to follow. At the +very moment her defective compasses drove her ashore, she imagined she was +some forty miles off the coast at Portugal, and so close was the merchant +fleet upon her, that upwards of half of them took the ground and were +dashed to pieces. More recently we have had the instances of the +_Reliance_ and _Conqueror_, wrecked near Ambleteuse, on the French coast, +in sight of the cliffs of Albion, after voyaging from India. The former is +known to have had an immense iron tank on board, the influence of which +upon her compasses must have been very great. The _Birkenhead_, wrecked +near the Cape of Good Hope, and the ship _Tayleur_, in the Irish Channel +are additional instances of the destruction to which the trembling finger +of the magnetic needle points the way, where ignorance or wilfulness have +placed impediments to its truthful action. + +Of the numerous errors that may be classed under the general term of +compass defaults, we may mention defective compasses arising from +imperfect workmanship, or from an ignorance of the principles of +mechanical and magnetical science, compasses perfectly adjusted but placed +injudiciously either with reference to the magnetism of the ship, or in +immediate proximity to concealed and unsuspected portions of iron. +Ignorance of the degree of compass error arising from the ship's +magnetism, and of its varying amount in changes of geographic position, +and a consequent belief, that in all places and under all circumstances +the needle is true to the north, are frequent causes of shipwreck. + +With regard to the defective mechanical construction of compasses, it must +be admitted that great improvements have taken place of late years, and +the chief credit, we believe, is due to the British Admiralty. Nearly +twenty years ago they instituted a Committee of Inquiry, and the silent +working of the measures then advocated, and the adoption of the +improvements suggested first under the direction of the late Captain +Johnston, and more recently under that of Mr. Frederick Evans, R.N., have +infused into the manufacturers, and a large portion of the mercantile +marine and shipowners, a degree of caution, skill, and attention to +details, which has brought forth good fruit. A large portion of the +superior compasses of the United States navy are manufactured in this +country, entirely on the Admiralty pattern, and several foreign +governments have recently obtained the same instruments as models. It +must not however be supposed that defective compasses have ceased to +exist. Our coasting vessels and many of our noble sailing ships are +miserably equipped, and there are many captains who still look on the +compass as a cheap and common article, fit to be classed with hooks and +thimbles and other articles of the boatswain's storeroom. + +There can be no doubt that great errors in navigation are induced by +inattention to placing the compasses. It is common to see the binnacle +within two feet, and even less, of the massive iron-work of the rudder +wheel, which again is in immediate contiguity with an iron sternpost. The +local deviation is consequently great, magnet adjustment is had recourse +to, and a temporary alleviation of the evil follows, which is only +magnified on the ship approaching some distant port. Numerous examples are +on record of iron being introduced by some addition to the equipment of +the ship, which has perhaps been lost in consequence within a few hours +after quitting port. + +Among the causes which thus operate, we may name the fancy rails leading +to state-cabins and saloons. These, beneath a highly-polished covering of +brass, often conceal many hundredweights of iron. Cabin stoves and +funnels, immediately under and alongside the compass, are frequently +unsuspected. A noble transport, during the late war, carrying troops and +stores, pursued her course by day with unswerving fidelity, but at night +the compass was as wild as the waves themselves. After diligent search it +was found that the brazier, in preparing the binnacle lamps, had +introduced a concealed iron-wire hoop to strengthen their frame-work. The +stowage of iron in cargo does not receive the attention it deserves, and +we consider it should be imperative for every vessel which carries it to +be swung for the local deviation before quitting port, and a certificate +duly lodged before clearing the Customs. When the _Agamemnon_ adjusted +compasses preparatory to sailing upon the last unsuccessful expedition to +lay the Atlantic cable, it was discovered that the presence of the +enormous coil in her hold caused a deviation of no less than seventeen +degrees! Had she been a merchant ship, no similar verification would have +been made, and the sign-post which showed the path upon the trackless +waters would only have pointed to mislead. + +It is remarkable how much misapprehension on the nature of magnetic action +exists even among men of high intelligence. A competent witness, in a +recent law-trial, in a case of wreck, arising chiefly from a want of +knowledge of the laws of magnetism in the navigation of the ship, stated +that seamen in general believed, that if a cargo of iron was covered over, +its effects were cut off from the compass. A leading counsel in the case +sympathized with the general ignorance, because he confessed that he +shared it. The adjustment of compasses by magnets is a most delicate +operation, and has received much attention from some of our leading men in +science. An able committee, under the auspices of the Board of Trade, are +now engaged, in the midst of an iron navy, in the port of Liverpool, in +elucidating the whole of the subject. We feel bound, however, to record +our opinion against the indiscriminate employment of all the nostrums +prescribed by the compass-doctors or quacks at many of our seaports. Let +the shipowner consult such reports of the Liverpool Committee as have been +already published, or follow the Admiralty plan of having at least one +good compass in a position free from all magnetic influences. In some of +the large ocean steamers a standard compass is fitted high up in the mizen +mast, and we hear that it is proposed to build a special stage on board +the _Great Eastern_, in order to keep the compass from being affected by +the immense body of iron in her fabric. + +A perusal of the evidence given in those inquiries which take place +relative to the loss of ships, under the Mercantile Marine Act, would lead +to the supposition that defective charts were even a greater cause of +wrecks than compass defaults; but this is not the case. The fact is, +incorrect charts afford an excuse for a master who may have lost his ship, +which is but too readily accepted by the members of courts of inquiry and +of courts martial. The defence set up for the wreck of the _Great Britain_ +steamer, in Dundrum Bay, on the east coast of Ireland, was, that St. +John's Light, placed two or three years previously, was not inserted in +the most recent charts of the Irish Channel procurable at Liverpool, and +that consequently it was mistaken for the light at the Calf of Man. But +these two lights are at least thirty miles apart, and it is monstrous to +suppose that a steamer should be so much out of her reckoning within a few +hours of leaving port. Again, in the more recent case of the wreck of the +_Madrid_ steamer, off Point Hombre, at the entrance of Vigo Bay, several +masters were examined, who stated that they had invariably passed equally +close to the same headland, in reliance on the correctness of the chart. +"Under these circumstances," said the Court, "the loss of the _Madrid_ +cannot be attributed to the wrongful act or default of the captain." His +certificate was therefore returned; and, at the same time, he was informed +that, as a general rule, "150 yards is not a sufficiently wide berth to +allow in passing headlands." We should think not; and furthermore we +imagine that, if the omission of every insignificant rock close to shore, +in government charts, is to be taken as an excuse for shaving a dangerous +headland, we may expect to hear of many repetitions of the disaster. The +_Orion_, wrecked on the west coast of Scotland, and the much-abused +_Transit_, in the Banca Strait, owed their fate to the unseaman-like love +of hugging the shore. + +It must be admitted, however, that the charts in common use on board +merchant ships are very faulty, both with respect to the position and +character of lights, buoys, and beacons, and to the variation of the +compass, which is not unfrequently half a point wrong,--an error which may +be fatal in shaping a course up Channel or in a narrow sea. From this +great evil the seaman has, at present, no protection. The remedy lies in +the hands of the legislature, who have only to compel all chart-sellers to +warrant their charts corrected up to the latest date, at least with +respect to lights and buoys. There are but three or four publishers of +private charts, as far as we are aware, in the United Kingdom; their stock +of plates cannot be very large, and, once examined and set right, the +corrections and additions could be easily inserted. Either the Board of +Trade or the Admiralty should be entrusted with this duty. The latter are +obliged to correct their own charts, and we understand it is the practice +of the hydrographer to cause every new light, or change of light, or buoy, +or beacon, to be inserted in the plate within twenty-four hours of the +time of the intelligence reaching the Admiralty. A large number of notices +to mariners--upwards, we believe, of a thousand a-week--are printed and +published, both by the Trinity House and the Admiralty, and distributed +among those connected with shipping; and every chart-seller should be +bound under a penalty to give proof to the Board of Trade or to the +Admiralty that he had inserted the corrections in his copper-plate within +forty-eight hours of the appearance of the notice. + +It is a startling fact that the materials for constructing charts, even of +parts of the waters which wash the shores of Europe, are not yet in +existence. Of the coast of Europe generally we are tolerably well +informed, although there are many portions that require closer +examination; but on the African and Asiatic portions of the Mediterranean, +the early seat of civilization and the best known sea in the world, there +is still much to be done. When M. de Lesseps brought forward his romantic +proposal for a Suez Canal, no survey existed of the coast of Egypt from +Alexandria to El Arish. Of Syria we know nothing accurately; Cyprus, +Rhodes, and the western half of Crete, are still almost blanks. But it is +in the eastern seas and in the Asiatic Archipelago that we are most at +fault. The Persian Gulf, portions of the coast of India, Ceylon, Burmah, +Malacca, Cochin China, the Yellow Sea, Corea, Japan, the southern and +eastern parts of Borneo, Celebes, &c., are hardly so correctly mapped as +the mountains in the moon. The north and east coasts of New Guinea, again, +are unsurveyed. As long as the Spice Islands, and the unknown lands washed +by the Indian seas, were given up to pirates, and to the imagination of +poets, this want was not felt; but now that our clippers swarm in these +seas, and that Australia herself is beginning to trade there extensively, +we shall assuredly hear of fearful shipwrecks from want of surveys. Then, +indeed, it will be truly said, that imperfect charts are the cause of +shipwrecks, unless, when India passes under the Imperial Government, +vigorous steps are taken to remedy this grievous defect. + +Closely connected with the question of imperfect charts, is the state of +the lights, buoys, and beacons around the coast--those fixed and floating +sentinels set around the island to guide and direct the weather-beaten +mariner. A few years ago we should have had to bewail our shortcomings in +the number of these aids to navigation, and have had to point to them as +prominent causes of shipwreck. The report of the Select Committee of the +House of Commons on Lighthouses, in 1845, shows the want that then +existed, not only on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, but even at the +entrance of the River Thames. Much, however, has recently been done. It +appears, from the address of the Prince Consort, at the annual Trinity +House dinner, that 77 lighthouses, 32 floating light-vessels, and 420 +buoys and beacons, under charge of the corporation, are now distributed +around the coasts of England alone. Great praise is due to the elder +brethren of the Trinity House for their care in lighting the Prince's +Channel, and especially for their admirable works now in course of +construction under Mr. James Walker, C.E.; among which we may instance the +new lighthouses at the Needles, at Whitby, and at St. Ives, the +light-tower on the Bishop Rock, off Scilly, and on the Smalls off +Pembroke. In Scotland, also, several new lights have been established; and +some of the buoys have been coloured on a systematic plan--red buoys being +placed on the starboard hand, and black buoys on the port hand, on +entering a harbour from seaward, according to the mode adopted in France, +Belgium, and Holland. This system, however, presents difficulties where +there are several channels, as at the mouth of the Thames; but there are +many places in which it might be applied with advantage. At present, we +believe, the river Tees is buoyed on exactly the reverse plan; and in some +of the large ports of the kingdom a local scheme is adopted, which +completely closes the navigation to all but the local pilots, for whose +special advantage this secret system appears to be maintained. The +adversaries of a simple and uniform method of buoying the coast do, +indeed, urge that it would put the key of our harbours into the hands of +our enemies; but this argument is so puerile that it is hardly worth +notice. If we cannot maintain the integrity of our waters by force, we +certainly shall never maintain it by cunning. + +The want of lights on the shores of Ireland has long been a cause of +complaint. Till within a few years, on a coast which is the land-fall of +nearly all vessels that cross the Atlantic from Canada, Nova Scotia, +Boston, and New York, there were spaces of sixty, seventy, and eighty +miles without a light! Yet during all this time light dues were levied on +the Americans, and other nations, who were thus treated to a sample of +Irish reciprocity. On the coasts of the United States there were ample +lights and no light dues, while on the coast of Ireland the lights were +few and the dues heavy. We trust that the royal commission which, on the +motion of Lord Clarence Paget, has lately made its report respecting the +state of the lights and buoys of the country, will give a stimulus to the +improvement which has already begun, and either get rid of these light +dues or recommend a more equitable method of levying them. One penny a ton +on the actual tonnage of the country, paid once a year, would be +sufficient to maintain all the lights in the kingdom, and would be more +simple than the present complicated system of paying every fresh voyage, +which bears so unjustly on the coasting trade. The time, we believe, is +close at hand when the lights themselves will be revolutionized. It is of +the last importance to the mariner that the brightest and best light that +science can furnish shall be held out upon the sunken rock, or perpetually +maintained upon the dangerous headland. Yet it cannot be denied that we +have nothing better than oil lamps for the purpose; and though the most +profound science and the most delicate art have been employed to make the +most of this feeble power, the fact remains, that we have not advanced +beyond the oil-wick of the last century in our attempts to provide a light +which will throw its beams far and wide over the sea, and pierce through +the fogs and drifting snow-storms of the dark winter nights. It is not +less strange that we are behind the French, and even the Spaniards, with +respect to the mechanism necessary to concentrate the little light we +have. In the two former countries the vast majority of the lighthouses are +upon the dioptric principle, the whole light of the lamps being +concentrated in occasional flashes, by means of a powerful system of +lenses, forming a complete cage of glass. England, on the contrary, +employs in most of her lighthouses the old metal reflectors; and, as Lord +Clarence Paget justly observes, the voyager leaving Folkstone will clearly +appreciate the difference between the two systems, by comparing the +dioptric light flashing from the far distant Cape Griz Nez with the feeble +spark of the English reflector light close to him at Dungeness. It has +been the great aim of the constructors of these powerful lenses to throw +all the light of the lamps into parallel rays, so that only a thin disc of +light is cast upon the sea; but, as Mr. Findlay truly remarked in his +paper read at the Society of Arts, we have at last over-refined, and a +fearful shipwreck has already been the result. The _Dunbar_, after making +a prosperous voyage to our antipodes, was wrecked at the Sydney headland, +within sight of her port. This dangerous cliff was surmounted by a +reflector light which sent a thin disc of rays, under which the ship +passed in a fog. Had a few divergent rays been allowed to light the danger +at her feet, she would have escaped her fate. + +Another great and increasing difficulty arising from the limited +capabilities of the present burners, is the fact that steamers are +beginning to show lights as powerful as those exhibited in lighthouses of +the inferior order and in the light ships. Hence a confusion is growing up +between the fixed and the moving lights, which threatens to produce most +disastrous consequences. As recently as February last, the _Leander_, an +American barque, proceeding down St. George's Channel, saw a light which +she mistook for that on the Tuskar Rock, and, when too late, discovered +that it belonged to the screw steamer _North America_, which was coming +right ahead. A fearful collision was the consequence, and the unfortunate +ship with nearly all her crew was sent to the bottom. It has been found +absolutely necessary to change the light in the Nore light-ship from a +fixed to a revolving one, to distinguish it from the numerous powerful +lights carried by steamers at anchor or when passing along the Thames. + +Various attempts have been made to increase the illuminating power of the +burners. In 1832 Lieutenant Drummond proposed the use of the oxy-hydrous +light, and as far as the intensity of light was concerned the new agent +was perfectly successful, the Drummond light at seventy miles' distance +appearing nearer to the spectator than the ordinary reflector light at +twelve miles. But it was found impossible to maintain a steady light by +this system, and it was therefore abandoned. Since then Professor Holmes +has been making experiments with the magnetic electric light. The +apparatus is said to consist of a series of very powerful magnets, around +the poles of which the helices are made to revolve by means of a +steam-engine. A powerful magnetic current is thus produced, which passing +through carbon pencils shows a splendid light. The great difficulty of +this and of other similar propositions to obtain the light by passing the +current through two points, is to so regulate them that they shall always +remain at the same distance apart, for any variation would immediately +affect the intensity of the light. This desideratum has not yet been +accomplished, neither do we think it possible of accomplishment. Professor +Way has, however, we imagine, solved the problem by substituting a running +stream of mercury in place of these points. + +A moment's inspection of the grim wreck chart leads us to reflect whether +the care taken to warn mariners of their danger is not in many cases the +immediate cause of their seeking it. If we note, for instance, the +lighthouses fringing St. George's and the English Channel, we are struck +with the extraordinary fact that there we find the greatest congregation +of those dismal dots which indicate loss of life and property, and it +would seem as though ships like moths were attracted and destroyed by the +light. Such, no doubt, is often the case. Ships bound up Channel make for +the nearest light, and from that shape their course until they meet with +the next light. They feel their way, as it were, in the dark night by the +handrail of these guides, and sometimes stumble on the very rocks that +support the beacons themselves--the fog, as in the case of the _Dunbar_, +allowing them to get within and under the danger flash. The disasters +produced by this system of groping about sunken rocks and bluff headlands +has led Mr. Thomas Herbert of the Trinity House to propose the lighting of +the Mid Channel. His system is to moor floating lighthouses, of a form +which secures a steadiness sufficient for the purpose, and he is thus +enabled to place a row of most powerful lights at little comparative +expense up the very centres of the two great channels of English commerce, +and indeed of the commerce of the world. A ship on entering the Channel +would immediately make for the westernmost of this line of "Fairway +lights," instead of looking out for the Lizard, and once having made it, +the course would be free of all possible danger. Eight floating light +towers extending from the westernmost one, forty miles south-west of +Scilly, to Dungeness, would add enormously to the security of this +wreck-strewn sea. The outermost of these lights Mr. Herbert proposes +should be put in telegraphic communication with the shore, by which means +merchants and consignees would be made acquainted with the arrival of +vessels full a day earlier than at present. By this means also Greenwich +time could be laid on to the station, and enable the anxious captain to +verify the correctness of his chronometer up to the latest possible +moment. Such a station might further serve as a depôt for water and fresh +provisions, so much required by vessels detained by contrary winds in the +Chops of the Channel, and to provide which ships are now annually sent out +by the Admiralty. Without expressing any decided opinion upon this scheme, +it seems to us to possess sufficient plausibility to warrant inquiry. If +there should be no insurmountable practical objection,--and we have heard +practical men speak well of it,--there can be little doubt that it would +dissipate in no small degree the dangers of the Channel, without +interfering with the present lights, which would always be useful for the +coasting trade. + +Perhaps the most frequent cause of wreck, especially on our own coast, is +negligence on the part of the master. If we analyze the cases of collision +that occurred in the year 1857, we are surprised to find that by far the +larger portion of them occur in the open sea, and in clear bright weather. +Out of 277 collisions, involving total and partial loss, bad look-out was +the cause of 88, and neglect of the rule of the road of 33 collisions. It +is a saying among sailors that if the three L's are attended to--Lead, +Latitude, and Look-out,--a ship is safe; and no more apt saying could have +been uttered. Simple as the casting of the lead is, it is almost +invariably found, when the causes of wreck are inquired into, that this +precaution has been neglected. The _Ava_ mail-steamer was undoubtedly lost +off Trincomalee, in February last, owing to this omission. The lead is not +only capable of telling the soundings, which alone would warn the mariner +of the approach of shoal water; but, when armed, it is capable of bringing +a voice from the deep to say on what coast the ship may be. Had the +masters of either the _Reliance_ or _Conqueror_ cast the lead, they would +not only have known that their vessel were getting into shallow water, but +that they were upon the French coast; for the lead brings up a coarser +sand from the shores of our neighbours than from the opposite coast on the +English side. The question of latitude is a question which tests the +nautical knowledge of the captain. A man who can take celestial +observations correctly is not very likely to be deficient in a knowledge +of navigation. The differences between masters of ships in this respect +are very marked. Captain Basil Hall tells us, in his "Fragments of Voyages +and Travels," that on a voyage from California to Rio, the first land he +saw was on either side of him, upon the clearing off of a fog at the +entrance of Rio de Janeiro. With no other guide than science he had hit +his port without sighting land, after a voyage of many thousand miles. +With this we may contrast a case given in the Report on Shipwrecks for +1836, in which the brig _Henry_, of Cork, bound to St. John's, New +Brunswick, with seventy passengers on board, was fallen in with by the +_Andromeda_, of New York, in a starving condition; her master, by his own +reckoning, being 800 miles to the westward of his true position. This man +must have been one of those who, as the sailors say, "come in at the cabin +windows, instead of working his way up through the hawse-holes." Errors of +this kind are not likely to occur so often as formerly, thanks to the +working of the Mercantile Marine Act, which will, we think, prevent the +recurrence of the grosser mistakes in navigation. No greater blessing was +ever conferred on the merchant shipping of this country than a law which +compels the holding an inquiry by competent persons in all cases of +casualty. It is abused, as any measure is sure to be that rigidly sets its +face against misconduct; but it has already done infinite good, and would +do still more if its provisions were strictly enforced. + +It is often supposed that the shifting of sandbanks is a cause of wreck, +but there does not seem sufficient ground for this opinion. We have heard +many marvellous stories relative to the shifting of the Goodwin, and of +the sudden exposure in full preservation of the hulls of long lost ships. +These tales are all poetical, though the edge of the bank may here and +there give way and expose the ribs of some vessel long since sucked in. +What change there is in the Goodwin, and it is of a very gradual nature, +takes place on the western or inshore side: its eastern side is as steep +as a wall, and retains the position it had when the first exact survey of +it was made. The Brake Sand in the Downs off Ramsgate seems to have moved +bodily inshore or to the westward, and there is a slight disposition to +change in sands known by the names of the Leigh Middle and Yantlet Ground +in Sea Reach, at the entrance of the river Thames. The Yarmouth and +Lowestoff sands shift slightly. A channel, or gat as it is called, opens +now in one place and now at another; but these variations are soon known +and buoyed by the Trinity House. Changes take place at the entrance of the +Mersey, but the surveyor of the river quickly marks the deviations and +makes them known to the pilots. On the north-east coast of England more +extensive alterations have taken place; a large portion of Holderness, in +Yorkshire, has been washed away, and the sea has broken through Spurn +Point, threatening to make it once more an island. At Landguard Point, at +the entrance of Harwich harbour, the injudicious removal of a barrier of +cement stone, by which the heavy stroke of the sea has been allowed free +action on the shore, has caused the sand to be heaped up within the last +half-century, until a shingle beach now rears its head seven feet above +the level of high water; where, not many years since, a line-of-battle +ship could have sailed into the harbour. Another remarkable increase of +land is at Dungeness, where the shingle has extended at the average rate +of three yards a year, since the beginning of the Christian era. But +although of vast importance to the engineer in dealing with harbours, +these changes are not productive of shipwreck. + +The principal cause of shipwreck on the shores of the United Kingdom is +undoubtedly the want of harbours of refuge. From the parliamentary returns +it appears that the tonnage of vessels which entered and cleared from the +ports of this country in 1857 amounted to 23,178,782 tons, or in round +numbers 232,000 vessels. Even this falls short of the number of vessels +that are constantly passing and repassing along our coasts, and which, on +the springing up of a sudden gale, are liable to wreck, inasmuch as it +only gives those which are carrying cargo. It does not include colliers +and other vessels in ballast, nor ships of war, nor small coasters laden +with stone, lime, &c., all of which would swell the amount to full 300,000 +vessels. + +We have already stated that the number of casualties to shipping on the +coasts and within the seas of the United Kingdom has averaged 1,025 a +year; that the loss of life has amounted to 830 a year, and that the +destruction of property reaches a million and a half. It is not an +uncommon occurrence for a single gale to strew the coasts with wrecks. In +the three separate gales which occurred in the years 1821, 1824, and 1829, +there were lost on the east coast of England, in the short space between +the Humber and the Tees, 169 vessels. In the single gale of the 31st of +August, 1833, 61 vessels were lost on the sands in the North Sea and on +the east coast of England. In the tremendous gale of the 13th of January, +1843, as many as 103 vessels were wrecked off the coasts of the British +Isles, and among them 13 large ships off the port of Liverpool alone. In +the gale of 1846, 39 vessels got ashore in Hartlepool; and in the month of +March, 1850, 134 vessels were stranded or came into collision. In the gale +of the 25th of September, 1851, as many as 117 vessels were wrecked; and +for each of the four first months of the year 1858 the Board of Trade +returns show that there has been from 140 to 150 casualties, or from four +to five a day. These facts are sufficient to prove the appalling loss of +life and of property, and the absolute necessity which exists for +establishing on the most exposed and frequented positions of our coasts +that shelter which the sailor has a right to expect in the time of need. + +Formerly in the reports of the shipwreck committees so many vague +generalities were dwelt upon, that the House of Commons had no definite +conclusions upon which to proceed. This is no longer the case. In the +evidence laid before the select committee of the House, when inquiring +into refuge harbours, in the year 1858, it is shown that there are certain +districts in which wreck is the normal state. Nearly one-third of all the +casualties take place on the east coast of Great Britain, and in 1857 it +was more than one-half! Nay, it is all but demonstrated that the larger +part of these occur within some seventy miles of coast, or between +Flamborough Head and the Tyne. Here, then, the subject is narrowed to a +point. The immediate vicinity of the coal ports must be the site of a +harbour of refuge--some spot which all colliers, light and loaded, pass, +whether it be in the bight of the bay (or the bag of the net), as Tees +Bay, or whether it be farther to the southward, near Filey Bay. The exact +locality may require careful consideration; but the question of situation +on the east coast of England is now narrowed to a distance of fifty miles. +One unexpected fact has come to light in the course of this investigation, +namely, that of the colliers lost on this part of the coast, the +proportion of loaded vessels to light is as 5 to 1. + +On the coast of Scotland there is a sad want of deep-water harbours of +refuge. From the Pentland Frith southward to Cromarty, a distance of 100 +miles, there are none but tidal harbours, all inaccessible for twelve +hours out of the twenty-four. It is the same from the Moray Frith round by +Peterhead to the Frith of Forth, with the exception of the Tay. Yet it is +along this coast that a great part of our Baltic trade, and all the +Greenland, Archangel, Davis Strait, and much of the Canadian and United +States trade must pass. In addition to this traffic, both of these coast +districts are remarkable as the great scene of the herring fishery. +Peterhead has its 250 fishing-boats, Fraserburgh and Buckie more than 400 +sail; while farther north, off the coast of Caithness, more than 1,200 +fishing boats, manned by 6,000 men, nightly pursue their calling, exposed +to the proverbial suddenness of a North-sea gale. Here then, in some +portion of this district, either at Peterhead, Frazerburgh, or Wick, a +refuge harbour is imperatively required. + +On the west coast of England, between the Land's End and the south coast +of Wales, including the Bristol Channel, shelter is absolutely needed. The +trade of the Irish Sea, including Liverpool, Glasgow, and Belfast, and the +great and increasing traffic of the coal ports of Newport, Cardiff, and +Swansea, in addition to the trade of Bristol and Gloucester, urgently call +for some refuge. For the former probably a harbour near the entrance of +the Channel, as at St. Ives, would be the most useful; for the trade of +the upper portion of the Bristol Channel, Clovelly on the south coast, +Lundy Island in the centre, and Swansea Bay on the north, have been the +sites particularly recommended in the evidence. On the coasts of Ireland, +the rocks named the Skerries, near Portrush, on the north coast, Lough +Carlingford on the east, and Waterford on the south, have been mentioned +as places where good harbours may be obtained at but a trifling outlay. + +It appears from good evidence that the existing tidal harbours around our +coasts are susceptible of great improvements for the purposes of joining +harbours of refuge in case of need. We think this supplementary view of +the question one of much importance. It is shown that the small sum of +2,500_l._ a year, which the Scottish Fishery Board is empowered to grant +annually, to meet double the amount raised from private sources, has been +of much value, and has given rise to many piers and fishery harbours on +the coasts of Scotland. A somewhat similar measure applied to harbours +generally would be of the utmost value. There are many in which the loan +of a small sum of money, at a low rate of interest, would confer a great +benefit. The enormous parliamentary and other fees attendant on getting a +Harbour Act are so ruinous, that many of the lesser harbours are kept in a +state of decay from the impossibility of raising funds to restore them. We +are glad to see that Mr. Henry Paull, M.P. for St. Ives, has given notice +in the House of a bill to remedy this evil, and to enable some public +department, such as the Admiralty and Board of Trade, to grant the +necessary powers for raising funds to execute _bonâ fide_ improvements. We +cordially wish him success, and trust that he will persevere until his +proposal has become the law of the land. + +It would naturally be imagined that the wrecks and collisions that occur +on our own coasts formed only an insignificant portion of the casualties +that take place throughout the world. But this is not so. The trade of the +world is drawn towards our shores, and these shores are washed by narrow +and therefore dangerous seas. Hence we can account for a fact which would +otherwise appear astounding, that the losses on our own coasts form nearly +a third of the losses throughout the world. According to the returns of +Lloyd's agents, the average annual number of casualties and of vessels +that have touched the ground within the last four years in all seas is +3,254; whilst, as we have already stated, those that occur upon our coast +average 1,025. Long as the list of home disasters is, it is at least +satisfactory to find that the more severe cases are not increasing. The +official record of these casualties does not extend back farther than the +year 1852, but the annual returns since that date, which we append, are on +the whole encouraging. + + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | 1852. | 1853. | 1854. | 1855. | 1856. | 1857. | + |---------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| + | Wrecks | 958 | 759 | 893 | 894 | 837 | 866 | + | Collisions | 57 | 73 | 94 | 247 | 316 | 277 | + | |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| + | TOTAL | 1015 | 832 | 987 | 1141 | 1153 | 1143 | + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + +From this Table it will be seen that while there is an absolute decrease +with respect to wrecks, which is due, no doubt, to the greater +intelligence of the masters and the working of the Mercantile Marine Act, +a large and increasing number of collisions has happened. The latter +circumstance is important, and in all probability is attributable to two +causes, the vast addition that has taken place of late years to the trade +of the country, and the manner in which steam is supplanting the use of +sails. If we cast back our glance only fifteen years, and compare the +trade of that period with what it is at present, we are astonished at the +rate at which our commerce has advanced. We find it stated in the +statistical abstract of the year 1858, that the amount of British shipping +which entered and cleared from the ports of the United Kingdom in 1843 was +7,181,179 tons, and of foreign 2,643,383 tons, making together an +aggregate tonnage of 9,824,562 tons. In 1857, however, the tonnage of +British shipping entered and cleared had increased to 13,694,107, and the +foreign shipping to 9,484,685 tons, making an aggregate quantity of no +less than 23,178,792 tons; thus showing an increase of 13,354,230 tons, or +136 per cent., in fourteen years! With this prodigious addition to the +ships passing our shores, we have reason to be thankful that wrecks are +not of far more frequent occurrence, and it will account for the otherwise +alarming multiplication of the number of collisions. And not only are +there more ships, but a greater proportion of them are propelled by steam. +A parliamentary paper, not long since published, shows that the number of +steamers employed in the Home and Foreign trade has increased from 414 in +1849 to 899 in 1857; that is, the number of vessels most prone to come +into collision has more than doubled within the last eight years, and +while the sailing vessels have increased during this period only 3·49 per +cent., the latter have increased 117·15 per cent., the proportion of +steamers to sailing vessels having advanced from 2·22 per cent. in 1849 to +4·87 per cent. in 1857. Bearing in mind the speed at which steamers go, +and the manner in which their powerful lights, just introduced, simulate +those of lighthouses and lightships, the increase of collisions is not +surprising. There can be no doubt that the introduction of coloured +side-lights, which all vessels, both sailing and steamers, must +henceforward exhibit, will enable the direction in which another ship is +standing to be distinguished, which was not the case heretofore. + +The most important object after the prevention of shipwreck is that of +rescuing the crew when the catastrophe takes place. All along the +coast--grouped thicker together where the fatal black dots indicate +dangerous spots--we find rude marks indicative of the presence of +life-boats. Thus, whenever the dangerous headland or the hidden shoal +threatens destruction to the mariner, the means of preservation are close +at hand. Of these boats, each manned by a fearless crew of twelve +volunteers, there are 141 stationed along the coast; seventy being under +the management of the National Life-Boat Institution, and seventy-one +under the direction of various corporations and local authorities. To the +princely conduct of the Duke of Northumberland, the President of the +National Life-Boat Institution, we owe the present improved condition of +the means of saving life in cases of shipwreck. As far back as the year +1790, two humble boatbuilders on the banks of the Tyne, Greathead and +Wouldhave (who were encouraged and fostered by the then Duke of +Northumberland), invented the broad, curved form of life-boat, with +air-cases, which was chiefly in use around our coasts. This model was +afterwards much departed from, and by degrees the most imperfect boats +(provided they were lined with what were supposed to be air-tight cases) +were dignified with the name of life-boats. The many casualties that +happened to these craft, which were built by rule of thumb rather than +upon any scientific system, brought them into much disrepute. Too often, +indeed, their hardy crews, instead of fulfilling their mission, were +drowned on the way. In some instances, owing to their defective build, +they turned _end over end_ when struck by a heavy sea, and, from want of +the power to right themselves when capsized, the unfortunate men were +encaged beneath them. To prevent the recurrence of such disastrous +accidents, the Duke of Northumberland offered a premium for the production +of a model life-boat, and the result was the exhibition of several +respectable contrivances. Not one of them, however, fulfilled all the +prescribed conditions; nor was it until after several trials and many +experiments that the present life-boat was completed. It appears to be the +production of a committee and not of an individual; but the chief credit +of it is due to Mr. Peake, of the Royal Dockyard, Woolwich; to Joseph +Prowse, junior, foreman of the same yard; and to Messrs. Forrestt, the +well-known boat-builders of Limehouse. It has been adopted by the +Life-Boat Institution, and has stood the test of some years' experience +without a single failure. In a trial lately made at Boulogne, the boat was +twice purposely capsized by the help of a crane, and righted herself in +two seconds, and in less than fifteen seconds the water with which she was +filled disappeared through her self-acting valves. Of the entire number of +1668 seamen saved during the last year, 399 owed their lives to these +boats, and we have no doubt that in future years they will prove still +more effective, if only well handled and not rashly sailed by +inexperienced men; for no life-boat can be devised that will not be liable +to accidents if entrusted to careless or unskilful hands. + +But there is another point almost equally important that seems to have +been greatly overlooked, the worthlessness of the so-called life-boats +that every emigrant ship, every transport, every passenger vessel, is by +Act of Parliament required to carry. We have no hesitation in pronouncing +them to be in most cases a mockery, a delusion, and a snare. It is not +long since that we heard from the lips of one of the most extensive +boat-builders on the banks of the Thames, that, when a boat was condemned +as unseaworthy for any other purpose, it was a common practice to patch it +up, add a certain amount of air-case, and dispose of it as a life-boat. We +know not with whom it rests to see the Act enforced, whether with the +Board of Trade or the Life-boat Association, but the fact of its evasion +is notorious, and a heavy responsibility rests somewhere. Even when the +crazy thing is embarked, it is often so stowed that it cannot be lowered +in case of need without long delay, and is frequently deficient in sails, +oars, thole-pins, plugs, and always without an efficient compass. Yet in +this ill-equipped boat the lives of thirty, forty, perhaps fifty, of our +too confiding countrymen are risked. It would be easy to see, before the +vessel sailed, that the life-boat was efficient; that a certain supply of +provisions and fresh water was placed in proper cases; that the mast, +sails, oars, and thole-pins were secured into the boat, and that an +efficient boat-compass was provided, instead of the ridiculous toy that +goes by that name, the card of which spins round like a top at every +stroke of the oars. The beautiful spirit or liquid boat-compass of Dent +may be purchased for less than £5. A life-boat thus furnished would give +confidence to the passengers, would serve them well in time of need, and +would be no more than the legislature is entitled to require under the +provisions of the Act. Anything less is a gross imposition upon the simple +emigrants, who embark in confidence, believing that everything has been +done for their safety. + +In addition to the life-boat system we have located in most of the +coast-guard stations rocket and mortar apparatus to enable a connection to +be established with stranded vessels by firing a rope over them. This +method was effectual in 243 cases during the last year, and is well worked +under the auspices of the Board of Trade. The drawback to the use of the +mortar apparatus is its weight, which prevents its being easily +transported along the rocky shores where it is chiefly needed, but we +understand that Mr. Brown, of the General Register and Record Office of +Seamen, has invented a portable apparatus, which will in all probability +greatly facilitate our means of communicating with stranded vessels, and +tend in no small measure to still further lessen the dismal list of seamen +who annually perish on our weather-beaten coast. + + + + +LODGING, FOOD, AND DRESS OF SOLDIERS. + + +If the question had been asked a short time since what body of men +presented the most healthy lives in her Majesty's dominions, the reply +might reasonably have been Her Majesty's Foot-Guards. Recruited, at the +age of nineteen, principally from among the agricultural population, +submitted to the critical examination of the inspecting surgeon, tried in +wind and limb and tested at every point, the would-be soldier must be +proved an athlete, or renounce for ever the hope of wearing her Majesty's +uniform. Absorbed into the picked corps of the army; quartered either in +metropolitan barracks or within a stone's-throw of the palace of the +Sovereign; clothed, fed, housed, and tended in sickness by the State; and +only in the face of great emergencies required to brave the dangers of +foreign service; the weak and incapable instantly weeded out from the +ranks,--his does indeed seem to be a select life, with which no other +among the labouring classes would appear to be comparable. As we see him +on parade in all the pomp and panoply of war, we view him with pride as +worthy of that noble band that swept irresistibly before it the eagles of +France, and, single-handed, at Inkermann, long kept the foe at bay, and +saved two armies from destruction. Yet take the unhealthiest trades in +England--the pallid tailor, as he sits at his board, or the miner who +lives in the bowels of the earth--and it will be found that the percentage +of deaths in their ranks is not nearly so great as in those of the +magnificent Guards, pipeclayed and polished up to meet the eye of princes, +but, alas! often little better than whited sepulchres. Such is the fact +elicited by the labours of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into +the regulations affecting the sanitary condition of the army. If the "most +favoured" regiments furnish these disastrous results, it may be imagined +that the condition of the rank and file, who take their turn in all +climates, must be much worse; but, strange to say, the contrary is the +fact. This is shown in the following table, which gives the number per +thousand who die every year among the army at home and among the male +civilians of England and Wales at army ages:-- + + Household cavalry 11·0 + Dragoon Guards and Dragoons 13·3 + Foot Guards 20·4 + Infantry of the line 18·7 + +Population of England and Wales, at army ages:-- + + Town and country population 9·2 + Country alone 7·7 + +One of the unhealthiest towns at army ages:-- + + Manchester 12·4 + +According to Mr. Neison's calculation, the mortality of the Household +Cavalry is 1-4/5, Dragoons, &c., 2-1/5, Line 2-9/10, and Guards 3-1/13 +times as great as the mortality of the agricultural labourers who are +members of friendly societies. Well may the Commissioners, contemplating +these returns, remark-- + + "That in war men should die from exposure, from fatigue, from + insufficient supplies, is intelligible; or that the occupation of a + town of 30,000 inhabitants by an army of 30,000 men, without any + sanitary precaution, suddenly doubling the population to the area, and + thereby halving the proportion of every accommodation, supplies, + water, drainage, sewerage, &c. &c., should engender disease, is + readily understood; but the problem submitted to us is to find the + causes of a mortality more than double that of civil life among 60,000 + men, scattered, in numbers seldom exceeding a thousand in one place, + among a population of 28,000,000, in time of profound peace, in a + country which is not only the healthiest, but which possesses the + greatest facility of communication and the greatest abundance of + supply in Europe." + +In endeavouring to solve this extraordinary problem, the first question +naturally asked is, Why the foot soldiers suffer a rate of mortality so +much higher than the cavalry? They are recruited pretty much from the +same source, and breathe apparently pretty much the same atmosphere; yet +we find that the Foot Guards perish at nearly double the rate of the Life +Guards. The causes of this difference are mainly, overcrowding and the +want of due exercise and employment. The chief diseases of the soldier are +fever and consumption; the latter, or "the English Death," as it is but +too aptly termed, being the chief destroyer. The deaths by pulmonary +disease amount in the cavalry to 7·3 per thousand, in the infantry of the +line to 10·2, and in the Guards to 13·8; whilst of the entire number of +deaths from all causes in the army, diseases of the lungs constitute in +the cavalry 53·9 per cent., in the infantry of the line 57·277 per cent., +and in the Foot Guards 67·683 per cent. We are strongly inclined to +believe that some portion of this extraordinary mortality from pulmonary +disease may be owing to the atmosphere of pipeclay in which the Foot +Guards, and indeed the Horse Guards in a minor degree, live. In 1853, the +year in which the mortality tables were made up, the former pipe-clayed +their white trousers and fatigue jackets as well as their belts. Thus the +fine dust must have been for ever entering their lungs, and Mr. Simon, in +his recent Report affecting the health of special occupations, expressly +states that the workers in potteries are among the most unhealthy +artisans, in consequence of the clay-dust they are constantly inhaling in +the course of their daily work affecting their respiratory organs. + +It would appear that overcrowding is the chief cause of the disparity of +the death-rate between the two classes of Guards. If we compare the +extremes, we find that, whilst the Foot Guards quartered in Portman-street +barracks have only 331 cubic feet of air allotted to each man, the Horse +Guards at the Hyde Park barracks have 572 cubic feet; and if we take the +whole force of Foot and Horse Guards, we find that in London the latter +have the advantage of between one-fourth and one-fifth more air in their +barracks. But there is another and very important difference in favour of +the Horse Guard: his exercise is on the whole more varied than that of the +Foot Guard. In the infantry, the drill only exercises the lower limbs and +fixes the chest in one position; the grooming of a horse brings nearly +every muscle into play, which tends to open and expand the chest. The +broadsword exercise has the like effect. This diversity in the daily +duties and in the amount of air they have to breathe, explains, we +believe, the great discrepancy between the deaths from consumption of the +two classes of Guards. + +The reason for the increased mortality of the Dragoon regiments over that +of the Life Guards is not so easy to discover. As regards the Line +regiments, being quartered mostly in country localities, they breathe on +the whole a better atmosphere and have more exercise than the Foot Guards. +That this is the reason of their lower rate of mortality would appear from +the fact, that while the Guards were campaigning in Canada during the +rebellion, enjoying the same pure air as the Line, and undergoing +precisely the same fatigue and exposure, their relative rate of mortality +was reversed, and the Foot Guards proved the more healthy of the two. The +latter portion of the Crimean campaign showed the same result. + +When the high rate of mortality was first made known in the "Times," +military authorities imputed it chiefly to the destructive nature of the +night duties. The evidence given before the Commissioners, however, +entirely negatives this explanation. + +There are three classes of men whose night duties are more severe than +those of the Foot Guards--firemen, the police, and sailors; yet, strange +to say, all three enjoy a high state of health. The London fireman +undergoes, perhaps, more wear and tear than the rest. His duties call him +sometimes to several fires in a night, and when not out he is waiting in +readiness. Whilst on service he is liable to great varieties of +temperature, and to a good deal of wet; one minute he is scorching in the +midst of the fire, the next half-drowned by the water. Nevertheless, he +suffers a mortality of only seven per thousand. The metropolitan police +are on duty ten consecutive hours in all weather, yet their mortality is +less than nine per thousand. The comparison between them and the Foot +Guards is the closest that could be made, as the unmarried men all live in +section-houses (or barracks), are clothed in a uniform, and fed in messes. +Yet the mortality is just half that of the line regiments, and less than +half the mortality of the Foot Guards! The sailor on the home station, who +is worse lodged than either, and is subject to constant nightwork of a +very exposed character, shows a still more favourable result. It is clear +therefore that the nightwork will not account for the frightful inroads +made by disease in the ranks of the soldier. Nor need we go much further +than the barracks to know the main causes of all this suffering and death. +In London, as we have said, no more than 331 cubic feet of air was meted +out to her Majesty's Foot Guards, and in Dover Castle it was reduced to +147 feet per man, or less than the quantity which brought about the jail +fever which Howard discovered to be raging in the Cambridge Town Bridewell +in 1774. The highest average space allotted to each man before 1847 was +447 cubic feet. Even this amount of air is rendered less pure by defective +arrangements. Add to which the beds are placed only one foot apart, in +defiance of the fact that a man may be suffocated in a crowd +notwithstanding that he has all the sky above him. The state of the +morning atmosphere is thus summed up by Serjeant Brown, in answer to the +questions from one of the Commissioners:-- + + "Have you often gone into the men's rooms in the morning before the + windows were open?--Yes. In what state did you find the + atmosphere?--In a very thick and nasty state, especially if I came in + out of the air. If I went in out of my own room sometimes, I could not + bear it till I had ordered the windows to be opened to make a draught. + I have often retired to the passage and called to the orderly man to + open the windows." + +In some cases the troops are lodged in the basement of buildings below the +natural level of the soil, or in places where the storekeepers object to +put their stores, in consequence of the damage that would result to them +from the damp. A notable instance is given in evidence by Dr. T. E. +Balfour:-- + + "In 1845 the armoury was burnt down in the Tower, and a new barrack + was erected on its site--certainly not before it was wanted, because + the accommodation was very bad. The barrack was finished in the + beginning of 1849; fever was then prevailing among the men, and + cholera threatening. The surgeon applied to have the new barracks + given over for the use of the men, and he got two rooms; he + remonstrated through his commanding officer with the authorities, when + he was informed that he could not have more given over to him, as they + were full of stores--blankets, I believe. On suggesting that the + stores might be put into the old barracks, he was told that they were + a great deal too damp to put stores into, and it was only in + consequence of an energetic remonstrance on the part of the commanding + officer, which I believe reached the Duke of Wellington, that a Board + of officers was ordered to assemble, who recommended that the troops + should be immediately moved into the new barracks." + +Now and then the crotchet of a Colonel does a vast deal of mischief. Not +many years since, the cavalry at Knightsbridge were condemned to drink the +water from the Serpentine,--a reservoir of filth, which is now pronounced +to be pestilential to the neighbourhood. The men objected to use this +diluted sewage; but the commanding-officer had perfect faith in filters. +Nevertheless, the water persisted in smelling bad, notwithstanding it +looked clear,--a mystery the Colonel's knowledge of chemistry could not +fathom; nor would he give in until a Board had been called. The veterinary +surgeon now began to complain that the coats of the horses were beginning +to stare, and he wished that they should drink from the improved supply +which was furnished to the men. The Colonel still had faith in his +Serpentine water, and maintained that the horses would prefer it to the +purer stream. A bucket of each was placed side by side in the +barrack-yard, and a horse was brought in, which immediately settled the +question by refusing the dirty water, and plunging its muzzle into the +clean. It is not many years since the troops stationed at the Tower were, +in like manner, forced to drink the Thames water, taken from the most +convenient, which chanced to be the foulest, spot in the whole river. A +coarse filter did not suffice to protect them from the disease such +supplies were sure to engender. + +They manage these things better now in civil life. In the year 1848, the +Society for Improving the Condition of the Working Classes opened their +first model lodging-house. Their measure of the quantity of air necessary +for the poor man was much greater than that settled three years later, by +the military authorities, for the soldier. The mechanic and labourer were +allowed 542 cubic feet; the soldier, under the most favourable conditions, +breathed no more than from 400 to 500 cubic feet,--a measure which fines +off, by degrees, to the Black Hole allowance at Dover Castle, where the +soldier was reduced to 131 cubic inches. Nor is this the only point in +favour of the model lodging-house, of which there are several situated in +the foulest portions of the metropolis, and which accommodate sometimes +seven hundred inmates, or the full strength of many a regiment. Besides +containing pure air, which, with a proper system of ventilation, costs +nothing, but is of incalculable value to human life, the lodging-house, +instead of being confined to one room, used for all purposes, is divided +into the ordinary apartments of an inn; every inmate has his own +dormitory, and there is a good coffee-room stored with papers and books, +and supplied with hot water. In the kitchen below, there are facilities +for roasting, boiling, baking, and frying, and each man has his safe for +provisions. Hot and cold baths are provided; and the whole building is +heated by hot-water pipes, and well lighted by gas. If the soldier was +treated like his brother of the chisel and the hammer, the mortality of +the Guards would not be at the rate of 20·4, and that of the ordinary rank +and file at the rate of 17·8 per thousand, whilst that of the mechanic is +only 13·9 per thousand. + +If we were to write volumes, we could not deepen the impression these +figures are calculated to convey of the importance to health of sanitary +science. It has been said that soldiers would not appreciate the benefits +of a model lodging-house, and that, as the colonel asserted of the +troop-horse, they prefer the dirty to the clean,--crowding in a common +room, to separate apartments. If this were true, it would be no reason for +not teaching them better. If bad habits are congenial to them, they do not +suffer less when the mischief is done; and if they were callous to the +last, the interest of the nation still requires that lives which cost so +much should not be recklessly thrown away. But experience refutes the +supposition that soldiers have different notions of comfort from +civilians. The Guards, in the old part of the Wellington Barracks, had, +on one occasion, the temporary use, as a day-room, of an apartment fifty +feet by thirty, and, large as it was, it became inconveniently crowded. +The Commissioners, in their report, recommend that a minimum space of 600 +feet be allotted to each man in his barrack and guard-room, that an +interval of at least three feet be maintained between each bed, and that a +day-room should be provided. The barrack should at least be on a par with +the workhouse. + +The high rate of mortality in the army is not to be attributed to the bad +arrangements of barracks alone; the important elements of exercise and +food have to be considered, and in both the infantry are in an inferior +position to the artisan. + + "Perhaps," says Colonel Lindsay, "no living individual suffers more + than the soldier from _ennui_. He has no employment save the drill and + its duties; these are of a most monotonous and uninteresting + description, so much so that you cannot increase their amount without + wearying and disgusting him. All he has to do is under restraint; he + is not like a working man or an artisan; a working man will dig, and + his mind is his own; an artisan is interested in the work on which he + is engaged: but a soldier has to give you all his attention, and he + has nothing to show for the work done. He gets up at six; there is no + drill before breakfast; he makes up his bed and cleans up his things: + he gets his breakfast at seven; he turns out for drill at half-past + seven or eight; his drill may last half an hour. If it be guard-day + there is no drill except for defaulters. The men for duty are paraded + at ten o'clock; that finishes his day-drill altogether. There is + evening parade, which takes half an hour, and then his time is his own + until tattoo, which is at nine in winter and ten in summer. That is + the day of a soldier not on guard or not belonging to a company which + is out for Minié practice." + +Unless it be denied that the mind has any influence over the body, it +cannot be doubted that the inaction to which the infantry soldier is +subjected in barracks, by the regulations of the service, is most +detrimental to his mental activity and bodily health. The actuary well +knows that the affluent upper classes, although in every other respect +placed in the best sanitary condition, are shorter lived than the +agricultural labourer, for the simple reason that, having but little +active duty to perform, they suffer from _ennui_, which begets +dissipation. The soldier shares with the wealthy this cause of increased +mortality, without sharing in their other favourable conditions. Idle and +ill-lodged, he naturally resorts to the public-house, and, having but +little money to procure drink, he too often degrades himself by sponging +upon the female admirers of red coats for the means. The annals of the +police-courts are but too rife with the records of crimes and +misdemeanours committed by the Foot-Guards from these causes. Mr. +Jeffreys, a high authority, testifies that in India a large proportion of +the men chafe and drink themselves to death, under modes of life so +opposed to the habits of out-door labour in which they have been reared. +The soldier is not so much in fault as the rule of the service which +precludes him from making himself useful. The best-conducted troops are +the Engineers, who work at their different trades. The evil does not stop +with the mischief which the idle are sure to perpetrate. The active, +self-reliant Englishman is notoriously the most dependant soldier in +Europe. He can neither cook, bake, make his clothes, nor hut himself, like +the Frenchman, the Sardinian, or even the Turk. Contractors follow him +everywhere, excepting into the presence of the enemy; and when he most +needs every necessary of life he finds himself a helpless man. Mr. J. R. +Martin, one of the Commissioners, who has passed a life in high posts as a +military surgeon in India, and who has done more for the sanitary +condition of the soldier than any living person, holds it as a principle, +"that in all climates the soldier should do for himself whatever he can +perform without injury to his health, morals, or discipline; and, further, +that he should be required to do whatever may be essential to his +serviceable condition, in the event of a failure of the appointed +appliances. Before the soldier can be held as fit to undertake his duties +to the State, he must be made capable of maintaining everything which may +be necessary to his personal care and comfort." Does Aldershott or +Shorncliffe fulfil even the majority of the conditions calculated to train +the soldier for active service? Is he taught to build his own hut, to dig +his own well, to make his own roads, to cook his own victuals, or to mend +his own clothes? Aldershott, in fact, is not a camp at all, but a city of +soldiers, built and maintained "by contract;" the sum expended on the +buildings alone, for the years 1854 to 1856, being no less than +486,502_l._ 13s. 6d.; and we have little doubt that up to the present +time, the civil labour has cost more than 600,000_l._[30] Now, as Colonel +Tulloch urged, before these barracks were erected, why should not the men +hut themselves? There are clay, gravel, and sand, on the spot, with +abundance of small wood that no one will buy, not more than eight miles +distant. Soldiers have hutted themselves at Maroon Town, in the West +Indies, at 25_l._ per head. The buildings would not be such permanent +structures as the contractors have put together: we should miss the +architectural façades for the officers' quarters, and the "moulded +cornices" so maliciously described by the _Times'_ correspondent; but we +should have serviceable huts which would last for eight or ten years. +There can be little doubt that the men would be healthier in them than in +vast barracks. The process of building would supply the kind of exercise +which would amuse as well as instruct, and the plan would certainly save +money to the State. Considerably more than one half, or 647·9 per +thousand, of our soldiers have been recruited from the agricultural +population, to whom the erection of earthworks and building of all kinds +would be somewhat familiar. Of the remaining number, 294·7 have been +trained to mechanical trades. Surely, from this force handicraftsmen could +be selected to perform much of the work of the army. Bakers, cooks, +tailors, and bootmakers, could be found to supply the wants of the +regiment, and relieve us from the incubus of government contractors. We +place more confidence in a system in which the artisan-soldier will reap +the fruits of his labour, than in athletic games, which are not to be +neglected, but which become irksome when they are enjoined upon the +soldier by regulation. Serious exertion, too, with a useful result, is +always more invigorating in the long run than exertion which leaves no +result at all. Work, in short, within reasonable limits, is more healthful +than play. + +During the disastrous months of the Crimean campaign, Mr. Galton proposed +to give a series of lectures to the reinforcements about to proceed to the +seat of war, on the shifts available in wild countries. He went to the +Museum of the United Service Club at the hour he had advertised, but as +his audience amounted to but one soldier, he discontinued his