23 



siderations, if the premises and conclusions are correct, we have proof of the 

 wisdom and beneficence of that great Creator, who has created nothing in vain ; 

 and the more we enter into the minutiae and detail connected with His works, and 

 the laws by which they are governed, the more fully convinced shall we be that 

 not only do the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shew His 

 handy work, but every atom of matter, whether simple or compound, proves its 

 wonderful adaptation for the use for which it was designed. 



Sir R. Murchison expressed the interest that he felt in the theory which had 

 been so well worked out by Dr. Rowan in the paper which had been just read. 

 He would suggest the question, whether the freedom of the to^^^l of Birmingham 

 from cholera arose in any degree from the use, in the manufacture of iron, of 

 similar substances to that upon which Dr. Rowan had experimented ? During the 

 meeting of the British Association at Birmingham, that subject had been started, 

 and it had been thought by various persons that the exemption of the town from 

 cholera might be due to a chemical process going on in the sewers, in consequence 

 of the mixture of sewage matter with the refuse of the iron manufacturers. 



Dr. Rowan replied that the decomposition of sulphuretted hydrogen might 

 take place in the sewers, as suggested by Sir Roderick's question. 



Dr. Lingen remarked that tlie exemption of this county was the most remark- 

 able, from the fact that the cholera had never begun within it. If it had begun, 

 and had then stopped, it might have seemed that the cessation wiis connected 

 with chemical action in the soil, as now suggested ; but the difficulty was in the 

 fact that the cholera had not begun. 



• Mr. Edmunds observed that, having lived for some years in Birmingham, he 

 felt much interested in the allusion made to it by Sir R. Murchison. It appeared 

 to him, however, that there were several local circumstances which might with 

 advantage be taken into account, in seeking for the cause of Birmingham's 

 immunity from the cholera. One of these was tlie great cleanliness of the town, 

 compared with other towns, both large and small. Filth was generally held to be 

 a predisposing cause of cholera. This statement was not inconsistent with the 

 existence of another circumstance which he would name ; the fact that the sewage 

 of Birmingham was exceedingly defective at the time of each of the two great 

 visitations of cholera. Within the last five years large sums had been expended 

 in effecting a system of sewerage upon a scale not unworthy of comparison with 

 the Cloaca Maxima of Rome ; but before that time the sewerage was very defective. 

 This evil, however, was less felt in Birmingham than it had been elsewhere, in 

 consequence of the town being situated on a very absorbent stratum, the New 

 Red Sandstone, and the surface being broken up into many sandhills. 



Sir R. Murchison thought there was also another reason, besides the nature of 

 the soil and subsoil, why Birmingham, as well as Herefordshire, and other districts 

 and places, had escaped the cholera. Elevation above the sea is a circumstance 

 which ought always to be taken in account, although it had been quite overlooked 

 by the Press. All elevated places have escaped the cholera. There had not been 

 a case in Switzerland ; and in this country, although we have scarcely anything 



