350 
THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
[May 20, 
Brunel strengthened this opinion by a simple experiment. 
He bent his head and shoulders over a chair, and distinctly 
felt the coin drop towards the glottis ; whilst raising himself 
a violent fit of coughing came on, which ceased after a few 
minutes; he repeated this a second time, with the same 
result. A consultation was held on the 22d, at which it 
was decided that conclusive evidence existed of the half- 
sovereign having passed into the windpipe, that it probably 
lodged at the bottom of the right bronchus, and that it was 
movable. It was determined that every effort should be 
made for its removal, and that for this purpose an apparatus 
should be constructed for inverting the body of the patient, 
in order that the weight of the coin might assist the natural 
effort to expel it by coughing. The first experiment was 
made on the 25th. The body of the patient being inverted, 
and the back gently struck with the hand between the 
shoulders, a violent cough came on, but of so convulsive and 
alarming a nature that dangerjwas apprehended, and the 
experiment was discontinued. » On this occasion the coin 
was again moved from its situation, and slipped towards 
the glottis. On the 27th tracheotomy was performed by 
Sir B. Brodie, assisted by Mr. Aston Key, with the in- 
tention of extracting the coin by the forceps, if possible ; 
or, in the event of this failing, with the expectation that 
the opening of the windpipe would facilitate a repetition 
of the experiment of the 22d. On this occasion, and sub- 
sequently on the 2d of May, the introduction of the forceps 
was attended with so much irritation that it could not be 
persevered in without danger to life. On the 3d another 
consultation was held, when Mr. Lawrence and Mr. 
Stanley entirely confirmed the views of Sir B. Brodie and 
Mr. Key, and it was agreed that the experiment of 
inversion should be repeated as soon as Mr. Brunel had 
recovered sufficient strength, the incision in the windpipe 
being kept open. On Saturday, the 13th, Mr, Brunel 
was again placed on the apparatus, the body inverted, and 
the back gently struck. After two or three coughs he felt 
the coin quit its place on the right side of the chest, and 
in a few seconds it dropped from his mouth, without 
exciting, in its passage through the glottis, any distress 
or inconvenience, the opening in the windpipe preventing 
any spasmodic action of the glottis. In this remarkable 
case the following circumstances appear to be worthy of 
note :—That a piece of gold remained in the air-tube for 
six weeks, quite movable, and without exciting any 
inflammatory action, the breathing entirely undisturbed, 
and the only symptoms of its presence being occasional 
uneasiness on the right side of the chest, and frequent fits 
of coughing. That an accurate diagnosis was formed 
without being able to obtain any assistance from the 
stethoscope, although the chest was repeatedly and care- 
fully examined, and also that a fair trial having been given 
‘to the forceps, the application of this instrument to the 
removal of a body of this peculiar form from the bottom 
of the bronchus was proved to be attended with great risk 
to life; while the cautious and well-considered plan of 
treatment above detailed was attended with complete suc- 
cess, and without risk.’ 
Cambridge.—One or ‘two attempts to annoy the Rey. 
Professor Whewell have been made during the period of 
his office, as Vice-Chancellor for the current academical 
year. The other day a more serious trick was played off 
against him, which must have been attended with great 
loss to many parties who were made victims in the hoax. 
Some gentlemen who had just left the University— 
Trinity men, it is supposed—having taken|their B.A. degree, 
went round, on their arrival in town, to a number of 
London tradesmen, and gave orders for various quantities 
of their respective goods, to be sent,{per waggon or coach, 
to Trinity Lodge, Cambridge, by a certain day. The 
orders were in all cases executed, and the Master’s resi- 
dence was accordingly beset on the day in question. 
Amongst the consignments, too numerous to mention, 
were a grand pianoforte, for the drawing-room ; @ cottage 
ditto, for a lower room; mechanical implements ; com- 
plete sets of carpenters’ and turners’ tools; apparatus of 
an amateur forge ; a child’s cot, coral, and rocking-horse, 
&c. ‘ Tailors,’’ adds the Cambridge Independent Press, 
“«have also arrived to measure the domestics for liveries, 
and jewellers to remodel the College plate, and one piece 
of goods has been forwarded under the charge of three 
men to fit it up in the Lodge.” 