efforts to +make known those _wrinkles_ he had acquired with so much suffering +himself. The substance of these intended lectures he has since amplified +into a book, which is one of the most interesting little volumes we ever +read, and which should be in the hands of every campaigner, whether +military or otherwise. Had our soldiers been acquainted with its contents +when our commissariat broke down, they would have been able to lighten +their miseries in a considerable degree. The services which he extracts +from a single piece of stick are almost inconceivable; and when there +seems to be no further hope, he shows how the difficulties may often be +overcome by the aid of the very circumstances which appeared to have +caused the breakdown. His makeshifts and expedients are, it is true, at +times rather rough; and Ensign Firebrass, as he looks at his +neatly-polished little boot, would perhaps be startled at being told, that +on a march, "pieces of linen a foot square, smeared with grease, and +nicely folded over the foot cornerwise," form a capital substitute for +socks; or that breaking "a raw egg into a hard boot before putting it on +greatly softens the leather." Such announcements may be horrifying in the +midst of luxury, but in hard circumstances the most nicely got up London +dandy would be grateful for the hint. Many a poor soldier, at any rate, +would be glad to know that even on a plain where there is nothing except +the turf beneath his feet, protection is at hand if he were aware how to +avail himself of it. "He need only turn up a broad sod seven feet long by +two wide, and if he succeeds in propping it up on its edge, it will form a +sufficient shield against the wind," and even against a drifting rain, +provided he plants his turf between the weather and himself. + +As regards the in-door amusements of the soldier, we have but little +belief in regimental libraries. The recruit from the agricultural +districts will not read such volumes as generally form the bulk of these +collections. A Scotch sergeant or two will thumb over Rollin's "Ancient +History," or Robertson's "History of Scotland," but the majority of the +soldiers will not look at them. "I have never heard of a reading army," +said the late Dr. William Fergusson; and we agree with him as far as what +are called standard works are concerned. The soldier can be amused, +however, with a lighter class of literature, and there is a certainty of +pleasing him with a newspaper. This is the reading he selects for himself +in the public-house, and why not condescend to consult his tastes? +Major-General Lawrance stated that the system had been tried in some +garrisons with excellent effect, of providing a room where the men could +procure papers, coffee, and a pipe. "We approach the soldier," says Robert +Jackson, "with the dram-bottle in one hand, and the lash in the other." +Things are not so bad as in his day, but the temptation and the punishment +are still provided; and to reduce both as much as possible, we should +employ pleasant preventives, both of a moral and physical kind. + +The question of food is intimately connected with the health of the +soldier, and, as far as we can see, no attempt has been made by the +commissariat to adjust it satisfactorily to the varying conditions to +which he is subjected. The truck system, which has long been abolished by +law in the payment of workmen, is still maintained to some extent in the +army. The soldier is nominally paid 13_d._ per day, but out of this the +authorities stop a certain sum, which varies with the markets, for the +rations and other necessaries supplied to him. The quantity of the ration +is fixed both for service at home and abroad. At home he has 1 lb. of +bread and 3/4 lb. of meat inclusive of bone, an additional 1/2 lb. of +bread being given to troops encamped in England. Abroad the ration +consists of 1 lb. of bread or 3/4 lb. of biscuit, and 1 lb. of meat either +salt or fresh, the additional 1/4 lb. being given to compensate for the +inferior quality of foreign compared to English meat. There are one or two +exceptional rations; but at home or abroad, in peace or in war, the ration +(the quality of the meat being considered) is the same. Simplicity may be +urged in favour of the system, but we fear this is its only merit, and we +are not at all surprised to find the following remarks in the Report:--"We +are of opinion that no ration can be fixed upon which shall be adhered to +in both peace and war. The conditions of life are so different in the two +cases, that whatever is suitable for the one must be either too much or +too little for the other." Common sense would clearly point out that the +ration which would be amply sufficient for the soldier in country +quarters, whose principal occupation is lounging along the street, or +leaning upon a bridge, would go but little way to maintain the wear and +tear of a man when exhausted by the fatigues of an active campaign. The +degree and nature of his labours then may be gathered from the following +extract from the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the Supplies +of the Army in the East:-- + + "The average weight carried by a soldier on the march, including food + and water for the day, is probably not less than from fifty to sixty + pounds, and while carrying that burden he is frequently required not + only to march considerable distances, but also to move rapidly, and + make other great exertions. In the ordinary course of his duty he is + called upon to watch during the night at longer or shorter intervals, + whatever may have been his previous exertions. He is exposed to every + vicissitude of temperature, and often to the inclemency of the + weather, by night as well as by day, and must be ready to turn out + when required, at any hour, and under any circumstances. He must + generally be content with the shelter of a tent, whatever the climate + may be. When engaged in siege operations, he has to perform, mostly + during the night, the work that a railway labourer performs by + day--excavating and removing earth. When stores are to be landed, he + is often required to do the work of a dockyard labourer. When employed + in active service the soldier, therefore, requires a diet as + nourishing as that which is requisite to maintain the physical powers + of any other man engaged in hard labour involving frequent watching + and exposure." + +That is, the soldier is required at times to be a railway navvy, and +something more; but, unlike the navvy, he is not allowed to replenish his +inward man according to his natural desires, but according to a certain +fixed regulation. As well may a stoker limit his engine to a hundredweight +of coals a day, and expect to get any speed out of it he pleased. The +navigator, whilst executing heavy work, is known to eat as much as six +pounds of meat a day. Now we question if any navigator ever worked harder +than the common soldier in the trenches before Sebastopol, yet he was +expected to perform his task on one pound of meat, fresh or _salt_, equal +to three-quarters of a pound of English beef or mutton. The salt meat too +is vastly less nutritive than fresh; and in case the lemon-juice fails, as +it did in the Crimea, scurvy and its allied diseases are sure to follow +its use. Well may Dr. Christison have remarked "that any scientific person +conversant with the present subject (dietaries) could have foretold, as a +certain consequence, sooner or later, of their duty, that the British +troops would fall into the calamitous state which befell them in the +Crimea." It must be evident again that the soldier during a Canadian +winter requires more meat than he does between the tropics. In cold +climates the nitrogenous and carboniferous food should predominate; in +warm climates a larger amount of vegetable food is required. The exact +amount of the different kinds of food, however, requires a special study; +but surely chemistry, which has so admirably catered for the varying wants +of prisoners undergoing fluctuating amounts of exertion, could find no +difficulty in furnishing proper dietary tables for the British army in +different parts of the globe. The Commissioners, in their Report, fully +convinced of the injustice even at home of keeping stalwart English +soldiers upon half a pound of meat per day, recommend that it shall be +increased to a pound. + +In the clothing of the British soldier a contest has been long going on +between what is considered by the officers to look "smart," and what is +found by the men to be comfortable. A soldier upon parade and a soldier +going into action scarcely looks the same man. The tight coat, the stiff +stock, and the ugly shako, give a stiffness to his figure which is termed +"a soldierly appearance:" but upon the march or the eve of battle the +jacket is thrown open, the trowsers are tucked up, the shako is thrown +away, and the stock follows suit. He has divested himself of every +particle of clothing which is supposed to conduce to his smartness; but +he is a free man: he can use his limbs with facility, he can march without +fainting, and he can fight at his ease. Major-General Lawrance, +apologising for the retention of the shako, and for the leathern stock, +upon home service, urges that "it is essential to consider the appearance +as well as the comfort of the soldier." Some of the soldiers themselves +wish to keep the stock, provided "that it may always be taken off when +muscular exertion is required." The Commissioners are of opinion, and we +think rightly, that "this condition applied to any part of a soldier's +dress is condemnatory of it." Why should he possess a set of fine weather +feathers any more than the fireman or the policeman? Fitness is the very +essence of comeliness. The Ironsides of Cromwell would have smiled grimly +at the holiday suit of the modern soldier. The Commissioners in their +Report condemn nearly every article of clothing in present use--the stock +as an instrument of strangulation; the shako as neither fitted by size, +colour, weight, material, nor form, for service in hot climates; and the +trowsers as gathering dust on the march. In the Crimea the men were in the +habit of wrapping a piece of bale canvas from the commissariat stores +round their legs, which effectually protected them from the mud and wet. +This suggests a return to the old gaiter used in the army during the early +part of George III.'s reign, and still by some regiments of Highlanders, +or the adoption of a boot to lace over the bottom of the trowsers like the +ordinary shooting boot. The West India regiments are ordered to wear the +Zouave dress--the loose trowsers, leather leggings, jacket, and fez. This +may be well enough adapted for black troops, but we should be sorry to see +our own men tricked out in this foreign fashion. + +The chief parts of the soldier's body which require attention, as regards +health, are the head and neck. The head should be protected against the +extremes of heat and cold by every means that science can devise. In +tropical climates we still retain the shako, shielding it from the sun +with a linen cover. The insufficiency of this device is read in the +fearful mortality from sun-stroke, which devastates our army in India at +the present time. The natives wear a cotton turban with an old horseshoe +on the top to protect them from sword-cuts; and the Commissioners +recommend a light cap covered with wadded linen, with a flap hanging down +behind. Like the sola or pith helmet, the protection here is in the slow +conducting power of the material. Mr. Jeffreys, however, in his admirable +treatise entitled "The British Army in India," justly remarks, that the +slower a substance conducts, the longer it retains its heat. A +turban-covered shako worn all day in an Indian sun becomes charged with +caloric to such an extent that it will give out a sensible heat when hung +up in the tent, and will distress the head the moment it is put on; for +this reason the covering should be placed outside the tent at night to +cool. But, after all, though the heat may penetrate very slowly to the +wearer, the time comes when at last it reaches the skull. The protection +may be ample for the acclimatised Hindoo, and yet be insufficient for the +European. Mr. Jeffreys tells us that the scarf-skin of the Indian is so +much thicker than that of the European, that, when serving as a medical +officer, he was obliged to have a lancet ground in a peculiar manner for +vaccinating the horny hide of the native infants. We therefore agree with +him that science must be called upon to give the English soldier a still +further defence against the sun. He has himself attempted to solve the +problem. Instead of the use of the cloth-covered helmets he terms +sun-traps he has constructed an ingenious covering in which reflection, +retarded conduction, slow radiation, convection, and ventilation are +brought consecutively into play. There can be little doubt that +scientifically his contrivance is unexceptionable, and would keep the head +always cool. The weight, however, which his plan necessitates is a +material element, although it is the heat not the weight which kills. If +we desire to form an idea of the amount of heat which is thrown off by a +bright surface, we have only to place our hands before the polished sides +of a common firegrate, when the reflected heat will be found to be very +little less than that directly radiated from the fire. It is just because +these sides cast the heat which strikes them back again that the inner +face is kept comparatively cool. This, therefore, is the best description +of surface to present to the sky. It may be objected that the soldiers +would be dazzled by the helmets of their comrades; but the inconvenience +would only be incident to a curvilinear-shaped helmet, possessing numerous +tangential planes of reflection. A rectangular form, such as that of the +present shako, would reflect the rays of the midday sun either down to the +earth or up to the sky, and there would be no more glare observable than +from the windows of a house, which, except at sunset, are the darkest part +of the building. The helmet of the crusader was made in the form of a tin +pot: this was retained by the Knights Templars, who well understood the +value of the bright reflecting surface and the rectangular shape. + +Mr. Jeffreys goes further. He proposes that the body-dress of soldiers +serving in tropical climates should also have a metallic reflecting +surface. Though the idea may seem strange, we think it worthy of +consideration. A good defence against tropical heat must be devised if we +intend to keep India; for we cannot afford to send English regiments to be +wholly destroyed as fighting men every ten years. The sun is the great +ally of the natives; they counted upon its service in the late rebellion, +and we must endeavour to convert this enemy into a friend. A perfectly +sun-proof dress would be worth many armies to us. Some regiments of +irregular horse, which are by far the most picturesque-looking troops we +have, wear a light gray woollen blouse with simple curb chains on the +shoulders to protect them from sword-cuts. This we believe to be the most +suitable garment at present in use. Mr. Galton says that "during the +progress of expeditions notes have been made of the number in them of +those who have provided themselves with flannel, and of those who have +not, and the list of sick always included names from the latter list in a +very great proportion." With a host of such facts, well known to all who +have paid attention to the subject, it seems surprising that the military +authorities should have adopted a linen blouse for the troops in India. +This material is perhaps the best conductor of all the fabrics used in +dress; its unsuitableness therefore for a climate which is alternately +hot, cold, and wet, may easily be imagined. The neck and spine should be +guarded against the assaults of the sun almost as carefully as the head. +In all ages Easterns have been mindful to protect the great nervous +highway. The Arabs invariably bring one of the ends of the turban down +over the neck, and the French have adopted the same plan in Algeria. As +regards the spine, every one has experienced the sense of sickness which +is produced when the back is brought close to a strong fire. Such a fire +the poor soldier often endures for hours when marching under an Indian +sun. Sun-strokes arise as much from this cause as from the exposure of the +head. The Arab has a long tasselled loop of cloth hanging down in the +small of the back, which acts as a piece of solar armour: the English +soldier should have a similar protection, unless we are to consider that +his black knapsack and his neatly rolled great-coat are all that is +required. A belt of flannel should by no means be forgotten. The direct +rays of the sun striking upon the expanse of nerves over the abdomen often +bring on cholera or dysentery. The soldier should have, in addition, a +loose woollen wrapper to serve as a change when campaigning. The value of +dry clothes when he lies down on the bare ground after a fatiguing march +is not to be overrated. "The skin's debility is malaria's opportunity," +justly remarks Mr. Jeffreys. "The germs of fever, dysentery, and cholera, +stalking over the bodies of a sleeping army, which has been exposed to the +sun by day, quickly scent out the enfeebled skins and divide the prey!" + +The colour of the dress is important. Dr. Coulier, who has lately +investigated the qualities of different materials as clothing for troops, +found that white cotton placed over a cloth dress produced a fall of 7 +degrees per cent. in heat. When the tube of a thermometer was covered with +cotton sheeting and placed in the sun, it marked 35·1, with cotton lining +35·5, with unbleached linen 39·6, with dark blue cloth 42, with red cloth +42. From these experiments it will be seen that the staring red of our +uniforms absorbs no less than seven degrees more of heat than simple +cotton. As we have to guard against the cold of night, and the damp of the +rainy season, perhaps the best method of meeting the varied conditions of +heat, moisture, and cold would be to give the soldier a simple woollen +blouse of some neutral colour, which, while it did not absorb the sun's +rays, would yet be pleasing to the eye. Gray, faced with red, or girdled +with a red sash or belt, would have an excellent effect, and would answer +admirably. + +It is singular that whilst our troops at home, for the last twenty years +within the immediate influence of a growing sanitary science, have +profited little by its teaching, the troops quartered abroad within the +same time have experienced a marked decline in their annual rate of +mortality. In the year 1835 Lord Howick caused a parliamentary inquiry to +be made into the causes of the fearful mortality among the troops on some +of the foreign stations, especially in the West Indian islands. The +returns proved even worse than had been anticipated. The mortality in +Jamaica was no less than 128 per thousand, or, in other words, every +eighth man who stepped on board a transport for service in this beautiful +island was doomed to leave his body for the land crabs. In the other +islands the mortality was somewhat less, the deaths being 81 in the +thousand. The reason of this decimation had long been known. More than +fifty years ago Robert Jackson had pointed out the deadly nature of our +military posts, situated for the most part at the embouchures of rivers +and in low harbours, or placed in the immediate neighbourhood of +pestiferous swamps. Salt pork and rum were called in to finish the work +malaria had commenced. Five days a-week were our soldiers rationed upon +this poisonous food; and, to make the injustice more glaring, the convicts +upon the island were fed with fresh meat, and were consequently in good +health. In 1843 Sir Charles Metcalfe determined that the troops should no +longer perish. He altered their diet and removed them entirely from the +marshy plains to Maroon Town, which stands at an elevation of not more +than 2,500 feet on the Blue Mountains, but sufficient to lift European +life above the level of the deadly fevers of the climate. The effect of +these changes exactly corresponded with what had been foretold by Jackson; +the mortality speedily fell from 128 to 60 per thousand, and is now +reduced to 32. Thus for many generations the mortality of white troops in +Jamaica was fourfold what it should have been, through ignorance and +extravagance; for, strange to say, the difference between the cost of the +poisonous salt pork and the healthy fresh meat caused a saving to the +Government of 80,000_l._ a-year. + +In other colonies the improvement in the health of the troops has been +marked of late years. At Ceylon, where resort has been had to +hill-stations, the mortality has decreased from 74 per thousand,--at which +ratio it stood until 1836,--to 38 per thousand at the present time. During +the same period, we find that at St. Helena the rate has fallen from 25 to +12, at Gibraltar from 22 to 12, at the Ionian islands from 27 to 17, and +at Newfoundland from 37 to 11 per thousand. From this gratifying statement +we must except the greatest dependency of all,--our Indian Empire. In +Bengal the mortality of the British soldier, just before the mutiny, was +even greater than it had been twenty years before. On the average of +nineteen years previous to 1836, it had been 75 per thousand; on the +average of the next period of eighteen years, it was 76 per thousand. In +Bombay, the mortality has decreased 2 per thousand; but in Madras the +improvement has been such that the deaths have fallen from 76 to 41 per +thousand. Whilst India remained in the hands of the East India Company, +and the British troops stationed there seldom exceeded 25,000, the high +mortality of the presidency of Bengal might have escaped observation; but +now that the European soldiers are more than doubled, the necessity for +putting their sanitary condition upon a proper footing must be obvious. +"Colonel Tulloch has informed me," says Mr. Martin, in his admirable work +on the Influence of Tropical Climates on the European Constitution, "that +between 1815 and 1855 there died, of European soldiers belonging to her +Majesty's and the East India Company's army in India, very nearly 100,000 +men, the greater portion of whose lives might have been saved, had better +localities been selected for military occupation in that country." +Estimating the value of each soldier in India at 100_l._, this would give +a sum of 10,000,000_l._ + +The barracks and cantonments of India, as regard vastness and solidity, +are, perhaps, not to be equalled by any in the world. The military +buildings of Burhampore, in Bengal, are said to have cost, during the +seventy-seven years they were in existence, including capital and +interest, 16,891,206_l._; yet this costly station, like that of +Secunderabad, in the Madras presidency, was planted in an absolutely +pestiferous locality. All over India the localities of the barracks are +bad, and their construction and arrangement extremely faulty. "Nearly the +whole station of Cawnpore," says Mr. Jeffreys, "running some miles along +the river, was so cut up into small 'compounds,' by high mud walls, that a +bird's-eye view would have given it the appearance of a divided +honey-comb. These walls, with the profusion of trees they enclosed, seemed +as if designed to cut off every current of wind from the inhabitants of +the ground-floor dwellings hidden within them." In another case, as if to +make stagnation doubly secure, he mentions that there is a square wall +within a square wall, surrounding a cantonment. Hence we can easily +account for the fearful mortality among European troops in India. As if to +make patent to us the folly we commit in constructing these vast +bakehouses, the native troops, who hut themselves outside our lines, and +thus get plenty of air, present the unique example of a soldiery whose +mortality is below that of the population from which it is recruited. In +the Bengal presidency the mutiny has cleared away the difficulty; for it +has swept the mass of these pestilential cantonments from the face of the +earth. The question, how shall we profit by the loss? is answered by Mr. +Martin in his "Suggestions for promoting the Health and Efficiency of the +British Troops serving in the East Indies." He insists that we must +station our troops, in future, upon the hills, but not on such stations as +we have on the Himalaya and Neilgherry mountains,--positions of 7,000 feet +above the sea; for, although they are a security against the fevers of the +country, they are apt to induce bowel complaints, which are almost as +fatal. His opinion is, that elevations of from 2,800 to 6,000 feet would +yield a climate most congenial for European troops,--such, in fact, as we +have already found in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. He especially draws +attention to the solitary hills,--"those islands of the plains,"--as +capable of affording a refuge from the fevers that inundate the low-lying +ground. Here the mass of the British army may be lodged until their +services are needed. From these eyries, like the Romans of old, they may +watch the champaign country, and be ready, at a moment's notice, to move +on any threatened position. There is no intention of recommending the +abandonment of strategical points, or large cities which serve as +arsenals, simply because they are not wholesome. There are dangers to be +braved in peace as well as in war. Yet our experience of the heroic +qualities of the British soldier justifies the assumption that small +bodies of them, placed in strongly fortified positions, could hold out +against all comers until succour should arrive from the hill-stations, +especially now India is being traversed by railroads and telegraphs. But +even these stations are not sufficient to restore patients suffering under +chronic disease. These, if possible, should at once be sent home. The sick +officer is invalided, and speedily recovers in the air of his native land; +the common soldier, on the contrary, is forced to enter the hospital,--too +often to die. The men, moreover, should be recruited for a shorter time. +At present they practically serve seventeen years in India,--a period +which breaks down the constitutions of the majority. It is the exposure to +heat for a great length of time, and not its intensity for a short period, +that destroys European life. If we entrap the ignorant labourer by the +most unworthy artifices,[31] we should, at least, be merciful to him. Let +the term of service be reduced to ten years, and then the stream of +stalwart Britons, fresh from the mother-country, would enable us, in +conjunction with hill-stations, to keep a powerful and resistless grasp +upon the country. + +It may well be imagined that, if the sanitary condition of our army is so +bad in times of peace, its sufferings in war must be greatly exaggerated. +The experience of the Peninsula, Walcheren, Burmah, and Sebastopol, has +unfailingly proved this to be the case, and, in manifold instances, the +evils were such as could have been avoided with ease. + + "The barracks and the military hospital," says Miss Nightingale, + "exist at home and in the colonies as tests of our sanitary condition + in peace; and the histories of the Peninsular war, of Walcheren, and + of the late Crimean expedition, exist as tests of our sanitary + condition in the state of war. We have much more information on the + sanitary history of the Crimean campaign than we have of any other. It + is a complete example--history does not afford its equal--of an army, + after a great disaster arising from its neglects, having been brought + into the highest state of health and efficiency. It is the whole + experiment on a colossal scale. In all other examples the last step + has been wanting to complete the solution of the problem. We had in + the first seven months of the Crimean campaign a mortality among the + troops at the rate of 60 per cent. per annum from disease alone--a + rate of mortality which exceeds that of the great plague in the + population of London, and a higher ratio than the mortality in cholera + to the attacks; that is to say, that there died out of the army of the + Crimea an annual rate greater than ordinarily die in time of + pestilence out of sick. We had during the last six months of the war a + mortality among our _sick_ not much more than among our _healthy_ + Guards at home, and a mortality among our troops in the last five + months _two-thirds only of what it is among our troops at home_." + +This splendid testimony to the value of sanitary science, exhibited on the +largest scale, on an apparently hopeless field, is without appeal. The +Commissioners propose a medical officer of health for the army,[32] second +in rank to the principal medical officer, and attached to the +quartermaster-general in the field. This officer, says the Report, should +be the head of the sanitary police of the army, should be answerable for +all the measures to be adopted for the prevention of disease, and should +report to the quartermaster-general, and to the principal medical officer. +In order to prevent any evasion of responsibility, they further recommend +that the sanitary officer shall give his advice in writing, and that the +disregard of it on strategical grounds shall be equally recorded by the +officer in command. Having thus provided for the army in the field, the +Commissioners propose that there shall be associated with the Medical +Director-General of the Army a sanitary, statistical, and medical +colleague. Each of these officers would be at the head of a distinct +department--the sanitary officer taking cognizance of all questions of +food, dress, diet, exercise, and lodging for the soldier; the statistical +department gathering together those invaluable details relative to the +health of the army, for the want of which the British troops have so long +suffered a mortality out of all proportion to the civil community; while +the medical department would serve as a connecting link between civil and +military medicine, keeping the latter up to the last word of science, as +spoken by the great medical authorities in all countries. Some of these +suggestions will require deep consideration before they are adopted. +Nothing, at any rate, must be permitted to fetter the absolute power of +the commander in the field, who must have a real as well as a nominal +freedom. But every precaution which can guard the health of the soldier +without cramping the discretion of the general is demanded alike by +humanity and policy. What was so powerfully said in the last century has +remained in a great degree true in our own. "The life of a modern soldier +is ill-represented by heroic fiction. War has means of destruction more +formidable than the cannon and the sword. Of the thousands and ten +thousands that perished in our late contests with France and Spain, a very +small part ever felt the stroke of an enemy; the rest languished in tents +and ships, amidst damps and putrefaction; pale, torpid, spiritless and +helpless; gasping and groaning unpitied among men, made obdurate by long +continuance of hopeless misery; and were at last whelmed in pits or heaved +into the ocean, without notice or remembrance. By incommodious encampments +and unwholesome stations, where courage is useless and enterprise +impracticable, fleets are silently dispeopled, and armies sluggishly +melted away." + + + + +THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. + + +If a needle turning upon a pivot were fixed at York, and if, by a wire +placed in close proximity to it, the needle could be made to move to the +right or to the left through the agency of a power applied at the other +end of the wire in London, and if it were agreed that one motion of the +needle to the left should signify _a_, and one to the right _b_, &c.,[33] +we should have just such a contrivance as the common needle telegraph now +in use. + +Such is the dry statement of a problem the more detailed working of which +we are about to explain to the reader. + +When a schoolboy places a sixpence and a piece of zinc in juxta-position +with each other in his mouth, he immediately perceives a singular taste, +which as instantly disappears upon their separation; it is an experiment +which most of us have performed, wondered at for a moment, and then +forgotten. How little did we ever dream that in so doing we were calling +into life one of the most subtle, active, and universal agents in +nature--a spirit like Ariel to carry our thoughts with the speed of +thought to the uttermost ends of the earth--a workman more delicate of +hand than the Florentine Cellini, and more resistless in force than the +Titans of old! + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.] + +If now we place a piece of zinc, Z, and of copper, C, in a glass of +acidulated water, instead of in the saliva of the mouth, and if we then +attach to the piece of zinc the wire D K, and to the piece of copper the +wire B A, and approximate the two ends, A K, until they touch, we shall +have the philosophic expression of the contrivance of the boy--a +decomposition of the water will immediately take place, and either as its +cause or consequence--for scientific men have not yet decided which--an +electric current will flow in a continued stream from the zinc plate or +positive pole to the copper plate or negative pole of the battery, and +this action, provided the plates are kept clean and the acidulated water +is supplied, will go on as long as the materials last. If this little +instrument, which generates a very small amount of electric force, is +combined with others, as in figure 2,--the zinc plate of one cell being +connected with the copper plate of the next by a piece of wire--we shall +have the celebrated battery invented by Volta in 1800, in which the +accumulated current, after flowing from one cell into another, by means of +the little hoops of wire, is transmitted along the large hoop, D K A B, +from the one pole of the battery to the other. Within the narrow chambers +of some such battery (which may be made of any number of cells, according +to the force required), the motive power is generated by which the +electric telegraph is worked, and the large hoop by which its two poles +are connected represents the telegraphic wire we see running beside the +railroad, whose office is to form a conducting pipe for the conveyance of +the electricity. Different substances possess this property in various +degrees; some, such as dry paper, not permitting the passage of the +electric fluid to any sensible extent; and others transmitting it with +great freedom. Of all known bodies, the metals are the most perfect +conductors, and copper is in this respect superior to iron; but the +latter, being cheaper and more durable, is commonly employed in the +construction of the telegraph. Thus we have two of the indispensable +requisites--a constant force and a channel which conveys it from place to +place. + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.] + +There was yet a third thing necessary--some contrivance by which the force +could be made instrumental in forming signs or characters at its destined +goal; and this final condition was supplied by Oersted's discovery in +1819, that a _magnetic_ needle is deflected by the passage of a circuit of +electricity through a wire parallel and in close neighbourhood to it. The +following cut will explain our meaning:--When the fluid passes from the U +pole of the battery in the direction of B A K L M Z, and enters V, its +opposite pole, "a current," as it is called, is completed, running from +left to right, the effect of which upon the needle, N, is to deflect it in +the direction of the dotted line (seen in perspective) 2, 3, or to an +angle of 90 degrees, with the wire, if the current is sufficiently strong. +If, however, the current be reversed, and the electric fluid made to +traverse the wire from right to left, in the direction of the letters V Z +M L K A B to the U end of the battery, the needle will immediately reverse +its position and place itself at 90 degrees in the opposite direction. +This then is the whole principle and mystery of the needle telegraph, the +one still most extensively used in this country. The break that occurs +between the letters B U and Z V is intended to show the method in which +the needle is made to work. "Whilst the wires are thus apart the circuit +is broken," or the fluid no longer passes along the wire, but immediately +they are approximated the circulation again commences, and the needle +"answers the helm." By the opening and closing, then, of this small space, +which is effected by a lever, the needle is made to oscillate at will. + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.] + +The mere fact, however, of an electric current passing along a wire in +proximity to a magnetic needle was not sufficient to enable any person to +construct a telegraph. Would the needle be deflected by a wire, the +battery of which was placed at any considerable distance? it would not; +therefore, for all telegraphic purposes Oersted's discovery was worthless. +Schweigger, however, soon after ascertained that by passing a great number +of times round the needle a wire, thoroughly insulated by a "serving" of +silk thread, as shown in figure 4, the deflecting powers of the currant +were _multiplied_, and the sensibility of the instrument marvellously +increased. + +[Illustration: Fig. 5.] + +In the same year that Oersted made his brilliant discovery, M. Arago +detected another law, which furnished a second method by which the +electric current could be made to tell its tale. He announced to the +French Academy the fact so pregnant in its consequences, that the fluid +possessed the power of imparting magnetism to steel or iron; and shortly +afterwards our own countryman, Sturgeon, invented the first +electro-magnet, by coiling around a piece of soft iron a great length of +fine insulated copper wire, the ends of which communicated with a battery. +Figure 5 will give a rough idea of this instrument. The wire U B A, when +it reaches the cylinder K L, is wound many times round it, and returns to +the battery at V. As long as the current is passing, the soft iron becomes +a magnet and attracts the iron armature P; but directly the circuit is +broken its magnetic power ceases, and P, by the action of a spring, flies +back. It will at once be seen that by alternately making and breaking the +circuit, which can be done as fast as the hand can move the handle of a +lever, an up and down movement of the armature P will take place, and this +is the principle of action in Wheatstone's electro-magnetic dial +instrument and Morse's recording telegraph, so extensively used in +America. The general _modus operandi_ of the latter, which is a +contrivance of singular merit and efficiency, can be easily understood. At +the station at which the message is received, a poised iron lever has a +metal pin on its upper surface at one end, and an armature on its under +surface at the other end. When the magnet, which is placed beneath the +armature, attracts and draws it down, the pin at the opposite extremity is +raised, and presses against a strip of paper, which is moved between the +metal point, and a roller supported above it, at a uniform rate by means +of clock-work. The pin or style will then make a simple dot, or trace +lines of variable length upon the paper, according as the electric current +is kept up only for a single instant, or for a longer period. "The +impressions on the paper," says Dr. Turnbull, "resemble the raised +printing for the blind." Out of these dots and lines an alphabet is formed +similar to that which we have given in a subsequent page, when speaking of +the chemical telegraph at Bain. The instrument of Morse requires only a +single wire to work it, and is, says the Abbé Moigno, "an excellent +telegraph, very simple, very efficacious, and very rapid in its +transmissions. A practised clerk can indent on an average seventeen words +a minute, which is consequently as many as a skilful writer could +transcribe with a pen. It is, moreover, a great advantage to have fixed on +a band of paper the messages which the needle telegraphs merely figure in +the air." + +Since the year 1821 the principles of action of two of the working +telegraphs of the present day were known to scientific men, and the +question naturally arises, how was it that it still took so many years to +make the telegraph a working fact? The answer is, that the combination of +circumstances necessary to bring it to perfection had not arisen. What +interest had practical men in carrying out the dreams of philosophers? No +one imagined that it would ever become a necessary social engine, or that +it would pay "seven per cent." to a public Company. The patronage of the +Government could alone have been looked to by any of the proposers of the +new method of telegraphy, and the sort of encouragement received from this +quarter may be judged from the fact that when Mr. Ronalds attempted to +draw the attention of some of the officials to the working of his +instrument, they did not even deign to pay it a visit, but returned for +answer, "That the telegraph was of no use in time of peace, and that the +semaphore in time of war answered all the required purposes." The occasion +that suddenly ripened the invention and brought it into practical +operation was the introduction of railroads. Were it not for the universal +spread of this new means of locomotion, the telegraph might still have +remained in that limbo from which so many discoveries have never emerged. +The vast advantage to a railroad of a method of conveying signals +instantaneously throughout its entire length was at once seen, and the +continuity of its property, together with the protection afforded by its +servants, presented facilities for its introduction and maintenance which +had never before occurred. + +A problem of great scientific interest as well as of practical importance +in connection with the electric telegraph had still to be solved. The +experiments of Dr. Watson on Shooter's Hill, in the middle of the last +century, proved, it is true, that _a shock of electricity_ passed along a +four mile circuit without any appreciable loss of time, but nothing was +definitely known about the speed at which it really travelled. This +difficult question was answered by Professor Wheatstone. His beautiful +investigations on the subject were made by means of a very rapidly +revolving mirror, upon which the passage of the electric fluid, at +different and distant parts of a severed wire, was indicated by sparks, +which appeared as lines of light on the rapidly turning glass, on the same +principle that a bit of lighted charcoal whirled round and round in the +air appears as a circle of fire. By this instrument, which we cannot +render intelligible to the general reader, but for a fuller account of +which we refer him to the Philosophical Transactions of 1834, he made it +evident to the eye that one spark or leap of the electric fluid did occur +before the other--thus proving that its transit along the wire _was_ a +matter of time. The manner in which he took measure of this infinitesimal +period was extremely ingenious. By attaching a hollow piece of metal--a +metallic humming-top as it were--to the spindle of his revolving mirror, +and at the same time directing a current of air against it, he was enabled +to test its speed by the pitch of the sound produced: this once known, the +measuring of time that elapsed between the different sparks was easy. Thus +he forced the lightning to tell how fast it was going. His +admirably-contrived apparatus has since proved of considerable use to +philosophers in measuring very minute parts of time, and scientific men +can now with the greatest ease ascertain the period a flash of light takes +to traverse a distance of 50 feet--and light, be it remembered, travels at +the speed of 200,000 miles a second! + +By this experiment it appeared that electricity travels through a +copper-wire with at least the velocity of light through the celestial +space, though the recent experiments made for Professor Bache, director of +the national survey of America, have proved that the velocity of the +current through suspended _iron_ wires is not more than 15,400 miles per +second. The philosophic proof of the marvellous rate at which the electric +current moved, doubtless turned many minds once more in the direction of +the long sought for telegraph, and it is not surprising that the eminent +elucidator of the fact was among the number. A short time after this he +insulated four miles of wire in the vaults of King's College, on which he +performed most of his subsequent experiments.[34] Thus in the silence of +these gloomy vaults, as early as 1836, the lightning that was to flash +with intelligence round the world--the nervous system so shortly destined +to spread itself through two hemispheres, string together continents and +islands, and carry human thought under the wide-spreading seas, was slowly +being trained to the service of man by one of the most distinguished of +the many philosophers who have contributed to the development of this +branch of science. + +Following up his experiment, Professor Wheatstone worked out the +arrangements of his telegraph, and having associated himself in 1837 with +Mr. Cooke, who had previously devoted much time to the same subject, a +patent was taken out in the June of that year in their joint names. Their +telegraph had five wires and five needles; the latter being worked upon +the face of a lozenge-shaped dial inscribed with the letters of the +alphabet, any one of which could be indicated by the convergence of two of +the needles. This very ingenious instrument could be manipulated by any +person who knew how to read, and did not labour under the disadvantage of +working by a code which required time to be understood. Immediately upon +the taking out of the patent, the directors of the North Western Railway +sanctioned the laying down of wires between the Euston Square and Camden +Town stations, and towards the end of July the telegraph was ready to +work. + +Late in the evening of the 25th of that month, in a dingy little room near +the booking-office at Euston square, by the light of a flaring dip-candle, +which only illuminated the surrounding darkness, sat the inventor, with a +beating pulse and a heart full of hope. In an equally small room at the +Camden Town station, where the wires terminated, sat Mr. Cooke, his +co-patentee, and among others, two witnesses well known to fame, Mr. +Charles Fox and Mr. Stephenson. These gentlemen listened to the first word +spelt by that trembling tongue of steel which will only cease to discourse +with the extinction of man himself. Mr. Cooke in his turn touched the keys +and returned the answer. "Never did I feel such a tumultuous sensation +before," said the Professor, "as when all alone in the still room I heard +the needles click, and as I spelled the words I felt all the magnitude of +the invention, now proved to be practical beyond cavil or dispute." The +telegraph thenceforward, as far as its mechanism was concerned, went on +without a check, and the modifications of this instrument, which is still +in use, have been made for the purpose of rendering it more economical in +its construction and working, two wires at present being employed, and in +some cases only one. + +A frequently renewed and still unsettled controversy has arisen upon the +point of who is to be considered the first contriver of the telegraph in +the form which made it available for popular use. Two names alone are now +put forward to dispute the claim with Wheatstone--Steinheil of Munich and +Morse of New York. + +From a communication of M. Arago to the French Academy of Sciences, it +appears that the telegraph of Steinheil was in operation, for a distance +of seven miles, on the 19th of July, 1837, the same month in which +Wheatstone put his own contrivance to the test upon the North Western +Railway. But besides that the patent of Wheatstone was taken out in the +preceding June, and was itself founded upon previous and thoroughly +successful experiments, there is another material circumstance which gives +him a claim to priority over Steinheil, viz., that the latter published no +description of his instrument until August, 1838, that he altered and +improved it in the interval, and that the only accounts we have of his +contrivance describe its amended and not its original form. It was, +however, a very meritorious performance, and, in addition to its other +excellences, Steinheil was the first who employed the earth to complete +the circuit--a most important fact, which we shall explain hereafter. +Still his telegraph was inferior in its mechanical arrangements to that of +Wheatstone, and the inventor himself soon abandoned it in favour of a +modification of the instrument of Morse. + +Morse dates his claim to _the invention of the telegraph_ from the year +1832, when the first idea of such an instrument, he tells us, struck him +as he was returning home from Havre in the ship Sully. A fellow-passenger, +Professor Jackson, it appears, was in the habit of amusing himself, in +common with the rest of the passengers, with some accounts of the wonders +of electricity; and when Morse later developed his contrivance, Professor +Jackson not only claimed it as a plagiarism from his own conversation, but +added that Morse was so ignorant as to ask, upon hearing the term +Electro-Magnetism, "In what does that differ from ordinary Magnetism?" The +telegraph was at best, on the part of both of them, a crude idea; and it +was not till September, 1837, that Professor Morse was able to exhibit his +still imperfect machinery in action. He ultimately succeeded, as we have +before stated, in producing a telegraph of first-rate excellence; and, out +of 15,000 miles of wire which had been erected by 1852 in the United +States, 12,124 were worked on the system of Morse. + +The question of priority is, in our opinion, after all, of no sort of +importance, at least as regards the rival claims of Wheatstone and +Steinheil. When the progress of science has prepared the way for a great +discovery, two geniuses will occasionally take the step together, because +each is able to take the step of a giant. It was thus that the Calculus +was found out by both Newton and Leibnitz, and the place of Neptune in the +heavens by both Adams and Leverrier. It was the same with the telegraph. +The investigations of Wheatstone and Steinheil were entirely independent +of each other, and it cannot lessen the merit of either that there was a +second man in Europe who was equal to the task. + +There are some who dispute Professor Wheatstone's claim, by urging that, +inasmuch as all the main features of the telegraph existed before he took +out his patent, there was nothing left to invent. It is true that much had +been done, but it is equally certain that there was much to do. When +Wheatstone first directed his attention to electricity as a means of +communicating thoughts to a distance, the telegraph was a useless and +inoperative machine. He and his partner established as a working, paying +fact, what had hitherto been little better than a philosophic toy. To +those who now disparage the Professor's labours we think it sufficient to +reply by the admirable saying of the French _savant_, M. Biot, "Nothing is +so easy as the discovery of yesterday; nothing so difficult as the +discovery of to-day." + +Let us return, however, to the history of the telegraph in England, from +which we have digressed. After the successful working of the +mile-and-a-quarter line, the Directors of the London and Birmingham +Railway proposed to lay it down to the latter town if the Birmingham and +Liverpool Directors would continue it on their line; but they objected, +and the telegraph received notice to quit the ground it already occupied. +Of course, its sudden disappearance would have branded it as a failure in +most men's minds, and, in all probability, the telegraph would have been +put back many years, had not Mr. Brunel, to his honour, in 1839, +determined to adopt it on the Great Western line. It was accordingly +carried at first as far as West Drayton, thirteen miles, and afterwards to +Slough, a distance of eighteen miles. The wires were not at this early +date suspended upon posts, but insulated and encased in an iron tube, +which was placed beneath the ground. + +The telegraph hitherto had been strictly confined to railway business, and +in furtherance of this object Brunel proposed to continue it to Bristol as +soon as the line was opened. Here, again, the folly and blindness of +railway proprietors threw obstacles in the way, which led, however, to an +unlooked-for application of its powers to public purposes. At a general +meeting of the proprietors of the Great Western Railway in Bristol, a Mr. +Hayward, of Manchester, got up and denounced the invention as a +"new-fangled scheme," and managed to pass a resolution repudiating the +agreement entered into with the patentees. Thus within a few years we find +the telegraph rejected by two of the most powerful railway companies, the +persons above all others who ought to have welcomed it with acclamation. + +To keep the wires on the ground, Mr. Cooke proposed to maintain it at his +own expense, and was permitted by the directors to do so on condition of +sending their railway signals free of charge, and of extending the line to +Slough. In return, he was allowed to transmit the messages of the public. +Here commences the first popular use of the telegraph in England, or in +any other country. The tariff was one shilling per message. The effect of +this low charge was to develop a class of business which seems beneath the +notice of the powerful company now in possession of most of the +telegraphic lines in the kingdom. The transactions of the retail dealers +are considered too petty, perhaps, for their attention; but there can be +no doubt that the comfort of the public would be vastly increased, and +also the revenues of the company, if they would only condescend to take a +lesson by the commercial experience of this shilling tariff, the working +of which we will illustrate by transcribing from the telegraph book at +Paddington a few specimens of the messages sent:-- + + "Commercial News. 1844, Nov. 1, Slough, 4.10 P.M.--'Send a messenger + to Mr. Harris, poulterer, Duke-street, Manchester-square, and order + him to send twelve more chickens to Mr. Finch, High-street, Windsor, + by the 5.0 P.M. down train, without fail.' Answer: Paddington, 5.5 + P.M.--'The chickens are sent by the 5.0 P.M. train.' + + "Slough, 7.35 P.M.--'A Mr. Thomas B., a first-class passenger, 6.30 + P.M. train, left a blue cloak with a velvet collar in first-class + booking-office. Send it by mail train if found.' + + "Paddington 7.45 P.M.--'There are two such cloaks in the + booking-office: has Mr. B.'s any mark on any part of it?' Slough, 7.47 + P.M.--'Mr. B.'s has the mark × under the collar, inside.' + + "Paddington, 7.55 P.M.--'Cloak found, and will be sent on as + requested.' + + "Slough, Nov. 11, 1844, 4.3 P.M.--'Send a messenger to Mr. Harris, + Duke-street, Manchester-square, and request him to send 6 lbs. of + white bait and 4 lbs. of sausages, by the 5.40 train, to Mr. Finch, of + Windsor they must be sent by 5.30 down train, or not at all.' + + "Paddington, 5.27 P.M.--'Messenger returned with articles which will + be sent by 5.30 train, as requested.'" + +The first application of the telegraph to police purposes took place about +this time on the Great Western Railway, and, as it was the first +intimation thieves got of the electric constable being on duty, it is full +of interest. The following extracts are from the telegraph book kept at +the Paddington station:-- + + "Eaton Montem day, August 28, 1844.--The Commissioners of Police have + issued orders that several officers of the detective force shall be + stationed at Paddington to watch the movements of suspicious persons, + going by the down-train, and give notice by the electric telegraph to + the Slough station of the number of such suspected persons, and dress, + their names if known, also the carriages in which they are." + +Now come the messages following one after the other, and influencing the +fate of the marked individuals with all the celerity, certainty, and +calmness of the Nemesis of the Greek drama:-- + + "Paddington, 10.20 A.M.--'Mail train just started. It contains three + thieves, named Sparrow, Burrell, and Spurgeon, in the first + compartment of the fourth first-class carriage.' + + "Slough, 10.48 A.M.--'Mail train arrived. _The officers have cautioned + the three thieves._' + + "Paddington, 10.50 A.M.--'Special train just left. It contained two + thieves: one named Oliver Martin, who is dressed in black, _crape on + his hat_; the other named Fiddler Dick, in black trowsers and light + blouse. Both in the third compartment of the first second-class + carriage.' + + "Slough, 11.16 A.M.--'Special train arrived. Officers have taken the + two thieves into custody, a lady having lost her bag, containing a + purse with two sovereigns and some silver in it; one of the sovereigns + was sworn to by the lady as having been her property. It was found in + Fiddler Dick's watch-fob.'" + +It appears that, on the arrival of the train, a policeman opened the door +of the "third compartment of the first second-class carriage" and asked +the passengers if they had missed anything? A search in pockets and bags +accordingly ensued, until one lady called out that her purse was gone. +"Fiddler Dick, you are wanted," was the immediate demand of the +police-officer, beckoning to the culprit, who came out of the carriage +thunderstruck at the discovery, and gave himself up, together with the +booty, with the air of a completely beaten man. The effect of the capture +so cleverly brought about is thus spoken of in the telegraph book:-- + + "Slough, 11.51 A.M.--'Several of the suspected persons who came by the + various down-trains are lurking about Slough, uttering bitter + invectives against the telegraph. Not one of those cautioned has + ventured to proceed to the Montem.'" + +Ever after this the lightfingered gentry avoided the railway and the _too_ +intelligent companion that ran beside it, and betook themselves again to +the road--a retrograde step, to which on all great public occasions they +continue to adhere. + +The telegraph, even up to this period, was very little known to the great +mass of the public, and might have continued for some time longer in +obscurity but for its remarkable agency in causing the arrest of the +quaker Tawell. This event, which took place on the afternoon of Friday, +January 3rd, 1845, placed it before the world as a prominent instrument in +a terrible drama, and at once drew universal attention to its +capabilities. + +It must not be imagined, however, that Mr. Wheatstone's was the only +patent taken out for a telegraph in the year 1837. A number of inquiring +minds were simultaneously with the Professor wandering in the tangled wood +of doubt, and when he burst his way through, others speedily emerged at +different points, one after another. Consequently, the year 1837 was +distinguished by a complete crop of telegraphs, any one of which would +perhaps have held its ground had it stood alone, but not one of them was +practically equal to the first, and they have all long since departed to +the tomb, already stored with the abortive results of so many merely +ingenious minds. + +The rapidity with which the needle instrument transmits messages, the +small amount of electricity required to work it, and the simplicity of its +construction, are its chief recommendations. Upwards of 200 letters can be +forwarded by it within the minute. Its great drawback--a drawback that +will appear greater every year--is that it can only be worked by a system +of signs, which requires some practice to understand. As long as the +public is content to send its messages open to the light of day, this plan +will hold its ground, as a practised manipulator can indicate the letters +as fast as it is possible to read, much less transcribe them, at the other +end of the wire; but immediately that the public come to demand +secrecy--to put a seal as of old on its letters--this telegraph will, we +predict, fall into _public_ disuse; and the revolving dial telegraph, +invented by Mr. Wheatstone, in 1840, or the recording telegraph of Bain or +Morse, or, more likely still, the American printing telegraph of House, +will come into play. + +This latter instrument appears to contain within itself capabilities of +very high excellence; for instance, it requires no one to interpret, and +then to re-write its messages--this it does itself. In fact it extends the +compositor's fingers as far as the wire can be stretched. Messages are +thus printed at the rate of fifty letters a minute, say at five hundred +miles distance, in common Roman characters, on long slips of paper similar +to those used on the recording instrument. Any description of its +complicated mechanism would be utterly unintelligible to general readers. +"While the arrangements of the telegraph of Morse," said Mr. Justice +Woodbury, of America, in giving judgment in a patent case, "can be readily +understood by most mechanics and men of science, it requires days, if not +weeks with some, thoroughly to comprehend all the parts and movements of +the telegraph of House." His system is in use for thousands of miles of +the American lines. Bakewell's copying telegraph is naturally suggested by +the telegraph of House, from the fact that it reproduces its messages, +although in a different manner. The sender of the message may be said to +write with a pen long enough to stretch to the most distant correspondent; +that is, he not only forwards instantaneously the substance of a message, +but it is conveyed in his own handwriting. The principle is similar to +that of Davy's chemical recording telegraph. The person sending the +message writes it on a piece of tin foil with a pen dipped in varnish or +any other non-conducting substance; this message is then placed round a +metal cylinder, which is made to revolve at a certain regulated pace. In +contact with this cylinder is a blunt steel point, which, by the action of +a screw, makes a spiral line from the top to the bottom of the cylinder, +thus touching every portion of the written message enveloping it. In +connection with the steel point is the conducting wire, and at the end of +the wire is a similar steel point working spirally upon a like cylinder. +It will be at once seen that the current will always be transmitted, +except at those portions of the tin foil which are covered with the +non-conducting varnish, and which, therefore, cut off the flow of +electricity, and the handwriting will appear at the other end of the +telegraphic wire upon a piece of chemically-prepared paper rolled upon its +cylinder, and moving synchronously with it. The transmitted letter appears +to be written in white upon a dark ground, the white parts, of course, +indicating where the current has been broken, and where, consequently, no +decomposition of the chemical paper has taken place. + +To return, however, to our subject after this little digression. At the +same time that the first working telegraph was being simplified and +improved, the system was gradually spreading, and, by the end of the year +1845, lines exceeding 500 miles in extent were in operation in England, +working Messrs. Wheatstone and Cook's patents. In the following year, +capital, as represented by the powerful Electric Telegraph Company, +commenced its operations, and an immediate and rapid development of the +new method of carrying intelligence was the result. + +"A period of eight years has elapsed," as they say in a certain class of +drama, and let us now look upon the condition of electric-telegraphy in +England. We left it exerting its influence in a disjointed manner over a +few railways, and striking out its wires here and there at random, without +governing head or organization; and how do we find it? + +Jammed in between lofty houses, at the bottom of a narrow court in +Lothbury, we see before us a stuccoed wall, ornamented with an electric +illuminated clock. Who would think that behind this narrow forehead lay +the great brain,--if we may so term it,--of the nervous system of Britain, +or that beneath the narrow pavement of the alley lies its spinal chord, +composed of hundreds of fibres, which transmit intelligence as unperceived +as does the medulla oblongata beneath the skin? Emerging from this narrow +channel, the "efferent" wires branch off beneath the different footways, +ramify in certain plexuses within the great centre of intelligence itself, +and then shoot out along the different lines of railway until the shores +of the island would seem to interpose a limit to their further progress. +Not so, however:--beneath the seas, under the heaving waves covered with +stately navies, they take their darksome way, until, with the burden of +their moving fire, they emerge once more upon the foreign strand, and +commence afresh their career over the wide expanse of the Continent. + +And now, like a curious physiologist, let us examine the various parts of +this ingeniously-constructed sensorium, and endeavour to show our readers +how in this high chamber, fashioned by human hands, thoughts circulate, +and ideas come and go. The door of the "Central Telegraph Station" leads +immediately into the Central Hall, an oblong space, open quite up to the +roof, which presents an appearance something like the Coal Exchange or the +Geological Museum, two tiers of galleries being suspended from the bare +walls, and affording communication to the different parts of the building. +If we ascend the first gallery, and lean over the balustrade, we shall get +a very clear bird's-eye view of the method in which messages are received +and transmitted. Here, man, like the watchful spider, sits centered within +his radiating web, and "lives along the line." Beneath us runs a sweep of +counter forming three sides of a quadrangle, divided into compartments of +about a square yard by green curtains. A desk and printed forms, to be +filled up, are placed in each of these isolated cells, towards which we +see individuals immediately make, and then bury themselves, being for the +time profoundly intent upon the printed form. + +We all know the jocose excuse of the correspondent for having written a +long letter--that he had not time to make it shorter. And truly it +requires some art to be laconic enough to satisfy the pocket in this +establishment. Let us watch, for instance, yonder youth: he seems to have +filled his sheet very close--now he gives it in to the receiving-clerk, +and something evidently is wrong, for he looks perplexed--it is some hitch +about the charge, for his attention is directed to the scale of prices +printed at the head of the paper. + + "Messages (not exceeding twenty words) can be sent between all the + principal towns in Great Britain at a charge of 1_s._ within a circuit + of 50 miles, of 2_s._ 6_d._ within a circuit of 100 miles + (geographical distance), and of 5_s._ beyond a circuit of 100 miles, + with an additional sum of 6_d._ porterage within half a mile of the + station." + +"Economy," says a French writer, M. de Courcy, "teaches conciseness. The +telegraphic style banishes all the forms of politeness. 'May I ask you to +do me the favour,' is 6d. for a distance of fifty miles." How many of +those fond adjectives, therefore, must our poor fellow relentlessly strike +out to bring his billet down to a reasonable charge! What food for +speculation each person affords, as he writes his hurried epistle, +dictated either by fear, or greed, or more powerful love!