1826.] 
> jTEE, AHMONOURADLE BASIL COCHRANE. 
auf Atigust 12.—The neble family of which 
thé Earl of Dundonald, eldest’ brother of 
Mi Cochrane, i is*the? representative, took 
78 Siitnamhe from! the barony of ‘Cochrane, 
in Renfrewshire, North Britain, where’ it 
appears t6° have’ been of great antiquity. 
Strietly Speaking; hoWever, the family name 
is’ Blair. William Cochrane, by Margaret 
his wife} ‘daughter of Sir Robert Montgo- 
mery; of ‘Skeimorley, in the county of Ayr, 
hada’ daughter,’ his sole heiress, who mar- 
riéd "Alexander Blair, Esq:, of Blair. The 
‘Cothrane estate was settled i in 1593 on this 
lady and her issue male, who were to bear 
the name and’ arms’ of Cochrane ; and ac- 
cordingly Mr. Blais, on his marriage with 
the heiress, assumed the’ ‘said’ name and 
arms, William Cochrane, their grandson, 
having been very zealous in the ‘cause of 
Charles I., was in 1647 created a peer. by 
the title of Lord Cochrane, of Dundonald, 
and in 1669 he was advanced to the dig- 
nity of Earl. One of his descendants, 
Thomas, eighth Earl of Dundonald, was 
married to his second wife, Jane, eldest 
daughter of Archibald Stuart, cf Tovience, 
in the’ county of Lanark, in 1744. - By 
that lady he’ had ‘a family of twelve chil- 
dren, of whom Archibald Cochrane, Earl 
of Dundonald, father of Lord Cochrane, 
formerly ‘Captain in the’ Royal Navy, M.P 
for Westminster,*'&c. was the eldest sur- 
viving son. >’ Basil, ‘the \ subject: ‘of. this 
sketch, was the seventh child. He was 
born ‘on the?22d of April, 1753, He/was 
Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 
337 
placed upon the Madrascivil establishment 
at the early age of. sixteen. . He) remained 
inthe service of the East-India-Company 
about forty years, accumulated)a splen- 
did» fortune) in India,,|and) zeturned, to 
England in. the ‘month of -May,, 1807. 
After his arrival, he: purehased the, barony 
of Auchterarder, in the county:of Perth. 
At his town-house in, Portman-square, he 
ereeted vapour baths on a new plan and 
construction ; and, \in the hope that simi- 
lar baths might be adapted to medical pur- 
poses, he, in 1809, published a tract un- 
der the title of “* Improvement of, the 
Wapour- Bath.” In the succeeding | year 
that tract was followed by an appendix. 
It was highly to the honour. of Mr. 
Cochrane, that, almost. immediately after 
his arrival in England, he paid numerous 
outstanding debts, mortgages, annuities, 
&c. of his brother, the, Earl, to. avery 
large amount. When in India, his esta- 
blishment was at once. extensive and 
magnificent, and his | hospitality | un- 
bounded. Not long after his return to 
England, Mr. Cochrane took a. lady, a 
Miss St. Julian, under his protection : but 
the parties quarrelled ; and he subsequently 
prosecuted Miss St. Julian and a Mr, 
Harrison for a conspiracy to extort money 
from him. 
Mr. Cochrane, was accustomed to ex- 
pend large sums, in acts of generosity and 
benevolence. He had resided for some 
time, we believe, chiefly,on the, Continent, 
and he died at his apartments, Rue Royale, 
Paris. ; 
MONTHLY MEDICAL REPORT: 
We are all prepared to hear of the prevalence of sickness at this season of the year, 
but though the metropolis has certainly enjoyed no exemption from the general lot, 
nothing has occurred here to stamp with any peculiar feature the medical history of the 
past month. .The newspapers announce that typhus fever has become epidemic in 
Dublin, and no one would be surprised if a similar visitation should affect the distressed 
districts of our own island. Such at least has been the usual course of events in former 
times. . Plague and pestilence always follow in the wake of scarcity and famine ; nor is 
it difficult to understand why this should be. When the body is imperfectly nourished, 
and the mind harassed by the want of present employment, and the prospect of still 
greater evil, the seeds of disease are too surely sown, which, after the lapse of a certain 
time, require but little to quicken into a severe and wide-spreading epidemic. The 
metropolis has happily escaped the pressure of general distress, and we have only, there- 
fore, to look for the usual consequences of summer heat. ‘These haye shown themselves 
in the seyeral forms of Lilious disorder, which, though abundantly prevalent, have never- 
theless not been marked by any peculiar intensity. The finest seasons, in fact, are always 
the most healthy, and never surely was this country blessed with one more favourable 
than. that which we are now enjoying. The only occasion on which the reporter ever 
observed in London a true Lilious epidemic, was in 1821, remarkable for the vast quantity 
of rain that fell. during the months of May, June, and ‘July. 
It is; difficult, if not actually impossible, to offer a satisfactory explanation of the 
influence. of long-continued atmospheric heat in deranging the functions of the liver, 
stomach, and bowels. That the vascular system, especially that of the vena porte, is 
implicated, and that congestion takes place in its branches, no one would venture to dis- 
pute; but still, the phenomena of bilious disorders, their sudden accession, rapid course, 
and peculiar mode of termination, point rather to the nervous system as the prime source 
of mischief, and to vitiated secretion as the more direct and palpable cause of the phe- 
nomena, ,.Rilious disorders, a8 they are popularly but very expressively styled, vary’ in 
the. peers, of the /eading or urgent symptoms, as well asin the degree to which the 
New Series.—Vot.. i. No. 9. ».4 
- 
