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    when the object of spending it is to ^ preserve health . " It is certainly a niost mortifying thing to find enormous grants of money expended in a manner very far from the best that could be devised for the health and accommodation of the _ troops . The barracks we have seen are all but universally extremely ill-constructed and deficient in the commonest requisites of a refuge for the destitute ; lut when we come to compare the huts of the camps of instruction with their cost and capabilities , ¦ we are fairly at a loss to explain such evidence as Ave find given by Colonel Tulloch , an officer of

    unquestionable expenence , and whose knowledge of the whole subject eives his opinion the greatest weight . Asked by the President , ¦ " Do you see any remedies for these causes of disease ? " he says , " One remedy is clear . If I were going to construct barracks , I should build them as detached houses to contain only ten men , and then put the troops in liearly the same condition as the agricultural population from which they are taken . The cost of the barracks ai Aldershot is 140 / . per mau , including officers' qaarters , chapel , schools , &c , or about 40 / . per man without these items : and'a house with

    eight or ten rooms would cost no more . The . ' advantage of having one roof and a large building as being cheaper was urged against me in the committee of which I was a member for arranging the description of buildings to be erected at Aldershot . I was placed on that committee by Lord Hardinge when Aldershot was bought ; and when I fbuiia there was abundance of gravel aud sand , and a , description of small wood which nobody would buy at Sandhurst , I proposed that small huts fitted for ten men should be put up-with these materials by the soldiers themselves , as had been done at Maroon Town , when the accommodation cost only 25 / . per hut , and lasted six or seven

    years ; but that proposition was negatived , though I contended that twenty , or even ten r years might totally alter the state of the country , and render a different kind of accommodation necessary from the expensive permanent barracks which tlie rest of the committee contended fo ' r . " Golonel Tullooli considers that , by this means , we should get free ventilation round each hut , and avoid the masses of men being formed . Eor our own part , we are disposed to think that this plan of small , buildings is the best , the ventilation is more easy to obtain and more complete ; besides which , there seems to be some morbific influence created by masses of living beings one upon the other , whether brutes or men .

    that is not to be removed by any modes of ventilation , and we suspect it to be this subtle cause that creates tliose terrible conditions which occasionally appear amongst the inmates of all large hospitals and dwellings—erysipelas , gangrene , malignant fevers , &c . Even were the regulation space of four hundred and fifty cubic feet per man strictly obeyedwhich it is not—this is not the only desideratum , because the beds may be closely crowded together , and yet liave the regulation space above them . It is this very packing together that is so injurious , and the effects of which cannot be remedied by any overhead ventilation . But it will astonish most people to find the Quartermaster-General of the army telling us that there is no regulation space between the beds , and that the medical authorities are never consulted about the site of barracks or

    the plan of constructing them—that only within the last three or four years have they been consulted respecting the site and construction of hospitals . The same officer pronounces our huts very imperfect : " . They want ventilation ; their whole construction has been bad , the material very flimsy , and the plan of nailing them is equally bad . They should be made of boards to slip into grooved uprightposts , so that four or five men could put up a hut in a very short time . Mr , Itawlinson , the civil engineer scut out officially to the East , gives the same testimony : " When a hut is once up and nailed , it is simply firewood . I defv

    tlie sappers to take it down , and mark it so as to preserve it for use . " And the timbers split with the nails , so that it warped the same as a piece of parchment before the fire . As to ventilation , ' every hut was a cellar-dwelling of the worst description . " The whole of this gentleman ' s evidence is most important in reference especially to the sanitary measures required in a camp like that before bebastopol and at Balaklava . It is to bo hoped that although the suggestions do not come from a military engineer , they will nevertheless have all the force winch they really deserve . The most important points m it arc the providing of portable

    huts , paving them , or flooring them ; if possible , the constant nse of deodorizing and disinfecting agents , such as charcoal , in the privies ; the protection of the water springs , and ensuring its purity by pipes , tanks , and taps . Above all , we gather from Mr . Rawlinson an important confirmation of the necessity for breaking through all routi ne when the exigencies of the position demand it . He illustrates this by what Admiral Boxer did : " With a few Jack Tars he made wharfs almost as fast as an old