--for we have not +yet got into the habit of employing the telegraph, like the Americans, on +the mere every-day business of life. Every message--and of these there are +350,000 transmitted by this Company yearly for the public, and upwards of +3,500,000 for the Railways--is faithfully copied, and put by in fire-proof +safes, those sent by the recording telegraph being wound in tape-like +lengths upon a roller, and appearing exactly like discs of sarcenet +ribbon. Fancy some future Macaulay rummaging among such a store, and +painting therefrom the salient features of the social and commercial life +of England in the nineteenth century. If from the Household Book of the +Duke of Northumberland, or still later, from the Paston Letters, we can +catch such glimpses of the manners of an early age, what might not be +gathered some day in the twenty-first century from a record of the +correspondence of an entire people? + +"Softly, softly," interposes the Secretary of the Company, "we have no +such intention of gratifying posterity; for, after a certain brief period +all copies of communications are destroyed. No person unconnected with +the office is, under any consideration, allowed to have access to them, +and the servants of the Company are under a bond not to divulge 'the +secrets of the prison-house.'" Very good, as far as the present generation +is concerned; nevertheless, it is devoutly to be wished that an odd box or +two of these sarcenet ribbons, with their linear language, may escape, for +future Rawlinsons to puzzle over and decipher for the instruction of +mankind. + +Whilst we have been thus speculating, however, a dozen messages for all +parts of the kingdom have successively ascended, through the long lift +before us, to the instrument-rooms, of which there are two, situated in +the attics of the establishment, on either side of the top gallery of the +central hall; these, to carry out our anatomical simile, might be called +the two hemispheres of the establishment's cerebrum. The instruments of +one of these rooms are worked by youths, while those of the other are +manipulated by young ladies; and it seems to us as though the directors +were pitting them against each other--establishing a kind of industrial +tournament--to see which description of labourer is worthiest. As yet, +little or no difference can be detected: this, however, is in itself a +triumph for the fair sex, as it proves their capacity for a species of +employment well calculated for their habits and physical powers, and opens +another door for that superabundance of female labour of a superior kind +which has hitherto sought employment in vain. + +Click, click, go the needles on every hand as we enter. Here we see the +iron tongues of the telegraph wagging, and talking as fast as a tea-table +full of old maids. London is holding communication with Manchester. +Plymouth is listening attentively to a long story, and every now and then +intimates by a slight movement that he perfectly comprehends. But there is +one speaker whose nimble tongue seems to be saying important things by the +stir around him,--that is _the Hague_ whispering under the North Sea the +news he has heard, an hour or so ago, from Vienna of a great victory just +gained by the Turks. We are witness to a series of conversations carried +on with all corners of the island, and between the metropolis of the +world and every capital of northern and central Europe, as intimately as +though the speakers were bending their heads over the dinner-table, and +talking confidentially to the host. And by what agency is this +extraordinary conversation carried on? All that the visitor sees is a +number of little mahogany cases, very similar to those of American clocks, +each having a dial, with two lozenge-shaped needles working by pivots, +which hang, when at rest, perpendicularly upon it. Two dependant handles, +situated at the base of this instrument, which the operator grasps and +moves from side to side at his will, suffice to make and break the +currents or reverse them, and consequently to deflect the needles either +to the right or left. Two little stops of ivory are placed about half an +inch apart, on either side of the needle, to prevent its deflecting too +much, and to check all vibration. It is the sound of the iron tongue +striking against these stops that makes the clicking, and to which the +telegraphists are sensitively alive. In the early days of telegraphy, the +operator's attention, at all the stations, was drawn to the instrument by +the sudden ringing of an alarum, which was effected by the agency of an +electro-magnet; but the horrid din it occasioned became insupportable to +persons in constant attendance, and this part of the instrument was +speedily given up, the clicking of the needle being found quite sufficient +to draw his attention to the arrival or passing of a message. We say _or +passing_ of a message, because, when a communication is made, as for +instance, between London and Edinburgh, the needles of all the +telegraph-stations on the line are simultaneously deflected, but the +attendant has only to take notice of what is going on when a special +signal is made to his particular locality, informing him that _he_ is +spoken with. A story is told of a certain somnolent station clerk, who, in +order to enjoy his nap, trained his terrier to scratch and awaken him at +the first sound of the clicking needles. + +There are but two kinds of telegraph used by the company, the needle +telegraph and a few of the chemical recording telegraph of Bain. The +latter instrument strikes the spectator more, perhaps, than the +nimble-working needle apparatus, but its action is equally simple. Slits +of variable length representing letters, according to the alphabet in the +note,[35] are punched out from a long strip of paper called the +message-strip, which is placed between a revolving cylinder and a toothed +spring. The battery is connected with the cylinder; the wire, which goes +from station to station, is joined to the spring. As dry paper is a +non-conductor, no electricity passes while the unpierced portion of the +message-slip interposes between the cylinder and the tooth; but when the +tooth drops into a space, and comes in contact with the cylinder, the +current flows. If we now transfer our attention to the station at which +the message is received, we find a similar cylinder revolving at a regular +rate, and a metal pin, depending from the end of the telegraph wire, +pressing upon it; but in this case the paper between the cylinder and the +pin has been washed with a solution of prussiate of potash, which +electricity has the effect of changing to Prussian blue at the point where +the pin touches it. Therefore, as the chemically prepared paper moves +under the pin, a blue line is formed of the same length as the slits at +the other end, which regulate the duration of the electric current; and +thus every letter punched upon the message-strip is faithfully transferred +to its distant fellow. Such is the celerity with which the notation is +transmitted by this method, that "in an experiment performed by M. Le +Verrier and Dr. Lardner, before committees of the Institute and the +Legislative Assembly at Paris, despatches were sent 1,000 miles at the +rate of nearly 20,000 words an hour." In ordinary practice, however, the +speed is limited to the rate at which an expert clerk can punch out the +holes, which is not much above a hundred per minute. Where the object was +to forward long documents, such as a speech, a number of persons could be +employed simultaneously in punching out different portions of the message, +and the message-strips would then be supplied as fast as the machine could +work. + +This system is used extensively in America. A weaker current of +electricity than what is required for deflecting needles or magnetising +iron, suffices to effect the requisite chemical decomposition. The +conducting power of vapour or rain carries much of the electricity from +the wires in certain states of the atmosphere; "and in such cases, where +both Morse's and Bain's telegraphs are used by an amalgamated company in +the same office, it is found convenient to remove the wires from Morse's +instruments, and connect them with Bain's, on which it is practicable to +operate when communication by Morse's system is +interrupted."--(_Whitworth's Report_, p. 51.) + +This chemical telegraph has also the advantage, in common with all +recording instruments, that it leaves an indelible record of every message +transmitted, and therefore is very useful when the mistake of a single +figure or letter might be of consequence, which we will illustrate by a +case which happened very lately. A stockbroker in the City received, +during a very agitated state of the funds, an order to buy for a client in +a distant part of the country, by a certain time of the day, 80,000_l._ of +consols. This order being unusually large for the individual, the broker +doubted its accuracy, and immediately made inquiries at the office. The +message had luckily been sent by the recording instrument, and upon +looking at the record it was immediately seen that the order was for +8,000_l._, the transcriber having put in an 0 too much, for which, +according to the rules of the company, he was incontinently fined. Now, +here the error was immediately traced to the person who made it, and there +was no need of telegraphing back to inquire if all were right, two matters +of vital importance in such a transaction as this, involving so much +personal responsibility; for if the purchase had been made and turned out +unfortunate, the loss would indubitably have fallen upon the unhappy +sharebroker.[36] + +In all ordinary transactions, however, the needle instrument is +preferable, because it transmits its messages much more quickly. The speed +with which the attendants upon these instruments read off the signals made +by the needles is really marvellous: they do not in some cases even wait +to spell the words letter by letter, but jump at the sentence before it is +concluded; and they have learned by practice, as Sir Francis Head says in +"Stokers and Pokers," to recognize immediately who is telegraphing to +them, say at York, by the peculiar _expression of the needles_, the long +drawn wires thus forming a kind of human antennæ by which individual +peculiarities of touch are projected to an infinite distance. To catalogue +the kind of messages which pass through the room, either on their way from +London or in course of distribution to it, would be to give a history of +human affairs. Here, from the shores of this tight island, comes the +morning news gathered by watchers, telescopes in hand, on remote +headlands, of what ships have just hove in sight, or what craft have +foundered or come ashore--to this room, swifter beyond comparison than the +carrier-dove of old, the wire speeds the name of the winner of the Derby +or the Oaks. How the four winds are blowing throughout the island; how +stocks rise or fall every hour of the day in all the great towns and in +the continental capitals; what corn is at Mark Lane, and what farmer Giles +got a quarter of an hour since in a country town in Yorkshire, are equally +known in the telegraph room. Intermixed with quotations of tallow and the +price of Wall's End coals, now and then comes a love-billet, which excites +no more sympathy in the clerk than in the iron that conveys it; or a +notice that the sudden dart of death has struck some distant friend, is +transmitted and received as unconcernedly as an account of the fall in +Russian stock. When business is slack the telegraphists sometimes amuse +themselves by an interchange of badinage with their distant friends. Sir +Francis Head informs us that an absolute quarrel once took place by +telegraph, and the two irritated manipulators were obliged to be separated +in consequence. + +In addition to this private message department there is, below stairs, an +intelligence office, in which news published in the London morning papers +is condensed and forwarded to the Exchanges of Liverpool, Bristol, +Manchester, Glasgow, &c.[37] A few years since the company opened +subscription rooms in all the large towns of the north, in which +intelligence of every kind was posted immediately after its arrival in +London; but the craving for early intelligence was not sufficient to +induce the people to incur the expense, and, with the exception of the +room at Hull, the establishments have all been shut up. + +On Friday evening especially this department is very busy condensing for +the country papers the news which appears in that exciting column headed +"By Electric Telegraph, London, 2 A.M." Thus the telegraph rides express +through the night for the broadsheets of the entire kingdom, and even +steps across from Portpatrick to Donaghadee into the sister country, with +its budget of latest intelligence, by which means the extremities of the +two islands are kept as well _up_ in the progress of important events as +London itself. Upwards of 120 provincial papers each receive in this +manner their column of parliamentary news of the night; and the _Daily +Mail_, published in Glasgow, gets sometimes as much as three columns of +the debates forwarded whilst the House is sitting. A superintendent and +four clerks are expressly employed in this department; and early in the +day, towards the end of the week, the office presents all the appearance +of an editor's room. At seven in the morning the clerks are to be seen +deep in the _Times_ and other daily papers, just hot from the press, +making extracts, and condensing into short paragraphs all the most +important events, which are immediately sent off to the country papers to +form "second editions." Neither does the work cease here; for no sooner is +a second edition published in town, than its news, if of more than +ordinary interest, is transmitted to the provinces. For instance: whilst +we were in the company's telegraph room a short time since, the following +intelligence was being served out to Liverpool, York, Manchester, Leeds, +Bristol, Birmingham, and Hull:-- + + "EASTERN WAR--BATTLE ON THE DANUBE--FROM EVENING EDITION OF THE + 'MORNING CHRONICLE.' + + "_Vienna, Saturday, April 8th._ + + "The journal _Fremden Blatt_ announces, under date of Bucharest, 4th + April, that a great battle was being fought at Rassova, about midway + between Hirsova and Silistria, in the Dobrudscha. The result was not + known. Mustapha Pasha is at the head of 50,000 men." + +Arrived at the above-mentioned places, swifter than a rocket could fly the +distance, like a rocket it bursts, and is again carried by the diverging +wires into a dozen neighbouring towns. The announcement we have quoted +comes opportunely to remind us that intelligence thus hastily gathered and +transmitted has also its drawbacks, and is not so trustworthy as the news +which starts later and travels slower. The "great battle of Rassova" has +not yet been fought, and the general action announced through the +telegraph was only a sanguinary skirmish. + +The telegraphic organization of London, meagre as it is at present, would +form alone a curious paper: "a province covered with houses," it demands a +special arrangement, and accordingly we see day by day new branches opened +within its precincts, by which means every part of the metropolis is being +put in communication with the country and Europe. + +The branch stations are, London Docks (main entrance); No. 43, Mincing +Lane; General Post Office, St. Martin's-le-Grand; No. 30, Fleet Street; +No. 448, West Strand; No. 17_a_, Great George Street, Westminster; No. 89, +St. James's Street; No. 1, Park Side, Knightsbridge; No. 6, Edgeware Road; +Great Western Railway Station; London and North-Western Railway Station; +Great Northern Railway Station; Highbury Railway Station; Eastern +Counties' Railway Station; Blackwall Railway Station; London and Brighton +and South Coast Railway Station; and the London and South-Western Railway +Station; of these only two are open night and day. The central office, +strange as it might appear, is closed at half-past 8 o'clock P.M., and its +wires are put in connection with those at the Charing Cross Station, which +takes upon itself the night work--a singular proof, by the way, that +London proper is deserted shortly after the hours of business are over. +The Eastern Counties' office is also open at night, and forms the East End +office of the company. These stations communicate with the central office +in Lothbury, and form, in fact, direct feeders to it, just as the hundred +suckers do to the zoophyte. + +We have yet, however, to notice the special telegraphic communication +which exists in the metropolis between place and place, either for +governmental purposes or for social convenience. The most curious of these +lines is the wire between the Octagon Hall in the new Houses of Parliament +and the St. James's Street Commercial station. They should name this line +from the "whipper-in" of the House, for it is nothing more than a +call-wire for members. The company employ reporters during the sitting of +Parliament, to make an abstract from the gallery of the business of the +two Houses as it proceeds; and this abstract is forwarded, at very short +intervals, to the office in St. James's Street, where _it is set up and +printed_, additions being made to the sheet issued as the MS. comes in. +This flying sheet is posted half-hourly to the following clubs and +establishments:--Arthur's; Carlton; Oxford and Cambridge; Brook's; +Conservative; United Service; Athenæum; Reform; Traveller's; United +University; Union; and White's; hourly to Boodle's Club and Prince's Club; +and half-hourly to the Royal Italian Opera. The shortest possible abstract +is of course supplied--just sufficient, in fact, to enable the +after-dinner M.P. so to economize his proceedings as to be able to finish +his claret, and yet be in time for the ministerial statement, or to count +in the division. + +The wire to the Opera is a still more curious example of the social +services the new power is destined to perform. An abstract of the +proceedings of Parliament, similar to the above, but in _writing_, is +posted, during the performance, in the lobby; and Young England has only +to lounge out between the acts to know if Disraeli or Lord John Russell is +up, and whether he may sit out the piece, or must hasten down to +Westminster. The Opera House even communicates with the Strand Office, so +that messages may be sent from thence to all parts of the kingdom. The +Government wires go from Somerset House to the Admiralty, and thence to +Portsmouth and Plymouth by the South-Western and Great Western Railways; +and these two establishments are put in communication, by means of +subterranean lines, with the naval establishments at Deptford, Woolwich, +Chatham, Sheerness, and with the Cinque Ports of Deal and Dover. They are +worked quite independently of the Company, and the messages are sent in +cipher, the meaning of which is unknown, even to the telegraphic clerks +employed in transmitting it. In addition to the wires already spoken of, +street branches run from Buckingham Palace and Scotland Yard (the head +police-office) to the station at Charing Cross, and thence on to Founder's +Court; whilst the Post-office, Lloyd's, Capel Court, and the Corn Exchange +communicate directly with the Central Office. + +The function, then, of the Central Office is to receive and redistribute +communications. Of the manner in which these ends are accomplished nothing +can be gained from a glance round the instrument-rooms. You see no wires +coming into or emerging from them; you ask for a solution of the mystery, +and one of the clerks leads you to the staircase and opens the door of +what looks like a long wooden shoot placed perpendicularly against the +wall. This is the great spinal cord of the establishment, consisting of a +vast bundle of wires, insulated from each other by gutta percha. One set +of these conveys the gathered-up streams of intelligence from the remote +ends of the continent and the farthest shores of Britain, conducts them +through London by the street lines underneath the thronging footsteps of +the multitude, and ascends with its invisible despatches directly to the +different instruments. Another set is composed of the wires that descend +into the battery-chamber. It is impossible to realize the fact by merely +gazing upon this brown and dusty-looking bundle of threads; nevertheless +so it is, that they put us in communication with no less than 4,409 miles +of telegraph, which is coterminous with the railway system of the island, +and forms a complete network over its entire surface, with the exception +of the highlands of North Wales. It penetrates already into the wilds of +Scotland, as we see the wire is carried on from Aberdeen to Balmoral. + +The physiologist, minutely dissecting the star-fish, shows us its nervous +system extending to the tip of each limb, and descants upon the beauty of +this arrangement, by which the central mouth is informed of the nutriment +within its reach. The telegraphic system, already developed in England, +has rendered her as sensitive, to the utmost extremities, as the +star-fish. Day by day and hour by hour everything that happens of +importance is immediately referred to its centre at Lothbury, and this +centre returns the service by spreading the information afresh in every +direction. Thus, should an enemy appear off our coast, his presence, by +the aid of the fibre, is immediately felt at the Admiralty, and an +immediate reply sends out the fleet in chase. Should a riot occur in the +manufacturing districts, the local authorities communicate with the Home +Office, and orders are sent down to put the distant troops in motion. Does +a murderer escape, the same wire makes the fact known to Scotland Yard, +and from thence word is sent to the distant policemen to intercept him in +his flight. The arm is scarcely uplifted quicker to ward off a sudden +blow--the eye does not close with more rapidity upon an unexpected flood +of light, than, by the aid of the telegraph, actions follow upon +impressions conveyed along the length and breadth of the land. But, says +our reader, suppose these wires should be severed or damaged, your whole +line is paralyzed; and how are you to find out where the fault may be? +Against these eventualities human foresight has provided: by testing from +station to station along the line, the office soon knows how far the wires +are perfect; and if the breach of continuity should be in the subterranean +street wires, there are iron testing-posts at every 500 yards distance, by +the aid of which the workman knows where to make his repairs. Whilst all +is being made right again, however, a curious contrivance is brought into +play, in order to keep the communication open. Every one is acquainted +with the action of the railway "switch," by which a train is enabled to +leave one line of rails and run on to another. The telegraph has its +switch also, and thus a message can be transferred from one line to +another, or can be sent right _throuyh_ to any locality, without making a +stoppage at the usual resting-place on its way. By this device, then, the +"sick wires" can be altogether avoided. Suppose, for instance, that some +accident had happened to the direct Bristol line, and it would not work in +consequence, then the clerk at the Lothbury station would signal to +Birmingham to switch the wire through to Bristol, or, in other words, to +put him in communication with that place; this done, the message would fly +along the North-Western line, look in at the Birmingham station, and +immediately be off down the Midland wire to Bristol, arriving, to all +perception, in the same latitude as quickly as though it had gone direct +by the Great Western wire. Every large station is provided with a +switching apparatus, and the Lothbury office has several. Here also there +is a very curious contrivance called the "testing-box," which enables the +manipulator to connect any number of batteries to a wire, in order to give +extra power, without going into the battery vault. + +These switches, testing, and battery boxes are of great service in certain +conditions of the atmosphere. For instance, a thunderstorm, or more often +a fog, will now and then so affect the conducting power of a wire, working +through a long distance, that it is found impossible to send a message +along it, in which case the clerk "dodges" the passing storm or fog by +switching the dispatch round the country through a fine-weather wire. If +however the foggy weather should continue, the manipulator has only to go +to the battery box and couple on one or more batteries, just as fresh +engines are put on a train going up an incline when the rails are +"greasy." By thus increasing the power of the electric current the message +is driven through the worst weather. Sometimes as many as six or eight +24-plate batteries are necessary to speed a signal to Glasgow. The more +general way in such cases, however, is to transmit the dispatch to some +intermediate station, where the message is repeated. + +Let us now descend into the battery vaults--two long narrow chambers, +situated in the basement of the building. Who would think that in this +quiet place, night and day, a power was being generated that exerted its +influence to the very margin of this seagirt isle, nay, invaded the +territories of Holland, Belgium, and France? Who would think that those +long dusty boxes on the shelves were making scores of iron tongues wag +hundreds of miles off? There are upwards of sixty Daniel's batteries in +full employment in these vaults. They are ranked as sixes, twelves, and +twenty-fours, according to the number of their elements or plates; and +just like guns, the higher they rank the further they carry. The powerful +twenty-fours work the long ranges of wire, and the smaller batteries the +shorter circuits. Of course some of these batteries have harder work to do +than others, and the "twenty-fours" working the North-Western line have +much the busiest time of it. Considering the work done by them, their +maintenance is not very costly. A twenty-four, when in full work, does not +consume its zinc plates under three months, and a gill of sulphuric acid, +diluted, is its strong but rather moderate allowance of liquid per month. +Other batteries of the same force are satisfied with 1 lb. of sulphate of +copper per month, with a little sulphate of zinc, and salt and water. The +entire amount of electric power employed by the Company throughout the +country is produced by 8000 12-plate batteries, or 96,000 cells, which are +lined with 1,500,000 square inches of copper, and about the same of zinc. +To work these batteries six tons of acid is yearly consumed, and +fifty-five tons of sand; the principal use of the latter is to prevent the +chemicals from slopping about, and the metal plates from getting oxidised +too rapidly. The language of the "wire," with respect to the working of +the telegraph, is very curious. For instance, when a distant station-clerk +finds that a battery is not up to its work, by the weak action of the +needles, he sends word that it requires "refreshment," and it is +accordingly served with its gill of aquafortis, and, totally opposed to +the doctrines of temperance, a "long-lived battery" owes its vitality to +the strongest drink. + +We have followed the wires down to one pole of their respective +batteries, and now we have to pursue them out of the opposite pole until +they take to "earth." No electricity will flow from the positive pole Z of +the battery (Fig. 2) unless the wire D K A B is connected, either by being +itself unbroken, or by the interposition of some other conductor where a +gap occurs, to the negative pole C. In the earlier telegraphs it was usual +to have a return-wire to effect this purpose. But, strange as it may +sound, it was discovered that the earth itself would convey the current +back to the negative pole, and thus an entire length of wire was saved. +Accordingly the earth completes the two hundred and odd different +circuits, which pass their loops, as it were, through the central office. +In order to get a "good earth" a hole was dug deep in the foundations, +until some moist ground was found, _dry_ soil being a very bad conductor, +and into this a cylinder of copper, four inches in diameter and 40 lbs. in +weight, was sunken, surrounded by a mass of sulphate of copper in +crystals. All the earth wires of the establishment were then put in +connection with this mass of metal, or earth plate. + +[Illustration: Fig. 6] + +The non-scientific reader will perhaps require a figure to explain to him +our meaning, when we say that the earth is capable of completing the +"circuit." In the accompanying diagram (No. 6) we have a battery, U V, in +the central office in London, deflecting a needle N, say in Liverpool. The +fluid passes from the positive pole of the battery U, traverses the wire +of the North-Western Railway, and after working the telegraph in +Liverpool, descends into the earth by the wire B, which has a metal or +earth-plate attached to it. From this point the electric fluid starts +homewards, through the solid ground, and finding out the earth-plate[38] +under the foundations at Lothbury, ascends along the wire A, into the +negative pole of the battery V. By reversing the current, it flows first +through the earth from V A to B, and returns by the wire to the opposite +pole U. + +Nothing in telegraphy impresses the thoughtful mind more than the fact +that the electric fluid, after spanning, maybe, half the globe, should +come back to its battery, through adamantine rocks, through seas and all +the diverse elements which make up the anatomy of the globe. The +explanation of the phenomenon is still a matter of pure speculation. +Indeed, it may be objected that our flight of the electric principle is +altogether a flight of fancy--that there is in fact no flow of electricity +at all, but that its progress through bodies, according to the generally +received theory, is owing to opposite poles of contiguous particles acting +upon each other. The hypothesis, however, first received in science gives +birth to its language, which usually continues the same, although it may +have ceased to be an adequate expression of the current doctrine of +philosophers. + +The traveller, as he flies along in the train, and looks out upon the +wires which seem stretched against the sky like the ledger lines of music, +little dreams of these invisible conductors that are returning the current +through the ground. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, indeed, the +wires and their sustaining posts represent to the spectator the entire +telegraph. The following conversation between two navigators, overheard +the other day by a friend, gives the most popular view of the way the +telegraph works. "I say, Jem, how do 'em _jaw_ along them wires?" "Why, +Bill, they pulls at one end, and rings a bell at t'other." Others again +fancy that messages are conveyed by means of the vibrations of the metal, +for on windy days they sometimes give out sounds like an Æolian harp: a +fact which, according to Sir Francis Head, called forth the remark from a +North-Western driver to his stoker, "I say, Bill, aint they a giving it to +'em at Thrapstone?" The more ignorant class of people actually believe +that it conveys parcels and letters, and they sometimes carry them for +transmission to the office. + +Iron wire, coated with zinc, or "galvanised," as it is termed, to prevent +its rusting, is now universally used as the conductor of the electric +fluid when the lines are suspended in the air. The first rain falling upon +the zinc converts it into an oxide of that metal, which is insoluble in +water, so that henceforth in pure air it cannot be acted upon by that +element, and all further oxidation ceases. Mr. Highton says, however, that +in the neighbourhood of large manufacturing towns the sulphur from the +smoky atmosphere converts the oxide into a sulphate of zinc, which is +soluble, and consequently the rain continually washes it off the wire. He +asserts that he has had wires in this manner reduced from the eighth of an +inch to the diameter of a common sewing-needle. There has been a great +controversy as to the best means of insulating the wires from their +supporting-poles, which would otherwise convey the electricity from the +wires to the earth. There is no method known of effecting this completely, +but we believe it is now decided that stoneware is the best material for +the purpose, both on account of its non-conducting qualities, and the +readiness with which it throws off from its surface particles of water. +The latter quality is extremely important, for, in very rainy weather, if +the insulator should happen to get wet, the electric fluid will sometimes +make a bridge of the moisture to quit the wire, run down the post to the +earth, and make a short circuit home again to its battery. Indeed, when +there are many wires suspended to the same pole on the same plane, a +dripping stream of water falling from an upper to a lower one will often +suffice to return the current before it has done its work, much to the +telegraphist's annoyance. Not long ago, a mishap, having similar +consequences, occurred on the line between Lewes and Newhaven, owing to +the following very singular circumstance: a crane, in its flight through +the rain, came in contact with the wires, and having threaded his long +neck completely through them, the current made a short cut along his damp +feathers to the wire below, and by this channel home. Moisture, however, +much as it may interfere for a time with the working of a line, rarely +does any permanent injury. Lightning, on the contrary if not guarded +against, is capable of producing great mischief. It has been known to +strike and run for miles along a wire, and, in its course, to enter +station after station, and melt the delicate coils and the finer portions +of the instruments into solid masses. In most cases it reverses the +polarity of the needles, or renders permanent the magnetism of the +electro-magnets. All these dangerous and annoying contingencies are easily +avoided by the application of a simple conducting-apparatus to lead away +the unwelcome visitor. The method adopted by Mr. Highton is to line a +small deal box, say ten or twelve inches long, with a tin plate, and to +put this plate in connection with the earth. The wire bound up in bibulous +paper--which is a sufficient insulator for the low-tensioned fluid of the +battery--is carried, before it enters the instrument, through the centre +of the box, and is surrounded with iron fillings. The high-tensioned +electricity of the lightning instantly darts from the wire, through the +pores of the paper, to the million points of the finely-divided iron, and +so escapes to the earth. There are, of course, many kinds of lightning +conductors used on different lines, but this one is simple in its +construction, and, we are given to understand, answers its purpose +exceedingly well. + +Notwithstanding that the Electric Telegraph Company has been established +so many years, it is only just now that the public have begun to +understand the use of the "wire." The very high charges at first demanded +for the transmission of a message, doubtless, made it a luxury rather than +a necessary of life; and every reduction of the tariff clearly brought it +within the range of a very much larger class of the community, as will be +seen by the following table issued by the Company, which shows the advance +of the system under its management. + + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- + In the | Miles of|Miles | Number | Receipts. | Dividends paid. + half-years |Telegraph| of | of | | + ending | in |Wires |Messages| | + |operation| | | | + ----------------|---------|------|--------|-----------|---------------- + | | | | £. s. d.| + | | | | | + June, 1850 | 1,684 | 6,730| 29,245 |20,436 10 0|4 per Cent. per + | | | | | Ann. + December, 1850 | 1,786 | 7,200| 37,389 |23,087 13 9|4 per Cent. per + | | | | | Ann. + June, 1851 | 1,965 | 7,900| 47,259 |25,529 12 4|{6 per Ct. per + | | | | | Ann. + | | | | |{& 2 per Ct. + | | | | | Bonus. + December, 1851 | 2,122 |10,650| 53,957 |24,336 8 10|6 per Cent. per + | | | | | Ann. + _Note._--In | | | | | + this half-year| | | | | + the paid-up | | | | | + Capital of the| | | | | + Company was | | | | | + increased, and| | | | | + the tariff | | | | | + diminished | | | | | + about 50 per | | | | | + Cent. from the| | | | | + original rate | | | | | + of charge. | | | | | + June, 1852 | 2,502 |12,500| 87,150 |27,437 4 8|6 per Cent. per + | | | | | Ann. + December, 1852 | 3,709 |19,560|127,987 |40,087 18 2|6-1/2 per Cent. + | | | | | per Ann. + June, 1853 | 4,008 |20,800|138,060 |47,265 16 3|6-1/2 per Cent. + | | | | | per Ann. + December, 1853 | 4,409 |24,340|212,440 |56,919 0 1|7 per Cent. per + | | | | | Ann. + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +It will be seen from the above what an impulse was given to the business +by the reduction in the tariff which took place in December, 1851; for if +we compare the messages of the half-year ending June, 1850, with those of +the half-year of June, 1852, we shall find that whilst the miles of +telegraph in work had not increased one-half, the messages transmitted had +nearly trebled. It is only within this last year or two, however--as will +be seen by the table--that a very large augmentation of business has taken +place, which is doubtless owing to the public being better acquainted with +its capabilities. The tariff has since been further reduced, with the +result of a still further increase of the messages sent and of the money +received--the profits allowing, at the present moment, of a seven per +cent. dividend! The lowest point of cheapness, in our opinion, is yet very +far from being reached; and it would only be a wise act on the part of the +Company to at once adopt an uniform charge for messages, say of fifty +words, for one shilling. If this were done, the only limit to its business +would be the number of wires they could conveniently hang, for the present +set would clearly be insufficient. Means should also be taken to obviate +one great objection, at present felt, with respect to sending private +communications by telegraph--the violation of all secrecy,--for in any +case half a dozen people must be cognizant of every word addressed by one +person to another. The clerks of the English Electric Telegraph Company +are sworn to secrecy, but we often write things that it would be +intolerable to see strangers read before our eyes. This is a grievous +fault in the telegraph, and it _must_ be remedied by some means or other. +Our own opinion is that the public would much prefer the dial telegraph, +by the use of which two persons could converse with each other, without +the intervention of a third party at all--or the printing step by step +instrument would be equally good. At all events, some simple yet secure +cipher, easily acquired and easily read, should be introduced, by which +means messages might to all intents and purposes be "sealed" to any person +except the recipient. We have reason to believe that Professor Wheatstone +has invented a cipher of this description, which will speedily be made +public. "One-eighth of the despatches between New Orleans and New York," +says Mr. Jones in his "Historical Sketch of the Electric Telegraph," "are +in cipher. For instance, merchants in either city agree upon a cipher, and +if the New Orleans correspondent wishes to inform his New York friend of +the prices and prospects of the cotton market, instead of saying 'Cotton +eight quarter--don't sell,' he may use the +following:--'Shepherd--rum--kiss--flash--dog.'" + +The Company has lately made an arrangement, by which the very absurd and +inconvenient necessity of being obliged to attend personally at the +telegraph station with a message has been obviated. "Franked message +papers," pre-paid, are now issued, procurable at any stationers'. These, +with the message filled in, can be dispatched to the office when and how +the sender likes, and the Company intend very quickly to sell electric +stamps, like Queen's heads, which may be stuck on to any piece of paper, +and frank its contents without further trouble. Another very important +arrangement for mercantile men is the sending of "remittance messages," by +means of which money can be paid in at the central office in London, and, +within a few minutes, paid out at Liverpool or Manchester, or by the same +means sent up to town with the like dispatch from Liverpool, Manchester, +Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Hull, +York, Plymouth, and Exeter. There is a money-order office in the Lothbury +establishment to manage this department, which will, no doubt, in all +emergencies speedily supersede the Government money-order office, which +works through the slower medium of the Post Office. + +We have spoken hitherto only of the Old Electric Telegraph Company. There +are several other companies in the United Kingdom, working different +patents. We have chosen, however, to describe the proceedings of the +original Company, because it is the only one that has an amount of +business sufficient to give it universal interest; it is the only company, +in fact, that has seized the map of England in its nervous grasp, and shot +its wires through every broad English shire. The European and the British +Telegraph Companies have laid their lines, insulated with gutta percha and +protected by iron tubes, beneath the public roads. The European Company +works between Manchester, Birmingham, London, and Dover, and, by means of +the two submarine cables of Dover and Calais and Dover and Ostend, puts +the great manufacturing and commercial emporiums in connection with +France, Belgium, and the rest of Europe by a double route. The British +Telegraph Company works principally in the northern counties. Of the other +lines, we need only mention at present the United Kingdom, and the English +and Irish Magnetic Company, which works wires between London, Belfast, and +Galway, by means of a subterranean line as far as the west coast of +Scotland, and of a submarine cable stretched between Portpatrick and +Donaghadee. + +It will, perhaps, be a source of wonder to our readers that one company +should virtually possess the monopoly of telegraphic communication in this +country, but this will cease when they consider that this Company was the +first to enter the field, that it came forward with a large capital, +speedily secured to themselves the different lines of railway--the only +paths it was then considered that telegraphs could traverse with +security,--and that it bought up, one after another, most of the patents +that stood any chance of competing with its own. The time is fast +approaching, however, when most of these advantages will fail them, and +when the Company, powerful as it is, must be prepared to encounter a +severe and active competition, and that for the following reasons:-- + +1. The plan of bringing the wires under the public roads turns, as it +were, the flank of the railroad lines. + +2. The patents of the old company are year by year expiring. + +3. The very large capital expended by it--upwards of 170,000_l._ being +sunk in patent rights alone,--independently of the vast expense attaching +to the first introduction of the invention, forms a dead-weight which no +new company would have to bear. + +In the ordinary course of events, then, the other lines at present in +existence will gain strength; new companies will spring up, and the supply +of a great public want will be thrown into the arena of competition. Would +it not be wise for the legislature to consider the question of telegraphy +in England before it is too late? We all know what the principle of +reckless competition led us into in our railway system. For years opposing +companies scrambled for the monopoly of certain districts, and the result +was the intersection of the country with bad lines, and, in many cases, +with useless double routes. Millions were spent in litigation; railway +travelling became, as a natural consequence, dear; the property of the +original shareholders rapidly deteriorated; and it has all ended in half a +dozen powerful companies swallowing up the smaller ones; and that +competition, in whose name so much was demanded, has turned out to be only +"a delusion and a snare." The conveyance of intelligence cannot safely and +conveniently be left in the hands of even one company without a strict +Government supervision; much less can half a dozen systems be allowed to +distract the land at their own will. Indeed, the question might with +propriety be asked, Is not telegraphic communication as much a function of +Government as the conveyance of letters? If the do-nothing principle is +to be allowed to take its course, we shall have to go through a similar +state of things to that which occurred only a few years since in the +United States, when different competing lines refused to forward each +other's messages, and the whole system of telegraphic communication was +accordingly dislocated. Indeed, even with the most perfect accord between +different companies, the dissimilarity of instruments used by them would +prove a great practical evil--as great a one, if not greater, than the +break of gauge in the railway system. Messages could not be passed from +one line to another, and delays as vexatious as those which occur on the +continental lines would take away much of the value of the invention. It +seems to us, then, that even if Parliament should refuse to interfere with +the principle of competition in the case of the telegraphic communication, +it should, at least, provide for the use of the same kind of instruments, +and make it a fineable offence for one line to refuse to forward the +messages of another. + +Having done so much towards completing our telegraphic organization at +home, our engineers adventurously determined to carry the wires across to +the continent, and thus destroy the last remnant of that isolation to +which we were forced to submit on account of our insular position. As long +back as the year 1840 we find, by the Minutes of Evidence in the Fifth +Report upon Railways, wherein the subject of electric telegraphy was +partially examined, that, whilst Mr. Wheatstone was under examination Sir +John Guest asked, "Have you tried to pass the line through water?" to +which he replied, "There would be no difficulty in doing so; but the +experiment has not yet been tried." Again, on the chairman, Lord Seymour, +asking, "Could you communicate from Dover to Calais in that way?" he +replied, "I think it perfectly practicable." A couple of years later the +professor, indeed, engaged, and had everything in readiness, to lay a line +for the Government across Portsmouth Harbour; it was not executed, +however, through circumstances over which he had no control, but which +were quite irrespective of the perfect feasibility of the undertaking. + +We question, however, whether it would have been possible to have +accomplished the feat of crossing the Channel with the electric fire +before this date, as the difficulty of insulating the wires, so as to +prevent the water from carrying off the electricity, would, we imagine, +have been insuperable, but for the happy discovery of gutta percha, which +supplied the very tough, flexible, non-conducting material the electrician +sought for. Thus it might be said that the instantaneous interchange of +thought between distant nations awaited the discovery of a vegetable +production in the dense forests of the Eastern Archipelago. The first +application of this singular substance to the insulation of electric +conducting wires was made in 1847, by Lieutenant Siémens, of the Prussian +artillery, for a line to cross the Rhine at Cologne. + +The first submarine wire laid down was that between Dover and Cape +Gris-nez, in the vicinity of Calais, belonging to the Submarine Telegraph +Company. This wire, thirty miles in length, was covered with gutta percha +to the diameter of half an inch, and sunk (August, 1850), as it was paid +out, by the addition of clumps of lead at every sixteenth of a mile. The +whole was completed and a message sent between the two countries on the +same day. In the course of a month, however, the cable broke, owing to its +having fretted upon a sharp ridge of rocks about a mile from Cape +Gris-nez. It was now determined to make a stronger and better-constructed +cable, capable of resisting all friction in this part of the Channel. The +form of cable adopted for this and all other submarine telegraphs now in +existence seems to have been originally suggested by Messrs. Newall and +Co., of Gateshead, the wellknown wire-rope manufacturers. Instead of one, +four wires, insulated by the Gutta Percha Company, were twisted together +into a strand, and next "served" or enveloped in spun-yarn. This core was +then covered with ten iron galvanized wires five-sixteenths of an inch in +diameter, welded into lengths of twenty-four miles, and forming a flexible +kind of mail. The cable was manufactured in the short space of twenty-one +days. It weighed 180 tons, and formed a coil in the hold of the old hulk +that carried it of thirty feet in diameter outside, and fifteen feet +inside, standing five feet high. All went well with the undertaking until +about one-half had been "paid out," when, a gale arising, unfortunately +the tug-boat that towed the hulk containing the rope broke away, and +vessel, wire, and all, drifted, with a racing tide, full a mile up the +Channel before it could be overtaken. The consequence was, that the cable +was violently dragged out of its course in the middle of the straits. What +was worse, a sharp "kink," or bend, also occurred near the Dover shore, +which doubled the cable on itself, but luckily produced no serious damage. +The "lie" of the submarine cable between Dover and the vicinity of Calais, +at this present moment, is expressed in the following diagram:-- + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.] + +When the cable at length came near the French coast, it was found to be, +in consequence of this unintentional _detour_, at least half a mile too +short. This was remedied, however, by splicing on a fresh piece; and, on +securing it at Saugat, the new place of landing, fixed upon on account of +its sandy shore, it was found that the communication was good, and good it +has remained ever since--a proof of the admirable manner in which the +wires were insulated and the cable constructed. The placing of this +successful cable was superintended by Mr. Wollaston, the Company's +engineer, and by Mr. Crampton, the contractor. Mr. Wollaston, who is a +nephew of the illustrious philosopher of the same name, and who also +presided over the earlier attempt, will accordingly, in the annals of +electricity, carry off the honours of having first laid down the ocean +telegraph. + +The same Company, not long afterwards, laid another cable across to +Ostend. This established a connection with Europe through Belgium, and was +planned to prevent this line of communication falling into the hands of +another company, and was not, as was suspected at the time, a matter of +political foresight on the part of the directors, to enable them to carry +on their intercourse with the continent, in spite of France, supposing war +should break out between the two countries. Who would have believed a +short time since, in Belgium, that the day would come when it would be +quicker to convey intelligence to France by way of England than directly +across the frontiers? Yet such was actually the case; for, before the line +was laid by land, it was a thing of very frequent occurrence for +despatches from Ostend to cross the Channel to Dover by one cable, and to +be immediately switched across to Calais by the other; thus paying us a +momentary triangular visit underneath the rapid straits. + +The notion, however, of preventing competition proved to be vain. A third +cable was laid on the 30th May, 1853, between the English coast at +Orfordness, near Ipswich, and the port of Schevening in Holland, and +thence to the Hague. This cable is the longest at present in connection +with this isle, extending 120 miles under the turbulent North Sea. It was, +however, paid out during a violent gale of wind without the slightest +accident, and affords the most direct means of communication with the +north of Europe, and entirely commands the commercial traffic of the +cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Hague cable (or cables, for there +are now many, consisting of a single wire conductor each, running side by +side) is the property of the International Company, a branch of the Old +Electric Telegraph, and its wires go direct to the Lothbury office. + +Whilst England has moored her south-eastern shores to the continent by +three cables, and put herself _en rapport_ with all its principal cities, +her north-western extremity has been secured, after many failures, to the +sister kingdom--the Electro-Magnetic Company having laid a submarine wire +from Portpatrick and Donaghadee, in the neighbourhood of Belfast, and the +British Electric Telegraph Company another between Portpatrick and +Whitehead in Belfast Lough. England, as befits her, led the way in these +adventures upon the sea with the electric fire, and the Danes, Dutch, +Russians, and others, are now following in her track. + +Will it be believed that in 1841, long after the electric telegraph was +working in England, scientific men were seriously discussing in the French +Chamber the propriety of establishing a night telegraph on the visual +principle, and that when at length it was determined to call in the aid of +electricity, instruments were ordered to be so constructed that signals +could be given after the fashion of the old semaphore, in order that the +officials might be spared the trouble of leaving their ancient ruts? The +needles were accordingly displaced for a mimic post, to which moveable +arms were attached and signs were transmitted by elevating or depressing +them by electricity, instead of by hand. Of course this absurd system was +after a while abolished, and the instrument now made use of is a +modification of the dial telegraph constructed by Breguet. The first +telegraph planted in France was constructed by Mr. Wheatstone, from Paris +to Versailles, in 1842. The principal line is that running from Calais +_viâ_ Paris to Marseilles, which puts the English Channel and the +Mediterranean in communication, and transmits for us the more urgent items +of the India and China mail. + +Belgium and Switzerland are perhaps the best supplied of all the +continental kingdoms with telegraphic communication. The Belgian lines +were excellently planned and cheaply constructed, consequently their +tariff is comparatively low, the average charge for a message being 3 +francs 48 centimes, or about 2_s._ 10-1/2_d._ Of the nature of the +messages sent we can form a very good idea by the following classification +of a hundred dispatches:-- + + Government 2 + Stock-jobbing 50 + Commercial 31 + Newspaper 4 + Family affairs 13 + ---- + 100 + +A comparison of the average division of messages in every state would +afford a very fair index of the nature of the occupations of their +peoples. We have attempted to obtain materials for this purpose in vain; +foreign governments, as well as English companies, being very jealous of +giving any information relative to their messages. The history of the +telegraph in Switzerland is an evidence of what patriotic feeling is +capable of accomplishing. Although by far the best and most extensive, for +a mountainous country, in the world, it was constructed by the spontaneous +efforts of the people. The peasantry gave their free labour towards +erecting the wires and poles, the landlords found the timber and gave the +right of way over their lands, and the communes provided station room in +the towns. Thus the telegraph was completed, so to speak, for nothing. The +peculiarity of the Swiss telegraph is that, like the great wall of China, +it proceeds totally regardless of the nature of the ground. It climbs the +pass of the Simplon in proceeding from Geneva to Milan; it goes over St. +Gothard in its way from Lucerne to Como: it mounts the Splugen, and again +it goes from Feldkirch to Inspruck by the Arlberg pass, thus ascending the +great chain of the Alps as though it were only a gentle hillside. The +wires course along the lakes of Lucerne, Zug, Zurich, and Constance; +sometimes they are nailed to precipices, sometimes they make short cuts +over unfrequented spurs of the mountains, going every way, in short, that +it is found most convenient to hang them. The completion of the +telegraphic system of this little republic, which stands in the same +relation to Southern as Belgium does to Northern Europe, was of great +consequence, as it forms the keystone between France, Prussia, Austria, +Piedmont, and Italy. + +In Prussia the lines are insulated in gutta percha, and buried in the +ground in leaden tubes, a very costly process, but with many great +advantages, in freedom from injury and atmospheric influences, over the +more usual method of suspending them in the air on poles. Upwards of 4,000 +miles of wire have already been laid down in this kingdom. Although +Austria only commenced operations in 1847, she already possesses 4,000 +miles of telegraph, which puts the greater part of her extensive empire +in communication with Vienna. + +Whatever injury the Eastern war might have inflicted upon the world, it at +least infused fresh vigour into the telegraphic system, as, independently +of the lines planned to put Constantinople in communication with the +Danubian frontier, Russia has been stimulated to complete a line between +St. Petersburg and Helsingfors, in the Baltic, and a continuation of the +line already extending from the capital to Moscow, down to Bucharest, +Odessa, and Sebastopol. One feature distinguishes the management of +continental telegraphs over those of England and America: they are all, +with the exception of the short line between Hamburg and Cuxhaven, +possessed and worked by the different governments, who seem afraid of the +use they might be put to for political purposes, and accordingly exercise +a strict surveillance over all messages sent, and rigidly interdict the +use of a cipher.