Canterbury.—A. sitting was held in the bankruptcy of 
Messrs. Baldock and Co. on Tuesday, for the declara- 
tion of a dividend under the joint estate, which has already 
paid 4s. in the pound to the creditors ; the debts proved 
amount to 140,000/., while the assets realised are 40,0002. 
The further dividend declared was 1s. 6d. in the pound, 
the period for the payment of which will be notified to 
the claimants through the official channel. 
Carmarthen. — The Welch papers state that the 
offences committed by ‘* Rebecca and her daughters’ are 
daily growing more frightful, and not a single depredator 
has yet been discovered. On Friday Llanfibangel gate, 
near St. Clears, was demolished by a mob of men, dis- 
guised as usual in women’s clothes, who were, however, 
disturbed in their operations by the passing of the Pein- 
broke mail. They placed sentinels on each side of the 
road, and immediately the mail had passed, they finished 
their work of destruction. On Monday afternoon, the 
plantations of Mr. Powell, of Penycoed, were set on fire, 
and the wind blowing freshly, before assistance could be 
obtained to extinguish the fire, four acres of valuable 
young trees were burnt. It fortunately happened that a 
great deal of furze had been cut from the plantation 
during the winter, otherwise nothing could have saved the 
whole 22 acres of plantation from being’ destroyed. On 
Monday night the gate in the town of St. Clears shared 
the fate of the others. Although a reward of 150/. and a 
free pardon has been offered by Government, not a single 
accomplice has been taken, and the conduct of “ Rebecca 
and her daughters” has grown daily more alarming. 
Deal.—The new light on the tower that has just been 
vompleted at the South Foreland was exhibited for the 
first time last week, and is said to answer every purpose 
contemplated. On Friday night the deputy-master and a 
number of the elder brethren of the Trinity House went 
off in a yacht to view it from various points in the Chan- 
nel, and were much pleased with the brilliancy of the light 
as well as with the improvements generally that have been 
effected on this important headland. 
Eton.—The Newcastle scholarship, founded by his 
Grace the Duke of Newcastle in 1829, of the value of 
50/. per annum, to be held for three years, open to com- 
petition for all boys in the sixth form and upper division 
of the fifth, and such of the middle division as should 
have arranged to leave the college before the next examin- 
ation, was on Saturday last gained by Mr. Joynes, K.S., 
and the gold medal (given by his Grace to the boy who 
stood second in the ination for his scholarship), was 
awarded to Mr. Simpson. Mr. Joynes gained the medal 
last year, and Mr, Simpson, who was then his close com- 
petitor, had previously obtained the first Prince Albert’s 
prize, presented annually by his Royal Highness for the 
promotion of the study of modern languages. Both of 
these young gentlemen are the sons of clergymen; Mr. 
Joynes being the son of the rector of Gravesend, in Kent ; 
and Mr. Simpson, the son of the rector of Little Horsted, 
in Sussex. The number of pupils now at Eton is greater 
than ever before known; the entries of scholars at the 
termination of the Easter vacation amounting to upwards 
of 700. Since 1836 there has been a gradual and pro- 
gressive increase in the number of scholars, as follows : 
In that year there were 444; in 1837, 475; in 1838, 
522 ; in 1839, 560; in 1840, 593; in 1841, 636; in 
1842, 659 ; and this year, at Easter, upwards of 700. 
Exeter.—On Tuesday the 9th inst. the town-crier of 
Exeter announced that a public meeting would take place, 
and that Mrs. Fryer would deliver a lecture on the prin- 
ciples of total abstinence from spirituous liquors. The 
place selected for the meeting was a large attic loft, built 
about 50 years since for the purpose of drying serges, in 
East-street. At eight o’clock it is supposed there were 
about four hundred persons assembled to hear the lecture, 
consisting of men, women, and children; and while a 
gentleman was delivering an introductory address, a large 
portion of the flooring gave way, precipitating a great part 
of the audience to the middle floor, which contained 
several hundred bushels of oats, and fortunately prevented 
the breaking of many necks, as numbers of persons fell 
head foremost on the grain; and their additional weight 
coming so rapidly on this floor, caused it also to give way, 
and many persons were literally buried in oats and 
rubbish on the ground floor, having fallen from three 
stories high. The pressure of the falling beams, and the 
number of persons, burst out a window about ten feet in 
length on the ground floor, which formed an egress for 
those who were able to get out, and admitted many who 
came to the rescue of those who were injured. Fortu- 
nately, no lives were lost. That portion of the attic floor 
appropriated for the station of the lecturer, chairman, &c. 
did not give way, so that they remained affrighted spec- 
tators of the catastrophe. 