    woman could walk , but a military engineer must do everything by rule and square , and it cost guineas where the old Admiral ' s work did not cost shillings , and under the circumstances one just a ? good as the other . I found the same at Sinope : an officer there—Captain Hibbert—made a cattle wharf in about two months b y the aid of local labour and the rudest materials ; it would have .. taken , the engineers at Woolwich much longer , and have cost ten times the money . That is the fatality of routine , and I do not see how you are to get out of it unless rules are relaxed at such times , and commanding officers and other officers are encouraged to think and make the best of the men and material

    on the ground . All commanding officers should learn something of mechanics , road-making , wellsinking , timber converting , &c , so as to be ready at expedients in a new country and under difficulties . " All the defects described by the report in the barracks , arc to be found , with even aggravated conditions , in the regimental hospitals— -the same low-pitched rooms and insufficient ventilation . Rarely are there- any water-cLosets , washing-rooms , or infectious wards . The garrison . hospitals are not even what they should be ; so that theNetley

    Hospital is not begun one day before it was wanted . While mentioning this new hospital— -which will be on a scale of size and completeness superior to anything hitherto built—it may be as well , as the subject of the site has been discussed a good deal , to say , that the evidence shows that the site was chosen after considerable precaution taken in examining other sites by medical officers of great experience , and finally approved by the Director General of the Medical Department . It has one large main sewer , capable of draining a town of 30 , 000 inhabitants , which goes into the sea below low-water mark . It

    appears , also , that Miss Nightingale was called in , and made an important suggestion , which has been carried out . The large general hospitals at Portsmouth and Chatham are all confined , badjiy ventilated , and not constructed for the purpose . At Chatham , especially—which , being a sort of headquarters of the Medical Department , should set forth an . example to the young surgeons entering the service—the hospitals are positively make-shifts—old barracks converted ¦ into hospitals , without any proper sanitary arrangements , and actually affording less than the proper allowance of air space to

    each patient . 1 he ' sergeant ' m charge of one of the wards of the Invalid Depot speaks of always standing on one side when he opened the ward door in the morning " to let the whiff of foul ' air pass . " Other evidence upon the Chatham hospitals shows the existence of a most disgusting and injurious proximity of the kitchens and latrines . Much pains , however , has now been taken , by sending a deputation—Dr . J . Sutherland , Dr . Mapleton , and Dr . Alexander—to examine the barracks and hospitals of Jfrance and Belgium . They report that they arc not on the whole superior to our London hospitals , and in some respects not so good , as they have generally open latrines at the end of the wards . The air-space allowed is very

    much greater , beiug in the La Riboisiere 1 * 860 foot for each bed . Ventilation is obtained , when the doors and windows are closed , by means of a large fan , which draws the fresh air down a shaft into tlie wards , whence the old air is removed by several shafts in the walls having openings between each bed ; the same appartus serving for warming in winter . The operation , however , does not satisly our deputation ; and the conclusion is , that natural ventilation by windows and doors , intelligently managed , is , alter all , the most efficient . A very evident improvement in the La lliboisiere is the coasting the walls , ceiling , and floors with an impervious cement , the surface of which is polished and like marble , so that it admits of perfect cleanliness .

    The commissioners recommend the immediate inspection of all barracks , and a revision of the allotment of men to rooms , with a practical application of sanitary science to the removal of the existing causes of excessive mortality .

    The feeding of the soldier has , with a" few kite exceptions , been so clumsily and coarsely managed , that it must have been a source of ill-health , and that want of condition so favourable to the attacks of disease . The same toiled meat and potatoes before him every day , for twenty-one years ! What a senseless method of keeping a fighting-man in condition ! Would any man lay down such a dietary for his kennel or his stable ; our felons in Portland Island are served with infinitely more neatness and comfort , and with more nutritious , palatable food ; indeed , their kitchen can only be compared to the arrangements of a first-rate * club . Many of our large manufacturers provide a cook , kitchen , and refreshment-ioom for their workpeople ; but our soldier must do as well as he can , with no other means of cooking than ; the copper , and a comrade for cook .