[39] The Anglo-Saxon race, however, has far surpassed any +other in the energy with which it has woven the globe with telegraphic +wires. The Americans in the West and the British in the East alike emulate +each other in the magnitude of their undertakings of this nature. The +United States, although she came into the field long after England--her +first line from Washington to Baltimore not having been completed until +1844--has far outstripped the mother country in the length of her lines, +which already extend over 16,729 miles. Every portion of the Union, with +the exception of California and the upper portion of the Mississippi, is +covered with a network of wire. + +New York and New Orleans communicate with each other by a double +route--one skirting the seacoast, the other taking an inland direction by +Cincinnati. These lines alone, following the sinuosities of their routes, +are upwards of 2,000 miles in length. + +Other lines extend as far as Quebec, in Upper Canada, so that messages may +be forwarded in the course of a couple of hours from the freezing north to +the burning south. The great chain of lakes which form the northern +boundary of the Union is put in communication with the Missouri and +Mississippi rivers, and the great valley traversed by the latter will, ere +long, interchange messages with the Pacific coast,--Congress having under +its consideration a plan to establish a telegraph across the continent to +San Francisco, as the precursor of the proposed railroad. + +This we suspect is the project of Mr. O'Reilly, the engineer who has +already executed the boldest lines in America. In constructing such a +line, man, not nature, is the great obstacle to be encountered. The +implacable Indians inhabiting this portion of the States certainly would +not pay any respect to the telegraphic wire; on the contrary, they would +in all likelihood take it to bind on the heads of their scalping +tomahawks. To provide against this contingency, it is proposed to station +parties of twenty dragoons at stockades twenty miles apart, along the +whole unprotected portion of the route; two or three of these soldiers are +also to ride from post to post and carry a daily express letter across the +continent. + +When this project is executed, it is asserted that "European news may be +published in six days on the American shores of the Pacific, on the +shortened route between the old and new world." "The shortened route," it +should be mentioned, lies between Cape Race, in Newfoundland, and Galway, +in Ireland, a passage calculated to take, on the average, only five days. + +It may be asked how is it that such lengths of wire, carried through +thinly settled parts of the country, and sometimes through howling +wildernesses, can pay? The only manner that we can account for it is the +cheapness with which the telegraph is built in America, the average price +being 150 dollars, or about 31_l._ a mile--less than a fourth part of the +cost at which the early lines of the English Electric Telegraph Company +were erected. Again, the low prices charged for the transmission of +messages produce an amount of business which the lines running through +thickly-inhabited England cannot boast. For instance, let us take the +following advertised "specimen message," of the latter Company, and +compare the price charged for it here, with what it could be sent for in +America:-- + + "From To + James Smith, S. R. Brown, + London, Exchange, + Liverpool. + + "I will meet you at Birmingham to-morrow, 3 P.M. Don't fail me." + +Now, the London charge for the above, if forwarded to Liverpool, would be +2s. 6d.; but the American tariff for the same, on the Louisville and +Pittsburgh rail, would be only one cent a word, or sixpence halfpenny +English. On very long distances our friends on the other side of the steam +ferry have a still greater advantage over us: for instance, a message of +ten words can be sent on O'Reilly's line, from New York to New Orleans, a +distance of 2,000 miles, for sixty cents, or two and sixpence--not half +the sum it would cost to send the same message from London to Edinburgh, +about 500 miles. We give, as a curiosity, the scale of prices on this +line:[40]-- + + Per word. + 200 miles or under 1 cent. + 500 " or over 300 miles 2 cents. + 700 " " 500 " 3 " + 1000 " " 700 " 4 " + 1500 " " 1000 " 5 " + 2000 " " 1500 " 6 " + +These charges, it is true, are unusually low; but if they will pay one +Company, why should they not another? There are as many as twenty +Telegraph Companies in America, and consequently there is great +competition, three or four competing lines in many cases running between +the same towns. Great confusion has arisen from this competition, as we +have before stated; but it cannot be doubted that prices have materially +fallen in consequence. It is common to send a message 1,000 miles in the +United States without its being read and repeated at intermediate +stations; and brother Jonathan boasts that he can communicate in fine +weather instantaneously between New York and New Orleans. This, if done at +all, must be at the expense of enormous battery power, as 2,000 miles of +No. 8 wire would expose a conducting surface of no less than 450,000 +square feet to the air. The wires in America are all suspended upon poles, +and those passing through the southern pine forests are in consequence +particularly liable to injury from the falling of trees, and watchers are +posted at every twenty miles' distance to patrol the line. The telegraph +is rarely seen in America running beside the railway, for what reason we +do not know; the consequence, however, is, that locomotion in the United +States is vastly more dangerous than with us. A comparison of the +casualties occurring on railroads in the two countries, in the year 1852, +will show this at a glance; for in the State of New York alone, during +that year, 228 persons were killed out of 7,440,053 travellers, whilst +during the same period only 216 people perished in Great Britain out of a +total number of 89,135,729 passengers: thus the average in America was 1 +killed in 286,179, and in Great Britain 1 in 2,785,491! Of course property +suffers in an equal degree with life on the American lines. The people of +Boston, on the recommendation of Dr. Channing, have constructed a +municipal telegraph, the many uses of which will be obvious. Mr. Alexander +Jones, in his historical sketch of the electric telegraph in America, +gives the following account of the application of the electric wire in +cases of fire:-- + + "A central office or station is fixed upon, at which the main battery, + with other instruments, is placed. From this two circuit-wires + proceed, like those of the common telegraph wires, fastened to + housetops or ingeniously insulated supports. One of the wires + communicates from the main fire bell-tower to all the others, and + connects each with machinery, which puts in motion the largest-sized + hammer, and causes it to strike a large fire-bell the desired number + of blows; the other wire proceeds on a still more circuitous route, + and from one local street or ward signal-station to another. Each + station is provided with a strong box and hinged door and lock. Inside + of this box there is a connecting electro-magnet and connecting lever, + an axle with a number of pins in it to correspond to the number of the + station. The axle is turned by a short crank, and in its revolutions + the pins break and close the circuit, by moving the end of the lever + as often as there are pins or cogs, the result of which is + communicated to the central station. If the alarm indicates a fire in + the local district No. 3, the alarm can be instantly rung on all the + bells in the city. If it is a subject requiring the speedy and + efficient attention of the police, information by alarms can be given + at each police-station, or the despatches can be recorded by + instruments at each place. The local street alarm-boxes are placed in + the charge of a person whose duty it is to give the alarm from the + local to the central station, when called upon, or circumstances + require him to do so." + +Canada has also sketched out a plan of telegraphs, which every year will +see filled up. Already she has lines connecting all her principal towns, +and extending over nearly two thousand miles of country, all of which lock +in with the American system. + +In India, Dr. O'Shaughnessy has for some time been engaged in carrying out +a telegraphic system proposed by Lord Dalhousie, and approved by the East +India Company, which has already put all the important towns of the +peninsula in communication with the seat of government and with each +other. The fine No. 8 galvanized iron wire, which in Europe runs along +from pole to pole, like a delicate harp-string, is discarded in this +country for rods of iron three-eighths of an inch in thickness. The nature +of the climate, and the character of its animal life, has caused this +departure from the far more economical European plan. Clouds of kites and +troops of monkeys would speedily take such liberties with the fine wires +as to place them _hors-de-combat_. Again, the deluges of rain which occur +in the wet season would render the insulation of a small wire so imperfect +that a message could not be sent through it to any distance. The larger +mass of metal, on the contrary, is capable of affording passage for the +electric fluid through any amount of rain, without danger of "leakage;" +and as for the kites and other large birds of the country, they may perch +on these rods by thousands without stopping the messages, which will fly +harmlessly through their claws; and the weight of the heaviest monkey is +not sufficient to injure them. These rods are planted, without any +insulation, upon the tops of bamboo poles (coated with tar and pitch), at +such a height that loaded elephants can pass beneath without displacing +them; and even if by chance they should be thrown down, bullock-carts or +buffaloes and elephants may trample them under foot without doing them +injury. In some places the rods, if we are rightly informed, run through +rice-swamps, buried in the ground, and even here the only insulating +material used is a kind of cement made of rosin and sand. The telegraph, +like a swift messenger, goes forward and prepares the way for the +railroad, which is planned to follow in its footsteps. When these two +systems are completed, the real consolidation of England's power in the +East will have commenced, and the countless resources of the Indian +peninsula will be called forth for the benefit of the conquered as well as +of the conquering race. + +The restless spirit of English engineers, having provided for the internal +telegraphic communication of Great Britain and her principal dependencies, +seems bent upon stretching out her lines to the East and to the West, so +as ultimately to clasp the entire globe. The project of connecting, +telegraphically, England with America is at the present moment seriously +engaging the attention of scientific and commercial men. The more daring +engineers are still sanguine of the practicability of laying a submarine +cable directly across the Atlantic, from Galway to Cape Race in +Newfoundland. Now that we have Lieutenant Maury's authentic determination +of the existence of a shelf across the North Atlantic, the soundings on +which are nowhere more than 1,500 fathoms, the feasibility of the project +is tolerably certain. The principal question is, whether if a line were +laid an electric current can be worked to commercial advantage through +3,000 miles of cable. No doubt, by the expenditure of enormous battery +power, this might be accomplished through wires suspended in the air, but +it is a question whether it can be done along a vast length of +gutta-percha coated wire, passing through salt-water. There is such a +thing as _too great an insulation_. Professor Faraday has shown that in +such circumstances the wire becomes a Leyden jar, and may be so charged +with electricity that a current cannot, without the greatest difficulty, +move through it. This is the objection to a direct cable between the two +continents: if, however, it can be overcome, doubtless the ocean path +would in all possible cases be adopted where communications had to be +made between civilized countries having intermediate, barbarous, or +ungenial lands. To escape this at present dubious ocean path, it is +proposed to carry the cable from the northernmost point of the Highlands +of Scotland to Iceland, by way of the Orkney, Shetland, and Ferroe +islands--to lay it from Iceland across to the nearest point in Greenland, +thence down the coast to Cape Farewell, where the cable would again take +to the water, span Davis's Straits, and make right away across Labrador +and Upper Canada to Quebec. Here it would lock in with the North American +meshwork of wires, which hold themselves out like an open hand for the +European grasp. This plan seems quite feasible, for in no part of the +journey would the cable require to be more than 900 miles long; and as it +seems pretty certain that a sandbank ex-tends, with good soundings, all +the way to Cape Farewell, there would be little difficulty in mooring the +cable to a level and soft bottom. The only obstacle that we see is the +strong partiality of the Esquimaux for old iron, and it would perhaps be +tempting them too much to hang their coasts with this material, just ready +to their hands. The want of settlements along this inhospitable arctic +coast to protect the wire is, we confess, a great drawback to the scheme; +but, we fancy, posts might be organized at comparatively a small cost, +considering the magnitude and importance of the undertaking. The mere +expense of making and laying the cable would not be much more than double +that of building the new Westminster-bridge across the Thames. + +Whilst England would thus grasp the West with one hand, her active +children have plotted the seizure of the East with the other. A cable runs +from Genoa to Corsica, and from thence to Sardinia. From the southernmost +point of the latter island, Cape Spartivento, to the gulf of Tunis, +another cable can easily be carried. The direction thence (after giving +off a coast branch to Algeria) will be along the African shore, by Tripoli +to Alexandria, and eventually across Arabia, along the coasts of Persia +and Beloochistan until it enters Scinde, and finally joins the wire at +Hydrabad, which in all probability by that time will have advanced from +Burmah, across the Indian peninsula, to welcome it. America will shortly +carry her line of telegraph to the Pacific shore, and run it up the coast +as far as San Francisco. Can there be any reasonable doubt that, before +the end of the century, the one line advancing towards the West and the +other towards the East--through China and Siberia--will gradually approach +each other so closely that a short cable stretched across Behring Straits +will bring the four quarters of the globe within speaking distance of each +other, and enable the electric fire to "put a girdle round the world in +forty minutes?" + + + + +FIRES AND FIRE INSURANCE. + + +Among the more salient features of the metropolis which instantly strike +the attention of the stranger are the stations of the Fire Brigade. +Whenever he happens to pass them, he finds the sentinel on duty, he sees +the "red artillery" of the force; and the polished axle, the gleaming +branch, and the shining chain, testify to the beautiful condition of the +instrument, ready for active service at a moment's notice. Ensconced in +the shadow of the station, the liveried watchmen look like hunters waiting +for their prey--nor does the hunter move quicker to his quarry at the +rustle of a leaf, than the Firemen dash for the first ruddy glow in the +sky. No sooner comes the alarm, than one sees with a shudder the rush of +one of these engines through the crowded streets, the tearing horses +covered with foam, the heavy vehicle swerving from side to side, and the +black helmeted attendants swaying to and fro. The wonder is that horses or +men ever get safely to their destination: the wonder is still greater that +no one is ridden over in their furious drive. + +Arrived at the place of action, the hunter's spirit which animates the +fireman, and makes him attack an element as determinedly as he would a +wild beast, becomes evident to the spectator. The scene which a London +fire presents can never be forgotten: the shouts of the crowd as it opens +to let the engines dart through it, the foaming head of water springing +out of the ground, and spreading over the road until it becomes a broad +mirror reflecting the glowing blaze--the black, snake-like coils of the +leather hose rising and falling like things of life, whilst a hundred +arms work at the pump, their central heart, the applause that rings out +clear above the roaring flame as the adventurous band throw the first +hissing jet; cheer following cheer, as stream after stream shoots against +the burning mass, now flying into the socket-holes of fire, set in the +black face of the house-front, now dashing with a loud shir-r against the +window-frame and wall, and falling off in broken showers. Suddenly there +is a loud shrill cry, and the bank of human faces is upturned to where a +shrieking wretch hangs frantically to an upper window-sill. A deafening +shout goes forth, as the huge fire-escape comes full swing upon the scene: +a moment's pause, and all is still, save the beat, beat, of the great +water pulses, whilst every eye is strained towards the fluttering garments +flapping against the wall. Will the ladder reach, and not dislodge those +weary hands clutching so convulsively to the hot stone! Will the nimble +figure gain the topmost rung ere nature fails? The blood in a thousand +hearts runs cold, and then again break forth a thousand cheers to +celebrate a daring rescue. Such scenes as this are of almost nightly +occurrence in the great metropolis. A still more imposing yet dreadful +sight is often exhibited in the conflagrations of those vast piles of +buildings in the City filled with inflammable merchandise. Here the most +powerful engines seem reduced to mere squirts; and the efforts of the +adventurous brigade men are confined to keeping the mischief within its +own bounds. + +When we recollect that London presents an area of thirty-six square miles, +covered with 21,600 square acres of bricks and mortar, and numbers more +than 380,600 houses; that all the riches it contains are nightly +threatened in every direction by an ever-present enemy; that the secret +match, the spontaneous fire, and the hand of the drunkard, are busily at +work; it is evident that nothing but a force the most disciplined, and +implements the most effective, can be competent to cope with so sudden and +persevering a foe. + +As late as twenty-two years ago there was no proper fire police to protect +the metropolis against what is commonly called the "all-devouring +element." There was, it is true, a force of 300 parochial engines set on +foot by acts which were passed between the years 1768-74, acts which are +still in existence; but these engines are under the superintendence of the +beadles and parish engineers, who are not the most active of men or nimble +of risers. It may easily be imagined, therefore, that the machines arrived +a little too late; and, when brought into service, were often found to be +out of working order. Hence their employment did not supersede the private +engines kept by some of the insurance offices long prior to their +existence. On the contrary, owing to the increase of business which took +place about this time, the different companies thought it worth their +while to strengthen their former establishments, and this process +continued while the parochial engines, with a few honourable exceptions, +were dropping into disuse. + +About the year 1833 it became evident that much was lost, both to the +public and to the insurance companies, by every engine acting on its own +responsibility--a folly which is the cause of such jealousy among the +firemen at Boston (United States), that rival engines have been known to +stop on their way to a fire to exchange shots from revolvers. It was, +therefore, determined to incorporate the divided force, and place it under +the management of one superintendent, each office contributing towards its +support, according to the amount of its business. All the old-established +companies, with one exception,[41] shortly came into the arrangement, and +Mr. Braidwood, the master of the fire-engines of Edinburgh, being invited +to take the command, organized the now celebrated _London Fire Brigade_. + +At the present moment, then, the protection against fire in London +consists, firstly, in the three hundred and odd parish-engines (two to +each parish), which are paid for out of the rates. The majority of these +are very inefficient, not having any persons appointed to work them who +possess a competent knowledge of the service. Even women used now and then +to fill the arduous post of director; and it is not long since a certain +Mrs. Smith, a widow, might be seen at conflagrations, hurrying about in +her pattens, directing the firemen of her engine, which belonged to the +united parishes of St. Michael Royal and St. Martin Vintry, in the city. +We question, indeed, if at the present moment any of the parish-engines +are much better officered than in the days of widow Smith, with the +exception of those of Hackney, Whitechapel, Islington, and perhaps two or +three others. Secondly, there are an unknown number of private engines +kept in public buildings and large manufactories, which sometimes do good +service when they arrive early at small fires in their neighbourhood, +although, singularly enough, when called upon to extinguish a +conflagration in their own establishments, they generally "lose their +heads," as the brigade men express it; and very many instances have +occurred where even the parish-engines have arrived and set to work before +the one on the premises could be brought to bear upon the fire. The cause +is clear. The requisite coolness and method which every one can exercise +so philosophically in other people's misfortunes utterly fail them when in +trouble themselves. The doctor is wiser in his generation, and is never so +foolish as to prescribe for himself or to attend his own family. + +Thirdly, we have, in contrast to the immense rabble of Bumble engines and +the Bashi-Bazouks of private establishments, the small complement of men +and material of the fire brigade. It consists of twenty-seven large +horse-engines, capable of throwing eighty-eight gallons a minute to the +height of from fifty to seventy feet, and nine smaller ones drawn by hand. +To work them there are twelve engineers, seven sub-engineers, thirty-two +senior firemen, thirty-nine junior firemen, and fourteen drivers, or 104 +men and 31 horses. In addition to these persons, who form the main +establishment, and live at the different stations, there is an extra staff +of four firemen, four drivers, and eight horses. The members of this +supplementary force are also lodged at the stations,[42] as well as +clothed, but are only paid when their services are required, and pursue in +the daytime their ordinary occupations. This not very formidable army of +104 men and 31 horses, with its reserve of eight men and eight horses, is +distributed throughout the metropolis, which is divided into four +districts as follows:--On the north side of the river--1st, From the +eastward to Paul's Chain, St. Paul's Churchyard, Aldersgate Street, and +Goswell Street Road; 2nd, From St. Paul's, &c., to Tottenham Court Road, +Crown Street, and St. Martin's Lane; 3rd, From Tottenham Court Road, &c., +westward; 4th, The entire south side of the river. At the head of each +district is a foreman, who never leaves it unless acting under the +superior orders of Mr. Braidwood, the superintendent or general-in-chief, +whose head-quarters are in Watling Street. + +In comparison with the great continental cities, such a force seems truly +insignificant. Paris, which does not cover a fifth part of the ground of +London, and is not much more than a third as populous, boasts 800 +_sapeurs-pompiers_: we make up, however, for want of numbers by activity. +Again, our look-out is admirable: the 6,000 police of the metropolis, +patrolling every alley and lane throughout its length and breadth, watch +for a fire as terriers watch at rat-holes, and every man is stimulated by +the knowledge, that if he is the first to give notice of it at any of the +stations it is half a sovereign in his pocket. In addition to the police, +there are the thousand eager eyes of the night cabmen, and the houseless +poor. It is not at all uncommon for a cabman to earn four or five +shillings of a night by driving fast to the different stations and giving +the alarm, receiving a shilling from each for the "call." + +In most continental cities a watchman takes his stand during the night on +the topmost point of some high building, and gives notice by either +blowing a horn, firing a gun, or ringing a bell. In Germany the quarter is +indicated by holding out towards it a flag by day, and a lantern at night. +It immediately suggests itself that a sentinel placed in the upper gallery +of St. Paul's would have under his eye the whole metropolis, and could +make known instantly, by means of an electric wire, the position of a +fire, to the head-station at Watling Street, in the same manner as the +Americans do in Boston. This plan is, however, open to the objection, that +London is intersected by a sinuous river, which renders it difficult to +tell on which bank the conflagration is raging. Nevertheless, we imagine +that the northern part of the town could be advantageously superintended +from such a height, whilst the southern half might rest under the +surveillance of one of the tall shot-towers on that bank of the Thames. +The bridges themselves have long been posts of observation, from which a +large portion of the river-side property is watched. Not long ago there +was a pieman on London Bridge, who eked out a precarious existence by +keeping a good look-out up and down the stream. + +Watling Street was chosen as the head-quarters of the Fire Brigade for a +double reason: it is very nearly the centre of the City, being close to +the far-famed London Stone, and it is in the very midst of what may be +termed, speaking igneously, the most dangerous part of the metropolis--the +Manchester warehouses. As the Fire Brigade is only a portion of a vast +commercial operation--Fire Insurance--its actions are regulated by +strictly commercial considerations. Where the largest amount of _insured_ +property lies, there its chief force is planted. It will, it is true, go +any reasonable distance to put out a fire; but of course it pays most +attention to property which its proprietors have guaranteed. The central +station receives the greatest number of "calls;" but as a +commander-in-chief does not turn out for a skirmish of outposts, so Mr. +Braidwood keeps himself ready for affairs of a more serious nature. When +the summons is at night--there are sometimes as many as half a dozen--the +fireman on duty below apprises the superintendent by means of a gutta +percha speaking-tube, which comes up to his bedside. By the light of the +ever-burning gas, he rapidly consults the "London Directory," and if the +call should be to what is called "a greengrocer's street," or any of the +small thoroughfares in by-parts of the town, he leaves the matter to the +foreman in whose district it is, and goes to sleep again. If, however, the +fire should be in the City, or in any of the great west-end thoroughfares, +he hurries off on the first engine. Five minutes is considered a fair time +for an engine "to horse and away," but it is often done in three. Celerity +in bringing up aid is the great essential, as the first half hour +generally determines the extent to which a conflagration will proceed. +Hence the rewards of thirty shillings for the first, twenty for the +second, and ten for the third engine that arrives, which premiums are paid +by the parish. All the engines travel with as few hands as possible: the +larger ones having an engineer, four firemen and a driver, and the +following furniture:-- + + "Several lengths of scaling-ladder, each 6-1/2 feet long, all of which + may be readily connected, forming in a short space of time a ladder of + any required length; a canvas sheet, with ten or twelve handles of + rope round the edge of it for the purpose of a fire-escape; one + 10-fathom and one 14-fathom piece of 2-1/2-inch rope; six lengths of + hose, each 40 feet long; two branch-pipes, one 2-1/2 feet, and the + other from 4 to 6 feet long, with one spare nose-pipe; two 6-feet + lengths of suction-pipe, a flat rose, stand-cock, goose-neck, + dam-board, boat-hook, saw, shovel, mattock, pole-axe, screw-wrench, + crow-bar, portable cistern, two dog-tails, two balls of strips of + sheepskin, two balls of small cord, instruments for opening the + fire-plugs, and keys for turning the stop-cocks of the water-mains." + +The weight of the whole, with the men, is not less than from 27 to 30 +cwt., a load which in the excitement of the ride is carried by a couple of +horses at the gallop. + +The hands to work the pumps are always forthcoming on the spot at any hour +of the night, not alone for goodwill, as every man--and there have been as +many as five hundred employed at a time--receives one shilling for the +first hour and sixpence for every succeeding one, together with +refreshments. In France the law empowers the firemen to seize upon the +bystanders, and compel them to give their services, without fee or reward. +An Englishman at Bordeaux, whilst looking on, some few years since, was +forced, in spite of his remonstrances, to roll wine-casks for seven hours +out of the vicinity of a conflagration. We need not say which plan answers +best. A Frenchman runs away, as soon as the _sapeurs-pompiers_ make their +appearance upon the scene, to avoid being impressed. Still such is the +excitement, that there are some gentlemen with us who pursue the +occupation of firemen as amateurs; providing themselves with the +regulation-dress of dark-green turned up with red, and with the +accoutrements of the Brigade, and working, under the orders of Mr. +Braidwood, as energetically as if they were earning their daily bread. + +The fascination of fires even extends to the brute creation. Who has not +heard of the dog "Chance," who first formed his acquaintance with the +Brigade by following a fireman from a conflagration in Shoreditch to the +central station at Watling Street? Here, after he had been petted for some +little time by the men, his master came for him, and took him home; but he +escaped on the first opportunity, and returned to the station. After he +had been carried back for the third time, his master--like a mother whose +son _will_ go to sea--allowed him to have his own way, and for years he +invariably accompanied the engine, now upon the machine, now under the +horses' legs, and always, when going up-hill, running in advance, and +announcing the welcome advent of the extinguisher by his bark. At the fire +he used to amuse himself with pulling burning logs of wood out of the +flames with his mouth. Although he had his legs broken half a dozen times, +he remained faithful to his pursuit; till at last, having received a +severer hurt than usual, he was being nursed by the fireman beside the +hearth, when a "call" came, and at the well-known sound of the engine +turning out, the poor brute made a last effort to climb upon it, and fell +back dead in the attempt. He was stuffed and preserved at the station, and +was doomed, even in death, to prove the fireman's friend: for one of the +engineers having committed suicide, the Brigade determined to raffle him +for the benefit of the widow, _and such was his renown, that he realized_ +123_l._ 10_s._ 9_d._ + +The most interesting and practical part of our subject is the inquiry into +the various causes of fires. Mr. Braidwood comes here to our aid with his +invaluable yearly reports--the only materials we have, in fact, on which +fire insurance can be built up into a science, a feat which we have not +accomplished to nearly the same extent as with life assurance, although +the Hand-in-Hand office was founded so far back as 1696. Thus we have the +experience of upwards of 150 years, if we could only get at it, to enable +the actuary to ascertain the doctrine of chances in this momentous +subject, which at present is little better than a speculation. An analysis +of the reports, from the organization of the Fire Brigade in 1833 to the +close of 1853, a period extending over 21 years, affords the following +result: + +Abstract of List of Fires and Alarms for Twenty Years, ending 1853. + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + Year.| Totally |Considerably|Slightly|Total | Alarms. |Total of + |Destroyed| Damaged. |Damaged.| of |-------------------|Fires & + | | | |Fires.|False|Chimn'y|Total|Alarms. + -----|---------|------------|--------|------|-----|-------|-----|-------- + 1833 | 31 | 135 | 292 | 458| 59 | 75 | 134| 592 + 1834 | 28 | 116 | 338 | 482| 57 | 112 | 169| 651 + 1835 | 31 | 125 | 315 | 471| 66 | 106 | 172| 643 + 1836 | 33 | 134 | 397 | 564| 66 | 126 | 192| 756 + 1837 | 22 | 122 | 357 | 501| 82 | 134 | 216| 717 + 1838 | 33 | 152 | 383 | 568| 79 | 108 | 187| 755 + 1839 | 17 | 165 | 402 | 584| 70 | 101 | 171| 755 + 1840 | 26 | 204 | 451 | 681| 84 | 98 | 182| 863 + 1841 | 24 | 234 | 438 | 696| 67 | 92 | 159| 855 + 1842 | 24 | 224 | 521 | 769| 61 | 82 | 143| 912 + 1843 | 29 | 231 | 489 | 749| 79 | 83 | 162| 911 + 1844 | 23 | 237 | 502 | 762| 70 | 94 | 164| 926 + 1845 | 23 | 253 | 431 | 707| 82 | 87 | 168| 875 + 1846 | 25 | 233 | 576 | 834| 119 | 69 | 188| 1,022 + 1847 | 27 | 273 | 536 | 836| 88 | 66 | 154| 990 + 1848 | 27 | 269 | 509 | 805| 120 | 86 | 206| 1,011 + 1849 | 28 | 228 | 582 | 838| 76 | 89 | 165| 1,003 + 1850 | 18 | 229 | 621 | 868| 91 | 79 | 170| 1,038 + 1851 | 21 | 255 | 652 | 928| 115 | 116 | 231| 1,159 + 1852 | 25 | 238 | 660 | 923| 93 | 89 | 182| 1,105 + 1853 | 20 | 241 | 629 | 900| 72 | 90 | 162| 1,062 + -----|---------|------------|--------|------|-----|-------|-----|-------- + Total| 535 | 4,298 |10,091 |14,924|1,695|1,982 |3,677|18,601 + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +If we examine this table, we find ample evidence that the organization of +the Fire Brigade has resulted in an abatement of loss and labour. Taking +the average of the last twenty-one years, there has been a decrease of 5·7 +in the last year under the head of "totally destroyed." This is the best +test of the activity of the Brigade, and really means much more than is +obvious at first sight. Within these twenty-one years many tens of +thousands of houses have been added to the metropolis; our periphery has +been continually enlarging; like a tree, we grow year by year by adding a +fresh ring of bricks and mortar. Whilst this increase is going on +externally, the central part is growing too. We can afford no dead wood in +our very heart: if it cannot expand one way it must another. Accordingly, +we find the crowded city extending towards the sky; and if we take into +account the immense mass of material added to that which existed, all of +which is equally liable to the inroads of fire, we can understand why the +total number of conflagrations has increased from 458 in 1833 to 900 in +1853. With such an augmentation of conflagrations, the _decrease_ of +houses totally destroyed in 1853 is the highest testimony to the ability +and zeal of Mr. Braidwood. + +The item "totally destroyed" is mainly made up of houses and factories in +which are stored very combustible materials, such as carpenters' and +cabinet-makers' shops, oilmen's warehouses, sawmills, &c., where the fire +gains such a hold in a few minutes as to preclude the possibility of +putting it out. The number is also swelled by houses which are situated +many miles from the nearest station; for there are no stations in the +outskirts of the town, and very few in the crowded suburbs. We have seen +complaints of this want of help in thickly-populated localities; but the +companies only plant an establishment where the insurances are sufficient +to cover the expense, and people who do not contribute have no more right +to expect private individuals to take care of their property than +tradesmen in the Strand would have to expect the private watchman outside +Messrs. Coutts' bank to look after their shutters. Indeed, it seems to us +that the Brigade act very liberally. The firemen never stop to ask +whether the house is insured or not; nor are they deterred by distance; +and in many cases they have gone as far as Brentford, Putney, Croydon, +Barnet, Uxbridge, Cranfordbridge, Windsor Castle, and once to Dover by an +express engine. The only difference made by the Brigade between insured +and uninsured property is, that after putting out a fire they take charge +of the salvage of the former, and leave that of the latter to its owner. +The force is, however, very careful to repair immediately any damage they +may have done to adjoining property--damage which they commit in the most +deliberate manner, regardless of pains and penalties. For instance, +_housebreaking_ is almost a nightly crime with the firemen whilst in +search of water, who never let a wall or a door stand between them and a +supply of this element. It is a proof of the good feeling which prevails +on such occasions that, although they are technically guilty of an offence +which renders them liable to punishment, no one murmurs, much less +threatens proceedings. If the authorities in the great fire of London had +acted in a similar manner for the public good, they would have saved the +half of the Inner Temple, which was destroyed because, according to +Clarendon's account, all the lawyers were absent on circuit, and the +constables did not dare to take the responsibility of breaking open their +chamber doors! + +It is a question whether government ought not to relieve the parish +authorities from a duty which they cannot separately perform, and combine +their engines into a metropolitan brigade; thus guarding the town from +fire as they do from robbery by the police. If people will not protect +themselves by insuring, the state should protect them, and make them pay +for it. An excellent system prevails in most parts of Germany of levying a +rate at the close of the year upon all the inhabitants, sufficient to +cover the loss from fires during the past twelvemonth. As every +householder has a pecuniary interest in the result, he keeps a bucket and +belt, and sallies out to extinguish the conflagration in his neighbour's +premises. If the rate were adopted in London, and the present enormous +duty on insurances reduced, the cost to each person would be hardly more +pence than it is pounds at present to the provident few. + +Mr. Samuel Brown, of the Institute of Actuaries, after analyzing the +returns of Mr. Braidwood, as well as the reports in the _Mechanics' +Magazine_ by Mr. Baddeley, who has devoted much attention to the subject, +drew up some tables of the times of the year and hours of the day at which +fires are most frequent. It would naturally be supposed that the winter +would show a vast preponderance over the summer months; but the difference +is not so great as might be expected. December and January are very +prolific of fires, as in these months large public buildings are heated by +flues, stoves, and boilers; but the other months share mishaps of the kind +pretty equally, with the exception that the hot and dry periods of summer +and autumn are marked by the most destructive class of conflagrations, +owing to the greater inflammability of the materials, than in the damper +portions of the year. This, from the desiccating nature of the climate, is +especially the case in Canada and the United States, and, coupled with the +extensive use of wood in building, has a large influence in many parts of +the continent. The following list of all the great fires which have taken +place for the last hundred years will bear out our statement:-- + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + Month.| Description of Property, | Place. |Value of Property| Year. + | &c. | | Destroyed. | + ---------------------------------|--------------|-----------------|------ + {Webb's Sugar-house |Liverpool | £4,600 | 1829 + {Lancelot's-hey | " | 198,000 | 1833 + {Town-hall and Exchange | " | 45,000 | 1795 + Jan. {Caxton Printing Office | " | | 1821 + {Dublin & Co. Warehouse | " | | 1834 + {Suffolk Street | " | 40,000 | 1818 + {Mile End |London | 200,000 | 1834 + {Royal Exchange | " | | 1838 + | | | + {York Minster |York | | 1829 + {3 West-India Warehouses |London | 300,000 | 1829 + {House of Commons |Dublin | | 1792 + Feb. {Argyle Rooms |London | | 1830 + {Camberwell Church | " | | 1841 + {Custom House | " | | 1814 + {Hop Warehouse |Southwark | | 1851 + {J. F. Pawson & Co.'s }| St. Paul's }| 40,000 | 1853 + { Warehouses }|Churchyard }| | + {Pickford's Wharf |London | | 1824 + {Goree Warehouses |Liverpool | 50,000 | 1846 + | | | + {New Orleans |United States | dr. 650,000 | 1853 + {15,000 houses at Canton |China | | 1820 + {13,000 houses |Peru | | 1799 + {Manchester |England | | 1792 + March {Fawcett's Foundry |Liverpool | £41,000 | 1843 + {Oil Street | " | 12,000 | 1844 + {Apothecaries' Hall | " | 7,000 | 1844 + {Sugar House, Harrington}| " | 30,000 | 1830 + { Street }| | | + | | | + {1,000 Buildings |Pittsburg | dr. 1,400,000 | 1845 + {Savannah |United States | dr. 300,000 | 1852 + {Parkshead, Bacon Street |Liverpool | £36,000 | 1851 + {Windsor Forest |England | | 1785 + April {Margetson's Tan Yard, }|London | 36,000 | 1852 + { Bermondsey }| | | + {1,158 Buildings, }|United States | | 1838 + { Charleston }| | | + {Horsleydown |London | | 1780 + | | | + {Dockhead |London | | 1785 + {Great Fire, 1,749 houses|Hamburgh | | 1842 + {23 Steamboats at }|United States | dr. 600,000 | 1849 + { St. Louis }| | | + {15,000 Houses |Quebec | | 1845 + {York Minster |York | | 1840 + May {Duke's Warehouses |Liverpool | | 1843 + {Okell's Sugar-house | " | | 1799 + {Gibraltar Row | " | | 1838 + {Liver Mills | " | £8,700 | 1841 + {Billinsgate |London | | 1809 + | | | + {Rotherhithe |London | | 1765 + {Copenhagen |Denmark | | 1759 + {Montreal |Canada | dr. 1,000,000 | 1852 + {St. John |Newfoundland | | 1846 + {Louisville |United States | dr. 100,000 | 1853 + June {47 persons, Quebec }|Canada | | 1846 + { Theatre }| | | + {1,300 houses, Quebec | " | | 1845 + {Gutta Percha Co., Wharf}|London | £23,000 | 1853 + { Road }| | | + {Humphreys' Warehouse, }| " | 100,000 | 1851 + { Southwark }| | | + | | | + {Hindon |Wiltshire | | 1754 + {15,000 Houses |Constantinople| | 1756 + {12,000 Houses |Montreal | | 1852 + {300 Houses |Philadelphia | | 1850 + {300 Buildings |North America | dr. 160,000 | 1846 + July {302 Stores |New York | dr. 1,200,000 | 1846 + {Apothecaries' Hall |Liverpool | | 1845 + {Glover's Warehouses | " | £17,000 | 1851 + {Dockyard |Portsmouth | | 1770 + {Wapping |London | 1,000,000 | 1794 + {Ratcliffe Cross | " | | 1794 + {Varna |Turkey | | 1854 + | | | + {Dublin |Ireland | | 1833 + {Gravesend |England | 60,000 | 1847 + {Walker's Oil Mill |Dover | 30,000 | 1853 + {Falmouth Theatre |Falmouth | | 1792 + Aug. {Buildings, Albany |United States | dr. 600,000 | 1849 + {10,000 Houses |Constantinople| | 1782 + {Smithfield |London | £100,000 | 1822 + {East Smithfield | " | | 1840 + {Bankside | " | | 1814 + {Gateshead |England | | 1854 + | | | + {46 Buildings |New York | dr. 500,000 | 1839 + {200 Houses, Brooklyn | " | 150,000 | 1848 + {Scott, Russell, & Co., }|London | £80,000 | 1853 + { Ship Builders, Mill }| | | + { Wall }| | | + {St. Paul's Church, }| " | | + { Covent Garden }| | | 1795 + {60 Houses Rotherhithe | " | | 1791 + Sept. {Astley's Amphitheatre | " | | 1794 + {Mark Lane | " | 150,000 | 1850 + {Covent Garden Theatre | " | | 1808 + {Store Street and }| " | | + { Tottenham Court Road }| | | 1802 + {Macfee's |Liverpool | 40,000 | 1846 + {Gorees | " | 400,000 | 1802 + {Formby Street | " | 380,000 | 1842 + {Cowdray House |Sussex | | 1793 + | | | + {52 Buildings |Philadelphia | dr. 100,000 | 1839 + {Grimsdell's Builders' }|Spitalfields | | 1852 + { Yard }| | | + {Withwith's Mills |Halifax | £35,000 | 1853 + {Robert Street |North Liverp'l| 150,000 | 1838 + {Lancelot's-hey |Liverpool | 80,000 | 1854 + {Memel Great Fire |Prussia | | 1854 + Oct. {London Wall |London | 84,000 | 1849 + {20 Houses, Rotherhithe | " | | 1790 + {Lancelot's-hey |Liverpool | 30,000 | 1834 + {Wapping |London | 100,000 | 1823 + {Houses of Parliament | " | | 1834 + {Pimlico | " | | 1839 + | | | + {Royal Palace |Lisbon | | 1794 + {New York |United States | | 1835 + {20 Houses, Shadwell |London | | 1796 + {Aldersgate Street | " | £100,000 | 1783 + Nov. {Cornhill | " | | 1765 + {Liver Street |Liverpool | 6,000 | 1829 + {Wright & Aspinall, }|London | 50,000 | 1826 + { Oxford Street }| | | + {Hill's Rice Mills | " | 5,000 | 1848 + | | | + {Dock Yard |Portsmouth | | 1776 + {Patent Office and Post }|Washington | | 1836 + { Office }| | | + Dec. {600 Warehouses |New York | dr. 4,000,000 | 1835 + {Fenwick Street |Liverpool | £36,000 | 1831 + {Brancker's Sugar-house | " | 34,000 | 1843 + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + (_Extracted from the Royal Insurance Company's Almanack, 1854._) + +One reason, perhaps, why there is such a general average in the number of +conflagrations throughout the year is, that the vast majority occur in +factories and workshops where fire is used in summer as well as winter. +This supposition appears at first sight to be contradicted by the fact +that nearly as many fires occur on Sunday as on any other day of the week. +But when it is remembered that in numerous establishments it is necessary +to keep in the fires throughout that day, and as in the majority of cases +a very inadequate watch is kept, it is at once apparent why there is no +immunity from the scourge. Indeed, some of the most destructive fires have +broken out on a Sunday night or on a Sunday morning; no doubt because a +large body of fire had formed before it was detected. A certain number of +accidents occur in summer in private houses from persons on hot nights +opening the window behind the toilet-glass in their bedrooms, when the +draught blows the blind against the candle. Swallows do not more certainly +appear in June, than such mishaps are found reported at the sultry season. + +If we watch still more narrowly the habits of fires, we find that they are +active or dormant according to the time of day. Thus, during a period of +nine years, the per-centage regularly increased from 1·96 at 9 o'clock +A.M., the hour at which all households might be considered to be about, +to 3·34 at 1 P.M., 3·55 at 5 P.M., and 8·15 per cent. at 10 P.M., which is +just the time at which a fire left to itself by the departure of the +workmen would have had swing enough to become visible. + +The origin of fires is now so narrowly inquired into by the officers of +the Brigade, and by means of inquests, that we have been made acquainted +with a vast number of curious causes which would never have been +suspected. From an analysis of fires which have occurred since the +establishment of the Brigade we have constructed the following tables:-- + + Curtains 2,511 + Candle 1,178 + Flues 1,555 + Stoves 494 + Gas 932 + Light dropped down Area 13 + Lighted Tobacco falling down ditt 7 + Dust falling on horizontal Flue 1 + Doubtful 76 + Incendiarism 89 + Carelessness 100 + Intoxication 80 + Dog 6 + Cat 19 + Hunting Bugs 15 + Clothes-horse upset by Monkey 1 + Lucifers 80 + Children playing with ditto 45 + Rat gnawing ditto 1 + Jackdaw playing with ditto 1 + Rat gnawing Gaspipe 1 + Boys letting off Fireworks 14 + Fireworks going off 63 + Children playing with Fire 45 + Spark from ditto 243 + Spark from Railway 4 + Smoking Tobacco 166 + Smoking Ants 1 + Smoking in Bed 2 + Reading in ditto 22 + Sewing in ditto 4 + Sewing by Candle 1 + Lime overheating 44 + Waste ditto 43 + Cargo of Lime ditto 2 + Rain slacking ditto 5 + High Tide 1 + Explosion 16 + Spontaneous Combustion 43 + Heat from Sun 8 + Lightning 8 + Carboy of Acid bursting 2 + Drying Linen 1 + Shirts falling into Fire 6 + Lighting and Upsetting Naphtha Lamp 58 + Fire from Iron Kettle 1 + Sealing Letter 1 + Charcoal fire of a Suicide 1 + Insanity 5 + Bleaching Nuts 7 + Unknown 1,323 + +Among the more common causes of fire (such as gas, candle, curtains taking +fire, children playing with stoves, &c.) it is remarkable how uniformly +the same numbers occur under each head from year to year. General laws +obtain as much in small as in great events. We are informed by the Post +Office authorities that about eight persons daily drop their letters into +the post without directing them; we know that there is an unvarying +percentage of broken heads and limbs received into the hospitals; and here +we see that a regular number of houses take fire, year by year, from the +leaping out of a spark or the dropping of a smouldering pipe of tobacco. +It may indeed be a long time before another conflagration will arise from +"a monkey upsetting a clothes-horse," but we have no doubt such an +accident will recur in its appointed cycle. + +Although gas figures so largely as a cause of fire, it does not appear +that its rapid introduction of late years into private houses has been +attended with danger. There is another kind of light, however, which the +insurance offices look upon with terror, especially those who make it +their business to insure farm property. The assistant-secretary of one of +the largest fire-offices, speaking broadly, informed us that the +introduction of the lucifer-match _caused them an annual loss of ten +thousand pounds_! In the foregoing list we see in how many ways they have +given rise to fires. + + Lucifers going off probably from heat 80 + Children playing with lucifers 45 + Rat gnawing lucifers 1 + Jackdaw playing with lucifers 1 + ---- + 127 + +One hundred and twenty-seven known fires thus arise from this single +cause; and no doubt many of the twenty-five fires ascribed to the agency +of cats and dogs were owing to their having thrown down boxes of matches +at night, which they frequently do, and which is almost certain to produce +combustion. The item "rat gnawing lucifer," reminds us to give a warning +against leaving about wax lucifers where there are either rats or mice, +for these vermin constantly run away with them to their holes behind the +inflammable canvas, and eat the wax until they reach the phosphorus, which +is ignited by the friction of their teeth. Many fires are believed to have +been produced by this singular circumstance. How much, again, must +lucifers have contributed to swell the large class of conflagrations whose +causes are unknown! Another cause of fire, which is of recent date, is the +use of naphtha in lamps,--a most ignitible fluid when mixed in certain +proportions with common air. "A delightful novel" figures as a proximate, +if not an immediate, cause of twenty-two fires. This might be expected; +but what can be the meaning of a fire caused by a high tide? When we asked +Mr. Braidwood the question, he answered, "Oh, we always look out for fires +when there is a high tide. They arise from the heating of lime upon the +addition of water." Thus rain, we see, has caused four conflagrations, and +simple over-heating forty-four. The lime does no harm so long as it is +merely in contact with wood; but if iron happens to be in juxtaposition +with the two, it speedily becomes red-hot, and barges on the river have +been sunk, by reason of their bolts and iron knees burning holes in their +bottoms. Of the singular entry, "rat gnawing a gaspipe," the firemen state +that it is common for rats to gnaw leaden service-pipes, for the purpose, +it is supposed, of getting at the water, and in this instance the grey +rodent laboured under a mistake, and let out the raw material of the +opposite element. Intoxication is a fruitful cause of fires, especially in +public-houses and inns. + +It is commonly imagined that the introduction of hot water, hot air, and +steam-pipes, as a means of heating buildings, cuts off one avenue of +danger from fire. This is an error. Iron pipes, often heated up to 400°, +are placed in close contact with floors and skirting-boards, supported by +slight diagonal props of wood, which a much lower degree of heat will +suffice to ignite. The circular rim supporting a still at the +Apothecaries' Hall, which was used in the preparation of some medicament +that required a temperature of only 300°, was found, not long ago, to have +charred a circle, at least a quarter of an inch deep, in the wood beneath +it, in less than six months. Mr. Braidwood, in his evidence before a +Committee of the House of Lords, in 1846, stated that it was his belief +that by long exposure to heat, not much exceeding that of boiling water, +or 212°, timber is brought into such a condition that it will fire without +the application of a light. The time during which this process of +desiccation goes on, until it ends in spontaneous combustion, is, he +thinks, from eight to ten years; _so that a fire might be hatching in a +man's premises during the whole of his lease, without making any sign_! + +Mr. Hosking, in his very useful and sensible little "Guide to the proper +Regulation of Buildings in Towns," quotes the following case, which +completely confirms Mr. Braidwood's opinion, and explodes the idea that +heat applied through the medium of pipes must be safe. + + "Day and Martin's well-known blacking manufactory in High Holborn was + heated by means of hot water passing through iron tubes into the + various parts of the building. In December, 1848, the wooden casing + and other woodwork about the upright main pipes were found to be on + fire, and from no other cause that could be discovered than the + constant exposure for a long time of the wood to heat from the pipes. + In this case the pipes were not in contact with the wooden casing, but + they were stayed and kept upright by cross fillets of wood, which + touched them, and these it was which appeared to have taken fire. The + small circulating pipes which conveyed the hot water throughout the + several chambers were raised from the floor to about the extent of + their own diameter, and the floors showed no signs of fire where the + pipes were so removed; but in _every case_ where the prop or saddle + which held the pipe up from the floor had been displaced, and the pipe + had been allowed to sag and touch the floor, _the boards were + charred_. It was understood that the temperature of the water in the + pipes never much exceeded 300°. The practical teaching of this case + clearly is, that pipes should on no consideration be placed nearer to + wood than the distance of their own diameters. Wood dried in the + thorough manner we have mentioned is so liable to catch fire at the + momentary propinquity of flame, that practical men imagine there must + be an atmosphere of some kind surrounding it of a highly inflammable + nature. In cases of pine wood we could well understand such a theory, + as we know that a stick thrust into the fire will emit from its free + end a volatile spirit of turpentine, which lights like a jet of gas. + + "Mercers' Hall, burnt in 1853, was the victim of its hot-water pipes, + which had not been in work more than four or five years. The vaulted + room in the British Museum, which contains some of the Nineveh + marbles, was fired--or rather the carpenters' work about--in a similar + manner; and if report tells the truth, the new Houses of Parliament + have been on fire several times already from a similar cause." + +Under the heads "Incendiarism," "Doubtful," and "Unknown," are included +all the cases of wilful firing. The return, "Incendiarism," is never made +unless there has been a conviction, which rarely takes place, as the +offices are only anxious to protect themselves against fraud, and do not +like the trouble or bad odour of being prosecutors on public grounds. If +the evidence of wilful firing, however, is conclusive, the insured, when +he applies for his money, is significantly informed by the secretary that +unless he leaves the office, _he will hang him_. Though arson is no +longer punished by death, the hint is usually taken. Now and then, such +flagrant offenders are met with, that the office cannot avoid pursuing +them with the utmost rigour of the law. Such, in 1851, was the case of a +"respectable" solicitor, living in Lime-street, Watling-street, who had +insured his house and furniture for a sum much larger than they were +worth. The means he adopted for the commission of his crime without +discovery were apparently sure; but it was the very pains he took to +accomplish his end which led to his detection. He had specially made to +order a deep tray of iron, in the centre of which was placed a socket. The +tray he filled with naphtha, and in the socket he put a candle, the light +of which was shaded by a funnel. The candle was one of the kind which he +used for his gig-lamp,--for he kept a gig,--and was calculated to last a +stated time before it reached the naphtha. He furtively deposited the +whole machine in the cellar, within eight inches of the wooden floor, in a +place constructed to conceal it. The attorney went out, and on coming back +again found, as he expected, that his house was on fire. Unfortunately, +however, for him--if it is ever a misfortune to a scoundrel to be +detected,--it was put out at a very early stage, and the firemen, whilst +in the act of extinguishing it, discovered this infernal machine. The +order to make it was traced to the delinquent: a female servant, irritated +at the idea of his having left her in the house to be burnt to death, gave +evidence against him. He was tried and convicted, and is now expiating his +crime at Norfolk Island. Plans for rebuilding this villain's house, and +estimates of the expense, were found afterwards among his papers. + +The class "doubtful" includes all those cases in which the offices have no +moral doubt that the fire has been wilful, but are not in possession of +legal evidence sufficient to substantiate a charge against the offender. +In most of these instances, however, the insured has _his reasons_ for +taking a much smaller sum than he originally demanded. Lastly, we have the +"unknown," to which 1,323 cases are put down, one of the largest numbers +in the entire list, though decreasing year by year. Even of these, a +certain percentage are supposed to be wilful. There is no denying that the +crime of arson owes its origin entirely to the introduction of fire +insurance; and there can be as little doubt that, of late years, it has +been very much increased by the pernicious competition for business among +the younger offices, which leads them to deal too leniently with their +customers; or, in other words, to pay the money, _and ask no questions_. +It is calculated that _one fire in seven which occur among the small class +of shopkeepers in London is an incendiary fire_. Mr. Braidwood, whose +experience is larger than that of any person, tells us that the greatest +ingenuity is sometimes exercised to deceive the officers of the insurance +company as to the value of the insured stock. In one instance, when the +Brigade had succeeded in extinguishing the fire, he discovered a string +stretched across one of the rooms in the basement of the house, on which +ringlets of shavings dipped in turpentine were tied at regular intervals. +On extending his investigations, he ascertained that a vast pile of what +he thought were pounds of moist sugar consisted of parcels of brown paper, +and that the loaves of white sugar were made of plaster of Paris. Ten to +one but the "artful dodge," which some scoundrel flatters himself is +peculiarly his own, has been put in practice by hundreds of others before +him. For this reason, fires that are wilful generally betray themselves to +the practised eye of the Brigade. When an event of the kind "is going to +happen" at home, a common circumstance is to find that the fond parent has +treated the whole of his family to the theatre. + +There is another class of incendiary fires which arise from a species of +monomania in boys and girls. Not many years ago the men of the Brigade +were occupied for hours in putting out no less than half a dozen fires +which broke out one after another in a house in West Smithfield; and it +was at last discovered that they were occasioned by a youth who went about +with lucifers and slily ignited everything that would burn. He was caught +in the act of firing a curtain in the very room in which a fireman was +occupied in putting out a blaze. A still more extraordinary case took +place in the year 1848, at Torluck House, in the Isle of Mull. On Sunday, +the 11th of November, the curtains of a bed were ignited, as was supposed +by lightning; a window-blind followed; and immediately afterwards the +curtains of five rooms broke out one after another into a flame; even the +towels hanging up in the kitchen were burnt. The next day a bed took fire, +and it being thought advisable to carry the bed-linen into the coach-house +for safety, it caught fire three or four times during the process of +removal. In a few days the phenomenon was renewed. The furniture, books, +and everything else of an inflammable nature, were, with much labour, +taken from the mansion, and again some body-linen burst into a flame on +the way. Even after these precautions had been taken, and persons had been +set to watch in every part of the house, the mysterious fires continued to +haunt it until the 22nd of February, 1849. It was suspected from the first +that they were the act of an incendiary, and upon a rigid examination of +the household before the Fiscal-General and the Sheriff, the mischief was +traced to the daughter of the housekeeper, a young girl, who was on a +visit to her mother. She had effected her purpose, which was perfectly +motiveless, by concealing combustibles in different parts of the house. + +The most ludicrous conflagration that perhaps ever occurred was that at +Mr. Phillips's workshops, when the whole of his stock of instruments for +extinguishing flame were at one fell swoop destroyed. "'Tis rare to see +the engineer hoist with his own petard," says the poet; and certainly it +was a most laughable _contre-temps_ to see the fire-engines arrive at the +manufactory just in time to witness the fire-annihilators annihilated by +the fire. A similar mishap occurred to these unfortunate implements at +Paris. In juxtaposition with this case, we are tempted to put another, in +which the attempt at extinction was followed by exactly the opposite +effects. A tradesman was about to light his gas, when, finding the cock +stiff, he took a candle to see what was the matter; whilst attempting to +turn it, the screw came out, and with it a jet of gas, which was instantly +fired by the candle. The blaze igniting the shop, a passer-by seized a +wooden pail and threw its contents upon the flames, which flared up +immediately with tenfold power. It is scarcely necessary to state that the +water was whisky, and that the country was Old Ireland. + +Spontaneous combustion is at present very little understood, though +chemists have of late turned their attention to the subject. It forms, +however, no inconsiderable item in the list of causes of fires. There can +be no question that many of those that occur at railway stations and +buildings are due to the fermentation which arises among oiled rags. +Over-heating of waste, which includes shoddy, sawdust, cotton, &c., is a +fearful source of conflagrations. The cause of most fires which have +arisen from spontaneous combustion is lost in the consequence. Cases now +and then occur where the firemen have been able to detect it, as, for +instance, at Hibernia Wharf in 1846, one of Alderman Humphery's +warehouses. It happened that a porter had swept the sawdust from the floor +into a heap, upon which a broken flask of olive-oil that was placed above +dripped its contents. To these elements of combustion the sun added its +power, and sixteen hours afterwards the fire broke out. Happily, it was +instantly extinguished; and the agents that produced it were caught, +red-handed as it were, in the act. The chances are that such a particular +combination of circumstances might not occur again in a thousand years. +The sawdust will not be swept again into such a position under the oil, or +the bottle will not break over the sawdust, or the sun will not shine in +on them to complete the fatal sum. It is an important fact, however, to +know that oiled sawdust, warmed by the sun, will fire in sixteen hours, as +it accounts for a number of conflagrations in saw-mills, which never could +be traced to any probable cause. + +By means of direct experiment we are also learning something on the +question of explosions. It used to be assumed that gunpowder was +answerable for all such terrible effects in warehouses where no gas or +steam was employed; and as policies are vitiated by the fact of its +presence, unless declared, many squabbles have ensued between insurers and +insured upon this head alone. At the late great fire at Gateshead, a +report having spread that the awful explosion which did so much damage +arose from the illicit stowage of seven tons of gunpowder in the Messrs. +Sisson's warehouse, the interested insurance companies offered a reward of +100_l._ to elicit information. The experiments instituted, however, by Mr. +Pattinson, in the presence of Captain Du Cane, of the Royal Engineers, and +the coroner's jury impanelled to inquire into the matter, showed that the +water from the fire-engine falling upon the mineral and chemical +substances in store, was sufficient to account for the result. The +following were the experiments tried at Mr. Pattinson's works at Felling, +about three miles from Gateshead:-- + + "Mr. Pattinson first caused a metal pot to be inserted in the ground + until its top was level with the surface; and having put into it 9 + lbs. of nitrate of soda and 6 lbs. of sulphur, he ignited the mass; + and then, heating it to the highest possible degree of which it was + susceptible, he poured into it about a quart of water. The effect was + an immediate explosion (accompanied by a loud clap), which would have + been exceedingly perilous to any person in its immediate vicinity. The + experiment was next made under different conditions. The pot into + which the sulphur and nitrate of soda were put was covered over the + top with a large piece of thick metal of considerable weight; and + above that again were placed several large pieces of clay and earth. + It was deemed necessary to try this experiment in an open field, away + from any dwelling-house, and which admitted of the spectators placing + themselves at a safe distance from the spot. The materials were then + ignited as before; and when in the incandescent state, water was + poured upon the mass down a spout. The result was but a comparatively + slight explosion, and which scarcely disturbed the iron and clods + placed over the mouth of the vessel. Another experiment of the kind + was made with the same result. At length, a trial having been made for + the third time, but with this difference, that the vessel was covered + over the top with another similar vessel, and that the water was + poured upon the burning sulphur and nitrate of soda with greater + rapidity than before, by slightly elevating the spout, the effect was + to blow up the pot on the top into the air to a height of upwards of + seventy feet, accompanied by a loud detonation. With this the coroner + and jury became convinced that, whether or not the premises in + Hillgate contained gunpowder, they contained elements as certainly + explosive, and perhaps far more destructive." + +We may here mention, as a curious result of the Gateshead fire, that +several tons of lead, whilst flowing in a molten state, came in contact +with a quantity of volatilized sulphur. Thus the lead became re-converted +into lead-ore, or a sulphuret of lead, which, as it required to be +re-smelted, was thereby debased in value from some twenty-two to fifteen +shillings a ton. + +The great fire, again, which occurred in Liverpool in October last, was +occasioned by the explosion of spirits of turpentine, which blew out, one +after another, seven of the walls of the vaults underneath the warehouse, +and in some cases destroyed the vaulting itself, and exposed to the flames +the stores of cotton above. Surely some law is called for to prevent the +juxtaposition of such inflammable materials. The turpentine is said to +have been fired by a workman who snuffed the candle with his fingers, and +accidentally threw the snuff down the bunghole of one of the barrels of +turpentine. The warehouses burnt were built upon Mr. Fairbairn's new +fireproof plan, which the Liverpool people introduced some years ago, at a +great expense to the town. + +Water alone brought into sudden contact with red-hot iron is capable of +giving rise to a gas of the most destructive nature--witness the +extraordinary explosions that are continually taking place in +steam-vessels, especially in America, which mostly arise from the lurching +of the vessel when waiting for passengers, causing the water to withdraw +from one side of the boiler, which rapidly becomes red hot. The next lurch +in an opposite direction precipitates the water upon the highly-heated +surface, and thus the explosive gas, in addition to the steam, is +generated faster than the safety-valves can get rid of it. + +A very interesting inquiry, and one of vital importance to the actuaries +of fire-insurance companies, is the relative liability to fire of +different classes of occupations and residences. We already know +accurately the number of fires which occur yearly in every trade and kind +of occupation. What we do not know, and what we want to know, is the +proportion the tenements in which such trades and occupations are carried +on, bear to the total number of houses in the metropolis. The last census +gives us no information of this kind, and we trust the omission will be +supplied the next time it is taken. According to Mr. Braidwood's returns, +for the last twenty-one years, the number of fires in each trade, and in +private houses, has been as follows:-- + + Private Houses 4,638 + Lodgings 1,304 + Victuallers 715 + Sale-shops and Offices 701 + Carpenters and Workers in Wood 621 + Drapers, of Woollen and Linen 372 + Bakers 311 + Stables 277 + Cabinet-makers 233 + Oil and Colour-men 230 + Chandlers 178 + Grocers 162 + Tinmen, Braziers, and Smiths 158 + Houses under Repair and Building 150 + Beershops 142 + Coffee-shops and Chophouses 139 + Brokers and Dealers in Old Clothes 134 + Hatmakers 127 + Lucifer-match makers 120 + Wine and Spirit Merchants 118 + Tailors 113 + Hotels and Club-houses 107 + Tobacconists 105 + Eating-houses 104 + Booksellers and Binders 103 + Ships 102 + Printers and Engravers 102 + Builders 91 + Houses unoccupied 89 + Tallow-chandlers 87 + Marine Store Dealers 75 + Saw-mills 67 + Firework-makers 66 + Warehouses 63 + Chemists 62 + Coachmakers 50 + Warehouses (Manchester) 49 + Public Buildings 46 + +If we look at the mere number of fires, irrespective of the size of the +industrial group upon which they committed their ravages, houses would +appear to be hazardous according to the order in which we have placed +them. Now, this is manifestly absurd, inasmuch as private houses stand at +the head of the list, and it is well known that they are the safest from +fire of all kinds of tenements. Mr. Brown, of the Society of Actuaries, +who has taken the trouble to compare the number of fires in each +industrial group, with the number of houses devoted to it, as far as he +could find any data in the Post-office Directory, gives the following +average annual percentage of conflagrations, calculated on a period of +fifteen years:-- + + Lucifer-match makers 30·00 + Lodging-houses 16·51 + Hatmakers 7·74 + Chandlers 3·88 + Drapers 2·67 + Tinmen, Braziers, and Smiths 2·42 + Carpenters 2·27 + Cabinet-makers 2·12 + Oil and Colour-men 1·56 + Beershops 1·31 + Booksellers 1·18 + Coffee-shops and Coffee-houses 1·2 + Cabinet-makers 1·12 + Licensed Victuallers ·86 + Bakers ·75 + Wine Merchants ·61 + Grocers ·34 + +It will be seen that this estimate in a great measure inverts the order of +"dangerous," as we have ranged them in the previous table, making those +which from their aggregate number seemed to be the most hazardous trades, +appear the least so, and _vice versâ_. Thus lucifer-match makers have a +bad pre-eminence; indeed they are supposed to be subject to a +conflagration every third year; while the terrible victuallers, +carpenters, mercers, and bakers, at the top of the column, shrink to the +bottom of the list. These conclusions, nevertheless, are only an +approximation to the truth, since it is impossible to procure a correct +return of the houses occupied by different trades. Even if a certain class +of tenements is particularly liable to fire, it does not follow that it +will be held to be very hazardous to the insurers. Such considerations are +influenced by another question,--Are the contents of houses forming the +group, of that nature that, in cases of their taking fire, they are likely +to be totally destroyed, seriously, or only slightly damaged? For +instance, lodging-houses are very liable to fire; but they are very seldom +burnt down or much injured. Out of 81 that suffered in 1853, not one was +totally destroyed; only 4 were extensively affected; the very large +majority, 77, were slightly scathed from the burning of window and bed +curtains, &c. Among the trades which are too hazardous to be insured at +any price are--we quote from the tariff of the County +Fire-office--floor-cloth manufacturers, gunpowder dealers, hatters' "stock +in the stove," lampblack makers, lucifer-match makers, varnish makers, and +wadding manufacturers; whilst the following are considered highly +hazardous;--bone-crushers, coffee-roasters, composition-ornament makers, +curriers, dyers, feather-stovers, flambeau makers, heckling-houses, hemp +and flax dressers, ivory-black makers, japanners and japan makers, +laboratory-chemists, patent japan-leather manufacturers, lint-mills, +rough-fat melters, musical-instrument makers, oil and colour men, leather +dressers, oiled-silk and linen makers, oil of vitriol manufacturers, pitch +makers, rag dealers, resin dealers, saw-mills, seed crushers, +ship-buiscuit bakers, soap makers, spermaceti and wax refiners, sugar +refiners, tar dealers and boilers, thatched houses in towns, and +turpentine makers. + +The great mass of these trades bear "hazardous" upon the very face of +them; but it is not equally apparent why that of a hatter should be so +very dangerous, and particular portions of his stock uninsurable. We are +given to understand that the stoves at which their manufacture is carried +on, and the shell-lac and willow, are the causes of this proneness to +conflagrations. The memorable fire at Fenning's Wharf, which burnt with a +fury to which that at the Royal Exchange and at the Houses of Parliament +was a mere bonfire, originated at a hatter's on London Bridge, from which +place it speedily spread to Alderman Humphery's warehouses in the rear, +leaped across Tooley Street--at this spot 60 feet wide--and thus invaded +the great river-side wharf. The two floating-engines belonging to the +brigade were brought into service on the occasion, and although they threw +between them fourteen hundred gallons of water a minute to the height of a +hundred feet, they had not the slightest effect upon the burning mass. + +Nothing shows better the relative degrees of hazard than the different +rates charged for insurance. Thus an ordinary dwelling-house pays but +1_s._ 6_d._ per cent., while a sugar-refinery pays at least two, and +sometimes three guineas per cent., or from 30 to 40 times as much. The +same class of houses pay different rates according to their locality. The +residence which is charged 1_s._ 6_d._ in London, is, in St. John's, +Newfoundland--a town famous, or rather infamous, for fires--charged by our +English offices 1_l._ 11_s._ 6_d._ per cent. Probably the heaviest loss +the Phoenix Office ever sustained was by the fire of St. John's, in 1846. + +It is a notable fact, that the city of London, which is perhaps the most +densely inhabited spot the world has ever seen, has long been exempt from +conflagrations involving a considerable number of houses. "The devouring +element," it is true, has made many meals from time to time of huge +warehouses and public buildings; but since the great fire of 1666 it has +ceased to gorge upon whole quarters of the town. We have never had, since +that memorable occasion, to record the destruction of a thousand houses at +a time, a matter of frequent occurrence in the United States and +Canada--indeed in all parts of Continental Europe. The fires which have +proved fatal to large plots of buildings in the metropolis have in every +instance taken place without the sound of Bow bells. A comparison between +the number of fires which occurred between the years 1838 and 1843, in +20,000 houses situate on either side of the Thames, shows at once the +superior safety of its northern bank, the annual average of fires on the +latter being only 20 against 36 on the southern side. For this exemption +we have to thank the great disaster, if we might so term what has turned +out a blessing. At one fell swoop it cleared the city, and swept away for +ever the dangerous congregation of wooden buildings and narrow streets +which were always affording material for the flame. + +Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his "Handbook of London,"[43] gives the following +curious information respecting its supposed origin:-- + + "The fire of London, commonly called the Great Fire, commenced on the + east side of this lane (Pudding-lane) about one or two in the morning + of Sunday, September 2nd, 1666, in the house of Farryner, the king's + baker. + + "It was the fashion of the true blue Protestants of the period to + attribute the fire to the Roman Catholics; and when, in 1681, Oates + and his plot strengthened this belief, the following inscription was + affixed on the front of this house (No. 25, I believe), erected on the + site of Farryner, the baker's:-- + + "'Here, by the permission of Heaven, hell broke loose upon this + Protestant city, from the malicious hearts of barbarous priests, by + the hand of their agent, Hubert, who confessed, and on the ruins of + this place declared the fact for which he was hanged, viz., that here + began that dreadful fire which is described on and perpetuated by the + neighbouring pillar, erected anno 1681, in the mayoralty of Sir Peter + Ward, knight.' + + "This celebrated inscription, set up pursuant to an order of the Court + of Common Council, June 17th, 1681, was removed in the reign of James + II., replaced in the reign of William III., and finally taken down 'on + account of the stoppage of passengers to read it.' Entick, who makes + addition to Maitland in 1756, speaks of it 'as lately taken away.' The + house was 'rebuilt in a very handsome manner.' + + "The inscribed stone is still preserved, it is said, in a cellar in + Pudding-lane. Hubert was a French papist, of six-and-twenty years of + age, the son of a watchmaker at Rouen, in Normandy. He was seized in + Essex, confessed he began the fire, and, persisting in his confession, + was hanged, upon no other evidence than his own. He stated in his + examination that he had been 'suborned in Paris to this action,' and + that three more 'combined to do the same thing. They asked him if he + knew the place where he first put fire. He answered he knew it very + well, and would show it to anybody.' He was then ordered to be + blindfolded, and carried to several places of the City, that he might + point out the house. They first led him to a place at some distance + from it, opened his eyes, and asked him if that was it; to which he + answered, 'No, it was nearer the Thames.' 