ee ee, ee 
SP 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 87 
fatal, throat being deeply incised ; one in which a quantity of arsenic was taken res 
covered. Suicide is a crime of rare occurrence among the Irish poor, as well from 
their strong religious feelings, as from the agricultural nature of their pursuits and 
habits. Suicide seldom exists among persons whose wants are few and easily gra- 
tified, and in whose minds hope is always predominant. 
Cerebral diseases much less frequently occur among the poor than diseases of the 
lungs or abdomen. In these the brain is not so heavily taxed as with persons in the 
higher walks of life. Five deaths occurred in hospital from affections of the brain. 
Diseases most common, are such 4s arise either from sudden vicissitudes of the 
weather, or food with little nutriment: they are rheumatism, bronchitis, chronic 
diseases of stomach, and diarrhea. 

On a peculiar case of Sterility. By Dr. M’EveErs. 

On the Tests for Arsenic. By Dr. Bevan. 
He pointed out the difficulties and unsatisfactory results in the modes of detecting 
that poison hitherto used in medico-legal investigations ; even Marsh’s test; he said, 
failed in giving a quantitative result. In conclusion, he proposed a new method of 
testing, which, he said, had the advantage of extreme simplicity in its manipulation, 
and certainty in its result. Into a narrow glass bottle he introduced dilute nitric acid 
(1 part acid to 4 of water) until it was half-full; into this he introduced a clean cop- 
per rod, and on the surface of the acid he poured melted tallow, which, when concrete, 
formed a diaphragm between the immersed and free portions of the rod. On this dia- 
phragm he poured the solution of arsenic, and within six hours metallic arsenic was 
deposited on the upper portion of the rod; this test will detect the z35th of a grain. 
A zine rod will give the result more rapidly. 

STATISTICS. 
Statistical Report of the Parish of St. Michael. By Major N. L. Bramisu. 
Tue parish of St. Michael comprehends the district generally known under the 
name of the “ Peninsula of Blackrock,”’ being bounded on the north and east sides 
by the river Lee, on the south by the tributary stream of Tramore, which forms with 
the confluence of the tide the “ Douglas Channel,” and on the west by the town 
parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Finn Barr, the former meeting it about one mile from 
the city of Cork. It contains 1929 acres, or three squate miles and nine acres ; the 
whole population in April 1843, was 2,630, consisting of 457 families, living in 413 
houses ; sixty-one houses are uninhabited, and nine are in progress of building. Of 
this population 2187 are Roman Catholics, and 443 Protestants, including Dissenters, 
being a proportion of nearly five to one in a district much inhabited by Protestant 
gentry. The Catholic males number 1042, females 1145; Protestant males 197, 
females 246; 800 males and 900 females are over fourteen years of age; 439 males, 
and 491 females are under that age; ninety families are living in one room to each 
family, 260 in two rooms, and 207 in three or more rooms to each family ; the average 
number of persons to a bed is three. The whole number of the gentry is 372, leaving 
the number of the working classes 2258; of these 1125 are males, and 1133 are 
females, which may be thus classified :— 
Males.—Carpenters, 15; masons, 14; slaters, 12; tailors, 10; shoemakers, 14; 
smiths, 9; coopers, 3; cabinet-makers, 2; gardeners, 32; farmers, 53; gingle-dri- 
vers, 13; lime-burners, 18; brickmakers, 55; fishermen, 111 ; male servants, 79; 
labourers, 212; aged and infirm, 46; children, 426.—Total males, 1125. 
Females—Employed as servants, in field work, &c., 372; children and aged and 
infirm, 453; unemployed, but able to work, 308.—Total females, 1133. 
In the above enumeration are not included the inmates of the Ursuline Convent, 
numbering 50 nuns, 80 boarders, and 20 servants ; Mr. Rudkin’s academy, contain- 
ing 26 Protestant males; and Miss Bergin’s academy, containing 16 Protestant 
emales. 