    Untitled Article

    jSTo . 430 , June 19 , 1858- ] THE LEADER / 593

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    St . Barnabas , Pimlico . —This church was unusually crowded last Sunday , in expectation of some allusion being made to the meeting of the previous Friday , at St . James ' s Hall , to denounce the revival of the confessional by the Rev . Alfred Poole . It was the festival of St . Barnabas , and the church was more than usually decorated with flowers and with the initials' S . B . Mr . Ingle , a clergyman frona another parish , preached the sermon , which though founded on the text , "Thou ahalt do no murder , " had reference to the recent attack on the conduct of Mr . Poole . The preacher said that " the church of St . Barnabas more than ever demanded their support , as it was not raorely the church of a district , but in some sense the church of th « whole country , ' for

    from it went forth an influence which permeated the land . As long as St . Barnabas and its system remained , the battle with the wickedness and irreverence at the time would be fought throughout the country . The friends of God ' s holy Catholic truth looked on St . Barnabas as their centre and model . Let them take courage . Not men nor devils would be able to prevail against them . What they should do now was to subscribe generously , so as to obtain a permanent endowment , and to give St . Barnabas any incumbent whom it should be out of the power of any individual , however elevated , to remove . " No disturbance took place ; but a good deal of excitement prevailed , in the -vicinity of the church , which was guarded by tivo or three policemen .-r-A long

    letter from th . e Rev . Mr . Poole is published in the Times of Tuesday ; and contains an emphatic denial of the statements made at the meeting on Friday week . ' The Bishop of London , it is said , has admitted that he dis - believes the worst of the statements , "but he has suspended the rev . gentleman ' s license on account of certain admissions made by him in a conversation with his Lordship , relative to the practice of confession at St . Barnabas . This conversation occurred several weeks before Mr . Poole had any reason to suppose that it was intended to take proceedings against him . The " admissions" were taken down in writing i ) y the Bishop ; but Mr . Poole has again and again applied in vain for a copy of them . The Bishop has also refused to allow Mr . Poole to

    confront his accusers , or to let him have an inquiry under the Church Discipline Act . Mr . Poole now resolves to appeal to the law-courts for the vindication of his character ; and he exhorts the Rev . Mr . Baring , his accuser , to remove any technical obstacle that may stand in the way of a full and free inquiry . An appeal has also been made from the Bishop to the Archbishop . Autograph of Shak . speare .-Au autograph signature of Shakspeare , affixed to the mortgage deed of a house in Blackfriars , dated March 11 , 1612-13 , said to be the finest specimen known , was dold by auction , on Monday , by Messrs . Sotheby and Wilkinson for 3157

    It was purchased by Mr . Boone for the British Museum , after much spirited competition , and will ever form an attractive feature among ; the treasures of the national collection . There were sold at tlie same time some choice quarto editions of the plays of Shakspcare , which brought high prices . Among them occurred an undated edition of Hamlet , which produced 2 U . 10 s . ; the second edition of the Merchant of Venice , 141 . 15 s . ; the second edition of the Comedy of Sir John , Fahtqffe and the Merry Wives of Windsor , 13 ? . 13 s . A fine copy of Shakspeare ' s Sonnets , 1609 , 154 ? . 7 s . The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet , 1609 , $€ / .

    Banquet at the Mansion-Housb . —The Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress , on Tuesday , entertained the Archbishop of Canterbury , the Bishops , the Canons of St . Paul's , the Canons of Gloucester , a number of distinguished clergy of the metropolis , several members of the House of Commons " , and private friends . Covers were laid in the Egyptian-hall for two hundred and eighty , and the band of the Hon . Artillery Company performed in the saloon during the reception ; and in tho Egyptian-hall during the dinner . KoYAt , Paudon . —Tho Marshal of tho Queen's Prison has received a warrant from tho Homo Omco , granting the Royal pardon to Mr . Owen , who was at onco liberated , information has nlso bocn recoived by tho prison authorities that the sentence passed upon Mr . ex-Alderman Kennedy would Ijo reduced from nine to four months , which will oxni ro on tho 2 t ! t ! i insL

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 19, 1858, page 593, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2247/page/17/