'The house and all which + were near it,' says Clarendon, 'were so covered and buried in ruins, + that the owners themselves, without some infallible mark, could very + hardly have said where their own house had stood; but this man led + them directly to the place, described how it stood, the shape of the + little yard, the fashion of the doors and windows, and where he first + put the fire; and all this with such exactness, that they who had + dwelt long near it could not so perfectly have described all + particulars.' Tillotson told Burnet that Howell (the then Recorder of + London) accompanied Hubert on this occasion, 'was with him and had + much discourse with him, and that he concluded it was impossible it + could be a melancholy dream.' This, however, was not the opinion of + the judges who tried him. 'Neither the judges,' says Clarendon, 'nor + any present at the trial, did believe him guilty, but that he was a + poor distracted wretch, weary of his life, and chose to part with it + in this way.' We may attribute the fire with safety to another cause + than a Roman conspiracy. We are to remember that the flames originated + in the house of a baker; that the season had been unusually dry; that + the houses were of wood, overhanging the road-way (penthouses they + were called), so that the lane was even narrower than it is now, and + that a strong east wind was blowing at the time. It was thought very + little of at first. Pepys put out his head from his bedroom window in + Seething-lane, a few hours after it broke out, and returned to bed + again, as if it were nothing more than an ordinary fire, a common + occurrence, and likely to be soon subdued. The Lord Mayor (Sir Thomas + Bludworth) seems to have thought as little of it till it was too late. + People appear to have been paralyzed, and no attempt of any + consequence was made to check its progress. For four successive days + it raged and gained ground, leaping after a prodigious manner from + house to house and street to street, at great distances from one + another. Houses were at length pulled down, and the flames, still + spreading westward, were at length stopped at the Temple Church in + Fleet-street, and Pie-Corner in Smithfield. In these four days 13,200 + houses, 400 streets, and 89 churches, including the cathedral church + of St. Paul, were destroyed, and London lay literally in ruins. The + loss was so enormous, that we may be said still to suffer from its + effects. Yet the advantages were not few. London was freed from the + plague ever after; and we owe St. Paul's, St. Bride's, St. Stephen's + Walbrook, and all the architectural glories of Sir Christopher Wren, + to the desolation it occasioned." + +In addition to these advantages we acquired another, that of +PARTY-WALLS--a safeguard which has prevented fires from spreading in the +City, when whole streets have been swept away in a few hours in other +parts of the metropolis, and especially in what might be termed the +water-side suburbs of London--Rotherhithe, Greenwich, and Gravesend. The +Act by which party-walls were enforced came into operation immediately +prior to the rebuilding of the town, and has been rendered more stringent +and effective from time to time by various amendments. The Building Act of +the 7th and 8th of Queen Victoria contains the important enactment, that +"no warehouse shall exceed 200,000 cubic feet in contents." Fire becomes +unmanageable when it has access to large stores of combustible matter; +under such conditions it acquires a "fortified position," and cannot, in +the vast majority of cases, be reduced unless by an early surprise. + +As the very heart of London is largely occupied with Manchester warehouses +full of the most inflammable materials, the safety of the capital depends +upon this restrictive law. The Manchester warehousemen, nevertheless, have +managed to set that part of the Act at defiance. Let us take, as the +latest and most flagrant example, Cook's warehouses. This structure, which +within these last two years has raised its enormous bulk in St. Paul's +Churchyard, and actually dwarfed the metropolitan cathedral by the +propinquity of its monotonous mass, contains 1,100,000 cubic feet of space +open from end to end, or _nine hundred thousand feet more than it is +entitled to possess_. If we were to take twenty-five ordinary-sized +dwelling-houses, and pull down their party-walls, we should have just the +state of things which is here presented to us. But it will be asked, if it +is against the law, why do not the proper officers interfere? Where are +the City surveyors? The reason, good reader, is this: the Manchester +warehousemen of late years have adopted a new reading of the law--a +reading which we believe no judge would allow, but which the surveyors +have not yet ventured to dispute. "We escape altogether," say these +gentlemen, "the provisions of the Building Act relative to warehouses, as, +by reason of our breaking bulk, our places of business are not mere +storehouses." That this reading is a violation of the spirit of the +statute there can be no doubt; that it is also a violation of its letter +we also believe; if not, it is high time that the law be amended upon this +point; for we affirm, on the very best authority, that London has never +since the great fire been in such danger of an overwhelming conflagration +as it is now by the presence and rapid spreading of these huge warehouses, +filled with the elements of destruction, and placed side by side, as +though for the very purpose of producing the utmost mischief by contagion. + +Let us suppose, for instance, that a fire had once established itself in +Cook's warehouses; to extinguish it would be out of the question. +Fire-engines would be perfectly useless against a body of flame which +would speedily become like a blast-furnace, and burn with a white heat. +Who knows what would come after? Supposing the wind to be blowing from the +south, we tremble for the cathedral. The huge dome is constructed entirely +of oak, dried by the seasoning of 150 years, and the combustible framework +is only lined on the exterior by sheet lead. It may be imagined that this +would be protection enough against the enormous masses of burning cotton +and linen cloth which would speedily be blown upon it; but Mr. Cottam not +long since stated, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, that, "when the +Princess's Theatre was on fire, part of his premises also caught. On +examination, he found that it arose from a piece of blazing wood being +thrown over from the theatre, which, falling into the leaden gutter, had +melted it, and the liquid metal passed through the ceiling on to a +workman's bench, where there was some oil, which it immediately set fire +to." The great dome would be in quite as much danger as Mr. Cottam's +workshop. Engines would be useless at such a height even as the stone +gallery, the place where large bodies of burning material would most +likely make a lodgment. Irreparable as would be the disaster with which we +are threatened in this direction, one quite as great lies in another. +Eastward of Cook's warehouses, and in the neighbourhood of a vitriol or +some other chemical manufactory, is situated Doctors' Commons, the +repository of the great mass of English wills. The roofs of this pile of +buildings[44] are continuous; the buildings themselves are nearly as dry +as the law itself. If one portion of the structure were to catch fire, +nothing could save the whole from destruction. It may be urged that the +block of buildings, which commands, like a battery, two such important +points in the metropolis, is, after all, fire-proof, and, as far as danger +from without is concerned, this is true enough; but as cotton bales are +not fire-proof, it is an impossibility to insure safety from within. Iron +columns in such instances melt before the white heat like sticks of +sealing-wax; stone flies into a thousand pieces with the celerity of a +Prince Rupert's drop; slate becomes transformed into a pumice light enough +to float upon water; the iron girders and beams, by reason of their +lateral expansion, thrust out the walls; and the very elements, which seem +calculated under ordinary circumstances to give an almost exhaustless +durability to the structure, produce its most rapid destruction. The great +fire at Messrs. Cubitt's so-called fire-proof works at Pimlico is one of +the latest proofs we have had of the entire fallacy of supposing stone and +iron can withstand the action of a large body of fierce flame. We saw the +other day portions of columns from this building fused as though they had +been composed of so much pewter. Again, when the Armoury of the Tower was +destroyed, the barrels of the muskets were found reduced to the most +fantastic shapes, and some of the largest pieces of ordnance were doubled +up. A stronger instance still was exhibited at Davis's wharf in 1837, when +a cast-iron pipe outside the building was melted like an icicle. But such +a fierce furnace is not at all necessary to destroy cast-iron supports, as +it appears from the experiments of Mr. Fairbairn, that, at a temperature +of 600° the cohesive power of the metal rapidly decreases with every +increment of heat. Mr. Braidwood, in his paper on fire-proof buildings, +read before the Institute of Civil Engineers on February 29th, 1849, was +the first, we believe, to draw attention to this serious defect in a +material used so extensively in modern buildings. Since that paper was +read, a case has come under his notice which clearly testifies to the +truth of his position:-- + + "A chapel in Liverpool-road Islington, 70 feet in length and 52 feet + in breadth, took fire in the cellar, on the 2nd October, 1848, and was + completely burned down. After the fire it was ascertained that, of + thirteen cast-iron pillars used to support the galleries, only two + remained perfect; the greater part of the others were broken into + small pieces, the metal appearing to have lost all power of cohesion, + and some parts were melted, of which specimens are now shown. It + should be observed that these pillars were of ample strength to + support the galleries when filled by the congregation, but when the + fire reached them, they crumbled under the weight of the timber only, + lightened as it must have been by the progress of the fire." + +But when we are considering the safety of Manchester warehouses, we are +also considering the lives of the young men who are employed in them, and +are in most cases located in the upper stories. In several of the +wholesale warehouses in the City, as Mr. Braidwood informs us,-- + + "The cast-iron pillars are much less in proportion to the weight to be + carried than those referred to, and would be completely in the draught + of a fire. If a fire should unfortunately take place under such + circumstances, the loss of human life might be very great, as the + chance of fifty, eighty, or one hundred people escaping, in the + confusion of a sudden night alarm, by one or two ladders to the roof, + could scarcely be calculated on, and the time such escape might + necessarily occupy, independent of all chance of accidents, would be + considerable." + +The application of water would only aggravate the difficulty, for, if it +touched the red-hot iron, in all probability it would cause it to fracture +and render it useless as a support. It is well known that furnace-bars are +very speedily destroyed by a leakage of the boiler, the effect of the +steam on the under side of the bars being to curve and twist them. To +insure a perfectly fire-proof building, we must resort to one of two +courses--either we must divide large warehouses into compartments by solid +brick divisions, and thus confine any fire that should happen to break out +within manageable limits, just as we save an iron ship from foundering, on +account of a circumscribed fracture, by having her built in compartments; +or we must resort to the old Roman plan of building--that is, support the +floors upon brick piers and groined arches well laid in cement, for mortar +will pulverize under a great heat. The former plan has the great advantage +that it insures the safety of the principal contents, as well as of the +building itself. The new Record Office in Fetter Lane, is a perfect +specimen of the kind, and is, perhaps, the only absolutely fire-proof +structure in England, being constructed of iron and stone, and having no +room larger than 17 feet by 25, and 17 feet high, with a cubical contents +of only 8,000 feet. None of the rooms open into each other, but into a +vaulted passage by means of iron doors; and if the documents were to take +fire in any one of them, they would burn out as innocuously to the rest of +the building as coals in a grate. + +It must not be supposed that we disparage altogether the use of iron and +stone in the erection of warehouses, even where they are built on the +ordinary plan; for the outside structure they are invaluable, and render +it safe from most extraneous danger. No better proof of this could be +given than the experience of Liverpool, whose fires during the last +half-century have been on the most gigantic scale. The larger bonded and +other warehouses were generally built with continuous roofs, and with +wooden doors and penthouses to the different stories, which always kindled +when there was a fire on the opposite side of the narrow streets in which +they were ordinarily placed. To such a lamentable extent had +conflagrations increased about the year 1841, that the rate of insurance, +which had been eight shillings per cent., ran up to thirty-six shillings. +This was about the time of the Formby Street fire, when 379,000_l._ worth +of property was destroyed, and the total losses from the beginning of the +century had not been less than three millions and a quarter sterling. The +magnitude of the evil called for a corresponding remedy. A Bill was +obtained in 1843 for the amendment of the Building Act; party-walls were +run up five feet high between each warehouse, doors and penthouses were +constructed of iron, the cubical contents of the buildings themselves were +limited, &c.; and the effect of these improvements was so to diminish the +risk that insurances fell to their normal rate. It cannot be said, +however, that Liverpool has yet purged herself of the calamity of fire. + +In ordinary dwellings and in public offices the use of iron and stone, +again, cannot be too much commended: in such buildings the rooms are +comparatively small, and their contents are not sufficiently inflammable +either in quantity or quality to injure these materials. A marked +diminution in the number of fires in the metropolis may be expected, from +the almost universal use of iron and stone in new structures of this +kind. The houses in Victoria Street, Westminster, built upon the "flat" +system, are, we should say, entirely fireproof, as the floors are either +vaulted or filled in with concrete, which will not allow the passage of +fire. Nearly all Paris is built in this manner, and hence its freedom from +large conflagrations.[45] Were it not for this, no city would be more +likely to suffer, as the houses are very high, and the supply of water +extremely bad. To Londoners it seems little better than a farce to watch +the _sapeurs-pompiers_ hurrying to a fire with an engine not much bigger +than a garden squirt, followed by a water-barrel--resources which are +found sufficient to cope with the enemy, confined as it is within such +narrow limits. + +Without going to the expense of stone and iron, we might, by taking a hint +from the Parisians, make the rooms of our private houses fireproof, by +abandoning the absurd custom of separating rooms by hollow wooden floors +and hollow wooden partitions thinly coated with plaster--a method which +has the effect of circulating the fire from the bottom to the top of the +house in the quickest possible space of time. If a fire breaks out in a +room, the ceiling will, it is true, stop the flames for a considerable +time; but the hollow partitions full of air act as conductors, and the +firemen have often found that the flames have spread from a lower to an +upper apartment by this secret channel, without injuring the intermediate +rooms, and without even its progress being suspected. As we understand +that the Building Act is to be amended, we trust its emendators will +extend the clause relating to party-walls to _rooms_ as well as to houses. +The expense need be but trifling, as will be seen by consulting the little +work of Mr. Hosking, who was the first, we believe, to instruct the +English public in the admirable methods of the Parisian builders. Instead +of using flimsy laths for their partitions, they employ stout oaken pieces +of wood, as thick as garden palings; these they nail firmly on each side +of the framing of the partition, fill the space between with rubble and +plaster of Paris, and thickly coat the whole of the wall with the latter. +The floors are managed in the same manner, as well as the under side of +the stairs, which are thus rendered almost as fire-proof as a stone +flight. Very many lives would be saved in Great Britain if this simple +expedient were adopted by our builders, instead of making the stairs of +ill-fitted wood, full of air-crevices, and covering their under side with +a thin film of plaster; for fire always makes for the stairs, which form +the funnel of the house; and hence the necessity for rendering them as +secure as possible, in order to provide a line of retreat for the inmates. + +We have said that London is growing upwards to the sky--no house in any +valuable portion of the metropolis being now rebuilt without the addition +of at least one story. Eighty and ninety feet is getting a common height +for our great offices and warehouses, which is tantamount to saying that a +certain portion of the metropolis, and that a constantly increasing one, +is outgrowing the power of the Fire Brigade, as no engine built upon the +present plan can throw water for many minutes to such an elevation. Mr. +Braidwood foresees that he must call in the aid of the common drudge, +steam. In America they have already introduced this new agent with some +success, and in London we have proved its power in the floating engine. +Steam fire-engines, it is evident, will soon be brought into use, unless +we do away with the necessity for engines at all by fixing the hose +directly on the mains, as is done at Hamburg. But to effect this it will +be necessary to relay the whole metropolis with much larger pipes, to +increase their number, and at the same time adopt the constant-service +system. At present, even if we had the water always on, the mains are +often so small as to preclude the use of more than two or three hose--for, +if the collective diameters of the areas of the latter exceed that of the +pipe which feeds them, the pressure will cease, and no water will be +propelled to any height through the jet. It cannot be denied, however, +that if the streets of London were all supplied with capacious mains, and +the different companies plugged them profusely (a thing they are very +chary of doing, for fear of their being injured by the wear and tear of +the fire-engines), London would be rendered far more secure than it is at +present, as scarcely any fire could withstand the full force of constant +streams of thousands of gallons of water per minute. At present the +greater portion of the water is wasted; at the destruction of the Houses +of Parliament, a body of this element equal to an acre in area, and twelve +feet deep, flowed from the mains, a tenth part of which could not have +been used by the twenty-three jets that were playing simultaneously. + +It will not here be out of place to say a few words upon the method of +extinguishing flame by means of the gaseous mixture contained in +Phillips's fire-annihilators. According to a writer in the "Household +Words," the ordinary-sized annihilator is less than that of a small +upright iron coalscuttle, and its weight not greater than can be easily +carried by man or woman to any part of the house. It is charged with a +compound of charcoal, nitre, and gypsum, moulded into the form of a large +brick: the igniter is a glass tube inserted into the top of this brick: +inclosing two phials--one filled with the mixture of chlorate of potassa +and sugar, the other containing a few drops of sulphuric acid. A slight +blow upon a knob drives down a pin which breaks the phials, and the +different mixtures coming in contact ignite the mass, the gas arising from +which, acting upon a water-chamber contained in the machine, produces a +steam, and the whole escapes forth in a dense expanding cloud. + +Mr. Phillips made some public experiments with his fire-annihilator three +or four years ago, in which its power to put out the fiercest flame was +fully proved. The timber framework of a three storied-house smeared with +pitch and tar, upon being fired, was instantly extinguished: quantities of +pitch, tar, and oil of turpentine, which only burn the stronger for the +presence of water, were dealt with still more expeditiously. The valuable +quality of rendering an atmosphere of dense smoke, in which no living +thing could exist, perfectly respirable, was also shown in the most +satisfactory manner. Since that time the machine has been brought into +action at Leeds, where it put out a fire in an attic; and in a very +serious conflagration, which took place in the spirit-room, and afterwards +extended to the main hatchway of the mail steamer the _City of +Manchester_, in the autumn of 1852, it was applied with the most perfect +success. There can be no doubt that in all confined places the control of +the annihilator over flame is omnipotent--acting much more speedily than +water, and, unlike that element, doing no damage. When the flames are +unconfined, the annihilator will prove of little use, because, the gaseous +cloud that issues from it not being heavier than the air, it cannot be +projected to any distance. As an auxiliary to the engine, it will be +invaluable in many cases, as it will enable the fireman to go into places +where at present he dares not enter, unless protected by the unwieldy +smoke-jacket, the supply of air to which might at any time be cut off by +rubbish falling upon the hose through which it is pumped to him by the +engine. + +Although it is foreign to our design to speak at length of agricultural +fires, and incendiarism among farming stock, the subject is too important +to be entirely omitted. One of the largest London insurance-offices, +interested in farming stock, posts up bills about premises they have +insured, which, after stating that no lucifers are to be used, or pipes +are to be smoked, goes on to say, "_This farm is insured; the fire office +will be the only sufferer in the event of a fire._" The inference is, that +the labourer will feel more inclined to pay respect to the property of an +insurance company than to that of the farmer. Yet it is far from being the +case that the crime is always prompted by personal ill-will. One of the +largest agricultural incendiaries upon record was a city weaver, who acted +from a general spirit of discontent, without any hatred or knowledge of +the owners. In other instances the sole motive is the "jollification" +which generally follows a fire upon a farm: this fact came to light at a +trial in Cambridge, eight or nine years since, when a man who was +sentenced to death for setting fire to a homestead confessed to having +caused twelve different fires, his only object being the desire to obtain +the few shillings, and the refreshment of bread, cheese, and ale, which +are given to labourers on these occasions. On the other hand, if the +farmer determines to give no recompense, the hangers-on have been known to +put their hands in their pockets and watch his property burn with the +utmost indifference, if not with glee. + +The cause of fire which the farmer has mainly to guard against may be at +one seen by the following table, for which we are indebted to the manager +of the County Fire Office:-- + +_Losses on Farming Stock between January the 1st and November the 30th, +1853._ + + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Number | | | + |of Fires.| Cause. | Amount. | + |---------|-----------------------------------------|------------| + | | | £. s. d. | + | 49 |Incendiary | 5214 6 11 | + | 17 |Lightning | 181 5 10 | + | 22 |Children and others playing with lucifers| 1211 18 10 | + | 2 |Steam thrashing-machines | 430 0 0 | + | 38 |General | 1781 19 9 | + |---------| |------------| + | 128 | | 8819 11 4 | + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + +These losses are upon a total insurance of eight millions. Incendiarism +and children playing with lucifers are the two grand elements of +destruction; and the former, we are given to understand, is below the +general average. Kind treatment and better education are the only shields +that can protect the farmer against incendiarism. The nuisance arising +from children playing with lucifers may be abated by the absolute denial +of matches to young boys about a farm, who, to cook their dinners, +generally cause conflagrations near the ricks in the winter, and among the +standing corn whilst "keeping birds" in the summer. The following +excellent suggestions are by Mr. Beaumont, the secretary of the County +Fire Office. + + _Precautions to be taken against a Fire._ + + Forbid your men to use lucifer matches, smoke, or light pipes or + cigars, destroy wasps' nests, or fire off guns, in or near the + rickyard, or to throw hot cinders into or against any wooden + out-building on the farm, on pain of instant dismissal. + + Place your ricks in a single line, and as far distant from each other + as you conveniently can. + + Place hay-ricks and corn-stacks _alternately_; the hay-rick will check + the progress of the fire. + + Keep the rickyard, and especially the spaces between the stacks and + ricks, clear of all loose straw; and in all respects in a neat and + clean state. The loose straw is more frequently the means of firing + than the stack itself. + + Have a pond close to the rickyard, although there may be but a bad + supply of water. + + When a steam thrashing-machine is to be used, place it _on the lee + side_ of the stack or barn, so that the wind may blow the sparks _away + from_ the stacks. Let the engine be placed as far from the machine as + the length of the strap will allow. Have the loose straw continually + cleared away from the engine; see that two or three pails of water are + constantly close to the ash-pan, and that the pan itself is kept + constantly full of water. + + + _How to act when a Fire has broken out in a Rickyard._ + + Do not wait for the engines, nor for the assistance of the labourers + from a distance. Depend entirely upon the immediate and energetic + exertions of yourself and your own men. + + Do not allow the rick or stack on fire to be disturbed--let it burn + itself out--but let every exertion be made to press it compactly + together, and, as far as is practicable, prevent any lighted particles + flying about. + + Get together all your blankets, carpets, sacks, rugs, and other + similar articles, soak them thoroughly in water, and place them over + and against the adjoining ricks and stacks, towards which the wind + blows. + + Having thus covered the sides of the ricks adjoining that on fire, + devote all your attention to the latter. Press it together by every + available means. If water is at hand, throw upon it as much as + possible. + + If engines arrive, let the water be thrown upon the blankets, &c., + covering the adjoining stacks, and then upon the stack on fire. + + Among the numerous hands who flock to assist upon these occasions, + many do mischief by their want of knowledge, and especially by opening + the fired stack and scattering the embers. In order to obviate this + evil, place your best man in command over the stack on fire, desire + him to make it _his sole duty_ to prevent it being disturbed, and to + keep it pressed and watered. + + Place other men, in whose steadiness you have confidence, to watch the + adjoining ricks, to keep the coverings over them, and to extinguish + any embers flying from the stack on fire. In order to effect this, it + is most desirable that there should be ladders at hand to enable one + or two of the labourers to mount upon each stack. + + If the ricks are separated from each other, and there is no danger of + the fire extending to a second, it is of course desirable to save as + much of the one on fire as may be possible. That, however, is not + unfrequently accomplished by keeping the rick compactly together + rather than by opening it. + + Send for all the neighbours' blankets and tarpaulins: these are + invaluable, they are near at hand, and can be immediately applied. + +The companies are always very willing to pay for any damage done in +attempting to save their property. + +The business of the Fire Brigade is to protect property and not life from +fire, though the men of course use every exertion to save the inmates, and +are always provided with a "jumping-sheet" to catch those who precipitate +themselves from the roofs and windows of houses. As the danger to life +generally arises at a very early stage of a fire, when the freshly aroused +inhabitants fly distracted into very dangerous places, and often destroy +themselves by needless haste, it is highly necessary to have help at hand +before the engines can possibly arrive. There are, it is true, ladders +placed against all the parish churches, but they are always locked up, +often rotten, and never in charge of trained individuals: accordingly, +they may be classed for inefficiency with the parish engines. A proof of +this was given at the calamitous fire which occurred in Dover Street, at +Raggett's Hotel, on which occasion Mrs. Round and several other persons +were lost through the conduct of the keeper of one of the fire-escapes of +the parish of St. James being absent when called, and drunk when, upon his +arrival, he attempted to put his machine in action: the keeper of a second +escape belonging to this parish, and stationed in Golden Square, refused +to go to a fire in Soho, which occurred in 1852, because it was out of his +district: the consequence was, than seven persons threw themselves from +the windows and were all more or less dangerously injured. + +In 1833 the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire, which had +been imperfectly organized a year or two before, was fully established, +and has continued to increase the sphere of its influence year by year. +The committee of management, appreciating the value of celerity in +attending fires, have marked the metropolis out into fifty-five squares of +half a mile each: in forty-two of these they have established a +station,[46] in its most central part, at which a fire-escape and trained +conductor are to be found from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. from Lady-day to +Michaelmas, and from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Michaelmas to Lady-day. When +the remaining thirteen squares are furnished, there will be means of +rescue from fire within a quarter of a mile of every house in London: thus +the nightly watch for this purpose is better organized with respect to +number of stations than even the fire brigade, and, like this force, it is +under the general management of a single director. We are all familiar +with the sight of these strange-looking machines as they come towering +along in the dusk of the evening towards their appointed stations; but few +perhaps have seen them in action or have examined the manner in which they +are constructed. There are several methods of building them, but the one +chiefly used is Wivell's, a very simple machine and speedily put in +action, a description of which we take from the society's report:-- + + "The main ladder reaches from thirty to thirty-five feet, and can + instantly be applied to most second-floor windows, by means of the + carriage lever. The upper ladder folds over the main ladder, and is + raised easily in the position represented, by a rope attached to its + lever-irons on either side of the main ladder; or, as recently adopted + in one or two of the escapes, by an arrangement of pulleys in lieu of + the lever-irons. The short ladder, for first floors, fits in under the + carriage, and is often of the greatest service. Under the whole length + of the main ladder is a canvas trough or bagging, made of stout + sailcloth, protected by an outer trough of copper-wire net, leaving + sufficient room between for the yielding of the canvas in a person's + descent. The addition of the copper-wire is a great improvement, as, + although not affording an entire protection against the canvas + burning, it in most cases avails, and prevents the possibility of any + one falling through. The soaking of the canvas in alum and other + solutions is attended to; but this, while preventing its flaming, + cannot avoid the risk of accident from the fire charring the canvas." + +When we remember that the fire-escapes often have to be raised above +windows from which the flames are pouring forth, it will be seen how +valuable is this double protection against the destruction of the canvas. +The necessity for it was shown at a fire in Crawford Street, Marylebone, +where an explosion took place which fired the canvas and let the conductor +fall through just as he was rescuing an inmate,--an accident by which he +was dreadfully injured. When people look up at these fire-escapes, they +generally shudder at the idea of having to enter the bag, suspended at a +height of forty feet from the ground; but in the hour of danger the +terrified inmates never exhibit the slightest reluctance. Once in, they +slide down the bulging canvas in the gentlest manner, without any of the +rapidity that would be imagined from the almost perpendicular position in +which it hangs. + +The fire-escape which is stationed near the New Road is constructed so +that it can be taken off its wheels, in order to allow it to enter the +long gardens which here extend before so many of the houses. The height +attainable by these escapes varies from 43-1/2 feet to 45 feet. A +supplemental short ladder is now carried by most of them, which can be +quickly fitted on an emergency into the upper ladder, and increases the +height to 50 feet. + +The intrepidity of the conductors of these machines is quite astonishing. +Familiarity with danger begets a coolness which enables them to place +themselves in positions which would prove destructive to unpractised +persons. As in most cases they are the prominent actors in a drama +witnessed by a whole street-full of excited spectators, they are perhaps +tempted by the cheers to risk themselves in a manner they would little +dream of doing under other circumstances. In addition to such a stimulus +they are rewarded with a silver medal, and with sums of money, for any +extraordinary act of gallantry. Every instance of a daring rescue is +entered in the society's books, from which we have extracted a few +examples, to show what enterprising fellows they are. At a fire which +broke out in November, 1844, in a house in Hatton Garden, Conductor +Sunshine on his arrival found the following state of things. On the second +floor a man was sitting on the sill of one of the windows (there were four +windows abreast), and on the third floor a man was hanging by his hands to +the window-sill at the other extremity of the house-front. After having +rescued the man on the second floor, he did not dare to raise his +third-floor ladder, for fear of hitting the hanging man's hands, and +causing him to fall; accordingly, he stood upon the top rung of the +second-floor ladder, and by so doing could just touch with his upstrained +arms the poor fellow's depending feet. In this position, having himself +but a precarious hold of the window-frame beneath, his only footing being +the topmost rung, he called to the man to drop when he told him, and +discovered from his silence that he was deaf and dumb. Upon being tapped +upon the foot, however, he let go, and the conductor managed, incredible +as it may appear, to slip him down between himself and the wall on to the +top of the ladder, and brought him safely to the ground. In the next case, +Conductor Chapman was the hero of the scene, although the indomitable +Sunshine was present. Having crossed the roofs of two adjoining +out-buildings, Chapman managed to place his ladder against the second back +floor of the house on fire. Having rescued a lady, he was obliged to +retrace his steps over the roofs, as the fire was coming through the +tiling. He could only cross by making a bridge of the short ladder; and +scarcely had they cleared the premises when it fell in with a tremendous +crash. + +On another occasion this intrepid man having made an entrance into the +second-floor window of a house in Tottenham-court Road, he was obliged to +retreat twice, by reason of his lamp going out in the dense smoke. On the +third trial it remained in, and enabled him to search the place. "I called +out loud," he says in his report, "and was answered by a kind of stifled +cry. I rushed across the landing to the back room, and encountered a man, +who groaned out, "O save my wife!" I groped about, and laid hold of a +female, who fell with me, clasping two children in her arms. I took them +up, and brought them to the escape, guiding the man to follow me, and +placed them all safely in the canvas, from whence they reached the ground +without any injury; and, finally, I came down myself, quite exhausted." +"We thought," said a bystander, "when he jumped into the second-floor +window, that we should not see him again alive; and I cannot tell you how +he was cheered when he appeared with the woman and her two children." + +We shall content ourselves by quoting one more exploit from the Reports of +the Society, the hero of which was Conductor Wood, who received a +testimonial on vellum for the following service at a fire in +Colchester-street, Whitechapel, on the 29th of April, 1854:-- + + "On his arrival, the fire was raging throughout the back of the house, + and smoke issuing from every window; upon entering the first-floor + room, part of which was on fire, he discovered five persons almost + insensible from the excessive heat: he immediately descended the + ladder _with a woman on his shoulders, and holding a child by its + night-clothes in his mouth_; again ascended, re-entered the room, and + having enabled the father to escape, had scarcely descended, _with a + child under each arm_, when the whole building became enveloped in + flames, rendering it impossible to attempt a rescue of the remainder + of the unfortunate inmates." + +The rewards of the Society are not always won by their own men. William +Trafford, police constable 344, for instance, had one of the Society's +medals presented to him, for "allowing two persons to drop upon him from +the top windows of a house in College-street, Camden-town, and thereby +enabling them to escape without material injury." Nothing is said as to +the damage done to poor Trafford by this act of self-devotion. + +The real working value of the fire-escapes may be judged from the fact +that, during the twenty years they have been on duty, they have attended +no less than 2,041 fires, and rescued 214 human beings from destruction. +To make this excellent scheme complete, only thirteen stations have now to +be established, at a first cost of about eighty pounds each; the +charitable could not give their money in a more worthy cause than in +furnishing these districts, in which many thousands of inhabitants are +still exposed to the most horrible of all deaths. To show that the +usefulness of the Society has progressed with the number of their escapes, +we need only adduce the evidence of the table in the next page, made up to +the 25th of March of each year. + +The fire-escapes, in addition to their own particular duty, are also of +the greatest service to the firemen of the Brigade, as, by the use of +their ladders, they are enabled to ascend to any window of a house, and to +direct the jet directly upon the burning mass, instead of throwing it +wild,--a matter of the greatest importance in extinguishing a fire: for +unless you play upon the burning material, and thus cut off the flame at +its root, you only uselessly deluge the building with water, which is, we +believe, in many cases quite as destructive to stock and furniture as the +fire it is intended to extinguish. + + +-------------------------------------------------+ + |_Year._| _Number of_ | _Fires_ |_Lives_ | + | | _Stations._ |_attended._|_saved._| + |-------|--------------------|-----------|--------| + | 1845 | 8 increased to 11 | 116 | 13 | + | 1846 | 11 " 15 | 96 | 7 | + | 1847 | 15 " 21 | 139 | 11 | + | 1848 | 21 " 25 | 197 | 17 | + | 1849 | 25 " 26 | 223 | 31 | + | 1850 | 26 " 28 | 198 | 10 | + | 1851 | 28 " 30 | 226 | 36 | + | 1852 | 30 " 34 | 253 | 25 | + | 1853 | 34 " 40 | 265 | 46 | + | 1854 | 40 " 40 | 328 | 28 | + | | Two since added. | | | + +-------------------------------------------------+ + +Much may be done by the inmates to help themselves when a house is on +fire, in case neither the engine nor the escape should arrive in time to +assist them. Mr. Braidwood, in his little work on the method of proceeding +at fires, advises his readers to rehearse to themselves his +recommendations, otherwise when the danger comes, they are thrown, +according to his experience, into "a state of temporary derangement, and +seem to be actuated only by a desire of muscular movement," throwing +chairs and tables from the tops of houses that are scarcely on fire, and, +to wind up the absurdity, he says, "on one occasion I saw crockery-ware +thrown from a window on the third floor." + +The means to be adopted to prevent the flames spreading, resolve +themselves into taking care not to open doors or windows, which create a +draught. The same rule should be observed by those outside; no door or +glass should be smashed in before the means are at hand to put out the +fire. + + _Directions for aiding persons to escape from premises on fire._ + + 1. Be careful to acquaint yourself with the best means of exit from + the house both at the top and bottom. + + 2. On the first alarm, reflect before you act. If in bed at the time, + wrap yourself in a blanket, or bedside carpet; open no more doors or + windows than are absolutely necessary, and shut every door after you. + + 3. There is always from eight to twelve inches of pure air close to + the ground: if you cannot therefore walk upright through the smoke, + drop on your hands and knees, and thus progress. A wetted silk + handkerchief, a piece of flannel, or a worsted stocking drawn over the + face, permits breathing, and, to a great extent, excludes the smoke. + + 4. If you can neither make your way upwards nor downwards, get into a + front room: if there is a family, see that they are all collected + here, and keep the door closed as much as possible, for remember that + smoke always follows a draught, and fire always rushes after smoke. + + 5. On no account throw yourself, or allow others to throw themselves, + from the window. If no assistance is at hand, and you are in + extremity, tie the sheets together, and, having fastened one end to + some heavy piece of furniture, let down the women and children one by + one, by tying the end of the line of sheets round the waist and + lowering them through the window that is over the door, rather than + through one that is over the area. You can easily let yourself down + when the helpless are saved. + + 6. If a woman's clothes should catch fire, let her instantly roll + herself over and over on the ground; if a man be present, let him + throw her down and do the like, and then wrap her in a rug, coat, or + the first _woollen_ thing that is at hand. + + 7. Bystanders, the instant they see a fire, should run for the + fire-escape, or to the police station if that is nearer, where a + "jumping-sheet" is always to be found. + +Dancers, and those that are accustomed to wear light muslins and other +inflammable articles of clothing, when they are likely to come in contact +with the gas, would do well to remember, that by steeping them in a +solution of alum they would not be liable to catch fire. If the rule were +enforced at theatres, we might avoid any possible recurrence of such a +catastrophe as happened at Drury Lane in 1844, when poor Clara Webster was +so burnt before the eyes of the audience, that she died in a few days. + +During the twenty-one years that the Brigade has been in existence the +firemen have been called out needlessly no less than 1,695 times, often +indeed mischievously; for there are some idle people who think it amusing +to send the men and engines miles away to imaginary fires. In most cases, +however, these false alarms have originated in the over-anxiety of +persons, who have hastened to the station for assistance, deceived by +lights which they fancied to be of a suspicious character. Nature herself +now and then gives a false alarm, and puts the Brigade to infinite trouble +by her vagaries. Not only the men at one station, but nearly half of the +entire force, were employed in November, 1835, from 11 P.M. to 6 A.M. on +the succeeding morning, in running after the _aurora borealis_. Some of +the dozen engines out on that occasion reached as far as Kilburn and +Hampstead in search of those evanescent lights, which exactly simulated +extensive fires. In the succeeding year the red rays of the rising sun +took in some credulous members of the Brigade, and led them with their +engines full swing along the Commercial and Mile-End Roads. Whilst on this +false scent they came upon a real fire, which, although inferior to great +Sol himself in grandeur, was far more remunerative, as the God of Morning +knows nothing about rewards to first, second, and third engines. + +The most remarkable and universal false alarm caused by the play of the +northern lights was in the autumn of this same year, when the whole +north-eastern horizon seemed possessed by an angry conflagration, from +which huge clouds of smoke appeared to roll away. On this occasion the +public, as well as the firemen, were deceived: crowds poured forth from +the West-end on foot and in carriages to see what they imagined to be a +grand effect of the "devouring element;" and thirteen engines turned out +with the full impression that a whole suburb of the metropolis was in +flames. + +The alarms from chimneys on fire have called the engines out no less than +1,982 times during the years the Brigade has been established, or on an +average twice a week. Let us hope that, as we are setting about clearing +the atmosphere by Act of Parliament, accidents of this kind will gradually +cease. We may now watch with satisfaction many a tall shaft, as we steam +down the river, that seems to stand idle in the air; the great rolling +clouds of smoke that used to obscure the sky on the southern bank of the +Thames are no longer seen, and the air is growing appreciably purer. It is +evident that our manufacturers, where they have not become alive to the +saving it would effect, have been coerced by the vigorous manner in which +the Home Secretary has put the law in force against these black offenders; +and we may hope that Dr. Arnott's smoke-consuming grate, or some +modification of it, will ere long find its way into every house to +complete the work. + + + + +THE POLICE AND THE THIEVES. + + +Most men who have arrived at that age when the last one or two buttons of +the waistcoat are allowed to be unloosened after dinner, can remember the +time when the safety of life and property in the metropolis depended on +the efforts of the parochial watchman, a species of animal after the model +of the old hackney coachman, encumbered with the self same drab greatcoat, +with countless capes, with the self same Belcher handkerchief, or +comforter, speaking in the same husky voice, and just as sottish, stupid, +and uncivil. At night--for it was not thought worth while to set a watch +in the day-time--the authorities provided him with a watch-box in order +that he might enjoy his snooze in comfort, and furnished him with a huge +lantern in order that its rays might enable the thief to get out of his +way in time. As if these aids to escape were not sufficient for the +midnight marauder, the watchman was provided with a staff with which he +thundered on the pavement as he walked, a noise which he alternated with +crying the hour and the state of the weather in a loud singing voice, and +which told of his whereabouts when he himself was far out of sight. + +Up to the year 1828, and indeed for ten years later, in the city these men +were the sole defence by night of the first metropolis in the world. The +Charlies, as they were familiarly termed, had very little fight in them at +any time; but it is well known that they "winked hard," when required to +do so by people who could afford to pay them for it. It is not astonishing +that crimes under such a police flourished apace, or that robberies +increased to an extent which alarmed all thoughtful people. Mr. +Colquhoun, a magistrate, whose work on the police, written at the +beginning of the century, gave the first ideas of the reforms which have +been since adopted; estimates that the annual value of the property stolen +at the time at which he wrote, was at least 1,500,000_l._; and that the +evil was gaining ground may be judged from the fact that the number of +receivers of stolen goods had increased, between 1780 and 1800, from 300 +to 3,000! + +In addition to the nightly watch there was another class of persons who, +if more active, were calculated in a still greater degree to defeat +justice, but in a totally opposite direction: we allude to those men who +made their bread out of the blood of the criminal population. The +Government of the country was mainly to blame for the sins committed by +these loathsome creatures. Since the time of Jonathan Wild thief-catchers +had been stimulated to make criminals by what was termed Parliamentary +rewards, or sums of forty pounds given by the Home Office to persons +affording such information as would lead to the conviction of felons. The +object of the officers was to secure blood-money, not to suppress crime; +and it was their deliberate practice to allow robberies to proceed, which +they might have prevented, in order to obtain the reward. To use their own +language, they were accustomed "to let the matter ripen" until the fee was +secure, and the work was cut out for the hangman. These men must not be +confounded with the Bow Street runners, or detective police, some of whom +were able and perhaps honest men; but they chiefly occupied themselves +with thief-catching in private preserves, where the pay was ample, and +contributed little if anything to the suppression of general crime. + +With a class of watchmen totally inoperative as a preventive police, with +a class of informers stimulated by unwise enactments to lure men into +villany, and with a code savage almost beyond belief--as late as 1800 +there were 160 capital crimes, and to break the dam of a fish-pond, or to +cut down an apple-tree in a garden, were offences punishable with death; +it is not to be wondered at that "the deadly never-green," as the gallows +was called in the slang language of the day, bore fruit all the year +round. Old Townsend, the Bow Street officer, who gave evidence before the +committee which sat in 1816 to inquire into the police of the metropolis, +said, "I remember in 1783, when Serjeant Adair was recorder, there were +forty hung at two executions; the unfortunate people themselves laugh at +it now, they call it a bagatelle." Among the more serious offences were +the robberies committed by mounted highwaymen; and, in order to give an +idea of their frequency, we again quote the racy evidence of +Townsend:--"Formerly there were two, three, or four highwaymen--some on +Hounslow Heath, some on Wimbledon Common, some on Finchley Common, some on +the Romford Road. I have actually come to Bow Street in the morning, and +while I have been leaning over the desk had three or four people come in +and say, 'I was robbed by two highwaymen in such a place;' 'I was robbed +by a single highwayman in such a place.' People travel safe now by means +of the horse-patrol, which was planned by Sir Richard Ford." This +horse-patrol, established in 1805, was the first innovation on the old +system of watching; and it succeeded so admirably, that in a few years the +highwaymen were entirely banished from the metropolitan counties, and the +great roads in the neighbourhood of London, which were once as unsafe as +those in the vicinity of Rome, became as orderly as Fleet Street. It does +indeed seem strange that while the outskirts of the metropolis were thus +provided with a new force which proved itself to be perfectly capable of +clearing away the ruffians, no means should have been taken until 1829 to +supersede the old parish constables who had flourished from the time of +the Saxons, and appear to have been in full bloom in Elizabeth's reign, +since Dogberry is a finished portrait of the race. No means existed by +which the watchmen of different parishes could be made to co-operate +against their common enemy, the thief. In the city they were under the +direction of no less than thirty different authorities. There were the +street-keepers, the patrol, the ward-constables, &c., all acting under +separate masters; and so complete was the division that the constable of +one ward would not interfere to prevent a robbery going on on the opposite +side of the street, if it was out of his bounds. + +Mr. J. Elliot, in his evidence, given in 1838, before the Committee on +"The Metropolis Police Offices," mentions a glaring instance of the +perfect paralysis of the executive which arose out of this absurd system. +"Two years ago," he said, "a neighbour of mine had his warehouse broken +open, and a hundred pounds' worth of tea was taken away; a watchman at the +top of the street saw a cart going away from the warehouse; but he said it +was not in his ward, and therefore he did not interfere." The public +indisposition to get rid of the old watchmen most certainly did not arise +from any ignorance of their inefficiency; they had long, in fact, been +bywords of feebleness and imbecility. To thrash a Charlie was a pet +pastime of the young bloods of that day. The determined propensity to doze +of these worthy functionaries was a standing topic for witticism. "A +friend of mine," said Erskine, "was suffering from a continual +wakefulness, and various methods were taken to send him to sleep, but in +vain. At last his physicians resorted to an experiment which succeeded +perfectly. They dressed him in a watchman's coat, put a lantern in his +hand, and placed him in a sentry-box, and he was asleep in ten minutes." +It might be imagined that tokens like these indicated pretty clearly that +a reform would have been hailed with delight. The result proved, however, +that to abuse a thing and to amend it are widely different. Mr. Peel, who +had been feeling his way to his grand experiment by the establishment of a +Bow-street day patrol, obtained in 1828 the appointment of a committee of +the House of Commons to inquire into the expediency of establishing a +uniform system of police in the metropolis; and the committee having +reported to the House in favour of the scheme, it was immediately adopted. +This salutary change was not made without creating a deep sensation. That +stalking-horse, "the liberty of the subject," which in truth meant the +liberty of rogues to plunder, was immediately paraded before the public; +and we have no doubt whatever that in the tavern debating-clubs of the day +it was reported that with the fall of the Charlies "the sun of England's +glory had set for ever." And indeed to Englishmen, jealous of their +personal liberty, the establishment of this new force might at first have +created some well-founded alarm. It was no longer a question of a few +constables, but of a standing army of nearly six thousand men, drilled +like soldiers, taught to act in masses, and entirely independent of the +control of the ratepayers. The very fact of the appointment, as one of the +Commissioners, of Colonel Rowan, who had been employed in that +quasi-military force the Irish constabulary, favoured the idea that the +new police were to be a veritable _gendarmerie_. That such was the popular +idea was clearly indicated by the numerous prints which appeared at the +time of a fierce-looking "Peeler," armed with a belt full of pistols and a +formidable sword. + +Those accustomed only to the slow pace of the constitutional watchman, as +he waddled out to his post, beholding with astonishment the sergeant's +party as it marched along the kerb in close file, and keeping quick +military step, believed that so powerful a force, concentrated under a +single head, might be turned to political purposes. The constables never +appeared in the streets without being followed by crowds hooting at them, +and calling them by the obnoxious names of "Peelers," "Raw Lobsters," +"Crushers," "Bobbies," &c. At last, in 1833, an actual collision took +place between them and the great unwashed in Coldbath Fields. A meeting of +Chartists was appointed to be held there, from which serious consequences +were expected to arise. Directions were given to disperse it; but whilst +in the performance of their duty three of the police were stabbed, and one +of them mortally. It might have been thought that the very fact of a mob +coming thus armed, with the express purpose of resisting a constituted +authority, would have excited the indignation of the more respectable +classes of the citizens. The contrary was the effect. A coroner's jury +brought in a verdict of justifiable homicide--a pretty significant sign of +the feeling towards the new force of the class from which the jury was +selected. Such was the ferment that a commission was held to inquire into +the conduct of the police, and they were exonerated from the charge of +having, as a body, acted with greater violence than was necessary. From +that period, with the exception of the investigation during the Beer Bill +commotion into the charge of having dispersed a gathering in Hyde Park +with undue severity--a charge which was not at all substantiated--their +conduct has been so exemplary as completely to have removed the original +dislike. Experience has served to teach the men the virtue of moderation +and patience; and they are now looked upon as a constitutional force, +simply because we have got accustomed to them. + +At the present time the Metropolitan Police Force consists of--a Chief +Commissioner, Sir Richard Mayne; 2 Assistant-Commissioners, Captain +Labalmondiere and Captain Harris; 18 Superintendents, 133 Inspectors, 625 +Sergeants, and 4,954 Constables; making a total of all ranks of 5,734. The +machinery by which this comparatively small force is enabled to watch by +night and day every alley, street, and square of this vast metropolis, +nay, tries every accessible door and window of its 400,000 houses, patrols +90 square miles of country, exercises a surveillance over the 8,000 +reputed thieves who prey upon its inhabitants, and keeps in awe the 40,000 +or 50,000 people who form "the uneasy classes" of the metropolis, is not +very complicated. The metropolitan police district extends from Charing +Cross 15 miles in every direction, and includes the whole of Middlesex and +large portions of Surrey, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Buckinghamshire, and +Berkshire, for which seven counties the Commissioners are magistrates and +the police are sworn constables. The river Thames is also under its +jurisdiction from Chelsea to Barking Creek, including all its wharves, +docks, landing-places, and dockyards. The entire district has a +circumference of 90 miles, and extends over an area of 700 square miles, +100 of which, forming what is called the interior area, is covered with +our great Babel of brick and mortar. This wide extent of ground is mapped +out into 18 divisions, each of which is watched by a detachment of men, +varying in number according to the extent of the area, the exposed nature +of the property, or the density of the population:-- + + _Letters of_ _Local Names of_ _Strength of each_ + _Divisions._ _Divisions._ _Division._ + + A Whitehall 380 + B Westminster 324 + C St. James's 265 + D St. Mary-le-bone 371 + E Holborn 175 + F Covent Garden 165 + G Finsbury 317 + H Whitechapel 233 + K Stepney 482 + L Lambeth 208 + M Southwark 350 + N Islington 513 + P Camberwell 408 + R Greenwich 454 + S Hampstead 410 + T Kensington 288 + V Wandsworth 381 + Thames Police 103 + +This it will be seen that policeman X, who figures so often in the pages +of "Punch," is a myth of our facetious contemporary. + +Each division is separated into subdivisions, the subdivisions into +sections, and, last of all the sections into beats. Of the main divisions, +A, although one of the smallest in area, is by far the most important; it +is the seat of the central authority located at Scotland Yard. Its police +are much finer men (taller on the average than the Guards), and their +duties are more responsible than those of any other division. They attend +upon the Sovereign, the Parliament, the theatres, the parks, and all other +places of public resort, such as Epsom and Ascot races, the flower shows, +Crystal Palace, &c. The A division is, in fact, to the general body of +Metropolitan Police what the Guards are to the army. To enable it to +perform these extra duties, it has a reserve force of 250 men, drafted off +on ordinary occasions in companies of fifty each to the B, C, D, G, and M +divisions; upon this reserve force it draws when necessary. + +The other divisions are pretty much alike in the nature of their duties, +which are simply those of watching. Certain modifications, however, arise +from the character of their districts; thus a constable on duty at +Whitechapel, if suddenly removed to Westminster or Mary-le-bone, would +find himself considerably at fault, inasmuch as a familiarity with fights +in courts, disputes with tramps, and the coarse language of low +lodging-houses, is not a good school for the amenities required among a +more fashionable population. In all the divisions exactly the same +organization is maintained, and the same amount of arduous work is +performed. Two-thirds of the entire force is on duty from nine or ten in +the evening till five or six in the morning. Not long since the +night-police were condemned to patrol the streets for nine hours, without +sitting down, or even leaning their weary limbs against any support. This +severe labour was found incompatible with the maintenance of due vigilance +towards the end of the watch; the men are, therefore, now kept on duty +only eight hours. Day work is divided into reliefs, and extends from six +a.m. to nine p.m. Notwithstanding its greater severity, there are men who +prefer the stolid unimpeded walk in the night, in which they go through +their work like machines, to the more bustling and exciting day-patrol. +The sergeants or inspectors make the round of the districts to see that +the constables are duly parading their beats. + +If a door or window is discovered in an unsafe condition, its insecurity +is immediately made known to the inmates; and if the constable fails to +detect the circumstance during his tour, and it is afterwards observed by +his sergeant or the succeeding constable, he is reported, and fined for +his neglect. Continued inattention is visited by dismissal. Offences of +every kind are severely punished, as appears from the fact that, between +the years 1850 and 1856, 1,276 policemen were turned out of the force. Of +these, sixty-eight were criminally convicted. Thus the men are kept up to +their work, and collusions with thieves are rendered exceedingly +difficult. Every morning a sheet of "Occurrences" is forwarded to the +Chief Commissioner at Scotland Yard, which contains the full particulars +of all matters worthy of notice which have taken place during the night +throughout the metropolis, and a record of all property lost or stolen, +from a gold pin to a chest of plate, is kept at the same central +establishment. + +In case any affair of unusual importance occurs, a murder or a great +robbery, the intelligence is conveyed by the constable who first becomes +cognizant of it, to the central station of his division; from this point +the news is radiated by policemen carrying what are termed route-papers, +or papers of particulars of the offence, on the backs of which are marked +the hour at which they were received at the different divisions through +which they passed. In this manner information can be circulated in two +hours to all the