Curiosities of Civilization Part 28

[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 pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sing, 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 gla.s.s. 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, ent.i.tles 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 pa.s.sage, 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 a.s.sured 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 circ.u.mstances do not contra-indicate this practice; they should be allowed also to walk out of the confines of the asylum, to attend places of amus.e.m.e.nt, 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 freres 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 emanc.i.p.ated 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 quant.i.ty 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 quant.i.ty brought in by railway, as most a.s.suredly 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 a.s.sured 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. .h.i.therto 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 pa.s.sed 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 sh.o.r.es 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. Ra.n.a.ld 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. a.s.suming 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 05 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, Wurtemberg, 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 princ.i.p.al 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 part.i.tions 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.

Sh.o.r.editch, 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.