Liverpool.—Another fire broke out on Saturday morning 
in Formby-street, in this town. This street, it will be 
remembered, was the scene of the memorable fire which 
occurred in Liverpool last September. At 1 o’clock on Satur- 
day morning the policeman on duty in the neighbourhood 
discovered the fire on the premises belonging to Messrs. 
Ashton and Ginn, boat-builders, on the south side of the 
street, and adjoining the west wall of the fire-proof ware- 
houses that were preserved from destruction by the great 
fire in September. The greatest activity was displayed by 
the authorities ; but, from the start the fire had obtained, 
and from the nature of the premises, being the smithy, 
carpenters’ shops, &c., surrounded by piles of dry planks, 
the fire had assumed an alarming appearance, and had 
almost completed the destruction of the premises wherein 
it originated before the engines could be got effectually 
into play. The windows and doors were burnt out, an 
the interior apparently gutted, and a quantity of wood 
destroyed, before a sufficiency of water could be obtained ; 
but some hoses were passed through the dock wall, and 
planted in the dock with great alacrity, and in a few 
minutes after the engines got into full play its fury was con- 
siderably abated; and by 2 o’clock there was no longer 
any fear that it would extend beyond the premises it 
had at first taken possession of, and which were nearly 
demolished.—The Liverpool police-court was crowded by 
merchants and other respectable inhabitants of that town, 
on Tuesday last, for the purpose of hearing the investiga- 
tion of a case of extensive embezzlement, alleged to have 
taken place in the Post-office. It appears that, in conse- 
quence of numerous robberies having of late taken place 
in the establishment, Mr. R, Lord was sent down from 
the General Post-office in London, to institute inquiries, 
and that certain suspicions having fallen upon J. Leeming, 
a clerk attachedto the department of the Dead Letter-office, 
search was made, and evidence obtained of his being the party 
concerned, He was thereupon given into custody. The 
prisoner was charged with embezzling several letters con- 
taining bills of exchange to the amount of 4,939/. ; also 
letters containing gold rings, beads, and other articles. 
The indictment was brought under the Ist of Victoria, 
cap. 26, which enacted that any person who should 
embezzle a letter going through the Post-office should be 
guilty of a felony, and render himself liable to be trans- 
ported; and that if the letter so embezzled contained 
money or other valuables, he would render himself liable 
to be transported beyond the seas for life. Witnesses 
were then called, whose evidence bore out every part of 
the charge, and the prisoner, who offered no defence, was 
committed for trial. 
Manchester.—About eleven o’clock on Tuesday night 
an outrage of an alarming character was perpetrated in 
the immediate neighbourhood of this town, by a party of 
between 300 and 400 persons, chiefly brickmakers, armed 
with blunderbusses, guns, pistols, bludgeons, and almost 
every description of weapon, who forcibly entered the 
brick-croft of Messrs. Pauling and Henfrey, with the 
evident intention of destroying the property, and either 
murdering or maiming every one who might oppose their 
violence. After committing several acts of violence they 
retreated; but information was speedily conveyed to the 
Salford police-office, and a party of Officers were soon on 
the spot, by whose exertions some of the rioters were 
secured. On Wednesday seven prisoners were brought 
before the magistrates at the New Bailey, charged with 
having taken part in the attack, but were all remanded. 
The police are on the look-out for others of the turn-outs, 
many of whom, it is suspected, were wounded, and will be 
traced without much difficulty. 