stations, excepting those belonging to the exterior or +suburban districts. In these reports are given the names of the constables +who were on the beats in which the offence took place, the sergeants in +charge of the sections, and the names of the constables whose particular +business it was to trace the offenders as far as possible. We understand, +however, that the electric telegraph is now shooting its nerve-like +threads to all the divisional stations in the metropolis, and, when the +new agent is brought to bear, the communication will be almost +instantaneous. Thus, in case of robbery, every constable will be made +acquainted with the particulars without a moment's delay, and the +police-net will be thrown at one cast over the entire metropolis. Thieves +will no longer be able to get away with their plunder, ere a hue and cry +has been raised after the property. Had the telegraph been in existence, +in all probability Her Majesty's plate-chest would have been intercepted +before it reached the field where it was ransacked in Shoreditch. In cases +of riot of a formidable nature, the telegraph will be able to concentrate +5,000 men in a couple of hours upon any spot within five miles of Charing +Cross. + +Towards the outskirts of the metropolis, in the exterior or suburban +districts, the widely-scattered constables chiefly perform the duties of a +rural police. The great distances they have to traverse necessitates the +use of horses; here, accordingly, we find the mounted police, the +successors of the old horse-patrol established in 1805. The strength of +this force, men and officers included, is only 120; they are furnished +with powerful nags, and are armed with swords and pistols. Indeed the +foot-police, whose beats lie in unfrequented rural districts, are allowed +side-arms--a precaution which the fate of the policeman, who was brutally +murdered in a field at Dagenham, in Essex, some years since, proved to be +by no means unnecessary. + +In the middle of the metropolitan police district is the City police, +under the management of the corporation. The area of this peculiar, to +borrow an ecclesiastical term, is only one square mile and a quarter; but +forming as it does the very centre of business, it is by far the richest +part of London, for, while it contains only one-twentieth portion of its +inhabitants, it possesses a fourteenth part of its wealth. This small +space is, in fact, the great heart not only of the metropolis, but of the +commercial world. Through its principal thoroughfares a vaster flood of +traffic is poured for several hours than is to be found in any other +streets in the world. In the year 1850 it was ascertained that no less +than 67,510 foot-passengers, and 13,796 vehicles, containing no fewer than +52,092 persons, passed Bow Church, Cheapside, in one day. By another +channel of communication, Aldgate, near the Minories, 58,430 +foot-passengers, and 9,332 vehicles, containing 20,804 persons, passed in +the same time; and it is estimated that altogether no less than 400,000 +persons are poured into this one square mile and a quarter in the course +of the twelve hours. The congregation in so confined a space of so vast a +number of people, many of whom are forced to carry about with them +considerable sums of money, must prove a great source of attraction to +thieves of all kinds, and demands the constant vigilance of a +comparatively large body of police. It was not until ten years after the +successful experiment of the metropolitan police, however, that the +corporation of London, wedded to its old system of ward-beadles, +street-keepers, and imbecile constables, could be brought to adopt the new +system; but it must be admitted that the present force, consisting of 1 +superintendent, 13 inspectors, 12 station-sergeants, 47 sergeants, and 492 +policemen, making a total of 565, do the duty well; and the City, with all +its stored wealth, is now as safe as the rest of the metropolis. At all +the banks plain-clothes men are constantly in attendance to keep out the +swell-mob, who buzz about such places as wasps do about a peach wall; and +in the great thoroughfares, such as Cheapside, six or seven policemen are +always to be found. + +The peculiarities of the City, which produce its characteristic robberies, +are the number of its uninhabited warehouses, the perfect labyrinth of +lanes which traverse and intersect its streets in all directions, and the +vast number of carts and vans always standing full of valuable goods at +the warehouse doors. The greatest precautions are taken to mark the +fastenings on the warehouse doors, so as to betray any attempt to force +them; and these devices are generally successful. The reticulation of +lanes will always prove a trouble to the police and a security to +pickpockets. Not many years ago a bank clerk was attacked at mid-day in +one of these passages in the very heart of the City, but luckily he +retained hold of his case, which held most valuable property, and it is +now the custom to chain these bill-cases to the person, just as they used +to chain books in the olden time to the library shelves. It is also +customary for bank clerks to tear the corners off all Bank of England +notes, so as to render them unnegotiable, unless to persons who can +produce the corresponding piece,--a contrivance which, no doubt, put a +stop to audacious attacks upon these money-carriers in the middle of the +day. The most common robberies are those from vehicles loading and +discharging valuable silk and other goods at the warehouse doors. For the +protection of such goods a small dog is the best policeman; and carts are +rarely seen in the City without one of these nimble guardians. The old +restriction which prevented the metropolitan police from entering the +City, and the City force from entering the metropolitan districts, is now +abandoned. Nevertheless, the fact of their being under a distinct +jurisdiction prevents that unity of action which ought to prevail. Not +long since, a City policeman patrolling one of the streets which extended +into the metropolitan department, was informed by a passer-by that they +were killing a constable at the top of the street, to which the policeman +replied that it was out of his beat and he could not interfere! When next +the Sibyl presents her leaves to the city corporation, in all probability +the present isolated system of police will not be found inscribed on any +one of them. + +Scotland Yard, as we have said, is the brain or central ganglion which +directs the system of metropolitan police. Here the commissioners sit +daily, and are ready to receive the complaints or other communications of +the public. Its rooms are full of clerks, but all in the uniform of the +police; in one office may be seen the constables wielding the pen instead +of the truncheon, preparing daily returns and reports; in another, reading +the morning and country papers, to learn what is doing that may require +their presence, and to know what thieves have turned up in the police +courts; in a third room an inspector is reading to the clerks from the +different divisions any particulars it may be advisable to communicate to +the entire force; in a fourth we see the secret chamber of the detective +police--those human moles who work without casting up the earth lest their +course should be discovered. In an office apart from the rest are the +foreign detectives, who watch over _mauvais sujets_ from abroad. The +entire floating foreign population in the metropolis is well known to the +police, and no plots against allied governments could well be hatched in +London without their cognizance. All articles lost in public conveyances +are here taken charge of. The "Lost Property Office" contains piles of +umbrellas, parasols, and walking-sticks, together with a curious +assemblage of articles of jewellery and wearing apparel, brought by honest +cabmen. On one occasion a parcel with cash to the amount of 1,600_l._ was +deposited; and on another a thousand-pound note. Valuable property is +always claimed immediately; but sticks, parasols, and umbrellas accumulate +in a manner which proves that their loss is due to the carelessness of +their owners and not to the loose morality of others. The offices for the +inspectors of dangerous structures and for licensing common lodging-houses +and the drivers and conductors of public conveyances, all of which +departments are managed by the police, are close at hand. + +In the drilling-ground of the force--an open space surrounded by a +hoarding close to the State Paper Office--there are generally from thirty +to forty men in course of training, to fill up the gaps caused by +dismissals, resignations, &c. On the occasion of our visit the yard was +occupied by two bodies--the raw material, in the shape of some twenty +individuals dressed in every variety of costume; and another batch of the +finished article, buttoned up in blue and resplendent with plated buttons. +The eye had only to run along the "gammut of men," if we may so term the +fresh recruits drawn up before us, in order to see from how many ranks of +society the police brigade is reinforced; smock-frocks, shooting-coats, +frock-coats, tail-coats, some seedy and worn, some still good and fresh, +denoted the condition in life of their owners, and the necessities to +which some of them were reduced. Young men flushed with hope come from the +provinces to push their fortunes, after a brief struggle find themselves +stranded, and accept this, the most readily-obtained respectable service. + +As every policeman must be able to read and write, have a good character, +and be of sound body and mind, the mere overflowings of the labour-market +are excluded from the force; moreover, persons can always leave the +service by giving a month's notice. For these reasons a much more +intelligent class of men recruit the police than the army, and it is +singular to note how this intelligence tells. The drill of constables and +soldiers is nearly alike, yet the former learn all their movements in a +fortnight, whilst the latter require at least two months. Intelligence of +a certain kind, however, may be carried too far; your sharp Londoner makes +a very bad policeman; he is too volatile and conceited to submit himself +to discipline, and is oftener rejected than the persons from other parts, +with whom eight-tenths of the force are recruited. The best constables +come from the provincial cities and towns. They are both quicker and more +"plucky" than the mere countryman fresh from the village--a singular fact, +which proves that manly vigour, both physical and mental, is to be found +in populations neither too aggregated nor entirely isolated. + +The policemen, perfect in their material drill, next undergo a mental one. +Drawn up in line, a sergeant or inspector questions them as to their +duties. "Supposing you see two men fighting, what would you do?" or, "If +you were to discover a house on fire, how would you act?" Sometimes the +constable addressed answers the question, but more generally his +interrogator does it for him. When drilled and catechized to the full +pitch, he doffs his plain clothes for a uniform, and comes out in the full +bloom of a policeman. But he is still a neophyte, and before he is +intrusted with a beat he attends at a police-court in order to watch the +manner in which trained constables comport themselves in the witness-box. +Having learned to give evidence clearly and briefly, to listen to +ludicrous scenes without smiling, and to bear bad language with +imperturbable patience, he is marched off to the division in which he has +elected to serve (the policeman is always if possible allowed this +privilege), and with his armlet on his wrist, his staff in one pocket, and +his rattle in the other, he patrols his beat. + +Two especial injunctions are given to him--never to show his staff except +to protect himself, and never to spring his rattle at night except in a +case of great urgency. The care taken to hide his offensive weapon is one +of the best points of our police arrangements. The officers sent over here +to gain information, prior to the introduction of the English police +system in Paris, were astonished at this forbearance: the Frenchmen could +not understand why a man should carry a deadly weapon, unless to make a +demonstration with it! In this little incident we see the essential +difference between the French and English character. In six months' time +it is expected that the young hand will prove a steady officer; that a +wild young fellow, who perhaps only a few months before knew no restraint, +should become a machine, moving, thinking, and speaking only as his +instruction-book directs; and so wonderful are the powers of organization +that such an officer he generally becomes. We all know him, for we see him +day by day as we promenade the streets. Stiff, calm, and inexorable, he +seems to take no interest in any mortal thing; to have neither hopes nor +fears. Amid the bustle of Piccadilly or the roar of Oxford Street, P. C. X +59 stalks along, an _institution_ rather than a man. We seem to have no +more hold of his personality than we could possibly get of his coat, +buttoned up to the throttling-point. Go, however, to the section-house, an +establishment generally attached to the chief station of each division, in +which the unmarried policemen are lodged, and enter the common hall or +reading-room, and you no longer see policemen, but men; they have cast off +their tight coats, as certain other unboiled lobsters, at fixed intervals, +cast off their shells. They are absolutely laughing with each other! Some +are writing, some are reading the morning papers, a group are grinning at +the caricature of P. C. X 202 in "Punch;" some are deep in the horrors of +a romance, extended at full length along a bench, with their trowsers +tucked up; all are at their ease, taking rational amusement. In the common +room of every section-house there is a library.[47] That in King Street, +Westminster, contains 1,200 volumes, a well-selected medley of subjects, +grave and gay. Some of the volumes, indeed, surprised us, as they seemed +to indicate an erudite taste which we did not give police constables +credit for possessing. We give a few of their titles as they came under +our notice:-- + + Taylor's Holy Living. + + The Annals of the English Bible. + + Macaulay's Essays. + + Alison's Europe. + + Paley's Works. + + Byron's Works. + + The Waverley Novels. + + James's Naval History. + + Lane's Modern Egyptians. + + Life of Mohammud, by Mohun Lal. + + Tom Cringle's Log. + + Bishop Heber's Journal. + + Washington Irving's Works. + + Colonial and Home Library. + +What do you think of the list, good reader? Policemen reading Paley! Can +we wonder that they are so very blue? But we must not misrepresent the +force. If volumes such as these are thumbed sufficiently to show that some +Scotch sergeant has a taste for theological reading and "fee-lo-so-phy," +the prevalent inquiry is after good English literature; and, although the +"Wandering Jew" and the "Mysteries of Paris" are in the library, we are +told that the men do not like, and apparently do not understand, French +romances. The library is only open on Thursdays, and then but for two +hours. For this there is a philosophical reason. "What we can always see," +said the superintendent who kindly showed us over the Section, "we never +see: it is only strangers that know all the sights of the metropolis." On +the same principle, the issue of books is limited in the manner we have +stated, and we are told that the plan answers admirably. The dormitories +at King-street accommodate about ninety persons, the great portion of +whom, having done night-duty, we saw fast asleep, on a fine tempting +afternoon. It takes full three months for the men to acquire the habit of +sleeping in the day; but, once acquired, they never lose it afterwards, +although they return at stated intervals to day-duty again. They find +their own breakfasts and suppers, but they mess together at dinner. They +take it in turns to cater for the week; and the emulation thus created +proves to the advantage of the mess, as we hear that early peas, and other +delicacies of the season, find their way to the policemen's table.[48] It +would be an immense boon to the Benedicts of the force if accommodation +could also be found for them in the section-houses. In these days of model +lodging-houses such an injustice to family men should scarcely be allowed +to exist. + +One of the strongest reasons which weighed with Mr. Peel in proposing the +establishment of the new police in 1829 was the expediency of instituting +a force powerful enough to cope with mobs, and to repress those incipient +commotions which, if too roughly dealt with by the military, are apt to +leave an abiding sense of irritation in the public mind. The massacre of +"Peterloo," as it was vulgarly called, without doubt proved to the +reflective mind of Peel that civil disturbances could no longer be dealt +with by the sharp edge of the sword, and that a knock-down blow of a +truncheon was far more congenial to the English skull than the sabre of +the yeoman or the bullet of the "sodger." That view was undoubtedly +correct. The new police have not, it is true, come in contact with excited +mobs on more than three occasions,--the affair of Coldbath Fields, in the +year 1833, the Chartist gathering in 1848, and the skirmish in the Park, +of July, 1855. On each of these occasions the crowd was immediately +dispersed, and whatever irritation might have existed at the time, it +quickly died away. There seems to be no fear that a London mob will ever +prove a serious thing in the face of our present corps of policemen. A +repetition of the Lord George Gordon riots would be an impossibility. +Those who shudder at the idea of an outbreak in the metropolis, containing +two millions and a half of people and at least fifty thousand of the +"dangerous classes," forget that the capital is so wide that its different +sections are totally unknown to each other. A mob in London is wholly +without cohesion, and the individuals composing it have but few feelings, +thoughts, or pursuits in common. They would immediately break up before +the determined attack of a band of well-trained men who know and have +confidence in each other. The genuine Londoner, moreover, is no fighter; +he will "slang" and "chaff" wittily with his tongue, but he will not come +to blows. Those who have any experience in the _gamins_ of the great towns +in England must have observed the vast difference between the want of +pugnacity in the cockney-bred boy, and the love of fisticuffs among the +youths of Bristol, Birmingham, or Manchester, which are the nurseries of +prize-fighters. The great town has sharpened the brain of the Londoner, +but unstrung his sinews and cowed his courage, and he is a pigmy in the +hands of the vigorous provincials. The middle classes are an exception, +and we doubt not that the same spirit which marched with the trained-bands +from London to Gloucester, in the civil war, is still to be found among +them. + +We believe that the only quarter in which any formidable riot could take +place would be eastward, in the neighbourhood of the Docks, where there +are at least twelve thousand sailors in the river or on shore, ready for a +spree, fearless and powerful, and acting with an undoubted _esprit de +corps_. These, if associated with the seven or eight thousand +dock-labourers and lightermen, would certainly produce a force difficult +to cope with. For such emergencies the police are provided with side-arms, +but we fear they are not well trained to their use, and it would take at +least fourteen days to perfect them. If in any civil disturbance, however, +it should come to cold steel, we think that the soldiers would prove far +more effective, and their interference would be less galling than that of +the police armed with murderous weapons. Prevention is the true duty of +the civil force. One of the simplest methods for breaking up a crowd, in +order that it may have no unity of action, is to march sections of +constables, in double files of say fifty each; these sections moving a few +yards apart speedily cleave by their weight the densest mob in twain. When +once this division is made, the order is given to face right and left and +march; by this means the mass is riven into a dozen helpless portions. If +the mounted police can be brought into action, it is customary to march +them in every direction through the crowd. Those who were in Hyde Park on +the evening of the great Sunday gathering in July 1855, witnessed how +effectually this singular manoeuvre was executed under the orders of +Captain Labalmondiere. The horsemen, circulating among the immense crowd, +entirely disintegrated the mass, and rendered it helpless for a common +movement, and this without any altercation; for what use could there be in +arguing with horses' heels? A policeman's staff thrust in your chest, +accompanied by a peremptory order to stand back, would probably "rile" the +best of us; but what is to be said against the push of a horse's flank or +the descent of a heavy hoof? Everybody is glad to get as quickly as +possible out of the way, and thus the whole company break as it were of +their own accord. + +Let us now revert to the Detective Police. When the Metropolitan force was +established in 1829, the old Bow-street officers, not caring to work with +the new system, retired from public life, and set up a private practice +in hunting out offenders, in which occupation some of them continue to +this day. For fifteen years there was no establishment of detectives +connected with the police; but the inconvenience of not possessing so +necessary a wheel in the constabulary machinery induced Sir James Graham, +who had, perhaps, a leaning towards this branch of the profession, to +revive the fraternity. The force consists of three inspectors, nine +sergeants, and a body of police termed "plain-clothes men," whose services +can be had at any moment. There are about six policemen in each division, +who take upon themselves the duty of detectives when wanted, which affords +a total number of 108 auxiliaries, upon whom the inspectors and sergeants +can rely to carry out their orders with silence and address. In all great +gatherings, these men are distributed among the crowd, dressed according +to the character of the assembly. Thus, at an agricultural meeting, +smock-frocks are worn, or the dress of a small farmer; at a review, the +habiliments of a decent mechanic in his Sunday best. In this respect they +follow the principle of Nature, who protects her creatures from +observation by giving them coats of a colour somewhat similar to that of +the soil they inhabit,--to the arctic fox, a fur white as the surrounding +snow; and to the hare, a coat scarcely distinguishable from the brown +heath in which she makes her form. It is the general rule to station these +plain-clothes men as near as possible to the policemen of their own +division, in order that they may be assisted in capturing prisoners. + +Man is eminently a hunting animal, but there is no prey which he follows +with such zest and perseverance as his fellowman. Some policemen, directly +they enter the force, show the taste so strongly that they are at once +marked off for this special service. Others, on the contrary, will remain +years without detecting a single crime. From among the 6,000 persons +composing the force, a splendid field is afforded for selecting good men; +and Bow-street, great as was its fame, did not turn out more intelligent +detectives than we now possess. The officers, although they are not +hail-fellow-well-met with every thief, as in the last century, still find +it necessary to keep up a personal knowledge of the criminal population, +especially with that portion of it whose members they may at one time or +other be likely to "want." The detectives, as well as thieves, are +generally famous for some particular line of business. One is good at +housebreakers, another knows how to follow up the swell-mob, and a third +is a crack hand at forgers. By confining themselves to distinct branches +of the art, they acquire an especial sense, as it were, for the work; and +it is remarkable how much their trouble is lightened by the division of +labour. The detective stands in a very different position from the +ordinary policeman; his work, long and laborious though it may be, must, +to succeed, never see the light. Although he may have followed a case for +years, all the public knows of it is summed up in the four words used by +the constable who states the charge at the police court--"from information +I received," &c. The detective lays the foundation which, from the +shifting soil he has to deal with, is frequently far more extensive than +the superstructure. His duty is to pursue the criminal through all his +shiftings and turnings, until the case is clear against him; and then +fearlessly to draw him forth from his hiding-place, as a ferret would a +rabbit, and hand him over to an ordinary constable to bring to the +judgment-seat. + +Much of the information by which the perpetrators of crimes are discovered +comes from their own body: thus two thieves fall out, and one, prompted by +revenge, and stimulated by the hope of a reward, splits upon his +confederate; or some abandoned woman, jealous of another, gives +information which leads to her paramour's apprehension. The revenge taken +by members of the fraternity upon a "pal" whose treachery has been +discovered, is often so signal, that the utmost caution is exercised in +communicating with the police, lest suspicion should be excited. The +constable, whose aim is to encourage these revelations, must never, by his +want of address, give any hint of the source from which he receives his +information; nay, he finds it necessary sometimes to pursue keenly a false +scent in order to divert attention from the betrayer. + +Between the detective and the thief there is no ill blood: when they meet +they give an odd wink of recognition to each other--the thief smiling, as +much as to say, "I am quite safe, you know;" and the detective replying +with a look, of which the interpretation is, "We shall be better +acquainted by-and-by." They both feel, in short, that they are using their +wits to get their living, and there is a sort of tacit understanding +between them that each is entitled to play his game as well as he can. + +In pursuing the track of an offender, the officers often come across other +crimes of which they were not aware, and for a time are thrown off the +scent, just as a pack of fox-hounds by a hare which crosses their path. In +such cases the only way is to try back until the original trail is found. +It is not uncommon in this manner to stumble upon a regular network of +roguery, and to discover the whereabouts of parties who have long been +"wanting." The most trivial hint will suffice to put the detective on the +right track: for, like men accustomed to work in the dark, things which to +other persons are invisible, to them appear clear as noon-day. The +gossiping tendency of neighbours is especially useful to them in worming +out secrets. To obtain a single link in a chain of facts, they will often +hang about a house for months, interrogating the newspaper lad, waylaying +the servant girl as she is going for her supper beer, and picking all he +wants to know out of her as easily as a locksmith picks a lock, and with +quite as little consciousness on the part of the person operated upon. + +Mr. Dickens published some excellent papers in the early numbers of +"Household Words," which illustrate admirably the habits of these +officers. From these we select the following story, not that it is the +most dramatic, but because it shows the vast number of dodges by which the +detectives accomplish their ends:-- + + "'Tally-ho Thompson,' says Sergeant Witchem, after merely wetting his + lips with his brandy-and-water, 'Tally-ho Thompson was a famous + horse-stealer, couper, and magsman. Thompson, in conjunction with a + pal that occasionally worked with him, gammoned a countryman out of a + good round sum of money, under pretence of getting him a + situation--the regular old dodge--and afterwards in the "Hue and Cry" + for a horse--a horse that he stole down in Hertfordshire. I had to + look after Thompson, and I applied myself, of course, in the first + instance, to discovering where he was. Now, Thompson's wife lived, + along with a little daughter, at Chelsea. Knowing that Thompson was + somewhere in the country, I watched the house--especially at post-time + in the morning--thinking Thompson was pretty likely to write to her. + Sure enough, one morning the postman comes up, and delivers a letter + at Mrs. Thompson's door. Little girl opens the door, and takes it in. + We're not always sure of postmen, though the people at the + post-offices are always very obliging. A postman may help us, or he + may not,--just as it happens. However, I go across the road, and I say + to the postman, after he has left the letter, "Good morning! how are + you?" "How are _you_?" says he. "You've just delivered a letter for + Mrs. Thompson." "Yes I have." "You didn't happen to remark what the + post-mark was, perhaps?" "No," says he, "I didn't." "Come," says I, + "I'll be plain with you. I'm in a small way of business, and I have + given Thompson credit, and I can't afford to lose what he owes me. I + know he's got money, and I know he's in the country, and if you could + tell me what the post-mark was, I should be very much obliged to you, + and you'd do a service to a tradesman in a small way of business that + can't afford a loss." "Well," he said, "I do assure you that I did not + observe what the post-mark was; all I know is, that there was money in + the letter--I should say a sovereign." This was enough for me, because + of course I knew that Thompson, having sent his wife money, it was + probable she'd write to Thompson by return of post to acknowledge the + receipt. So I said "Thankee" to the postman, and I kept on the watch. + In the afternoon I saw the little girl come out. Of course I followed + her. She went into a stationer's shop, and I needn't say to you that I + looked in at the window. She bought some writing-paper and envelopes, + and a pen. I think to myself, "That'll do!"--watch her home again, and + don't go away, you may be sure, knowing that Mrs. Thompson was writing + her letter to 'Tally-ho,' and that the letter would be posted + presently. In about an hour or so, out came the little girl again, + with the letter in her hand. I went up, and said something to the + child, whatever it might have been; but I couldn't see the direction + of the letter, because she held it with the seal upwards. However, I + observed that on the back of the letter there was what we call a + kiss--a drop of wax by the side of the seal--and again, you + understand, that was enough for me. I saw her post the letter, waited + till she was gone, then went into the shop, and asked to see the + master. When he came out, I told him, "Now, I'm an officer in the + Detective Force; there's a letter with a kiss been posted here just + now, for a man that I'm in search of; and what I have to ask of you + is, that you will let me look at the direction of that letter." He was + very civil--took a lot of letters from the box in the window--shook + 'em out on the counter with the faces downwards--and there among 'em + was the identical letter with the kiss. It was directed, "Mr. Thomas + Pigeon, Post-Office, B----, to be left till called for." Down I went + to B---- (a hundred and twenty miles or so) that night. Early next + morning I went to the post-office; saw the gentleman in charge of that + department; told him who I was; and that my object was to see and + track the party that should come for the letter for Mr. Thomas Pigeon. + He was very polite, and said, "You shall have every assistance we can + give you; you can wait inside the office; and we'll take care to let + you know when anybody comes for the letter." Well, I waited there + three days, and began to think that nobody ever _would_ come. At last + the clerk whispered to me, "Here! Detective! Somebody's come for the + letter!" "Keep him a minute," said I, and I ran round to the outside + of the office. There I saw a young chap with the appearance of an + ostler holding a horse by the bridle, stretching the bridle across the + pavement while he waited at the post-office window for the letter. I + began to pat the horse, and that; and I said to the boy, "Why, this is + Mr. Jones's mare!" "No, it a'nt." "No?" said I: "she's very like Mr. + Jones's mare!" "She a'nt Mr. Jones's mare, anyhow," says he: "it's Mr. + So-and-So's, of the Warwick Arms." And up he jumped, and off he + went--letter and all. I got a cab, followed on the box, and was so + quick after him, that I came into the stableyard of the Warwick Arms + by one gate just as he came in by another. I went into the bar, where + there was a young woman serving, and called for a glass of + brandy-and-water. He came in directly, and handed her the letter. She + casually looked at it without saying anything, and stuck it up behind + the glass over the chimney-piece. What was to be done next? + + "'I turned it over in my mind while I drank my brandy-and-water + (looking pretty sharp at the letter the while), but I couldn't see my + way out of it at all. I tried to get lodgings in the house, but there + had been a horse-fair, or something of that sort, and it was full. I + was obliged to put up somewhere else, but I came backwards and + forwards to the bar for a couple of days, and there was the letter, + always behind the glass. At last I thought I'd write a letter to Mr. + Pigeon myself, and see what that would do. So I wrote one, and posted + it; but I purposely addressed it, Mr. John Pigeon, instead of Mr. + Thomas Pigeon, to see what _that_ would do. In the morning (a very wet + morning it was) I watched the postman down the street, and cut into + the bar, just before he reached the Warwick Arms. In he came presently + with my letter. "Is there a Mr. John Pigeon staying here?" "No!--stop + a bit though," says the barmaid; and she took down the letter behind + the glass. "No," says she, "it's Thomas, and _he_ is not staying here. + Would you do me a favour, and post this for me, as it is so wet?" The + postman said "Yes:" she folded it in another envelope, directed it, + and gave it him. He put it in his hat, and away he went. + + "'I had no difficulty in finding out the direction of that letter. It + was addressed, "Mr. Thomas Pigeon, Post-Office, R----, + Northamptonshire, to be left till called for." Off I started directly + for R----. I said the same at the post-office there as I had said at + B----; and again I waited three days before anybody came. At last + another chap on horseback came. "Any letters for Mr. Thomas Pigeon?" + "Where do you come from?" "New Inn, near R----." He got the letter, + and away _he_ went at a canter. + + "'I made my inquiries about the New Inn, near R----, and hearing it + was a solitary sort of house, a little in the horse line, about a + couple of miles from the station, I thought I'd go and have a look at + it. I found it what it had been described, and sauntered in to look + about me. The landlady was in the bar, and I was trying to get into + conversation with her; asked her how business was, and spoke about the + wet weather, and so on; when I saw, through an open door, three men + sitting by the fire in a sort of parlour or kitchen, and one of those + men, according to the description I had of him, was Tally-ho Thompson! + + "'I went and sat down among 'em, and tried to make things agreeable; + but they were very shy--wouldn't talk at all--looked at me and at one + another in a way quite the reverse of sociable. I reckoned 'em up, and + finding that they were all three bigger men than me, and considering + that their looks were ugly--that it was a lonely place--railroad + station two miles off--and night coming on--thought I couldn't do + better than have a drop of brandy-and-water to keep my courage up. So + I called for my brandy-and-water; and as I was sitting drinking it by + the fire, Thompson got up and went out. + + "'Now, the difficulty of it was that I wasn't sure it _was_ Thompson, + because I had never set eyes on him before; and what I had wanted was + to be quite certain of him. However, there was nothing for it now but + to follow, and put a bold face upon it. I found him talking outside in + the yard with the landlady. It turned out afterwards that he was + wanted by a Northampton officer for something else, and that, knowing + that officer to be pock-marked (as I am myself), he mistook me for + him. As I have observed, I found him talking to the landlady outside. + I put my hand upon his shoulder--this way--and said, 'Tally-ho + Thompson, it's no use. I know you. I'm an officer from London, and I + take you into custody for felony!' 'That be d--d!' said Tally-ho + Thompson. + + "'We went back into the house, and the two friends began to cut up + rough, and their looks didn't please me at all, I assure you. 'Let the + man go. What are you going to do with him?' 'I'll tell you what I'm + going to do with him. I'm going to take him to London to-night, as + sure as I'm alive. I'm not alone here, whatever you may think. You + mind your own business, and keep yourselves to yourselves. It'll be + better for you, for I know you both very well.' _I_'d never seen or + heard of 'em in all my life, but my bouncing cowed 'em a bit, and they + kept off, while Thompson was making ready to go. I thought to myself, + however, that they might be coming after me on the dark road to rescue + Thompson; so I said to the landlady, 'What men have you got in the + house, missis!' 'We haven't got no men here,' she says, sulkily. 'You + have got an ostler, I suppose?' 'Yes, we've got an ostler.' 'Let me + see him.' Presently he came, and a shaggy-headed young fellow he was. + 'Now, attend to me, young man,' says I; 'I'm a detective officer from + London. This man's name is Thompson. I have taken him into custody for + felony. I'm going to take him to the railroad station. I call upon + you, in the Queen's name, to assist me; and mind you, my friend, + you'll get yourself into more trouble than you know of, if you don't!' + You never saw a person open his eyes so wide. 'Now, Thompson, come + along!' says I. But when I took out the handcuffs, Thompson cries, + 'No! None of that! I won't stand _them_! I'll go along with you quiet, + but I won't bear none of that!' 'Tally-ho Thompson,' I said, 'I'm + willing to behave as a man to you, if you are willing to behave as a + man to me. Give me your word that you will come peaceably along, and I + don't want to handcuff you.' 'I will,' says Thompson, 'but I'll have a + glass of brandy first.' 'I don't care if I've another,' said I. 'We'll + have two more, missis,' said the friends; 'and con-found you, + constable, you'll give your man a drop, won't you?' I was agreeable to + that; so we had it all round; and then my man and I took Tally-ho + Thompson safe to the railroad, and I carried him to London that night. + He was afterwards acquitted on account of a defect in the evidence; + and I understand he always praises me up to the skies, and says I'm + one of the best of men.'" + +The largest of all the classes of thieves, and that which employs the most +extensive range of intellect, of age, and of dress, is the pickpocket. +From the first-rate thief, who works about the banks for six or nine +months until he gets a "good thing" to the miserable urchin who filches a +pocket-handkerchief, how vast a descent! Although strung together by the +common thread of crime, and pursuing, as it were, the same line of +business, a duke could not, and certainly would not, look down upon a +street-sweeper with half the hauteur that the leading rogues do upon the +Fagin-led urchin who replenishes with bandanas the stalls of Field-lane. +The popular notion of swellmobsmen is far wide of the truth. It is +supposed that they may be at once recognized by a certain ultra-foppish +manner of dressing, and an excess of jewellery, whereas the aim of a +professor of the "conveying" art is to go about his occupation unobserved; +for to be known to the police is to be disappointed of his booty. He has +his clothes built by the most correct tailor, and gets himself up as much +like a gentleman as possible. The necessities of his art, it is true, +oblige him to carry a coat over his arm in all weathers; but so may any +veritable man of fashion, without creating suspicion. Still, though he may +manage to pass free in a crowd, and frequent fashionable assemblies +without being suspected by the public, the professed thief-catcher is +rarely to be deceived by appearances. As the hunter marks his quarry by +peculiar signs known only to his craft, so the detective can at once +ascertain whether the fine gentleman walking carelessly along is "wrong," +as the slang term is, or a respectable character. + +The principal sign by which a thief may be distinguished in any assembly +is the wandering of his eye. Whilst those about him are either listening +to a speaker or witnessing a spectacle, his orbits are peering restlessly, +not to say anxiously around. When the thief-taker sees this, he knows his +man. One of the detective police who attended at the laying of the +foundation-stone of the Duke of Wellington's College, thus explained to us +the capture of a gentlemanly-looking person who was present on that +occasion:-- + + "If you ask me to give my reason why I thought this person a thief the + moment I saw him, I could not tell you; I did not even know myself. + There was something about him, as about all swellmobsmen, that + immediately attracted my attention, and led me to bend my eye upon + him. He did not appear to notice my watching him, but passed on into + the thick of the crowd, but then he turned and looked towards the spot + in which I was--this was enough for me, although I had never seen him + before, and he had not, to my knowledge, attempted any pocket. I + immediately made my way towards him, and, tapping him on the shoulder, + asked him abruptly, 'What do you do here?' Without any hesitation, he + said, in an under tone, 'I should not have come if I had known I + should have seen any of you.' I then asked him if he was working with + any companions, and he said, 'No, upon my word, I am alone;' upon this + I took him off to the room which we had provided for the safe-keeping + of the swellmobsmen." + +This was a daring stroke, but it succeeded as it deserved. If the man had +been really honest, he would have turned indignantly upon the person who +questioned him; but pickpockets are essentially cowards, both morally and +physically, and they generally come down at once to save trouble, when the +officer has his eye upon them, as the opossums were wont to do when they +espied that dead shot Colonel Crockett. There is a striking example of +this weakness of their tribe in the amusing work of the "Englishwoman in +America." The scene is an American railway-carriage:-- + + "I had found it necessary to study physiognomy since leaving England, + and was horrified by the appearance of my next neighbour. His forehead + was low, his deep-set and restless eyes significant of cunning, and I + at once set him down as a swindler or pickpocket. My convictions of + the truth of my inferences were so strong, that I removed my purse--in + which, however, acting by advice, I never carried more than five + dollars--from my pocket, leaving in it only my handkerchief and the + checks for my baggage, knowing that I could not possibly keep awake + the whole morning. In spite of my endeavours to the contrary, I soon + sank into an oblivious state, from which I awoke to the consciousness + that my companion was withdrawing his hand from my pocket. My first + impulse was to make an exclamation; my second, which I carried into + execution, to ascertain my loss; which I found to be the very alarming + one of my baggage-checks; my whole property being thereby placed at + this vagabond's disposal, for I knew perfectly well, that if I claimed + my trunks without my checks, the acute baggage-master would have set + me down as a bold swindler. The keen-eyed conductor was not in the + car, and, had he been there, the necessity for habitual suspicion, + incidental to his position, would so far have removed his original + sentiments of generosity as to make him turn a deaf ear to my request, + and there was not one of my fellow-travellers whose physiognomy would + have warranted me in appealing to him. So, recollecting that my checks + were marked Chicago, and seeing that the thief's ticket bore the same + name, I resolved to wait the chapter of accidents, or the reappearance + of my friends.... With a whoop like an Indian war-whoop the cars ran + into a shed--they stopped--the pickpocket got up--I got up too--the + baggage-master came to the door: 'This gentleman has the checks for my + baggage,' said I, pointing to the thief. Bewildered, he took them from + his waistcoat-pocket, gave them to the baggage master, and went + hastily away. I had no inclination to cry 'Stop thief!' and had + barely time to congratulate myself on the fortunate impulse which had + led me to say what I did, when my friends appeared from the next car. + They were too highly amused with my recital to sympathize at all with + my feelings of annoyance; and one of them, a gentleman filling a high + situation in the East, laughed heartily, saying, in a thoroughly + American tone, 'The English ladies must be 'cute customers' if they + can outwit Yankee pickpockets.'" + +The quickness and presence of mind of this lady was worthy of the +practised skill of the detective who marked his man at the Wellington +College ceremonial. That same gathering afforded another example of the +cowardice of the swell mob. Immediately they came upon the ground, +fourteen of them were netted before they had time to try the lightness of +their fingers. They were confined in a single room with only two policemen +to guard them, yet they never attempted to escape, although their +apprehension was illegal, but waited patiently until the crowd had +dispersed. When the doors were thrown open, they immediately made a rush +like so many rats from a trap, and never stopped until they were well out +of sight of the police. The rapidity with which they bolted was caused by +their desire to avoid being paraded before the assembled constables, a +measure which is often taken by the police, in order that they may know +their men on another occasion. If, however, the swellmobsman's eye is for +ever wandering in search of his prey, so also is that of the detective; +and instances may occur when the one may be mistaken for the other. At the +opening of the Crystal Palace, a party of detectives distributed among the +crowd, observed several foreigners looking about them in a manner +calculated to rouse their suspicions. These individuals were immediately +taken into custody, notwithstanding their strong and vehement +expostulations made in very good French. When brought before the +inspector, it came out that they were Belgian police, sent over at the +request of our Government to keep a look out on the _mauvais sujets_ of +their own nation. + +The swellmobsmen proper generally work together at races, in gangs of from +three to seven; those who "cover," as it is termed, making a rush to +create pressure, in order that the pickpocket may use his hand without +being noticed. In taking watches it is generally supposed that the ring +is cut by a pair of wire-nippers. This is rarely the case; thieves have no +time in operating to use any other implement than their own nimble +fingers, and the ring of the watch is wrenched off with the utmost ease, +as the purchase upon it is very great. A police magistrate, of large +experience, suggests that the way to baffle the fraternity would be to +_make the ring work upon a swivel_. Inferior classes of thieves work in +smaller "schools," say of a couple of women and a boy, whose little hand +is capitally adapted for the work. Whilst one woman pushes, the lad +attempts the pocket of the person nearest him, and the third "watches it +off," as it is called; if she observes that the youth's attentions have +been noticed, she immediately draws him back with a "Ha, Johnny, why do +you push the lady so!" Look to your pockets, good reader, when you see +forward little Johnnies about--especially at railway stations. Such places +are the chief resort of this class of pickpockets, and we hear that +theatres and churches, just as the people are coming out, are favourite +haunts--the women creating a stoppage at the door, and the children taking +advantage of it. Women's pockets are much more easily picked than men's, +for the reason that the opening through the dress to it is larger, and it +hangs by its weight free of the person. In a crowd, the operation is easy +enough, as the general pressure masks the movement of the depredator's +hand; when the victim is walking, a more artistic management is required. +The hand is inserted at the moment that the right leg is thrown forward, +because the pocket then hangs behind the limb, an essential condition for +the thief, as the slightest motion is otherwise felt upon the leg. The +trowser-pockets of a man are never attempted in the streets: but in a +crowd, as at a race, he can be cleaned out by a school of mobsmen of +everything in his possession, with little fear of detection. The first +step is to select their victim; to do this demands some caution; and if +they cannot see whether he carries a purse, and if they have no +opportunity of watching him pull it out, they will feel all his pockets. +The "spotter," as he is called, passes his hand across the clothes +seemingly in the most accidental manner; sometimes twice when he is in +doubt. The fact that there is booty being ascertained, the confederates +surround him, and wait for the coming-off of a race. Just as the horse is +at the winning-post, there is a rush forward of the crowd: of this the +mobsmen take advantage, while the victim, perhaps, for better security, +keeps his hand over his pocket, but in vain. At a critical moment the man +behind tips his hat over his eyes, instinctively he lifts up his hand to +set it right, and the next moment his pocket is hanging inside out. Few +betting men who attend much at races have escaped being thoroughly cleaned +out. It is rarely that Londoners are robbed in the streets; they are too +busy, and move on too fast. Country people form the chief game of the +light-fingered gentry: as they stare about, they instantly betray +themselves to their watchful enemy, and in the midst of their admiration +at everything about them, fall an easy prey. The thief in search of purses +or handkerchiefs always makes his way trout-like against the stream. There +are places, which, to carry out our piscatorial analogy, seem +"ground-baited" for these fishers. Temple Bar, St. Paul's Churchyard, the +Shoreditch end of Bishopsgate, Holborn, Cheapside, and other crowded +thoroughfares, all afford excellent sport for the pickpockets, and any one +acquainted with their "manners and customs" may occasionally see them +exercising their craft at these localities, if he watches narrowly. They +look out for a temporary stoppage in the stream of people, and a horse +fallen in the highway, an altercation between a cabman and his fare, a +fight, a crowd round a picture-shop, are all excellent opportunities, of +which they instantly take advantage. + +The May meetings at Exeter Hall, however, form the most splendid harvests +for the pickpocket. If the members of the various religious denominations +who flock thither escape the hustle on the hall stairs, they are waited +upon with due attention in the omnibus. Ladies and gentlemen who attend +these May meetings are well known to be "omnibus people:" they lodge or +visit, for the short period of their sojourn in town, either at Islington, +Clapham, or Camberwell, and the "Waterloos" and the "Victorias" are +followed by the fraternity as certainly as a sick ship in the tropics is +followed by the sharks. Omnibuses are generally "worked" by a man and a +woman; the woman seats herself on the right-hand side of the most +respectable-looking female passenger she can see, and the man if possible +takes a place opposite the individual to be operated upon. If she be a +young person, the man "stares her out of countenance," and, whilst +confused by his impertinence, the "pal," by the aid of a cloak thrown over +her arm, or, if a man, by passing his hand through the pocket of his cloak +made open on the inside for the purpose, is able to rifle her pockets at +leisure. If the victim be a middle-aged or elderly lady, her attention is +engaged in conversation whilst the clearing-out process is going on. The +trick done, the confederates get out at the first convenient opportunity. +It is very rarely that a pickpocket pursues his avocation alone; but a +case has been reported lately in the newspapers, which proves that a +clever artist can work single-handed. A man named William Henry Barber was +charged at the Worship-street court with robbing a lady of her +portemonnaie in a Stoke Newington omnibus: he was well known to the +police, but had generally escaped by his adroitness. His manoeuvres were +thus described by a lady, a resident of Stoke Newington, who had been +robbed by him on a previous occasion:-- + + "She had got into an omnibus," she said, "at Kingsland, several weeks + back, to convey her to town, and found herself next to a + gentlemanly-looking stout man, who was dressed in sober black, with a + white neckerchief, and apparently a dissenting minister. The gentleman + gradually encroached upon her, and pressed upon her; but she thought + nothing of it, as he was very intent upon reading a newspaper the + whole way--so intent, indeed, that she did not see his face, and he + did not seem to notice that his newspaper several times partially + covered her dress. The stranger shortly afterwards got out, and she + did so also in a few minutes, and upon then placing her hand in her + pocket to make some purchase, she found that her purse had been + stolen, and with it seven sovereigns and a quantity of silver." + +The "Dissenting Minister" had evidently worked the Stoke Newington road +regularly, and no doubt the "sober black" and the white handkerchief were +assumed with a perfect knowledge of the "serious" class of passenger he +was likely to encounter in omnibuses running to that suburb. Robberies of +this kind have enormously increased of late. The security with which +pickpockets can work, withdrawn as they are from the surveillance of the +police, is a great incentive to thieves to take to this particular line of +business. + +The earnings of what is called a "school" of boys, who pick pockets in +concert, under the eye of a master, must be considerable; for we were +shown, some time since, a bill made out by one of those Fagins for the +board and lodging of his hopeful youths, from which it appeared that the +regular charge for each was two guineas a week! This person was well known +some years since on the Surrey side of the water as Mo Clarke. He attended +races, dressed in the deepest black, with his young assistants in jackets +and turned-down collars; and the whole group, to the eye of the general +observer, presented the sad spectacle of a widower left with a family of +young children to lament the loss of an attached mother. Their appearance +disarmed suspicion, and enabled them to empty the pockets of those around +them at their leisure. The subsequent fate of two of the children, though +nursed in hypocrisy and vice, proves that the old saying, "once a thief +always a thief," is not invariably correct, for they are at the present +moment flourishing cab and omnibus proprietors. + +The advantage of working out of sight of the police has lately led some of +the swell mob to go to church, prayer-book in hand, and pick pockets +either in the pews or while the congregation is coming down the aisle. +Women are the greatest adepts at this kind of thieving, and they are +constant attendants at confirmations, plundering in sight of the most +touching rite of the Church. The dress of these females is perfect enough; +but with them, as with most other members of the swell mob, the finish is +entirely on the outside; they scarcely ever have any education, and the +moment they open their mouths they betray themselves. This fact is of +especial service in detecting another large class, of thieves--the +shoplifters. A lady cannot go into the shop of any silkmercer or +linendraper without being struck with the rude manner in which the shopman +clears the counter immediately the purchaser takes her seat. The +plundering to which they are subjected is some excuse for their +suspicions, for the assistants cannot tell at first who the customer may +be, and if expensive goods were left exposed while their backs were +turned, serious robberies would inevitably occur. The value of the manner +of speech, as diagnostic of character, was exemplified not long since at +Messrs. Swan and Edgar's, where a lady-like person asked to look at some +"wallenciens." A watch was kept upon the "lady," and she was speedily +detected secreting a card of valuable lace. + +The extent of pilfering carried on even by ladies of rank and position is +very great; there are persons possessing a mania of this kind so well +known among the shopkeeping community, that their addresses and +descriptions are passed from hand to hand for mutual security. The +attendants allow them to secrete what they like without seeming to observe +them, and afterwards send a bill with the prices of the goods purloined to +their houses. Jewellers' shops are especially open to a class of thieving +termed "palming." One of the gang goes in first, and engages the attention +of the assistant; then another drops in, and makes inquiries for some +article which is on the other side of the shop; then perhaps a third, +without recognizing his companions, follows, and asks for something, +saying he is in a hurry, as he has to be off by a certain train, and at +the same time pulls out his watch to show his eagerness to be served. The +shopkeeper's attention is thus diverted from the confederates, who rob the +trays before them of their valuable contents. Some of these fellows are so +dexterous that, if they perceive any person watching them, they can "palm" +back the goods they have secreted, and, on being accused, put on an +appearance of injured innocence, which makes the tradesman believe that +his own eyes must have deceived him. The higher order of thieves will +sometimes "ring the changes," as it is called. This must be ranked among +the fine arts of swindling. They will call on first-rate houses, and +request to be shown valuable pieces of jewellery, such as diamonds, +necklaces, and bracelets, which are kept in cases. Having noted the case, +they go away, promising to call with "a lady." A case exactly similar is +then made, with which they call a second time, and ask to see the +identical bracelet they before admired, and substituting the empty case +for that containing the jewels, depart with an apparent inability to +decide upon the purchase. Many robberies to a heavy amount have taken +place in this manner. Jewellers are liable to be attacked from without as +well as from within. From the narration communicated by a prisoner to +Captain Chesterton, when governor of Coldbath-fields prison, we extract +the following method of procedure in what is termed "starring the +glaze:"-- + + "One or two parties divert attention while another 'stars.' This is + either done by a diamond, or by inserting a small penknife through the + putty, near the corner of a pane, and cracking it; the wet finger + carries the crack in any direction; an angle is generally formed. The + piece is wrought to and through, and then removed; if necessary, + another piece is 'starred' to allow of the free ingress of the hand. + In a retired neighbourhood an opportunity is taken of tying the door, + in order to prevent any one coming out, and on passing of a heavy + carriage the hand is driven through a square of glass, upon which has + been laid a piece of strong paper, coated with treacle, to prevent + noise from the glass falling, and then articles of value are removed. + This is termed spanking the glaze. At other times the parties + intending to star go a night or two before and break one of the lower + squares of glass, a watch is then put upon the shop to know when the + square is renewed, which, of course, the putty being soft, can be + removed at pleasure; a piece of leather, upon which is spread some + pitch, being applied to the square to prevent it falling when pushed + in. Much time is saved this way." + +We often hear of the march of intellect in thieving, and the height to +which its professors have carried it in these latter days. There could be +no greater delusion; all the tricks of card-sharpers, ring-droppers, +purse-cutters, &c., are centuries old, and it does not appear that they +are performed a bit more adroitly now than in the days of Elizabeth. Mr. +Charles Knight, in his charming paper on London rogueries, gives examples +of the tricks of the Shakspearian era, which prove, as he observes, that +pickpocketing in all its forms was taught as cleverly in the days of the +Tudors as by Fagin and his boys in "Oliver Twist." His account of a school +of thieves discovered in 1585 is an instance:-- + + "Among the rest they found one Wolton, a gentleman born, and sometimes + a merchant of good credit, but fallen by time into decay. This man + kept an alehouse at Smart's Key, near Billingsgate, and after, for + some misdemeanour, put down, he reared up a new trade of life; and in + the same house he procured all the cut-purses in the city to repair to + his house. There was a schoolhouse set up to learn young boys to cut + purses. Two devices were hung up--one was a pocket and another was a + purse. The pocket had in it certain counters, and was hung about with + hawk's bells, and over the top did hang a little scaring bell; the + purse had silver in it, and he that could take out a counter without + any noise was allowed to be a public Foyster; and he that could take a + piece of silver out of the purse without noise of any of the bells, + was adjudged a judicial nypper, according to their terms of art." + +The tricks we have enumerated all require cunning, lightness of hand, and +address, rather than strength and courage. As the swellmobsman stands at +the head of this school, so the cracksman or housebreaker stands on the +highest pinnacle of the other great division of crime which attains its +ends by force and courage. Since the ticket-of-leave system has been in +action, this department has flourished to an alarming degree. The released +convict re-enters the community with the enlarged experience of the hulks +and with a brutal disregard of danger. Suddenly thrown upon his resources, +with a blasted character, society leaves him no better means of livelihood +than his old course of crime. One fellow who was brought up to Bow-street +had committed no less than four burglaries within three weeks after he had +been liberated! Bands of ruffians, with crape masks and with deadly arms, +stand by the bed at dead of night, and, after robbing and terrifying their +victims, leave them gagged and bound in a manner that would disgrace +banditti. It is true these burglaries are confined to lonely houses +situated in the country; but housebreaking has been on the increase of +late even in the metropolis. Some of the craftsmen have become so expert, +that no system of bolts or bars is capable of keeping them out. It may be +as well to state, however, that a sheet of iron, on the inside of a panel, +will often foil the most expert burglars; and all operators of this class +who have opened their minds upon the subject to the prison authorities +admit that it is totally impossible, without alarming the inmates, to +force a window that is lightly barred with a thin iron bar and supplied +with a bell. A shutter thus protected, and which gives a little with +pressure, will not allow the centrebit to work without creating a motion +which is sure to ring the alarum. + +Most burglaries of any importance, especially those in which much plate is +stolen, are what is termed "put up;" that is, the thieves are in +correspondence with servants in the house, or with those that have been +discarded. Many robberies that appear to have been accomplished in a most +wonderful manner from without, are committed from within. In "put up" +robberies, however, the thieves seldom allow the confederate in the house +to know when the robbery is to come off, for fear of what is termed a +"double plant;" that is, lest the person who originally "put up" the +robbery should, from the stings of conscience, or for other reasons, have +officers in waiting to apprehend them. It is quite sufficient for adroit +burglars to know where the valuables are kept, and the general +arrangements of the house. We are indebted to the Yankees for an extremely +clever method of gaining entrance to hotel bed-chambers, even when the +inmate has fastened the door. The end of the key which projects through +the lock is seized by a pair of steel pliers, and the door is unlocked +whilst the traveller sleeps in fancied security. Several robberies of this +kind have lately taken place. The most ingenious pilfering of the "put up" +kind we ever heard of occurred many years ago in a large town in +Hampshire. A gang of first-rate cracksmen, having heard that a certain +banker in a country town was in the habit of keeping large sums of money +in the strong box of the banking-house in which he himself dwelt, +determined to carry it off. For this purpose the most astute and +respectable-looking middle-aged man of the gang was despatched to the +town, to reconnoitre the premises and get an insight into the character of +their victim. The banker, he ascertained, belonged to the sect of +Primitive Methodists, and held what is termed "love-feasts." The cracksman +accordingly got himself up as a preacher, studied the peculiar method of +holding forth in favour with the sect, wore a white neckerchief, assumed +the nasal whine, and laid in a powerful stock of scripture phrases. Thus +armed, he took occasion to hold forth, and that so "movingly," that the +rumour of his "discourses" soon came to the ears of the banker, and he was +admitted as a guest. His foot once inside the doors, he rapidly "improved +the occasion" in his own peculiar manner. The intimacy grew, and he was +speedily on such terms of friendship with every one in the house, that he +came and went without notice. He acquainted himself with the position of +the strong box, and took impressions in wax of the wards of the locks. +These he sent up to his pals in town, and in due course was supplied with +false keys. With these he opened the strong box, made exact notes of the +value and nature of its contents, and replaced everything as he found it. +A plan of the street, the house, and of the particular chamber in which +the treasure was kept, was then prepared and forwarded to the confederates +in London. He persuaded his kind friend the banker to hold a love-feast on +the evening fixed for the final stroke. A few minutes before the time +appointed for the robbery, he proposed that the whole assembly should join +with him in raising their voices to the glory of the Lord. The cracksman +laboured hard and long to keep up the hymn, and noise enough was made to +cover the designs of less adroit confederates than his own. The +pseudo-preacher, to disarm suspicion, remained with his friend for a +fortnight after the theft, and on his departure