aged thirty-four, and the operation was the
removal of a part of his hand, which had been bitten
by a man about a year before. The bone and nerves
were diseased, producing great pain in the arm and
side, otherwise the man was strong and healthy. He
desired that chloroform should be administered, though
Mr. Cock, the operator, endeavoured to dissuade him.
The operation did not last above a minute and a half,
but by the time it was finished, it was found that the
patient had expired. Mr. Cock said that he always
objected to the use of chloroform, for it never could be
given without some degree of danger. In this instance
a very small quantity had been used, not a tenth part
of what had been administered in other cases. He
could not account for the deceased dying, and was
certain there was no disease about him. So strong and
powerful an agent was chloroform, that it could not be
administered without some amount of risk and danger,
and the penalty the public must pay for the alleviation
from pain would be a death occasionally. A similar
death occurred about twelve months since at St.
Thomas's Hospital, and many other deaths might be
recorded. It might be used one or two thousand times
or more, successfully, and was of great assistance to the
operator. The public ought to know the danger
attending its administration.

On the evening of the 8th, Lieutenant Gale ascended
in a Balloon from Shoreham, was carried across the
channel, and landed on the beach near Dieppe. He
was at first arrested by a gendarme as a suspicious
person, but, on explanation, he was kindly treated and
his balloon secured for him.

A Frightful Tragedy occurred at Wilmot, Annapolis
County, in the United States, on the 9th ult., when a
Mrs. Miller, of Handley, after her husband had gone to
church, walked out with her four youngest children,and
having tied them to her dress, plunged with them from
a cliff, and all were drowned. Her mind has been
slightly deranged, but on that day she appeared unusually
well. She left nine other children.

On the 15th, while the two daughters of Mrs. Stoner,
of Ringrone House, and nieces of Lord Camoys, were
walking among the rocks of the seashore at Salcombe,
they were overtaken by the flowing tide, when one of
them was Drowned. Her sister held on by the rocks
and was saved by the coast guard, whose services are
described as being highly commendable.

There have been violent Thunder Storms, in various
parts of the country. At Bristol, on the 15th, many
buildings in the town and ships in the harbour were
struck by lightning, and several persons were injured,
but there was no loss of life. On the following day
Manchester and its neighbourhood were visited by a
storm. At Bury, a boy was riding on a horse with a
number of milk-cans; the lightning struck them, and
both boy and horse were killed. Two men were
ascending the shaft of a mine, when the lightning
damaged the rope; it broke, and the miners were
precipitated to the bottom, very seriously hurt.

A Dreadful Accident happened on Sunday the 21st on
the South Western Railway. An immense number of
persons left the Waterloo station in the morning, in the
excursion trains to Southampton. One of the trains left
a quarter of an hour before another, and was overtaken
by the latter some distance down the line. As there
appeared scarcely sufficient power in the engine of the
first train to keep it ahead of the second, the latter
assisted in propelling the former along. When near
Basingstoke the first train shot ahead a little of the
second, but was again overtaken by the latter, and
although the concussion of their coming in contact was
very slight, it was sufficient to throw a man out who was
improperly sitting on the outer rail of an open third
class carriage, without any roof, which was the fourth
from the last carriage of the first train. The man fell
across the rail, and the whole of the four last carriages
of the first train went over his head and arm. His head
was cut to pieces, and his brains scattered over the line.
He was of course killed by the first wheel which went
over him. He moaned after he fell out of the carriage.
He was respectably dressed, and it was stated that he
resided somewhere in the neighbourhood of Ludgatehill.
It is said that no blame was attributable to the
driver of the engine of the second train, because the
concussion of coming in contact with the first train would
not have done any damage, if the unfortunate man who
met with the fatal accident had not been sitting where
he had no business to sit.

On the morning of the 21st, the butler of H. Cooper,
Esq., of Manor-house, Brixton, who had been out shooting
the birds which destroyed the wall-fruit, left his
loaded fowling-piece on the hall table whilst answering
his master's bell. Mr. Henry Cooper, aged 16, entered
the hall, and taking up the weapon presented it at his
sister who was along with him. Mrs. Evans, the
housekeeper, who had followed them, was in the act of
remonstrating with him on the foolishness of his conduct,
when the piece exploded, and both females fell with a
loud shriek. Miss Cooper received the chief contents of
the charge (No. 6 shot) in her neck and face, and,
should she recover, will be disfigured for life. The
housekeeper is so dangerousously injured, that no hopes
are entertained of her recovery. The occurrence was
purely accidental.

A calamitous Steamboat Explosion took place at
Bristol on the 22nd. The Red Rover steamer left the
Hotwells about eight in the evening, and was about
to proceed to Bristol, full of passengers, when she
suddenly blew up with a noise which shook the
neighbourhood, and was heard at the distance of miles. The
engines and machinery were torn to pieces; her funnel,
the plates of her boiler, and the other portions of her
machinery being hurled into the air. The bodies of
some of the passengers were thrown by the shock
high above the houses; others were cast into
the water; and almost every passenger was more or
less injured. The vessel almost immediately sank,
going down by the head, her stern fortunately
remaining long enough above the water to enable some
of the passengers to be taken out of the after-cabin
windows. Such was the force of the explosion, that
some of the plates of the boiler of the steamer were
thrown with considerable violence on to the roofs of the
houses in Avon Crescent and Rawlings's Yard, more
than one hundred yards from the spot where the
explosion took place; and one piece, upwards of one and a
half hundred weight, was thrown into Messrs. Hennett's
timber-yard, at fully as great a distance. A little girl,
named Jefferies, was hurled by the explosion with such
violence as to be thrown completely across the lock to
the road on the opposite side, where her brains were
dashed out against the wall. The most prompt assistance
was given, and a number of persons, alive and dead,
were picked up. Six dead bodies were found, and many,
carried to the hospital, were so dreadfully injured, that
their recovery could hardly be expected. On the following
day an inquiry into the cause of the accident
commenced before the coroner.

A Frightful Accident occurred on the 23rd in one of
the coal-pits belonging to Mr. Sneden, situated at
Commonade, in the immediate neighbourhood of Airdrie.
The miners, to the number of twenty, descended to their
work as usual about six o'clock, when, it is said, the
foreman accompanied them, and went forward to ascertain
the state of the air in the pit. All of a sudden a
terrific explosion occurred, which instantly killed nineteen
out of the twenty, and shattered and destroyed all
the implements and machinery in the pit. Only one
man escaped. He was standing near the bottom of the
pit when he heard the explosion, and suddenly threw
himself down to allow the fiery storm to pass over. On
rising he found the buckets which communicated with
the surface shattered; but finding a piece of wood, he
inserted it into one of the links of the chain, and giving
the signal, was pulled up to the pit-head. The accounts
of the cause of the accident given by this man are
exceedingly imperfect, and it is not likely that the actual
circumstance connected with this calamitous event will
ever be known. The Men had not Davy Lamps.
Fifteen of the bodies were recovered up to the last
account, leaving still four in the pit. They are almost all
dreadfully charred and disfigured from the effects of the
explosion, which is one of the most severe that has
occurred in the west of Scotland for many years. The
deceased are mostly young men, but a few of them have
left widows and children.