Portsmouth.—The Eurydice frigate, of 900 tons, built 
according to the plan of Rear-Agdmiral the Hon. George 
Elliot, was launched here on Tuesday. The ceremony of 
naming her was performed by a daughter of the Admiral, 
A numerous assemblage of persons had collected to wit- 
ness the spectacle, 
Windsor,—An order arrived here last week !from the 
Commissioners of Woods and Forests, for the five dilapi- 
dated houses, the residences of that number of the Mili- 
tary Knights of Windsor, known as the lower foundation, 
situated in the lower ward of the Castle, to be immediately 
taken down, it having been deemed requisite, in conse~ 
quence of their ruinous condition, that no delay should 
take place in their being razed to the ground, and a new 
row of houses for the Military Knights of the foundation 
of Sir Peter Le Maire constructed, with increased conve- 
niences, in their stead. This foundation was endowed in 
the early part of the reign of James I., by Sir Peter Le 
Maire, with an estate of the then value of 230/. per annum, 
—An attempt to assassinate the Rev. Thomas Page, offi- 
ciating minister of Christ Church, in the vicinity of 
Virginia Water, close to Windsor Great Park, was made 
a few nights ago, between eleven and 12 o’clock. The 
perpetrators of the outrage remain for the present undis- 
covered. Mr. Page resides, with his family, at the parson~ 
age-house, which is a detached building situated a short 
distance from the church. A few nights ago, just as the 
Rev. Gentleman and his wife were retiring to rest, and at 
the moment Mr. Page (whose shadow was thrown upon 
the window) had approached the dressing-table, at the 
window of his bedroom, to extinguish the light, a loaded 
musket was discharged at him from the garden, and 
evidently at but a short distance from the house. Upon 
examining the window, a large slug, upwards of an inch 
in length, was discovered to have been lodged in the 
woodwork which divided the two sashes of the window, 
and in the precise direction of the spot where the Rev. 
Gentleman was standing. A portion of the glass was 
broken, and the shattered fragments scattered upon the 
dressing-table, but Mr. Page escaped unhurt. 
Roailways.—The railway receipts for the week have 
been as follows :—Birmingham and Derby, 1,141/. ; Bir- 
mingham and Gloucester, 1,699/.; Edinburgh and Glas- 
gow, 2,406/. ; Hastern Counties, 2,186/. ; Great North of 
England, 1,451/. ; Great Western, 14,742/,; Hull and 
Selby, 979/.; London and Birmingham, 18,092/.; Black- 
wall, 715/.; Brighton, 3,081/.; Croydon, 256/.; Green- 
wich, 680/.; South Western, 5,976/.; Manchester and 
Leeds, 4,618/.; Midland Counties, 2,633/.; Northern 
and Eastern, 1,661/.; North Midland, 4,046/.; South 
Eastern and Dover, 2,021/.—The returns given in the 
report of the officers of the railway department, Board of 
Trade, show the average speed upon the various lines, 
exclusive of stoppage, as follows :—London and Birming- 
ham, 27 miles per hour; Great Western, 33; Northern 
and Eastern, 36 ; North Midland, 29 ; Midland Counties, 
28; Birmingham and Derby, 29; Manchester and Bir- 
mingham, 25; Newcastle and North Shields, 30; and 
Chester and Birkenhead, 28. The average speed on the 
Metropolitan lines, exclusive of stoppages, is about 22 
miles an hour.—Arrangements have been entered into by 
the War Office for the conveyance of troops by the South 
Eastern and Chester and Birkenhead railways. The charge 
is to be the same as on otuer lines, viz., one penny pet 
mile for every soldier, with the exception that, upon the 
Dover line, the officers are only to be allowed 1 cwt- of 
baggage.—The inhabitants of Stockport and neighbou!- 
hood, are, it seems, much dissatisfied at the Manchester 
and Birmingham Railway Company having raised the fares 
between the Stockport station and Manchester ; and on 
Thursday, the 11th, a numerous meeting was held to 
the subject into consideration. A number of speakers 
addressed the meeting, and expressed their disapprobation 
of the proceedings of the directors; and the mecnne 
‘. f dat’ is] 
e road 
between Stockport and Manchester. 
promised to take shares in the intended company» ©” 
others promised to pay their fares to the intended Sate 
pany twice or thrice a week to and from Manchester a 
six months to come. A committee was ultimal oA 
appointed to make arrangements for the formation oe 
company,—A meeting of the inhabitants of Brighton, fee 
yened by the high constable, was held at the eae “a 
last week, for the purpose of considering t na by vis 
alterations in the table of fares and time adop fe bl y Ns 
directors for the current month. The bigh ie " 4 a of 
sided. The speeches were all couched in the languaé 
Ae 
a SENS) 