all the women of the +"persuasion" wept that so good a man should go away from among them! + +In a large number of cases the servants are only the unconscious +instrument in the hands of the housebreaker. We will venture to say that +more house robberies are committed through the vanity of servant girls +than from any other cause. A smart young fellow, having heard that plunder +is to be obtained in a certain house, manages to pick up an acquaintance +with one of the female domestics, and makes violent love to her. We all +know how communicative young women are to their sweethearts, and the +consequence is, that in a short time he gets from her every particular +that he requires,--the habits of the family, the times of their going out, +the position of the plate-chest, and the fastenings of the doors. Where +only a servant of all-work is kept, the process is more simple. The lover +calls in the absence of the family at church, proposes a walk, and takes +charge of the street-door key, which, unseen to the girl, is passed to a +confederate; and whilst the polite lover and his lass are enjoying the +cool of the evening the house is being ransacked. An investigation took +place at the Lambeth Police Court a few months ago, where the poor girl +who had been made the tool of the housebreaker attempted to commit suicide +in order to prevent the consequences of her folly. Her account of the +manner in which the "plant" was made upon her, affords a good example of +the style of "putting up" a house robbery:-- + + "The young man with whom she had casually become acquainted called + after the family had gone out, and she asked him into the back + parlour. He then asked her to dress and go out with him, and he + remained in the back parlour while she dressed. While in the back + parlour he asked her if she could get a glass of wine, and she told + him that she could not, as the wine was locked up. He said it did not + matter, as they should have one when they went out, and that he + expected to meet his sister at the Elephant and Castle. They then left + the house and went for a walk, and on reaching the Elephant and Castle + remained there for some time, waiting for the young man's sister, but + did not see her. They next proceeded to a public-house, where they had + a glass of brandy-and-water, and the young man accompanied her to the + end of the street, where they parted, with the intention that they + should meet at one o'clock on the following day and spend the + afternoon together. On going to unlock the door, she found it ajar, + and on going in, found that the house had been robbed. On discovering + this, she did not know what to do, but thought she would make up a + story about thieves having got into the house, and took up the knife + and chopped her hand; but after this, not knowing how to face her + master or mistress after being so wicked, she took up the knife again, + intending to kill herself, and inflicted the wound on her throat." + +This confession was enough for the officers, and her "young man," with his +confederates, were caught and convicted. The frequency of these robberies +should put housekeepers on their guard as to what followers are allowed, +lest the "young man" should turn out to be a regular cracksman in +disguise. We bid the housekeeper also beware of another danger that +sometimes threatens him when he has an empty house for a neighbour. +Thieves always, if possible, make use of it as a basis of operations +against the others. They creep towards the dusk of evening, when the +inmates are generally down stairs, along the parapet, and enter +successively the bedrooms of the adjoining tenements. As many as half a +dozen houses have thus been robbed on the same occasion. Police-constables +always keep a careful watch upon these untenanted houses, by placing +private marks on some part of the premises; and if any of these signs are +disturbed, they suspect that something is wrong, and make a further +examination. In the City, where an immense amount of valuable property is +stored in warehouses, the private marks are much more used than in other +portions of the metropolis, and are continually changed, lest they should +become known to thieves and be turned to their advantage. + +Professional beggars are almost without exception thieves; but as they are +generally recruited from the lowest portion of the population, they never +attain any of the higher ranks, but confine themselves to petty acts of +filching, or to cunning methods of circumventing the honest. The +half-naked wretch that appears to be addressing the basement floor in +piteous terms, has a fine eye for the spoons he may see cleaning below; +and the shipwrecked sailor just cast ashore from St. Giles's would be an +awkward person to meet with in a dark suburban lane. Professional beggars +are migratory in their habits. They travel from town to town, not in the +filthy rags we are accustomed to see them in, but in good clothing; the +rags are carried by their women, and are only donned when they are nearing +the place in which they intend to beg. + +There is an audacious class of thieves, termed "dragsmen," who plunder +vehicles. At the West End they chiefly operate upon cabs going to or +coming from the railway stations. As this kind of thieving is carried on +under the very eyes of the foot-passengers, it is rarely attempted except +in the dusk of the evening. The dragsman manages to hang on behind, as +though he were merely taking a surreptitious ride, but in reality to cut +leather thongs and undo fastenings, and be able at any convenient moment +to slip off a box or parcel unobserved. The carelessness of the public is +the best confederate of this sort of thief. In the case of Lady +Ellesmere's jewels, the box was put not _inside_, but _outside_, the cab +in which the valet rode, and not in the middle of other boxes, but the +_hindermost_ of all--just the place in which the dragsman would have +planted it. It is now known that the robbery was effected between Berkeley +Square and Grosvenor Square, as a man was seen with the package standing +at the corner of Mount Street, Davies Street, bargaining with a cabman to +take him to the City. The man and his booty were driven to a public-house, +but the box must have been shifted immediately, for in two hours from the +time it was lost it was found rifled of its contents in a waste piece of +ground in Shoreditch. It might perhaps for a moment be suspected that this +was a "put up" robbery, but we are precluded from adopting this view of +the case, as it is, we believe, suspected that the man sold the jewels, +which were worth perhaps 25,000_l._, for a very trifling sum. He must have +been entirely ignorant of their value, and having by a chance stroke +obtained a magnificent booty, threw it away for an old song. Not many +weeks after this extraordinary robbery, a plate-chest of her Majesty was +stolen from a van between Buckingham Palace and the Great Western Railway. +There were persons walking alongside the vehicle, and it seems marvellous +how it could be possible to remove unseen a heavy chest under such +conditions; but every facility was given in this case, as in the former, +for the plunderers to do their work unmolested. In the first place the box +was put in such a position that its bottom came flush with the ledge of +the van. Next, the journey from Buckingham Palace to Paddington was, in +the driver's idea, too far to go without baiting on the way; therefore +bait he did at a little public-house, and every person in charge of the +property went inside to drink. According to their own account, they did +not stop more than a minute; this minute was enough: like Laertes, the +thief might have said, "'Twill serve." In this instance also the box was +found empty in a field at Shoreditch, and it is believed that a +ticket-of-leave man had a hand in both robberies. + +The habits of thieves have been somewhat modified since the institution of +the new police, and the adoption of the principle of prevention instead of +detection, in dealing with the criminal population. In the time of the old +Bow-street Runners the different classes of thieves had their houses of +call, in which they regularly assembled. The arrangement was winked at by +the magistrates, and approved by the officers, as useful to them in +looking after offenders that were wanted. John Townsend, when speaking of +the supposed advantage of these flash houses, said, "I know +five-and-twenty, or six-and-twenty years ago, there were four houses where +we could pop in, and I have taken three or four, or five or six of them at +a time, and three or four of them have been convicted, and yet the +public-house was tolerably well conducted too." Perhaps officers who lived +upon the capture of thieves had good reason for maintaining these flash +houses, in which most robberies were concocted; the case is far different +now that the police are paid by day rather than by piece-work, by weekly +salary rather than by blood-money, and all known flash houses have long +been discontinued. Some fifteen years since a few remained in the Borough, +but Superintendent Haynes broke them up, and rooted them out. Thieves +cannot meet now in respectable houses, for if they did, the constables +would become aware of the fact, and the landlord would speedily lose his +license. The passing of the Common Lodging-house Act has also assisted in +dispersing the desperate gangs, one of which, known under the name of "The +Forty Thieves," infested the town a few years since. It may be asked, what +sort of mutual fellowship exists among these outcasts who live below the +surface of "society"? Of the seven or eight thousand thieves in the +metropolis, very few are acquainted with each other; they are, in fact, +divided into as many sections as are to be found among honest men. Beyond +their own peculiar set they do not associate with their kind. The +swell-mobsman is as distinct a being from the cracksman as a Bond-street +dandy from a South-Sea islander; they do not even talk the same slang, and +could no more practise each other's art, than a shoemaker could make a +table. These natural divisions of the underground world of rogues +immensely facilitate the operations of the police. The manner in which +they do their work is also in some cases a pretty good guide to the +detectives. Skill and individuality is evinced in unlawful as well as in +lawful pursuits--in the manner in which a door is forced, as much as in +the style a picture is painted; and a clever officer, after carefully +examining a door or a window, will sometimes say, "This looks like +'Whiteheaded Bob's work,'" or "'Billy-go-Fast,' must have had a hand in +this job." + +The leading swell-mobsmen are the only class of thieves who "touch," if we +may term it, the ordinary society of better men. The practitioner in this +line must dress and be as much like a gentleman as possible, in order to +pursue his avocation without suspicion. Accordingly, he lives with a +woman, who passes for his wife, in genteel lodgings, and generally in the +drawing-room floor. As his earnings are often very large, he has +everything about him of the most expensive kind; his style of living is +luxurious, and he drinks nothing less than hock and champagne. He +sometimes keeps a banking account, and one man named Brown, lately +apprehended, had a balance at his banker's of 800_l._! As the members of +this fraternity work wholly in the daytime, going out in the morning and +returning in the evening, the landlady believes that they are engaged in +mercantile pursuits, and have business in the City; and, as it is part of +their game to pay their way liberally, she esteems them to be model +lodgers! + +The domestic habits of thieves are all pretty much alike; fluctuating +between the prison and the hulks, they exhibit the usual characteristics +of men engaged in dangerous enterprises. They mainly pass their time, when +not at "work," in gambling, smoking, and drinking, and in listening to the +adventures of their companions. It must be remembered, however, that the +professed thief, even if he drinks, is never _drunk_; he is employed in +desperate undertakings which require him to have his wits about him quite +as much, if not more than the honest man. When a pickpocket is flush of +money, he spends it in the most lavish manner,--takes a tour with his +female companion to the Isle of Wight, or to any other place he has a wish +to see, and puts up at the best hotels. In some of these trips he thinks +nothing of spending 30_l._ in a fortnight, and when the money is gone he +comes back again "to work." Thieves are generally faithful to each other; +indeed the community of danger in which they live develops this virtue to +an unusual extent. If a "pal" is apprehended, they cheerfully put down +their guinea apiece to provide him with counsel for his trial; and if he +should be imprisoned, they make a collection for him when he comes out. A +curious circumstance is the rapidity with which news of any of the body +having been arrested travels among his companions. We are assured that no +sooner is a young thief captured and taken to the station-house, although +he may have been plundering far away from his home, than some associate +brings him his dinner or tea, as a matter of course. + +The best class of swell-mobsmen sometimes act upon the joint-stock +principle "with limited liabilities." When a good thing is in prospect--a +gold-dust robbery or a bank robbery--it is not unusual for several of them +to "post" as much as 50_l._ apiece in order to provide the sinews of war +to carry on the plan in a business-like manner. If in the end the job +succeeds, the money advanced is carefully paid back to the persons +advancing it--several of whom have lived for years on plunder thus +obtained, without the police being able to detect them. Often the +receivers make these adventures in crime, and plot the robbery of a +jeweller's shop with as much coolness and shrewdness as though it were an +ordinary mercantile speculation, and the produce is disposed of in the +same business-like manner. Watches are what is termed "re-christened," +that is, the maker's names and numbers are taken out and fresh ones put +in; they are then exported in large quantities to America. All articles of +plate are immediately thrown into the crucible and melted down, so as to +place them beyond the hope of identification. In many cases, when the +receiver cannot thoroughly depend upon the thief, it is, we believe, +customary to employ intermediate receivers so as to render it impossible +to trace the property to its ultimate destination. It must not be supposed +that the passion for gain is always the sole incentive to robbery. "Oh, +how I do love thieving! If I had thousands, I'd still be thief;" such were +the words uttered by a youth in Coldbath-fields Prison, and overheard by +the governor.[49] + +If the machinery for preventing and detecting crime has so vastly improved +within this present century, the same may be said for the method of +dispensing justice. Up to as late as 1792, the magistrates of +Bow-street--the first "police-office," as it was then termed--were paid in +that most obnoxious of all modes, by fees, which were often obtained in a +manner so disgraceful that the magistrates got the name of "trading +justices" and "basket justices." Our old friend John Townsend, whom we +must summon once more to our aid, gives an insight into their proceedings, +and he knew them well. He said, "The plan used to be to issue warrants, +and to take up all the poor devils in the streets, and then there was the +bailing them, 2_s._ 4_d._, which the magistrate had. _In taking up a +hundred girls_, that would make, at 2_s._ 4_d._, 11_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ They +sent none to jail, _for the bailing them was so much better_!" The old +Bow-street worthy then draws a picture of the magistrate settling the +amount of these ill-gotten fees with his clerk on the Monday morning. The +"basket justices" were so called, because they allowed themselves to be +bought over by presents of baskets of game. These enormities were so +glaring, that, according to Townsend, "they at last led to the Police +Bill, and it was a great blessing to the public to do away with these men, +for they were nothing better than the encouragers of blacklegs, vice, and +plunderers. There is no doubt about it." In 1792 seven other "offices" +were established, namely, Queen-square, Great Marlborough-street, Hatton +Garden, Worship-street, Lambeth, Shadwell, and Union-street, each office +having three magistrates, who did the duties alternately. These, by the +addition of the suburban courts, have since been augmented to eleven. They +form the judgment-seats to which all offenders in this great capital of +2,500,000 inhabitants are brought, either to be punished summarily, or to +be remanded to the sessions to take their trial. + +The police-courts may be likened to so many shafts sunk in the smooth +surface of society, through which the seething mass of debauchery, +violence, and crime, are daily bubbling up before the public eye. A +spectator cannot sit beside the magistrate on the bench for a couple of +hours without feeling that there are currents of wickedness flowing among +the population as fixedly as the trade-winds in the tropics. A panorama +of sin passes before his eye which he shudders to think is only like a +single thread drawn from the fabric of vice which underlies the whole +system of elegant, punctilious, and accomplished metropolitan life. On +every case that comes before him the magistrate unassisted has to decide +rapidly and justly, unless he desires to call down upon his head the +thunders of an ever-watchful press. In addition to his judicial duties, he +has to answer numberless questions, and to give advice upon law points to +distressed persons: and all this amid a pestilential atmosphere which is +calculated to depress both body and mind. Nevertheless, the work is done +admirably, and justice, as speedy as that dispensed by cadis in Eastern +tales, and much more impartial, is dealt to the throng brought before him. + +From an analysis of the Criminal Returns of the Metropolitan Police, it is +apparent that crimes have their peculiar seasons. Thus attempts to commit +suicide generally occur in the months of June, July, and August, and +rarely in November, according to the commonly accepted notion; comfort, it +is evident, is considered even in the accomplishment of this desperate +act. Common assaults and drunkenness also multiply wonderfully in the +dog-days. In the winter, on the contrary, burglaries increase, and, for +some unknown reason, the uttering of counterfeit coin. + +The character of the cases brought before the police-courts varies, in +some degree, according to the neighbourhood and other causes. Bow-street +still maintains the pre-eminence over the other courts which it exercised +in the old days, when the horse-patrol and the detective police, known as +the Bow-street runners, were in existence; and this it does in consequence +of its special jurisdiction over persons who are amenable to foreign law. +The cases of this class--arson, murder, or bankruptcy--are heard in +private, generally by the chief magistrate, and the depositions are +forwarded direct to the Foreign Office. Ticket-of-leave men who have +committed fresh offences, are here deprived of their tickets and +apprehended by a warrant from the Home-Office. All Inland Revenue and +Post-Office cases, such as stealing from letters, are adjudicated upon +exclusively at Bow-street, which is, in fact, _the_ Government office. + +The Thames police deals with mutinies and murders committed on the high +seas, and all disputes under the Mercantile Marine Act come as a matter of +course to this court, together with the major portion of the criminals, +the scene of whose offences is in the docks and on the river. Drunkenness, +the vice of the sailors, and the insubordination arising out of it, form a +very large portion of the charges of the district. Worship-street is +famous, or rather infamous, for wife-beaters. The reason is curious, and +supplies a hint to philanthropists to reform the dwellings of the poor, +rather than pass harsh acts of parliament against the husbands, which in +many cases only serve to aggravate the evils arising from their brutality. +The majority of the wife-beaters come from Bethnal-green, where there are +a great number of large old mansions let out to the working-classes in +floors or flats. Sometimes as many as twenty families live in the same +house. The children play about in the passages as a neutral ground, +disputes arise, and the mothers take the parts of their respective +offspring with discordant fierceness. This drives the men to the +public-houses, where they drink their porter _iced_ and listen to more +pleasant sounds in the shape of gratuitous concerts. The wives in turn are +driven to the tavern doors to seek their mates, with words not too +conciliatory, and are brutally assaulted by the drunken husbands, who are +taken up the next day and get six months' imprisonment, _the family being +in most instances irretrievably broken up and ruined thereby_. Some of the +magistrates, seeing the baleful working of the system, have attempted a +solution of the difficulty by making the husband promise to allow the wife +to receive his weekly wages from his master, whose consent to the +arrangement has been given. In many instances this plan has worked well, +since the husband knows that on the slightest infringement of the +agreement his spouse may give him six months' imprisonment, judgment in +the case having been only suspended. But this power, again, is often +abused by the woman, and it is a common thing for them on the least +threat of their mates to say, "Mind what you are about, or I will give you +'a sixer.'" + +Cases of begging are principally heard at the Marlborough-street +police-court, as the rich streets in its neighbourhood are the main scenes +of the nuisance. Blind beggars especially affect Regent-street, +Oxford-street, and Piccadilly, the most thronged thoroughfares in the West +End. We warn our readers against their charitable tendencies for these +people. If the truth was known, the cry, "Pity the poor blind!" far from +exciting their pity, would arouse their disgust. Blind beggars, as a +class, are the most profligate scoundrels in the metropolis, thinking of +nothing but their grosser appetites, and plundering the charitable for +their satisfaction. One of these men lately taken into custody was +discovered seated at the breakfast-table with ham and fourteen poached +eggs before him! At the Westminster police-court the foot-guards are +continually visitors against their will; but it is remarked as +extraordinary that not one of the horse-guards has been charged here for +years. + +A custom has grown up of making the police magistrates the almoners of the +public in cases which have attracted the attention of the charitable +through the medium of the press. Many a poor forsaken creature has +suddenly found himself not only famous, but comparatively rich, by the +simple process of telling his tale in one of these courts. The news of it +flies through the country in the pages of the _Times_, and in the course +of two or three mornings the magistrate is oppressed with post-office +orders for the benefit of the sufferer, the donors simply requesting that +their gifts should be acknowledged in the public journals. The annual +receipts at the different courts for special cases must amount to a large +sum; and there is in addition a constant flow of small sums towards the +poor-box, the contents of which are distributed at the discretion of the +magistrate. The annual income from this latter source is about 300_l._ per +annum at Marlborough-street, and at Bow-street respectively, the greater +portion of which is given to deserving objects whose cases have come +before the court, and the remainder is dispensed at Christmas to the poor +of the neighbourhood in the shape of coals and candles. We are +particularly anxious to make this fact known, in order that the charitable +may be aware that their gifts are well bestowed. The magistrates do not, +we believe, encourage these donations, as they consider that the +distribution of alms is incompatible with their office; but, on the other +hand, it cannot be denied that a vast amount of temporary aid is thus +given to persons whose needs cannot be satisfied by the union workhouse. +Deserving people are often furnished with the means of obtaining a +livelihood, workmen whose tools have been burned in a conflagration +supplied with new ones, and in some cases women left behind by their +husbands, under circumstances of peculiar hardship, have been provided +with a passage to Australia. The thousands in England who only want to +know where genuine misfortune exists to hasten to its relief, have a +greater guarantee that they will not be imposed upon by these cases at the +police-courts than by private solicitations, as the magistrates have the +means of sifting the statements of applicants. Nevertheless, even these +astute public servants are now and then deceived, and comparatively large +sums have been received by them for persons who have afterwards been +ascertained to be unworthy of relief; and in instances where the discovery +took place in time, the money, by the direction of the donors, has been +transferred to truer objects of charity. + +The fees, penalties, and forfeitures received at the eleven metropolitan +police-courts and by the justices of the exterior police districts are +very considerable; in 1855 they amounted to 11,315_l._ 16_s._ 6_d._ This +sum goes towards defraying the expenses of the courts, which, together +with the salaries of the officers, and other items, amounted in the same +year to 63,021_l._ 0_s._ 5_d._ The expenditure may be considered +reasonable, when it is remembered that 60,000 cases are annually disposed +of, many of which require a minute knowledge of statute and of common law. +The chief improvement required is the improvement of the buildings. The +Thames police-court is the only one at all suitable for its purpose. An +enclosed yard is attached to it, in which the police-van can draw up and +discharge its prisoners without exposing them to the public gaze, an +important point in times of public excitement. Clerkenwell and Westminster +are the next best-arranged courts, but both want space and air; Lambeth, +though lately built, is a complete failure; many of the other courts are +held in small private houses; and in those of Marlborough Street and +Hammersmith, the business is transacted up stairs. In the latter court it +is a common thing to hear it said of persons who have been taken before +the magistrates--"he has been up the forty steps." With the common people, +with whom these institutions have mainly to deal, justice should be +dispensed with regard to appearances; there should be the formality of the +superior courts, and somewhat of their show. A magistrate sitting in a +plain black dress like an ordinary gentleman, and a lawyer dispensing +justice in his wig and gown, are two very different things to the lower +classes, whatever they may be to educated persons; and the want of all +official costume, and the huddled style of doing business, inseparable +from the present confined space, is not calculated to inspire the people +with much respect. The police should at least be put upon a level with the +county-courts. The latter have to deal with less momentous interests. +Questions of paltry debt cannot be put in comparison with questions +involving the liberty of the subject; the power of committing to prison +for six months with hard labour is far more important than that of +adjudicating in money disputes under five pounds. It is not enough that +justice is administered; it is the opinion which the people have of it +that produces the effect, and until the judgment-seat is rendered +dignified, and those who sit on it are clothed with the habiliments which +distinguish the magistrate from the man, the law, by losing most of its +impressiveness, will lose its moral power over delinquents. The vulgar +terror of punishment may remain, but the lesson which is conveyed to the +feelings by the solemn stateliness of the tribunal is entirely gone. + + + + +MORTALITY IN TRADES AND PROFESSIONS. + + +It is but natural to suppose, that in such a busy hive of industry as +England, where so large a proportion of the population--at least +one-half--is engaged in the prosecution of arts and manufactures, that the +effects of unceasing toil, and the debilitating influences of many +employments, will have a certain effect upon the health and longevity of +the artisan. We cannot pit the tender muscles of the child against the +senseless energy of steam, without producing a strain upon the vital +principle of the workers which must be highly injurious to it. We cannot +consign a population as large as that of many German States to live +perpetually in the bowels of the earth, without being prepared for an +increased death-rate. The hundreds of diverse manufactures and +handicrafts, which make the land hum with labour, must all be prosecuted +under circumstances more or less inimical to perfect health. If we take +the agricultural labourer of the better class, whose daily toil is +performed under the roof of heaven, it must be clear that all trades which +pursue their monotonous vocations in the crowded workshops of crowded +cities, in constrained attitudes, and subject to debilitating emanations, +must, to a certain extent, fall short of his standard of health. +Nevertheless, we do not think the public are prepared for the state of +things which a close examination of the sanitary condition of certain +portions of the working population divulges. Accustomed to be furnished +with all the appliances of easy life and luxury, the great middle and +upper classes have never perhaps given a thought as to the manner in +which these wants and appliances are supplied. Accustomed to sip the +honey, it never strikes us that perhaps its product involves in some cases +the life of the working-bee. Yet the lady, who, from the silken ease of +her fauteuil, surveys her drawing-room, may learn a lesson of compassion +for the poor workman in nearly every article that lies before her. Those +glazed visiting cards, if they could speak, possibly could tell of the +paralyzed hand that made them; that splendid mirror, which lights up the +stately room, has, without doubt, reflected the trembling form of the +emaciated Italian artificer poisoned with mercurial fumes; those hangings, +so soft and delicate, may have produced permanent disease to the weaver, +whose stomach has been injured by its constant pressure against the beam; +the porcelain vase on the bracket has dragged the "dipper's" hand into a +poison that, sooner or later, will destroy its power, and, may-be, produce +in him mania and death; nay, the very paper on the walls, tinted with all +the vernal brightness of spring, has, for all we know, ulcerated with its +poisonous dust the fingers of the hanger. The history of the manufacture +of almost every article of elegance or _virtù_ would disclose to us +pictures of workmen transiently or permanently disabled in the production +of them. All this suffering--much of it totally preventible--goes on +without complaint, the workman falls out of the ranks, and another +instantly takes his place, to be succeeded perhaps by a third. We are +convinced that such a waste of health and life could not be endured, if +the public were fully alive to the magnitude of the evil; for this reason +we shall endeavour, in the following essay, to give a true picture of what +may, perhaps, without pedantry, be termed the pathology of industrial +occupations and professions in this country. + +Foremost among those artisans who suffer from the inhalation of dust and +other gritty particles given off in the pursuit of their employment are +the grinders of Sheffield. Dr. J. C. Hall, in a series of papers published +lately in the _British Medical Journal_, draws a picture of the condition +of these unfortunate men, which is indeed appalling, and without doubt +gives them the bad pre-eminence of pursuing the most deadly trade in +existence. Grinding is divided into dry, wet, and mixed; that is, the +various articles of steel turned out of the cutler's shop of Sheffield are +subjected to the stone entirely dry, revolving in water, or to processes +involving both methods. Of the three, the former is by far the most +deadly: forks, needles, brace-bits, &c., are ground entirely on the dry +stone, and the amount of finely-divided metal dust and siliceous grit +given out in the process may be imagined, when we state that a dozen of +razors, weighing 2lb. 4oz. as they come from the forge in the rough, lose +in the process of "shaping" on the dry stone, upwards of five ounces, and +the stone itself, seven inches in diameter, would be reduced one inch. To +receive the mixture of stone and steel thus rapidly given off, the +position of the grinder is but too convenient; straddled across his +"horsing," as the frame in which the grindstone revolves is called, with +his knees bent in an acute angle, his body inclined forwards, and his head +hanging over the work, his mouth is brought into fatal contact with the +poisonous dust, and his eyes with the rush of the sparks. Fork-grinding is +performed entirely on the dry stone, and consequently it is the most +deadly occupation pursued in Sheffield. About 500 men and boys are at +present devoting themselves to destruction during the period of early +manhood, for the benefit of the users of steel forks. "The silver fork +school" imagines perhaps that these vile appliances have long been +banished to the same limbo as snuffers, and will be surprised to learn +that more steel forks than ever are thus fashioned in Sheffield, and the +poor grinder, as he receives into his lungs the products of the +fashioning, in his own person exemplifies the awful passage in the +burial-service--"dust to dust"--as the disease thus induced cuts him off +at the average age of twenty-nine years! "I shall be thirty-six years old +next month," remarked a grinder, pathetically, to Dr. Hall, "and you know, +measter, that's getting _a very old man_ in our trade." Another operation, +almost as deadly as fork-grinding, is that of "racing the stone." These +grindstones are but roughly reduced to the circular form by the quarry +men, and the grinder undertakes the business of reducing and removing all +their asperities, which he does by revolving them against a piece of +steel--a tremendous dust being given off in the process. In wet grinding, +which is employed in the manufacture of saws, files, sickles, +table-knives, and edge-tools, comparatively little dust is made, and in +these employments the grinders enjoy comparatively longer life; their +average age ranging from thirty-five to forty years. In addition to the +destructive effects of these particles of metal and stone upon the +delicate membrane of the lungs, the dry-grinder is subjected to serious +injury of the eyes from the red-hot particles of steel thrown off in the +shape of sparks. The more careful of the workmen protect themselves from +the danger, however, by wearing large spectacles of ordinary window glass. +These spectacles, when they have been in use a little time, give practical +evidence of their utility, for on examining them they are found to be +speckled all over with the particles of steel, which, when red-hot, become +embedded in the glass. + +In the rough nomenclature of the trade, the disease which thus early +destroys the fashioner of forks and needles is termed the _grinder's rot_. +The lung, when examined after death, looks as though it had been dipped in +ink, and the texture, instead of exhibiting the usual spongy character of +that organ when in health, cuts like a piece of india-rubber! The colour +and the solidification of the dry-grinder's lung is owing to the chronic +inflammation to which it has been subjected by the presence from an early +age of irritating particles of steel and stone within its finest air +passages. But why dry-grind at all, the reader will involuntarily exclaim, +if the wages of the occupation are death? The grinder replies, that there +are certain operations which cannot be done on the wet stone; giving the +rounded back to razors, technically called "humping," and the rounded side +to scissors, are quoted as examples. The pressure during the process of +shaping is so great, that the rolling friction would speedily make the +stone wear, and the workman would be unable to hold the blade upon it. +Then, again, we may ask, where is the necessity for this rounded +form--would the shaver on a cold morning care a jot whether his razor had +a round or a square back? Would the lady, as she manipulated her lace-work +with her scissors, hesitate to accept a three-sided scissor-leg in place +of a half-round one, if she knew that the difference involved the life of +a fellow-creature? Yet such trifling differences as these between round +and flat, stand in the way of the health or misery of an entire class of +workers! We give a list of the average duration of life of artisans in +steel in Sheffield:--Dry-grinders of forks, 29 years; razors, 31 years; +scissors, 32 years; edge-tool and wool-shears, 32 years; spring-knives, 34 +years; table-knives, 35 years; files, 35 years; saws, 38 years; sickles, +38 years--the ascending longevity being in proportion to the amount of +water used on the stone, and to the greater amount of adult labour +employed; such articles as saws, sickles, and tools are happily too heavy +to be manipulated by the children employed, and thus early diseased in the +manufacture of the lighter articles. + +The only relief to be gathered from this dismal picture of wasted life, is +the fact that things are not so bad as of old. By means of greater speed +being given to the stone, many articles, such as pen and pocket-knives, +are now ground with a wet stone that formerly were ground with the dry; +and happily much of the dust has been abolished in the best shops, such as +that of Messrs. Rodgers, by the introduction of fans on the principle of a +winnowing-machine, which blows the dust and grit as it comes from the +grindstone clear away through a flue placed in connection with the +chimney. This fan is, however, only partially used; the grinders +themselves, whom they are intended to benefit, complaining that the "trade +is bad enough as it is, and if men lived longer, it would be so over-full +that there would be no such a thing as getting a living:" the same spirit +rejected Mr. Abraham's mask of magnetized wire, invented many years ago +for the same object. There can be no doubt, however, that intelligence +should rule in this matter, and that the Legislature should make it a +fineable offence to work a dry stone without a fan, just as it is to work +dangerous machinery without guards; for where one life is lost by neglect +in the latter case, thousands sink into a premature grave in the former. +Grinders, wet or dry, may also protect their lungs, in a most remarkable +manner, by simply allowing the beard and moustache to grow. The hirsute +appendages of the upper lip and chin are Nature's respirators, and it has +been observed that those men who have allowed her in this respect to have +her way, have discovered that she is somewhat wiser than fashion or +popular usage. + +Of those artisans exposed to irritating dust, probably miners take the +second place after the miserable dry grinders. If we investigate the +condition of these men, we are immediately struck with the lamentable +conditions under which they labour, and astonished at the endurance and +patience with which they submit to toil to which that of the well-fed, +well-housed felon is pleasant pastime. There are at present upwards of +300,000 human beings acting the part of gnomes for the good of the +community at large, entering day by day into the bowels of the earth, and +emerging in the evening. Of human life they see as little as the train of +black ants we watch emerging from their holes in the ground. Yet the miner +is the industrial Atlas of England. Were he to cease to labour, this busy +hive of men would speedily be hushed, and the giant limbs of machinery, +which now do the drudgery of the world, become as still as the enchanted +garden of the fairy tale ere the advent of the prince. Without the coal +and the iron, the copper and the tin, they toilfully evolve from vast +depths, England would be but a third-rate power. A life so cheerless, and +yet so useful--nay, essential, to our national existence--should at least +receive at the hands of the Government every protection that can be thrown +around it; yet, if we follow the miner into his gallery and working cell, +we are amazed at the dangers and the difficulties which are needlessly +thrust upon him in the black realm in which he moves and has his being. +Let us take the collier, for example. In many pits in the West of England, +the seams of coal are not more than twenty or twenty-five inches thick; +and inasmuch as the object of the worker is to remove the coal with as +little as possible of the surrounding soil, he often drives his working +to a considerable distance through an aperture not more than, and often +not so much as, two feet high. If our adult male reader will condescend to +squat himself on the floor, _à la Turque_, say under the dining-table, for +instance, and then picture to himself the inconvenience of picking with an +axe the under side of the prandial mahogany for twelve hours, he will +obtain some slight idea of the muscular knot into which the poor collier +has to tie himself, for the whole term of his working life, having to use +violent exercise throughout. Can it be wondered at that, under such +circumstances, the Apollo-like form of man becomes permanently twisted and +bent, like the gnarled root of an oak that has been doubled up in the +fissure of some rock? If we look at a collier, we see instantly that his +back is curved, his legs bowed, and the extensor muscles of his calves +withered through long disease. He has knotted himself so long, that the +erect position of his race becomes a punishment to him. It is credibly +related that a number of colliers, having been sentenced to imprisonment +in Wakefield jail, with hard labour, the only complaint they made was, +that they were obliged, whilst at work, to keep the ordinary posture of +rational creatures. But confined space is only one of the many evil +conditions under which they labour. In the majority of cases the collier +works in foul air; for, notwithstanding all the official inspection, the +ventilation of mines is still execrable. The fire-damp either blasts him +into a cinder, or the choke-damp noiselessly blots out his life. However +good, moreover, the general system of ventilation in a mine, unforeseen +accidents will happen at any moment. The pick of the collier strikes into +the gallery of an old pit, where carbonic acid gas has been gathering +perhaps for a century; and the poisoned air rushes in and does its work in +an instant; or a sudden invasion of carburetted hydrogen, disengaged by +the fall of a mass of coal, meets the miner, who is working, perhaps +imprudently, with a naked candle;--and an explosion follows which crowds +the pit's mouth with a wailing multitude of newly-made widows and orphans. + +Upwards of 1,500 lives are annually lost, principally through these +causes, and not less than 10,000 accidents in the same period testify to +the dangerous nature of the miner's occupation, notwithstanding the strict +Government inspection.[50] It is humiliating to know that England is yet +far behind continental nations in her methods of preventing these dreadful +catastrophes. Mr. Mackworth, in his lecture at the Society of Arts, stated +that the mortality from accidents was, in the coal mines of + + Killed Persons. + Prussia 1·89 per 1000 per annum. + Belgium 2·8 " + England 4·5 " + Staffordshire 7·3 " + +This comparison, so humiliating to England, cannot be explained by the +superior adventure of our countrymen, inasmuch as the production of coal +in Belgium is half as much again per acre of the coal-field as in England. +It is not, however, to the dramatic accidents of coal mines which every +now and then startle the community, to which we wish to draw attention; +but rather to the silent progress of disease, which makes his death so +premature, and his life so miserable. In addition to his cramped +condition, whilst at work, his supply of oxygen is small; for in all +probability the air supplied to him has to circulate many miles through +the mine, and to pass over the excrementitious deposits of man and horse, +and the decaying woodwork of the mine, ere it finally reaches him, in +enfeebled streams, in his solitary working cell. Long deprivation of solar +light, again, tends to impoverish his blood, to blanch him, in short, like +vegetable products similarly deprived of the light of day. It is through +the lungs, however, that the health of the miner is principally attacked. +The air of a coal mine (such as it is) holds a vast amount of coal-dust in +mechanical suspension, and this, as a matter of course, is constantly +passing into the lungs of the miner. The proof of this is the so-called +"black spit" of the collier, which, on being subjected to the microscope, +is found to consist of mucus, filled with finely divided particles of +coal. The permanent inhalation of such an atmosphere results in what is +termed the "black lung." The breathing apparatus of the collier becomes +clogged, in short, with coal-dust, and after death it has the appearance +of being dipped in ink. A writer,[51] who has lately investigated this +singular pathological condition, thus gives his experience of two +_post-mortem_ examinations:-- + + "In each case, the black treacly fluid obtained by thus cutting the + various portions of the lung (more especially the posterior and + inferior portions of the lower lobes), and by slitting up the + bronchial tubes, was evaporated to dryness, and the residuum being + broken up and subjected to a red heat in a porcelain tube retort, + behaved precisely as coal under similar circumstances, _i.e._ it + evolved a smoke-like gaseous product, which, on being slightly + condensed, deposited hydro-sulphide of ammonium and coal tar, and + being thus purified, burnt in all respects like the well-known + compounds of the two carbides of hydrogen (common gas)." + +Dr. Gregory, of Edinburgh, many years since, by destructive analysis, came +to the same conclusion respecting the carbonaceous nature of this deposit. +The presence of this foreign body in the lungs leads to the whole train of +pulmonary diseases. Asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia are but too +frequent, and we are consequently not surprised to hear that the aggregate +amount of sickness experienced by this class, for the period of life from +twenty to sixty, is 95 weeks, or 67 per cent, more than the general +average. + +Rheumatism, leading to heart disease, is another very common complaint of +the miner. Indeed, all the conditions of ill-managed mines seem ready +prepared for the propagation of this disease. When mines are driven to any +considerable depth, the temperature proportionably increases, and 80 +degrees of Fahrenheit is a common temperature at the end of workings, all +the year round. After exposure to this oppressive atmosphere during the +whole day, the collier perhaps suddenly emerges into the open air at the +pit's mouth, vitally depressed by his prolonged exertion, when the bitter +wind is shaving the surface of the earth at a temperature much below +freezing point. In the coal-field stretching from Valenciennes to +Aix-la-Chapelle, the mines are made conspicuous a long way off by the +presence of huge buildings, which enclose the machinery and the top of +the pit. In these buildings apartments are prepared in which the colliers +change their clothes before and after labour, and wash themselves in baths +filled with hot water from the steam waste-pipe. The importance of this +sanitary precaution is very great, inasmuch as colliers, like +chimney-sweeps, are subject to a skin disease, in consequence of the +begrimed condition of their skins. Lady Bassett has established these +baths, we understand, at her mines at Camborne, in Cornwall; but we think +that the enforcement of a sanitary act of such importance should not be +left to the philanthropic tendencies of individuals, but should be +required by the Government. If a provision of this kind were made +compulsory, and stricter legislation with respect to ventilating mines +were established, no doubt a vast amount of disease could be eliminated. +It is estimated that the worst coal mines can be ventilated thoroughly at +a cost of one penny per man per day, and that in well-constructed furnaces +the consumption of one ton of coals per day at the bottom of an up-cast +shaft will enable each collier to cut one ton of coals more per day with +the same amount of exertion. Such being the case, there can be no excuse +for asphyxiating the miners wholesale. Those proprietors of mines, who are +only open to these breeches-pocket appeals, should know that it is their +interest, in a pecuniary sense, to ventilate well, inasmuch as the +preservative effect of pure air upon the wood brattrices, which form so +expensive an item in mining, effects a saving of 80 per cent. + +Our remarks hitherto have been directed entirely to coal mines and +colliers, as these are by far the most extensive industrial occupations of +the kind. The metalliferous mines, such as the tin and copper mines of +Cornwall, and lead mines of Derbyshire, are in pretty much the same +pestiferous condition, but in one particular they are still more +destructive of life than coal mines. In the latter the tired workman is +lifted from the depths of the mines to the surface by a rope. The Cornwall +miner, on the other hand, has to carry his exhausted body in some cases +thousands of feet up a series of steep ladders to the mouth of the mine. +It has been estimated that many miners have thus to make an exertion +every night equal to climbing to the summit of Cader Idris, and this in an +up-cast shaft used for the extraction of the foul air! The disastrous +effect upon the already weary miner has long been known, yet in only a few +of the great mines of Cornwall has the tireless arm of the steam-engine +been called in to save him from this unnecessary labour. The machinery +used is called a man-machine, and differs entirely from that employed in +coal-pits. In place of a rope, a beam of wood or iron descends through the +whole length of the shaft; this beam, at regular intervals of ten feet, +has little platforms attached to it, sufficient to afford standing-room to +a miner; at the sides of the shaft are similar platforms, at the same +intervals. At every stroke of the engine the beam ascends or descends +through the space of ten feet, consequently the miner has only to step +from the fixed platform to the moving one to be lifted ten feet every time +it ascends. In this manner as many as a hundred men are lifted at the same +time several thousand feet in a few minutes, without any more exertion +than is necessary to make a few score steps. This curious invention has +materially benefited the miner, and where it is used there is a manifest +absence of the heart disease, induced by the climbing of interminable +ladders placed in an almost vertical position. + +Dr. Greenhow, in his report on the prevalence of certain diseases in +different districts of England and Wales, very clearly proves the +deleterious nature of the lead-miner's employment by the comparisons he +makes between the death-rates of the men and women of Reeth and Alston, +which are purely lead-mining districts. In the former, the lead-miners die +at the rate of 2,037 per 100,000 of all ages, whilst their wives, sisters, +and daughters, who are variously employed, die at the reduced rate of +1,711 per 100,000; in other words, lead-mining in this one typical +district caused an excess of no less than 3·26 deaths in every 100,000 +inhabitants; and if we make a comparison relative to the prevalence of +pulmonary disease between the two sexes, above the age of twenty, we find +the death-rate of the men is double that of the women. The evil influence +of copper-mining on the male population is not quite so marked, but still +it is apparent enough. Thus, in Redruth, in which this kind of labour is +exclusively carried on, we find that in every 100,000 of population, 220 +males die from pulmonary disease more than females; and in Penzance, which +is exclusively a tin-mining district, the superior waste of male over +female life, in the same population, of all ages, is 104. + +The mason, like the miner, is particularly liable to suffer from the +presence of irritating substances in the lungs. It has been asserted that +in Edinburgh members of the craft rarely live more than fifty years. This +is doubtless owing to the nature of the material they work upon. There is +great reason to suppose that the degree of damage done to the delicate +air-cells of the lung is to be measured by the nature of the particles +inhaled. Thus, the ragged portions of granite detached by the chisel are +much more likely to do harm than the less irregular dust of the +bricklayer. In this manner we can account for the high rate of mortality +said to exist among the masons of our northern metropolis. The scourers in +the potteries exercise their fearful trade in an atmosphere loaded with +pulverised flints, a mineral dust of the most distressing character: we +are not surprised, therefore, to hear that in this process pulmonary +disease is still more rampant than among the Edinburgh masons, and is +little inferior to that of the dry grinders of Sheffield, who receive into +their lungs jagged particles of steel as well as grindstone dust.[52] It +will be unnecessary to consider all the trades which are affected by +dust, inasmuch as the artisans employed in them are similarly subjected to +pulmonary affections, if not in a like degree. Thus millers are rendered +consumptive and asthmatic by the floating meal of their mills; +snuff-makers by the snuff which pervades the air of their places of work; +pearl-button-makers suffer still more from the same cause; and the men of +Sheffield who haft knives with cocoa-wood or ebony are affected with a +disease exactly like the hay-asthma. The shoddy-grinders of the West +Riding, who grind and break up rags in a machine called "a devil," are +subjected to what they term the shoddy fever, in consequence of the +devil's dust given off in the tearing process. The dressers and preparers +of hair, especially of foreign hair, are speedily broken in health by the +dust and stench produced by their operations. + +The evil effects arising from the prosecution of these trades sink into +insignificance, however, when compared with the destruction caused by the +floating fluff of flax-mills. These mills employ children of tender years, +who have to work in an atmosphere loaded with vegetable particles to such +a degree, that in a measure it clouds the vision. The hecklers are the +chief sufferers in this department of industry, especially the children, +who are, many of them, forced to work the same time as adults--that is, as +long as human nature can possibly hold out. We shall have more to say, +however, when we come to consider the effects of bleaching and dyeing +works, respecting those trades which exhaust the youthful powers of large +portions of the working population, and thus do infinitely more damage to +the race than the more curious diseases of smaller trades, which may be +severe enough, but do not affect more than infinitesimal portions of the +population. + +It would be supposed that workers on decomposing vegetable and animal +matter would suffer a sickness and mortality only inferior to the artisans +subjected to the emanations of poisonous metals. _A priori_, we should +say, for instance, that dustmen, night men, and the workers in sewers, +would be amongst the most unhealthy of the working classes, and, indeed, +routine sanitarians would summarily tell us that such must be the case. +The begrimed and dusty scavenger, whose very name is a reproach, spends +the best part of his life in clearing away the disgusting refuse of +civilization; he has yet another duty to perform which brings him into +still closer contact with unsavoury emanations. The lay-stall, or +scavengers' yard, is of course a huge collection of the sweepings of the +streets, the refuse of the markets, and the night-soil and dust of the +houses, but it is not allowed to remain in a fermenting and indiscriminate +mass. Almost as soon as it is deposited, men, women, and boys are employed +to sift and sort the heap; bones, glass, woollen and linen rags, old iron +and other metals, have to be eliminated from the mass and set aside, and +the coals and great cinders are extracted from the useless ashes by the +"hill-men." It would scarcely be possible to bring human life into closer +contact with filth of every kind than we find it to be in the workers in +these lay-stalls. Yet, strange to say, Dr. Guy, who has investigated their +sanitary condition, finds them to be among the healthiest of our working +population. "They are, with a very few exceptions," he tells us, "a +healthy-looking, ruddy-complexioned race;" that is, they wear their +natural rouge under their artificial tint, reversing the more fashionable +method of May Fair. + +"One or two boys," he tells us, "whom I saw at work, would have been +excellent models for the artist." Our London readers will perhaps remember +to have seen troops of robust and rosy-looking young women, not perhaps in +afternoon toilet, making their way, about five o'clock, from the Marble +Arch across Hyde Park; these are the "hill-women," chiefly Irish, trooping +home to the rookeries of Westminster; their appearance quite confirms Dr. +Guy's views as to the healthful appearance of these workers. The master +scavengers, who live with all their families amid these heaps of dusty +desolation, excite the admiration of this searcher after truth still more; +and at last, breaking out of the calm unimpassioned manner which the +philosophical statist, who deals only with general truths, is wont to +impose upon himself, he thus fairly gives vent to his admiration for the +genus dustman:-- + + "To conclude this account of the health of this very useful class of + men, I will merely add that the score or so of master scavengers who + were brought together on more than one occasion by the trial already + alluded to (an indictment for nuisance against a lay-stall keeper), as + the origin of these inquiries, _are the healthiest set of men I have + ever seen_. I do not think, whether in town or country, such a body of + men could be brought together, except by selection; and it is not + going too far to assert of them, that if the comparison were limited + to the inhabitants of London, or our large towns, no score of selected + tradesmen could be found to match the same number of scavengers + brought casually together." + +This is high praise, and doubtless deserved; but few people, however, +would have suspected that Hygeia clasped so closely to her bosom the grimy +scavenger in his filthy frock. Dr. Guy, however, gives us hard figures for +his pleasant flourishes. If we compare the scavenger with other workmen +placed under somewhat similar circumstances, he rises triumphant over +them. Thus whilst the bricklayer's labourer, generally a very poor +Irishman, it is true, suffers from fever, a ratio of 35-1/2 per cent., and +the brickmaker 21 per cent., the scavenger experiences only 8 per cent. of +illness from the same cause. This result does seem astonishing when we +remember that sanitarians sometimes attribute so much illness to the +presence of a neglected dust-heap; but as Dr. Guy very justly remarks, +those emanations which may prove injurious when confined within a small +space--and our houses, like bell glasses, cover and keep in numberless +impurities--become innoxious when fully exposed to the air. We suspect, +however, that the power of ashes to absorb noxious emanations of all +kinds, is at the bottom of the striking immunity which the scavenger +exhibits from all febrile complaints. Nightmen and sewer-men, again, are +brought into direct communication with the most disgusting, and as the +public are led to suppose, the most poisonous animal effluvia; they stir +in the very nidus of fever, yet it has been remarked by many observers +that they are singularly exempt from this disease. Sir Anthony Carlisle +tells us that out of fifty men employed in the sewers in his time, only +three had had fever. Thakrah declares that out of eighteen examined by his +assistant, only two had even slight disorders, and they informed him that +appetite was increased by the effluvia; and finally Dr. Guy tells us that +out of thirty-four nightmen examined by him, only one had had an attack of +fever, and he only through being out of work for three weeks; he suffered, +in short, _from change of air_, and perhaps want of food. Dr. Guy, in the +little pamphlet we have already quoted from, states a most remarkable +fact, illustrative of the changes of opinion, even amongst medical men, +relative to the effects of snuffing sewer emanations. He says, that a +gentleman who accompanied him in one of his inspections over a scavenger's +yard, informed him that, "he perfectly well recollects thirty years ago, +when he was a lad, seeing as many as twelve patients directed by the +faculty of that day _to walk round the shoots_ for the night-soil on his +father's premises; and he appealed for confirmation of this statement to +his brother, who said that he had seen scores of patients industriously +inhaling this curious dose of physic." Thakrah, who wrote his celebrated +"Treatise on the Effects of Trades and Professions on Health," about this +period, tells us that the parents of consumptive youth, in his time, +brought them up to the business of a butcher, in the hope of averting that +formidable malady. In endeavouring to avoid Scylla, they fell into +Charybdis, inasmuch as it is a well-ascertained fact that butchers, +although exempt from consumption and scrofula, are very prone to +inflammatory diseases. They are seldom ill, but when ill, it goes hard +with them,--so much so, that, as a class, these jolly, red-faced men, the +very pictures of their own beef, are but short-lived. The effects of +animal emanations, and the contact of animal substances with the skin in +protecting workmen from consumption, is a very remarkable circumstance. +Tanners constantly at work among tan-pits, are rarely, we believe, +attacked with phthisis; and those artisans in the woollen-manufacture +termed cloth-piecers, whose skins are smeared with oil in the course of +the day, present a remarkable contrast to the workers in cotton +factories,--their flesh being plump and rosy, and their muscles strong. +Mr. Thompson of Perth, who has investigated this subject, found the weight +of one hundred young persons, so employed, increased in three months 575 +lbs., giving an average increase of 5-3/4 lbs., and in eight selected +cases the gain during the same brief period averaged no less than 17 lbs. +each person. The beneficial effect of this department of the +woollen-manufacture is so well known, that in Yorkshire the better classes +frequently send the delicate members of their families to the +woollen-mills for the benefit of their health. The application of oil, +especially of cod-liver oil, to the skin, has indeed been recommended to +consumptive patients, as thereby a greater amount of carbonaceous material +can be thrown into the system without deranging it than by any other. +After having drawn attention to so many occupations which are positively +injurious to artisans, it is at least gratifying to be able to point to +one large and rapidly-increasing manufacture which is so clearly +beneficial in its operations upon human health. + +There is a class of artisans which suffers from the inhalation of +poisonous matters into the lungs, like the grinders and the masons, &c., +but the foreign matter here presents itself in the form of a subtle +vapour, rather than in that of dust. We little think, when we strike a +lucifer-match,--that incomparable product of civilization, whose inventor +deserves a statue in every capital in Europe,--what suffering it may +possibly have caused in its manufacture. The composition at the end of a +match is composed of phosphorus combined with oxymuriate of potash and +glue, made into a paste, and kept liquid by being placed over a heated +metal plate. Into this composition the "dipper" dips the bundle of +matches, and in doing so he is forced to inhale the vapour given off, +which is strongly charged with phosphoric acid, the effect of which upon +him is sometimes most disastrous. After a time he experiences most +excruciating pains in the bones of the jaw, but principally in the lower +one; they begin to swell, a purulent discharge takes place, and, finally, +the bone dies and comes away. Mr. Stanley, one of the surgeons of St. +Bartholomew's Hospital, had a patient who thus lost the whole of the lower +jaw. There appears to be considerable doubt whether the poison acts +locally or constitutionally. One would naturally suppose that if the +action were local, it would first take effect upon the bones of the nose, +but, as far as the experience of surgery goes, the "dipper" always +preserves his nose intact. That the poisonous fumes have a certain +constitutional effect, the aspect of the workman at once declares; +cadaverous in complexion, emaciated to a degree, and painfully nervous, he +presents the appearance of a person suffering from the presence of some +irritant poison in the blood. It certainly is very remarkable that +phosphorus, which, in the form of phosphate of lime, is a very important +constituent of bone, should have such an extraordinary effect upon it when +received into the system in the manner we have described. We are not aware +that this drug, when received into the stomach only, has ever produced the +local effect noticed; but, without doubt, it is the quantity of the +poisonous agent to which the workman is subjected, as he not only receives +the fumes directly into his mouth and air-passages in the act of +"dipping," but the whole atmosphere of the factory becomes so impregnated +with phosphorus, in consequence of its volatilization when the process of +drying the matches is being proceeded with, that his clothes even become +saturated to such an extent that in the dark they appear quite luminous. +In Vienna, where enormous numbers of lucifer-matches are made, necrosis of +the jaw is of common occurrence among the workmen; and the German +physicians believe that the disease arises principally in persons of +scrofulous habit, the periosteum or lining membrane of whose bones are +peculiarly liable to take on inflammatory action, the death of the bone +following as a matter of course. If this view of the case be true, all +scrofulous persons should be warned from the employment, as dangerous, and +in all cases employers should adopt every precaution in their power to +prevent the recurrence of such mischief to the employed. Mr. Stanley says +that the oil of turpentine, which is a solvent of phosphorous, when +exposed in saucers, absorbs the vapour which does so much mischief, and +that its employment in a large lucifer-match factory in the neighbourhood +of the London Hospital was attended with the happiest success. Thus we +have another example of the power of the chemist to make the good elements +of his craft do battle with the evil ones in the cause of humanity. + +Another and more common instance, in which the workman is sacrificed to +luxury, is the case of the water-gilder. The skill of this artisan is +employed in gilding metals, principally silver, by the action of fire. The +metal to be gilded is coated with an amalgam of gold and mercury, and is +then exposed to the fumes of a charcoal fire, which drives off the +mercury, and leaves the gold adherent to the metal. During the process the +fumes of the mercury are inhaled by the workman, and, indeed, deposit +their metalliferous particles over the entire surface of the skin. The +result is, that he speedily becomes afflicted with mercurial tremor, or, +in the language of the workshop, he gets "a fit of the trembles." If he +proceeds with his work the tremor rapidly increases. Dr. Watson, in +describing a patient thus afflicted, says:-- + + "He was led into the room, walking with uncertain steps, his limbs + trembling and dancing, as though he had been hung on wires. While + sitting on a chair he was comparatively quiet,--you would not suppose + that he ailed anything; but, as soon as he attempted to rise and to + walk, his legs began to shake violently with a rapid movement. He + could neither hold them steadily nor direct them with precision." + +Were it not painful to contemplate, the incoherent muscular action of +workmen thus afflicted would appear ludicrous. In endeavouring to put his +food into his mouth he will sometimes, as in chorea, bob it against his +eye or his cheek; and extreme cases have been known in which the +unfortunate water-gilder thus afflicted has been forced to take his food +like a quadruped. As the disease increases, the complexion becomes of a +brown hue, and presently delirium, and, lastly, want of consciousness +supervenes. To this complexion comes the water-gilder; and as the silverer +of looking-glasses is exposed to the action of mercury, both by touch and +inhalation, the same effects are produced upon him. If the charming belle, +as she surveys her beauty in the glass, could but for a moment see +reflected this poor shattered human creature, with trembling muscles, +brown visage, and blackened teeth, she would doubtless start with horror; +but, as it is, the slaves of luxury and vanity drop out of life unobserved +and uncared for, as the stream of travellers disappeared one by one +through the bridge of Mirza. Happily, the subtle finger of electricity has +in a measure emancipated the water-gilder from the horrors of his art. The +voltaic battery now deposits the metal without the intervention of +quicksilver, and science has eliminated another of those destructive +agencies which have hitherto afflicted this class of artisans. + +The silvering of mirrors and looking-glasses still remains a dangerous +operation; but there can be no doubt that with properly-constructed flues +the floating metal would be entirely conducted away. Indeed, it is by the +chimney that much of the metal now escapes; for Thakrah tells us that he +has been informed by a manufacturer that from the sweepings of the chimney +on one occasion he had collected twenty pounds of good quicksilver. +Another, and a very manageable expedient, sometimes resorted to by those +exposed to the fumes and the oxide of mercury, is to cover the mouth with +a tube-like proboscis, which hangs out of the way of the floating metal, +and thus conducts pure air to the operator. + +Thakrah tells us that workers in brass also suffer from the inhalation of +the volatilized metal. The brass-melters of Birmingham suffer from +intermittent fever, which they call the brass ague. This malady leaves +them in a state of great debility. The filers of brass, on the same +authority, are subject to a most peculiar affection, like Tittlebat +Titmouse, their hair turning a vivid green. It is supposed that the copper +in the brass-dust combines with the oil of the hair, and thus an oxide of +copper is formed. Coppersmiths are, of course, similarly affected. +Plumbers, whilst casting, are subject to the volatilized oxide of lead, +which in time produces paralysis; and while they are soldering, many +deleterious fumes arise, of a sweetish taste, and of a highly astringent +nature, which often produces violent attacks of constipation. + +But poisonous metals may attack the mucous membrane in the shape of +finely-divided powder used in the arts. There is an exceedingly beautiful +paper, of an apple-green colour, which is often selected for the coolness +and cheerfulness of its appearance. The writer was himself once deluded by +the seductive appearance of a paper of this description, and had his +library furnished with it. Strange to say, a violent cold seemed to seize +every one, even in the midst of summer, who stopped long in this +apartment, especially if they came much in contact with the walls. On +questioning the paper-hanger the mystery was speedily explained. "I never +hang that kind of paper," he said, "without getting a bad sore throat and +a running of the eyes. All the trade knows it is good for a cold to have +any dealings with it." The cheerful green of the paper is nothing less +deadly than the aceto-arsenite of copper, an irritant poison of the first +class. The flock part of the paper contains a large quantity of pigment in +the form of dust, which is of course liable to be detached from the walls +on very slight occasions. It has been erroneously supposed that the metal +must be volatilized by heat ere it can be separated from the paper; but +the action of detachment is mechanical, and not chemical; the poisonous +dust either falls or is brushed off the wall, and becomes mixed with the +ordinary dust of the room; the lifting of a book, or the displacement of a +pile of papers, proves sufficient to set these particles in motion, and to +bring them in contact with the mucous linings of the eyes, nose, and +throat; hence the violent irritation produced, which similates so closely +the effects of a bad cold in the head. Professor Taylor, the celebrated +medical toxocologist, has moreover proved the presence of arsenic in the +dust fallen from this kind of paper. In a letter to the _Medical Times and +Gazette_, of January 1st, 1859, he says,-- + + "I procured from the shop of Messrs. Marratt and Short, opticians, 68, + King William Street, London Bridge, a quantity of dust for the purpose + of analysis. The walls of this shop are covered with an unglazed + arsenical paper, and, as I am informed, they have been so covered for + a period of about three years. In collecting this dust from the tops + of the cases containing the instruments, great care was taken not to + touch the walls. The quantity thus collected for examination amounted + to about 450 grains. It was nearly black, and, under the microscope, + appeared to consist of fibres of sooty particles. It was very light + and flocculent. One hundred and fifty grains of the dust were examined + by Reinsch's process, and enough metallic arsenic was obtained from it + to coat about ten square inches of copper foil, in addition to a piece + of copper gauze. From the latter deposit, by the application of heat, + octahedral crystals of arsenic were readily obtained. The case had not + been dusted for a period of nine months. Even the dust of instruments + locked up in the cases, which were lined at the back only with the + green paper, was found to be charged with this poisonous pigment. Half + a grain of the dust sufficed to cover pretty thickly with metallic + arsenic a square inch of copper gauze. These facts," says Professor + Taylor, "lead to the inevitable inference that the air of a room, of + which the walls are covered with an unglazed arsenical green paper, is + liable to be charged with the fine dust of the poisonous + aceto-arsenite of copper. Those who inhabit these rooms are exposed to + breathe the dust. The poison may thus find its way by the pulmonary + membrane into the system, or it may affect the eyes, nose, and throat + by local action." + +After this unimpeachable testimony to the poisonous character of the +pigment in this paper, it is not difficult to understand that the workmen +employed in its manufacture are particularly liable to attacks of illness +which exhibit all the symptoms of acute influenza; or that the +paper-hangers, in putting it up, are sometimes obliged to leave work for a +time, in order to get rid of the distressing symptoms to which its +manipulation gives rise. + +There is in Sheffield an occupation connected with tool-making which +forms, as it were, a connecting link between the diseases produced by +working in steel and those which flow from working in lead: we allude to +file-making. Unfortunately, the various preparations of lead enter very +largely into the arts and manufactures of this country; and as its action +upon the human body is very great, its pernicious influence is felt in a +vast number of occupations of a diverse nature. Thus, white-lead +manufacturers, sheet-lead rollers, painters, plumbers, potters, china +manufacturers, colour-grinders, glaziers, enamellers of cards, +lead-miners, and shot-makers, all come under the saturnine influence; even +the poor lacemakers of Belgium do not escape, for the manufacturer, in +order to make the fibre look white, requires them to dust it with +white-lead powder, and possibly, by this means, it may find its way into +the fair skin of a duchess! + +It may seem strange that a worker in steel should suffer from the poison +of lead, but it occurs in this manner:--The file-maker, in order to hold +the file securely, and, at the same time, to protect the fine edge of the +sharp chisel with which he cuts the face of the file, places it upon a bed +of lead which rests upon an anvil. In cutting the larger three-square +files, the workman uses as much as a pound of lead a week; this is +detached from the mass by friction and the use of the chisel, in the form +of a fine black powder. It is curious that the first portion of the +file-cutter's anatomy that is affected is the finger that rests upon the +lead; at first it feels numb, and then becomes paralyzed. If the artisan +will not take warning by this fastidious touch of a digit, before long the +poison grips him by the wrist, and then some fine morning he wakes and +finds that he has what is termed in the trade "a dropped hand;"[53] that +is, the extensor muscles of the wrist are paralyzed, and the hand falls +helplessly forward, like the fore-paw of a kangaroo. Here the specific +action of the poison has exerted itself through the skin of the part +affected. The same thing is observable in painters, who are more subject +to lead-paralysis than perhaps any other workers in lead. The finger which +first touches the brush first suffers; and the potter, who has in the +course of his trade to dip his ware in a preparation of lead and flints in +order to form the glaze, is in like manner, but still more severely, +afflicted. It is well ascertained, however, that the constitutional +effects which show themselves in obstinate constipation and cholic, arise +from the reception of the lead directly into the mouth, either in the +shape of finely-divided particles, or floating in the air, or direct from +the fingers to the manipulators: thus, painters will eat their food with +fingers soiled with the brush. The mere exhalations of paint are +sufficient to paralyze some constitutions very speedily; a single night +spent in a newly-painted house is sufficient to produce cholic, +especially in young children. And Dr. Watson, in his "Practice of Physic," +relates a case in which a person suffered from dropped hands who had, she +said, no concern with lead in any way: on cross-examining her, however, it +at last came out that her sons "had in the preceding summer occupied their +leisure time with making birdcages and painting them green in the one room +in which she habitually lived." The dippers, as they are termed in the +potteries, are perhaps subjected to more frightful effects from +lead-poisoning than any other workmen: in addition to paralysis and +cholic, the subtle poison sometimes creeps into the brain, mania comes on, +and they die raving mad. The grinding and packing of white lead is so +destructive, that the men can work at the occupation for a few hours in +the day only; the dust that is given off penetrates the clothes, and +covers the skin to such an extent that these artisans, after taking a +medicated bath of sulphuret of potassium in water, come out like +blackamoors. + +In these works rats and mice are speedily poisoned by the fine white-lead +dust, which penetrates even to their holes. The artisan who handles lead +in its various combinations may, however, vastly mitigate his trouble by +adopting perfect cleanliness. Before every meal he should wash his hands +thoroughly, and after work he should change his clothes. Medical science +has given him the means of being forewarned that lead is entering his +system by a particular and rarely-failing diagnostic sign: where the metal +has entered the system a blue line will be discovered near the edge of the +gums; when this blue Peter is hoisted he may know that danger is at hand, +and that, unless he is more careful, his bread-earning hand will speedily +drop powerless by his side. In all cases, however, prevention is better +than cure; and we are glad to learn that almost perfect exemption from +painter's cholic and paralysis has been secured in some extensive painting +establishments, by causing artisans to drink a lemonade made by adding a +drop of sulphuric acid to a gallon of water. The sulphuric acid is +supposed to form, with the lead received into the mouth and stomach, a +sulphuret of that metal, which is insoluble, and, therefore, cannot be +taken up by the absorbents into the system. + +There are many important classes of workers whose sufferings have nothing +either curious or dramatic about them, who nevertheless furnish the +largest contingent to the army of death. At the head of these dismal +companies march tailors, bakers, and milliners of large cities and towns. +These three classes supply more victims to what has been erroneously +termed "the English death," or consumption, than any other. Yet there can +be no doubt that there is but one condition wanting to render these +employments comparatively speaking healthy, and that one want is pure air. +Dr. Arnot makes the monkeys in the Zoological Garden teach us a lesson in +this particular which should not be lost upon us. In his evidence before +the Health Commission he says:-- + + "A new house was built to receive the monkeys, and no expense was + spared which, in the opinion of those intrusted with the management, + could ensure to those natives of a warm climate all attainable comfort + and safety. Unhappily, however, it was believed that the object would + be best secured by making the new room nearly what an English + gentleman's drawing-room is. For warming it, two ordinary drawing-room + grates were put in as close to the floor as possible, and with low + chimney openings, that the heated air in the room should not escape by + the chimneys, while the windows and other openings in the walls above + were made as close as possible. Some additional warm air was admitted + through the openings in the floor, from hot-water pipes placed beneath + it. For ventilation in cold weather, openings were made in the + skirting of the room below the floor, with the erroneous idea that the + carbonic acid produced in the respiration of these animals, because + heavier than the other air in the room, would separate from this and + escape below. When all this was done, about sixty healthy monkeys, + many of which had already borne several winters in England, were put + into the room. A month afterwards more than fifty of them were dead, + and the few remaining ones were dying. This room, only open below, was + as truly an extinguisher to the living monkeys as an inverted coffee + cup held over and around the flame of a candle is an extinguisher of + the candle. Not only the warmth of the fires and the warm air that was + allowed to enter by the openings in the floor, but the hot breath and + all the impure exhalations from the bodies of the monkeys ascended, + first to the upper part of the room to be completely incorporated with + the atmosphere there, and by no possibility could escape except as a + part of that impure atmosphere, gradually passing away by the chimneys + and openings in the skirting. Therefore, from the time the monkeys + went into the room until they died, they could not have had a single + breath of fresh air." + +The _post-mortem_ examination proved that these monkeys all died of +consumption; so that we have a practical proof that this dread disease +can be brought on at will. Now, what took place in the monkey-house is +taking place, in a milder form, in the hundreds of workshops in which +tailors and milliners work in this metropolis. In the great majority of +cases tailors work together in rooms by no means proportioned to the +number that occupies them. In many cases they work knee to knee on the +shop-board with the thermometer ranging from 95 to 100 degrees, no +ventilation whatever being present, for when it is provided, the enfeebled +workers, fearing catarrhal complaints, stop them up. The result is, an +amount of consumption among them second only to that prevalent among the +grinders of Sheffield and bakers. The cross-legged fashion in which he +works in some measure assimilates him to the collier. It has been +suggested that instead of thus doubling himself up for the whole time of +his working life, he should work on a board having a hole in it of the +circumference of his body, with a seat fixed for his support beneath. Such +a contrivance would render his position easy, and enable him to bring his +work pretty close to his eyes without his having to bend over it as he +does at present. As the tailor is principally employed on black and dark +clothes, his eyes are much strained, especially if he works by gas-light: +hence he is subject to great impairment of vision. + +The baker is subjected to a still greater number of debilitating +influences as regards his health than the tailor. In all cases his place +of work is in a confined basement, where the oven and the gas contrive to +keep the temperature at a tropical point. There is generally a privy close +at hand, and the drains are not always in good order; the air, already +foul enough, has yet to be contaminated with the floating flour-dust so +irritating to the fine air-passages of the lungs. In an atmosphere thus +deliberately poisoned with the elements of sickness, the journeyman baker +is confined ordinarily from seven o'clock at night until four the +following morning, and towards the end of the week he is engaged nearly +two entire days in succession. Is it surprising that their rate of +sickness is dreadful--greater than even that of the tailors? Dr. Guy tells +us that no less than thirty-one in the hundred spit blood, and that every +other journeyman of the low-priced bakers, who work under still worse +conditions, is subjected to this most dangerous disease. We feel convinced +that the public cannot be aware that they eat their daily bread at the +expense of the life-blood of the producers. Parliament has refused to +interfere in their behalf, but Lord Shaftesbury has taken up their cause, +and we believe that ere long the force of public opinion will lead to the +abolition of the nightwork, which is at the bottom of the evil. At all +events, those who wish to assist in the emancipation of these slaves of +civilization, will see with pleasure the introduction of the aërated +bread, which by the aid of machinery manufactures the loaf in a much more +cleanly method than by hand-labour, and performs the whole process in less +than an hour. The introduction of machinery into this trade will at once +cure the evils complained of, which result in the majority of cases from +the confined establishments and insufficient means of the master-bakers. + +The milliners, especially of London, are nearly as unhealthy as the +tailors. The evidence given before the Select Committee of the House of +Lords in 1855, to inquire into the expediency of passing a bill for the +protection of needlewomen, certainly is appalling in the tale it tells of +the waste of youthful life. During the season of four months, the shortest +time these poor young creatures work is from six in the morning until +twelve at night, and when they are very hard pressed for time they are +obliged to take their meals standing. At times of great pressure young +girls have been worked four days and nights consecutively; and Lord Ashley +publicly made mention at the meeting at Exeter Hall, July 11th, 1856, of a +witness who had worked without going to bed from four o'clock on Thursday +afternoon until half-past ten on Sunday night. Such toil as this in close +rooms reeking with human exhalations, and further deteriorated by the +excessive use of gas, is scarcely to be matched in deadliness by any +occupation engaged in even by the stronger sex; and we are not surprised +to hear that it is a frequent thing in fashionable millinery +establishments to find the workers faint from sheer exhaustion; as the +Queen's physician emphatically says, "a mode of life more completely +calculated to destroy human health could scarcely be contrived." Mr. +White Cooper, the Queen's oculist, states, in his lately-published work on +the eyes, that he has generally observed a great increase of patients of +this class come to him after there has been a general mourning. The +committee of the Society of Arts which some few years since made a report +on the industrial pathology of trades which affect the eyes, recommend +that the light should be thrown on the work rather than the eye; they also +recommend that the colour of the material upon which needlewomen are +engaged should be changed as often as possible, upon the ground that to +preserve the tone of the organ it should have variety of stimulus, its +long application to the same colour inevitably exhausting it. The +following suggestion from a traveller, which is embodied in this +interesting report, is worthy of notice:--"Needlewomen, embroiderers, and +lacemakers should work in rooms hung with green blinds and curtains to the +windows. When in North China, I became convinced of the very great +advantage with which this rule has been adopted by the exquisite +embroiderers of that part. Their books of patterns are frequently called +'Books of the Lady of the Green Window.'" Among the diseases affecting +female workers we must not omit to mention an affection called +"housemaid's knee," which is peculiar to those servants who kneel much +upon hard wet stones or boards. The pressure on the knee gives rise to a +very painful inflammation of the bursa, or pad, which nature has +interposed between the skin and the patella, or knee-cap. + +Shoemakers live a sedentary life, like tailors and milliners, but they do +not work so frequently in company, consequently they escape the +destructive influence of foul air; they are subject, like weavers, +however, to disease of the stomach, owing to the constant pressure made +upon it, in their case, by the last. Some old cobblers are found to have a +depression at the pit of the stomach of the shape of the heel of the boot, +moulded in fact by the pressure of this article, which he clasps between +this portion of his body and his knees whilst sewing. Like the milliners +and tailors, their sight suffers through having to direct so fine an +object as a needle point: patent bootmakers are particularly liable to +suffer in their eyes through the brilliant blackness of the material they +work upon. We perceive that sewing-machines have been introduced into this +trade at Northampton, much to the disgust of those whom they will benefit. +The introduction of this useful machine will at once elevate this and +scores of other handicrafts, such as those of tailors, milliners, glovers, +and all who use the needle, to the dignity of manufacturers requiring +considerable capital, the presence of which is some guarantee for the +intelligence and benevolence of the masters, and for the adoption of +larger and more healthful workshops for their people. As this very large +class of workers numbers upwards of half a million in Great Britain, we +hail the sewing-machine as an emancipator from drudgery of no ordinary +kind. + +The compositor, who works in an atmosphere very similar to that breathed +by the tailor and milliner, is, like them, subject to severe pulmonary +diseases. In some newspaper offices they are planted as thickly as their +type-cases can stand, and they carry on their monotonous labour, which is +confined to a multitude of small motions of the right hand, conveying to +the left types in course of "setting up," Jobbing printers, who have a +much greater variety of motion, are invariably healthier than newspaper +compositors; and Dr. Guy has remarked that those compositors who work in +the upper stories of large establishments, and consequently in an +atmosphere reeking with the impurities which have ascended from the +crowded rooms below, and possibly from an engine-room in addition, are +much more troubled with spitting of blood and consumption than those +working beneath them. In a printing office thus foully ventilated, he was +enabled to make a very instructive comparison; for instance, there were +fifteen men employed on the second floor, and seventeen men in precisely +the same way on the third and uppermost floor. On making personal +inquiries of each of the men respecting his health, four only out of the +fifteen on the second floor made any complaint; one was subject to +indigestion, a second to cough, the third to ulcers of the legs, and the +fourth was what might be termed a valetudinarian. But of the seventeen +employed on the uppermost floor, three had had spitting of blood, two were +subject to affections of the lungs, and five to constant and severe colds. +Ten of these seventeen, therefore, were subject to diseases affecting the +chest, while only one of the fifteen in the room beneath had a disease of +this nature. In the course of his inquiries respecting the health of +workers in printing-offices, the same intelligent statist hit upon another +fact with respect to pressmen, which appears to be of general application. +Pressmen, or those who take the impressions of the types set up by the +compositors, are generally located in the same building with them, and +often in the same room, under precisely similar conditions as regards +ventilation and quality of air; yet a series of inquiries brings out the +fact that the pressmen are far the healthier of the two. The only manner +of accounting for this difference lies in the nature of their labour. The +pressman has to use long-sustained and somewhat violent exertions in +swinging round the lever of his press, unfolding and refolding the tympan, +and screwing up its bed. Compared to these varied muscular movements, the +compositor's hardest work is lifting types from his case to his +composing-stick; yet the result is, that the pressman's liability to +consumption is but half that of the compositor, and of other diseases a +third less. + +This is a very remarkable fact, and irresistibly points to the conclusion +that foul air and a heated atmosphere can be borne with far greater +impunity by those who labour hard than by those who employ themselves in a +sedentary manner. The fair lady who honours us with her attention will +perhaps draw a conclusion of her own from this experience, which, no +doubt, tallies with her practice and her instinct, that it is far better +to waltz till five o'clock in the morning in a crowded ball-room than to +remain for the same period a disconsolate "wall-flower." There appears +also to be another law, with respect to the two classes of workmen, +equally worthy of remark. The pressman, although he enjoys the best +health, and the greatest green age, does not, in individual cases, live as +long as the compositor. In the same manner, the stalwart blacksmith, +although a far healthier man than the tailor, and generally longer-lived, +does not yet count so many patriarchs among his ranks as snip does. This +comparison holds good between those who take much or little exercise out +of doors. Mr. Neison, who has carefully worked the fact out, in his volume +on Vital Statistics, gives the following highly interesting table:-- + + +-------------------------------------------------------+ + | | EXPECTATION OF LIFE IN | + | |--------------------------------------------------| + |Age.|In-door occupation, with|Out-door occupation, with| + | |------------------------|-------------------------| + | | Little | Great | Little | Great | + | | Exercise. | Exercise. | Exercise. | Exercise. | + |----|-----------|------------|-----------|-------------| + | 20 | 41·8822 | 42·0133 | 37·8017 | 43·4166 | + | 30 | 35·1170 | 34·5022 | 30·1435 | 36·5832 | + | 40 | 27·9113 | 27·8004 | 23·0357 | 29·1284 | + | 50 | 20·5022 | 21·1805 | 17·2754 | 21·9732 | + | 60 | 14·0430 | 15·1413 | 11·0169 | 15·5635 | + | 70 | 8·6490 | 10·4407 | 4·5607 | 9·3313 | + +-------------------------------------------------------+ + +Thus, between twenty and thirty, the gardener, the labourer, the thatcher, +the drover, and the whole class of men who earn their bread toilfully in +wind, rain, and sun, have the expectation of living at least six years +longer than the coachman, the watchman, and others who are equally exposed +to the weather, but whose blood is not equally circulated or sweetened by +continual and active exertion. It will be remarked also, that the out-door +worker with little exercise comes off but badly in the comparison with the +sedentary in-door worker--in other words, the coachman's is a worse life +than the shopman's. We suspect, however, with Mr. Neison, that +intemperance must thus kick the beam against sedentary out-door +employments. We all know, for instance, that Jehu is not a teetotaller, +and our suspicions are, moreover, strengthened by the fact that +engine-drivers, who are forced to maintain a strict sobriety, although +among the class of sedentary out-door workers and exposed to a hurricane +of air, and to driving wet during the greater part of their existence--are +yet remarkably free from consumption--the fell disease which decimates +the poor printer, who cannot tolerate the minutest draft in his place of +work. + +As we ascend in the social scale, it would naturally be supposed that we +should find the value of life greater, and occupations more healthy. It is +a great question, however, if the artisan, subject as he is to so many +injurious circumstances, has not the advantage over the shopkeeper. This +may appear at first impossible, but when we come to consider the life led +by the tradesman, and especially by the smaller ones, who form so large a +proportion of the class, we find they are subjected to an accumulation of +adverse influences. In the generality of cases the individual of this +genus confines himself to the smallest possible amount of room, in which +he can possibly carry on his business--the rest of the house he lets off +for offices. In this confined space he lives, without taking any adequate +exercise, often lying perdu in a dark inner room, through a peep-hole of +which he watches for customers. At night, he inhales an atmosphere +polluted by many gas-lights, and when, finally, the shutters are closed, +he will often be found sorting and placing away the goods disturbed during +the day. Under such circumstances, is it wonderful that he perishes at a +more rapid rate than the artisan who labours all day at some noxious +trade, and sleeps at night in some wretched lodging? It is well-known that +there is scarcely such a thing to be found as a London tradesman of the +third generation. The class is entirely kept up by the rosy-faced youths +who come up from the country full of hope and health, and then gradually +subside into the pallid tradesman of middle life, taking on, as it were, +the sad colour and aspect of the great city, just as hares and foxes turn +white in northern latitudes, when winter brings about her snow. + +There are certain classes of tradesmen who suffer from singular skin +diseases consequent upon handling articles of their trade. Thus the +miller, whose hands are constantly immersed in his meal, is subject to an +irruptive disease of those members, in consequence of the attacks of the +meal-mite--a small insect to be found in some kinds of flour. The +grocer's itch, again, is occasioned by handling sugar infected with an +animalcule peculiar to it. We have seen sugar which absolutely moved +throughout its entire mass in consequence of the immense number of insects +present in it, and these readily attack the hand, and produce an irruption +similar to that of the ordinary itch. Chimney-sweepers, again, suffer from +a more formidable disease--cancer induced by the irritative qualities of +the soot upon certain portions of the skin of the body. Neither must we +omit from the ranks of unhealthy town occupations the squalid race of +clerks, whose monotonous occupation and posture perpetually fixed in the +form of a Z, renders them a very unhealthy class of men. + +Waiters in hotels and taverns sap their health by surreptitious tippling. +A medical friend says, his experience of them is, that with few +exceptions, they are _all rotten with perpetual imbibition_. Footmen do +not drink so much, but they are so grossly overfed and under-worked, that +they are always suffering from plethora. "Jeames'" aim is to run to +calves, but he pays the penalty for his ambition. They are, in fact, in +the position of the convicts at Fremantle, Australia, who, during the time +that our soldiers were dying for want of food in the Crimea, suffered from +what was significantly called the gluttony plague. Excessive over-feeding +and under-working was, it appears, the rule at the convict establishment; +and, in consequence, no less than 1554 patients were under medical +treatment in less than six months, with diseases of the digestive organs, +inflammatory affections of the eyes, and cutaneous eruptions. The physic +of short allowance and plenty of work soon set matters to rights. It is +not often that the lower or middle classes suffer from over-feeding; but +drink is the bane of many trades and occupations. The gigantic brewer's +drayman, who seems built as a match for the Flemish team he drives, is but +a giant with feet of clay; his jolly looks are a delusion and a snare. The +enormous amount of beer and stout he is allowed by his employers--on the +principle, we suppose, that you should not muzzle the ox that treadeth +out the corn--so deteriorates his blood, that a scratch prostrates him, +and any serious illness is pretty sure to carry him off. The common +labourer, who lives under pretty much the same condition, with the +exception of the temptation to drink, has an average life of 47-1/2 years, +but he is cut off at the early age of 43 years. + +If we take another class of persons thrown continually in the way of +tippling, we find the result is equally unfavourable. The pot-boy of the +metropolis, with whose doughy face and pert leer we are so well +acquainted, scarcely lives out half his days. In his case, in addition to +continual potations, he is perpetually breathing, until twelve o'clock at +night, an atmosphere compounded of drunkards' breath, stale tobacco, and +all the impurities arising from the brilliant gas illumination of a +gin-palace; it is not, therefore, surprising to find that his average age +is but 41-1/2 years; while the footman may reckon upon helping himself to +his master's venison until he is 44-1/2 years old. The publican is almost +as great a sinner as his man in the way of intemperance, and his life in +consequence is at least 2-1/2 years shorter than the very limited span of +the tradesman. + +Dr. Guy, who has taken considerable pains to ascertain the value of life +in the educated classes, has worked out the extraordinary result that, the +higher the step in the social hierarchy, the greater the means of +self-indulgence, the less the chance of long life. People have so long +been accustomed to look upon the possession of wealth as the best +guarantee for a flourishing bodily condition, that they will be surprised, +perhaps, to hear that in proportion as the wholesome stimulus of labour is +withdrawn from any class, in the same proportion the value of its average +term of life is shortened. And yet our common experience but tallies with +the results of scientific inquiry in this matter. When a man who has lived +a long and active life, suddenly retires with the idea that he has earned +his ease, and that it is time for him to enjoy himself, ten to one but he +has taken the most effectual method of shortening his life; and much as we +may smile at the taste of the retired soap-boiler, who always made a +point of going down to his old shop on "boiling days," yet we can see that +his instinct directed him rightly, for we can none of us bear idleness, +least of all those who have long practised industry. + +Regularity, sobriety, and activity of mind and body, are the pabulum on +which vital force is fed; while, on the contrary, luxury, licentiousness, +and sloth, are the cankers of life. A comparison of the longevity of the +different educated classes proves this in a remarkable manner. Let us +take, for instance, the three learned professions. If the reader were +asked whether the clergyman, the lawyer, or the physician lived longest, +most probably he would say the lawyer. Accustomed to venerable age on the +judgment-seat, and struck with the fact that our leading law lords have +generally been, and still are, noblemen of very advanced age, he would +perhaps be justified in giving the palm of longevity to them. Yet, in +truth, as a class, they are the shortest-lived. The race is neck and neck, +it is true, but they lose by a neck. The clergyman, as we should naturally +suppose, enjoys a higher standard of health, and attains a greater age, +than any member of the community, excepting poor Hodge, the humblest +member of his flock. His average age, taking those persons only into +account who have passed their 50th year, is 74·04 years, or rather better +than one year longer than the physician, who lives to an average age of +72·95 years. This trifling difference, we should expect, as the latter is +subject to many chances of infection, and lives more a town life than the +former. If the comparison is made, however, between the highest grades of +the two professions, between archbishops and bishops, and baronets who +have filled the posts of physicians and surgeons to the sovereign, the +latter have the advantage by four years, and in both cases the lawyer lags +behind in the race with clergymen and physicians: with the latter in his +ordinary rank by a few days only, and with the class of medical baronets, +as compared with judges, upwards of four years, how much hard study, +alternated with tawny port, has to do with the difference, we should +scarcely like to say. The gentry may be reckoned to be about as +long-lived as the clergy; well-housed, well-fed, and living an +agricultural life with active habits, they have few diseases, and are +especially exempt from consumption. Officers of the navy have slightly the +advantage of those of the army--say one year of life. From this point, +where the social hierarchy takes a leap, and clothes itself in the purple +and fine linen of nobility, the lamp of life begins rapidly to burn low. +The aristocracy of this country are shorter-lived, by more than one year, +than he who works with all the cares and anxieties of the priest, the +lawyer, or the physician; and members of royal houses (calculated from the +ages of members of continental as well as English royalty) descend the +ladder of life so rapidly, that they have three years less of existence +than the peer; and, lastly, we come to the "round and top of sovereignty +itself." The potentate who stands on the highest pinnacle of human +greatness, surrounded, it would seem, with every condition favourable to +comfort and longevity, fenced about from casualties which constantly beset +the paths of ordinary mortals--his would appear indeed a charmed life; yet +the hard fact will stare us in the face, that the sands of life run far +quicker with him than with any other of the educated classes. His years +are on an average but 64, or 10 less than the clergy, who probably have to +fight the hardest battle in the world--the fight of comparative poverty +against appearances. It could be "clearly shown," says Mr. Neison, in his +"Vital Statistics," "by tracing the various classes of society in which +there exists sufficient means of subsistence, by beginning with the most +humble, and passing on to the middle and upper classes, that a gradual +deterioration in the duration of life takes place; and that just as life, +with all its wealth, pomp, and magnificence, would seem to become more +valuable and tempting, so are its opportunities and chances of enjoyment +lessened. As far as the results of figures admit of judging, this +condition would seem to flow directly from the luxurious and pampered +style of living among the wealthier classes, whose artificial habits +interfere with the nature and degree of those physical exercises which, in +a simpler class of society, are accompanied with long life." Truly, there +is a spirit of compensation in this life, if we could only "distil it +forth." The poor countryman of thirty years of age, who takes his frugal +repast under a hedge, has a chance of thirteen years' longer life than the +monarch of the same age clothed in purple, and lord, perhaps, of half the +habitable world! + + +THE END. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This _cophee-house_ in Sweeting's Rents is not alluded to by Mr. +Cunningham in his Handbook of London. He mentions the first as established +in 1657, in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, and the second (no date +mentioned) as set up at the Rainbow in Fleet Street. We think we must make +way for this new discovery between the two. + +[2] A furniture broker made his fortune by an advertisement headed "Advice +to Persons about to Marry." Our witty friend _Punch_ followed up this +prelude with the single word _Don't_, as the substitute for the lists of +four-posted beds. + +[3] In an article upon the teas of commerce, which appeared in the +_Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society_ for July, 1851. + +[4] Assam tea is the only exception to this rule, but very little of it is +imported. + +[5] That sold by Messrs. Dakin, of St. Paul's Churchyard. + +[6] It will be scarcely necessary to say that the great London brewers +have never laid themselves open to the suspicion of having adulterated +their liquor. + +[7] An act has lately been passed which will, we trust, check in some +degree the grosser food-frauds on the public. + +[8] Since gone to make bears' grease. + +[9] The great merit of this inference may be judged from the circumstance +that several eminent naturalists, out of an honest regard for the +reputation of Professor Owen, endeavoured to prevent the publication of +the paper in which, with the sure sagacity of scientific genius, he +confidently announced the fact. + +[10] The history of the migrations of the rat is involved in doubt, and +none of the accounts can be relied on. Goldsmith had been assured that the +Norway rat, as it is called, though it was quite unknown in that country +when it established itself in England, came to us from the coast of +Ireland, whither it had been carried in the ships that traded in +provisions to Gibraltar. + +[11] When the atmospheric railway to Epsom was at work, the rats came for +the grease which was used to make the endless leather valve, which ran on +the top of the suction-pipe, air-tight. Some of them entered the tube, +from which they were sucked with every passing train; nevertheless, day by +day, others were immolated in the same manner. + +[12] A native in India, observing one day a rat run across the floor, +stooped to look after it. While in this position he suddenly felt +something tugging him back by his hair, and on putting up his hand found a +large cobra struggling to free his teeth from his locks. The reptile had +also observed the rat, and had dropped from the roof, when the peon +suddenly interposed his person between the hunter and his prey. The snake +and the rat escaped; but the magistrate of the district having ordered the +house to be pulled down the next day, the cobra was found with the rat +half digested in his stomach. + +[13] A single dead rat beneath a floor will render a room uninhabitable. A +financier, of European celebrity, found his drawing-room intolerable. He +supposed that the drains were out of order, and went to a great expense to +remedy the evil. The annoyance continued, and a ratcatcher guessed the +cause of the mischief. On pulling up the boards, a dead rat was discovered +near the bell-wire. The bell had been rung as he was passing, and the +crank had caught and strangled him. + +[14] In a comfortable little apartment, which looked quite domestic in +comparison with the workhouse wards of ordinary lunatic asylums, we saw, +on our last visit, a young musician playing on a violoncello to an +admiring audience. Touches of similar enjoyment continually meet the +visitor, lighting up the moral atmosphere of the building with a +cheerfulness totally at variance with his preconceived notions of this +notorious madhouse. + +[15] Steps are being taken, we believe, to effect this necessary change; +but unless Parliament puts its pressure upon the Home-Office, we shall +expect to see the arrangement completed when the Nelson Column is +finished, and not before. + +[16] The walls of one of the wards of Colney Hatch are decorated +throughout with well-executed bas-relief pictures from Greek subjects by a +patient. We are informed that the lunatics who are transferred here from +the undecorated wards, enter the apartment with expressions of delight, +and are particularly careful to preserve the objects of their pleasure in +good condition. In some metropolitan asylums the inmates have adorned +their prison-house with pieces of sculpture and pictures; and the Germans +are fond of indulging the love of colour by filling some of the windows +with stained glass. In France, abundance of flowers are placed about the +establishment, as being eminent sources of delight. In these particulars +we have not a little to learn from our continental brethren. + +[17] These particulars respecting the pauper lunatic colony of Gheel are +taken from an article by Dr. Webster in Dr. Winslow's _Journal of +Psychological Medicine_. This review, which originated with and from the +first has been under the able editorship of Dr. Forbes Winslow, has given +an immense impulse to the study of psychology. It has enlarged the views +of the physician of the insane, and, by extending his horizon, has given +him a far better knowledge of the special department to which he formerly +confined his studies. It is as impossible to understand the workings of a +morbid mind without possessing a knowledge of its ordinary action as it is +to interpret the sounds of a diseased lung without being first acquainted +with those of a healthy one. The great service which Dr. Forbes Winslow +has rendered by unravelling the phenomena of mind in its normal as well as +in its disordered state, entitles him to a very high meed of praise, and +has deservedly ranked him among the first medico-psychologists of the +present day. + +[18] In the subjoined passage, which is extracted from an official +communication to the Commissioners in Lunacy, and published in one of +their parliamentary reports, Dr. Forbes Winslow explains the principles +which should guide the physician in the moral treatment of the insane when +placed under legal control and supervision:--"In the management of the +insane, and in the conduct of asylums, both public and private, the +principle of treatment should consist in a full and liberal recognition of +the importance of extending to the insane the _maximum_ amount of liberty +and indulgence compatible with their safety, security, and recovery; at +the same time, subjecting them to the _minimum_ degree of mechanical and +moral restraint, isolation, seclusion, and surveillance, consistent with +their actual morbid state of mind at the time. It is also necessary to +bear in mind as an essential principle of curative treatment, the +importance of bringing the insane confined in asylums, as much as +possible, within the sphere of social, kindly, and domestic influences. In +many cases, isolation, seclusion, and an absolute immunity from all kinds +of stimuli, physical and mental, are, during the acute and recent stages +of insanity, indispensably necessary to recovery; but in certain forms of +melancholia, monomania, and in some chronic morbid states of mind, no mode +of moral treatment is productive of such great curative results as that +now referred to. I need not observe that this system of treatment cannot +be adopted except in those establishments where there is an active, +experienced, and intelligent resident medical officer, who fully +appreciates the great value of such homely family influences upon the +minds of the insane. In our moral treatment, do we not occasionally +exhibit an excess of caution, and exercise, with the best and kindest +intentions, an undue amount of moral restraint and vigilance? I think we +may sometimes err in being a little too distrustful of the insane. Whilst +urging the necessity, in certain forms of morbid mind, of great and +constant watchfulness, particularly in cases of suicidal monomania, and +recent and acute attacks, I would suggest, to those having the management +of asylums, the necessity, with the view to the adoption of a curative +process of treatment, of placing more confidence in those entrusted to +their care, and of allowing the patients a greater amount of freedom, +indulgence, and liberty than they at present enjoy in many of our public +and private asylums. In many phases of insanity in which confinement is +indispensable, the patient's word may fully be relied upon; and under +certain well-defined restrictions, he should be permitted to feel that +confidence is reposed in him, and that he is trusted, and not altogether +(although in confinement) deprived of his free and independent agency. I +feel quite assured that a judicious liberality of this kind will be +generally followed by the happiest curative results, and greatly conduce +to the comfort and happiness of the patient. Patients should be permitted +occasionally to attend divine worship out of the asylum, when +circumstances do not contra-indicate this practice; they should be allowed +also to walk out of the confines of the asylum, to attend places of +amusement, visit scientific exhibitions; and the resident medical officer +should make himself their friend and companion; thus inspiring them with +confidence in his skill and kindly intentions, and reconciling them to the +degree of moral restraint to which they may be unavoidably subjected." + +[19] In Belgium, where many of the pauper lunatics are located in +religious houses and are attended upon by the frères and soeurs of these +establishments, it is not uncommon to find the patients at certain times +of the day totally deserted and left to their own devices--the attendants +being engaged in their religious duties! + +[20] It may be as well to state that the Poor-Law Commissioners also +worked out the problem with very similar conclusions in 1851, and that the +investigations made by the Swedish Government into the condition of the +insane in Norway in 1835 further corroborate the statement that insanity +prevails to a greater extent in rural than in urban districts. + +[21] If the spectator, while leaning over the rail of the wharf and +watching "Oyster Street," as the costermongers call the line of +oyster-boats moored side by side, has ever been at a loss to understand +why it is that in the very height of the market, when the decks are +crowded with purchasers, the sailors are seen hanging about the boats, or +seated upon the bulwarks, taking their morning pipes, whilst the duty of +measuring and carrying the oysters is being performed by the "Fellowships" +belonging to the corporation of London, he will now know the reason. Steam +will, however, surely abolish many of these city abuses, and rail-borne +oysters will lend their powerful aid to rail-borne coal in abolishing +regulations which are not in accordance with the emancipated spirit of the +age. + +[22] Since this was written, the new market in Copenhagen Fields has been +opened, and a totally different state of things now obtained. + +[23] This return contains some small proportion of game, the quantity of +which is not stated. + +[24] There is, we confess, some little discrepancy between this estimate +of the country-killed meat at Newgate, and the known quantity brought in +by railway, as most assuredly 161,200 oxen, 509,600 sheep, and 62,400 +calves and pigs, far outweigh the 36,487 tons of meat brought by the +different lines, even "sinking" the offal. But so assured is Mr. Giblett, +and the Smithfield Commissioners with him, that he is under the mark, that +we give credit to his estimate, and take it for granted that much +country-killed meat must come to market by other conveyance than the +railway. + +[25] Since the above was written, these fine buildings have been taken +possession of by Sir William Armstrong, where, under the veil of secrecy, +his extraordinary ordnance is now constructed to the entire exclusion of +the old style of cannon. + +[26] The French manufacturer who executed the order addressed a letter to +one of the Emperor's chamberlains, from which we take the following +extract:--"It is, I believe, the first time that England, who was hitherto +regarded as able to supply the most unforeseen wants of her army, should +find herself obliged to have recourse to French industry. I had it too +much at heart to sustain the reputation of my country in the eyes of our +rivals to leave anything undone towards the execution of an order which +was intrusted to me, and I have had the satisfaction of receiving from the +English Government the most flattering compliments. With a view to +perpetuate the memory of that operation, which is almost an event in +industry, I have ordered a medal to be engraved by M. Louis Merley, who +gained the great prize at Rome, and who is one of the artists of whom +France is proud. I desire earnestly to obtain the favour of presenting +this medal to his Majesty the Emperor, as also the model of the rifles +fabricated for England; and I pray your Excellency to be good enough to +solicit for me an audience of his Majesty." The audience was granted, and +the medal and the model of the fire-arm presented in due form. + +[27] The merchants are provided annually with a sample of Waltham Abbey +powder to guide them in their manufacture. + +[28] We may more truly liken the system to the warming apparatus of a +hot-house. The hot waters of the Gulf, conducted across the Atlantic, are +the forcing power which stimulates the vegetation of Cornwall, whence the +London market is supplied with its early vegetables. + +[29] The effect of this Act, which passed in 1839, was most marked. In the +three years previous, the average annual loss of timber ships was 56-1/2, +and the loss of life 300. In the three years subsequent to its coming into +operation the loss of ships fell to 23-1/2, and the loss of life to 106. + +[30] Whilst the civil workman is called in to do the work of the soldier +at home, strangely enough we send out the soldier to do the work of the +emigrant abroad. A force of Royal Engineers some time since left these +shores for the purpose of discharging this office in British Columbia. + +[31] Mr. Jeffreys informs us that he saw during the mutiny a recruiting +sergeant's placard in which there was an engraving of a British trooper +cutting down a Sepoy and taking from him a bag of treasure. + +[32] This idea of a sanitary officer for armies in the field originated +with Mr. J. Ranald Martin, who has long advocated the measure in his +correspondence with the medical journals, and with the East India +Government. To this gentleman we also owe the suggestion of a health +officer in civil life. + +[33] Code of letter signals in the needle telegraph commonly used in +England. Two needles are generally employed, in order to facilitate the +transmission of signals:-- + +Let _a_ denote a deflection of the _left-hand needle to the left_, _a´ to +the right_; _b_ a deflection of the _right-hand needle to the left_, _b´ +to the right_. Then here is the code: + + + _a_ + A _a a_ + B _a a a_ + C _a´ a_ + D _a a´_ + E _a´_ + F _a´ a´_ + G _a´ a´ a´_ + H _b_ + I _b b_ + K _b b b_ + L _b´ b_ + M _b b´_ + N _b´_ + O _b´ b´_ + P _b´ b´ b´_ + R _a b_ + S _a a b b_ + T _a a a b b b_ + U _a´ a b´ b_ + W _a´ b´_ + X _a´ a´ b´ b´_ + Y _a´ a´ a´ b´ b´ b´_ + +Thus F is indicated by two successive deflections of the left-hand needle +to the right; R by a simultaneous deflection of both needles to the left. +Where both needles are required they may be and are deflected +simultaneously; where one only is used its deflections must of necessity +be successive. The sign + means "I do not understand;" the letter E "I do +understand." + +[34] It may interest our readers to reproduce the first published notice +we can find of Professor Wheatstone's experiments relating to the electric +telegraph, and which appeared anterior to his connection with Mr. +Cooke:--"During the month of June last year (1836), in a course of +lectures delivered at King's College, London, Professor Wheatstone +repeated his experiments on the velocity of electricity which were +published in the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1834, but with an +insulated circuit of copper wire, the length of which was now increased to +nearly four miles; the thickness of the wire was 1-16th of an inch. When +machine electricity was employed, an electrometer placed on any point of +the circuit diverged, and, wherever the continuity of the circuit was +broken, bright sparks were visible. With a voltaic battery, or with a +magneto-electric machine, water was decomposed, the needle of the +galvanometer was deflected, &c., in the middle of the circuit. But, which +has a more direct reference to the subject of our esteemed correspondent's +communication from Munich, Professor Wheatstone gave a sketch of the means +by which he proposes to convert his apparatus into an electrical +telegraph, which, by the aid of a few finger stops, will instantaneously, +and distinctly, convey communications between the most distant points. +These experiments are, we understand, still in progress, and the +apparatus, as it is at present constructed, is capable of conveying thirty +simple signals, which, combined in various manners, will be fully +sufficient for the purposes of telegraphic communication."--From the +_Magazine of Popular Science_ (Parker, Strand) for March 1, 1837. + +[35] + + _a_ - + _b_ - ---- - + _c_ ---- - - + _d_ - - - ---- + _e_ - - + _f_ ---- ---- + _g_ - ---- - - + _h_ ---- ---- ---- + _i_ - - - + _j_ - - ---- - - + _k_ - ---- ---- - + _l_ - ---- + _m_ - ---- - ---- + _n_ - ---- ---- + _o_ - - - - + _p_ - - ---- - + _q_ ---- - ---- - + _r_ ---- + _s_ ---- - + _t_ - - ---- + _u_ - - - - - + _v_ ---- ---- - + _w_ ---- ---- - - + _x_ ---- - - ---- + _y_ ---- - ---- + _z_ ---- - - - + +[36] In justice to the Company, which is very properly jealous of the +particulars of its messages transpiring, we beg to state that we acquired +the above fact from a person totally disconnected with the Electric +Telegraph Office. + +[37] Mr. Reuter now performs this duty both for home and foreign news. + +[38] The use of the metal or earth-plate will be understood from the +following statement of Steinheil:--"Owing to the low conducting power of +water or the ground, compared with metals, it is necessary that at the two +places where the metal conductor is in connection with the soil, the +former should present very large surfaces of contact. Assuming that water +conducts two million times worse than copper, a surface of water +proportional to this must be brought into contact with the water. If the +section of a copper wire is 0·5 of a square line, it will require a copper +plate of 61 square feet surface in order to conduct the galvanic current +through the ground, as the wire in question would conduct it." + +[39] It may be as well to state that nearly all the continental telegraphs +have formed themselves into a confederacy, called the Austro-Germanic +Union, which includes the lines of Austria, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, +Hanover, Würtemberg, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the Grand Duchy of +Baden. The Union regulates the tariff and all questions relative to the +working of the allied lines. + +[40] See "Tariff of the Rates charged for general Dispatches on the +Pittsburgh and Louisville Telegraph, Jones's Electric Telegraph, New +York," p. 105. + +[41] The West of England Fire-Office, which retains the command of its own +engines. + +[42] + + The following are the stations:-- No. of engines. + + Watling Street (the principal station) 4 + Wellclose Square 3 + Farringdon Street 4 + Chandos Street, Covent Garden 3 + Schoolhouse Lane, Ratcliffe 1 + Horseferry Road, Westminster 1 + Waterloo Road 1 + Paradise Row, Rotherhithe 1 + Jeffrey Square, St. Mary-Axe 2 + Whitecross Street 1 + High Holborn, No. 254 2 + Crown Street, Soho 2 + Wells Street, Oxford Street 1 + Baker Street, Portman Square 1 + King Street, Golden Square 3 + Southwark Bridge Road 3 + Morgan's Lane, Tooley Street 1 + Floating engine, off King's Stairs, Rotherhithe 1 + " off Southwark Bridge 1-36 + +[43] Repeated reference to this valuable work has more than confirmed the +opinion we originally expressed of it. There are few books of greater +utility than what is in fact a "History of London, Past and Present." + +[44] The roof of the pile of buildings composing Somerset-House is also +continuous, thereby greatly increasing the risk of the entire building, if +one portion of it were to catch. + +[45] In Nottingham, where they have gypsum in the neighbourhood, as they +have in Paris, they form their floors and partitions in the same solid +manner, and the consequence is, that a building is rarely burned down in +that town. + +[46] The following are the stations of the fire-escapes:-- + +_Western District._--1. Edgeware Road, near Cambridge Terrace; 2. Baker +Street, corner of King Street; 3. Great Portland Street, by the chapel; 4. +New Road, corner of Albany Street; 5. New Road, Euston Square, in front of +St. Pancras Church; 6. Camden Town, in front of "The Southampton Arms;" 7. +Battle-bridge, King's Cross; 8. Guildford Street, Foundling Hospital; 9. +Bedford Row, south end; 10. Hart Street, Bloomsbury, by St. George's +Church; 11. Tottenham Court Road, by the chapel; 12. Oxford Street, corner +of Dean Street, Soho; 13. Oxford Street, corner of Marylebone Lane; 14. +Oxford Street west, corner of Connaught Place; 15. South Audley Street, by +the chapel; 16. Brompton, near Knightsbridge Green; 17. Eaton Square, by +St. Peter's Church; 18. Westminster, No. 1, Broad Sanctuary; 19. +Westminster, No. 2, Horseferry Road; 20. West Strand, Trafalgar Square, by +St. Martin's Church; 21. Strand, by St. Clement's Church. + +_Eastern District._--22. New Bridge Street, by the Obelisk; 23. Holborn +Hill, corner of Hatton Garden; 24. Aldersgate Street, opposite Carthusian +Street; 25. Clerkenwell, St. John Street, opposite Corporation Row; 26. +Islington, No. 1, on the Green; 27. Islington, No. 2, Compton Terrace, +Highbury End; 28. Old Street, St. Luke's, corner of Bath Street; 29. +Shoreditch, in front of the church; 30. Bishopsgate Street, near Widegate +Street; 31. Whitechapel, High Street, in front of the church; 32. Aldgate, +corner of Leadenhall Street and Fenchurch Street; 33. The Royal Exchange, +by the Wellington Statue; 34. Cheapside, by the Western Obelisk; 35. +Southwark, in front of St. George's Church; 36. Newington, Obelisk, facing +"The Elephant and Castle;" 37. Kennington Cross; 38. Lambeth, by the +Female Orphan Asylum; 39. Blackfriars Road, corner of Great Charlotte +Street; 40. Finsbury Circus, corner of West Street; 41. St. Mary-at-Hill, +corner of Rood Lane; 42. Conduit Street, corner of Great George Street. + +[47] Mr. Walker, the superintendent of the A Division, we believe, +selected the works in these libraries. The love of books evinced by this +gentleman sufficiently proves that literary tastes are not incompatible +with the energetic performance of police duties. + +[48] The partiality for the cook ascribed to the policeman is, we are +assured, a slander upon the force. The commissariat at home is too good to +justify any suspicion of this ignoble sort of cupboard love. + +[49] We have extracted this anecdote from the very interesting work +published by Captain Chesterton, entitled "Revelations of Prison Life." + +[50] Since the above was written, the attention of Government has been +drawn to the condition of our mines, and a commission of inquiry will +speedily, we hear, be appointed. + +[51] W. T. Cox, Esq., in _British Medical Journal_. + +[52] A just appreciation of the value of life is, perhaps, of more +importance to Friendly Societies than to Insurance Offices, inasmuch, as +the range of sickness in the working classes is much more extensive than +in the upper and middle walks of life. Mr. Hardwick, in his manual on +enrolled Friendly Societies, has pointed out the fact that the vast +majority of these societies are based upon calculations which must in the +end terminate in their bankruptcy: and among the causes which tend to this +disastrous result he mentions the total disregard evinced in these clubs +to a proper estimate of the states of health in different occupations and +localities. It must be clear that the potter, whose average amount of +illness between the ages of 20 and 70 is more than 333 weeks, obtains a +very unfair advantage over clerks or schoolmasters who may happen to be in +the same club with him, and whose average of sickness during the same +period is only 48 weeks. The dyer, again, who, under the present system of +management of Friendly Societies, may be admitted to a club on the same +terms as a wheelwright, claims for 293 weeks of sickness against the +wheelwright's 64. The healthy country artisan is thus made to pay for the +unhealthy town mechanic. If we take the case, again, of the miner or the +Sheffield grinder, and huddle him, without inquiry, into the same Friendly +Society as the agricultural labourer, it must be clear that the latter +must pay for the more than average sickness of his fellows. Until the +relative value of life and of sickness among the working classes is +thoroughly understood and acted upon, as regards the payments of members, +it is clear that the healthy trades must be sacrificed to the unhealthy +ones. + +[53] An ingenious Frenchman, of the name of Bernot, has just invented a +file-cutting machine which will, we trust, come generally into use, and do +away with the paralysis arising from the present handicraft. It is said +that the workmanship of the machine is more even than the hand-work: the +files cut in the morning by the artisan being superior to those cut in the +afternoon, in consequence of his muscles becoming tired. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +The original text contains several images of a right-pointing hand. This +is represented in this text as [Hand]. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Curiosities of Civilization, by Andrew Wynter + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40498 *** |