the flames burst forth so fiercely that the machine
caught fire, and it could no longer be used. Soon after
this, part of the house suddenly fell down, and two of
the firemen were all but sacrificed. Brossette stated that
unless the lodgers had escaped by the back of the house
there must have been many burnt to death: it was too
true—when, after the lapse of many hours, the ruins
were searched, no fewer than eight bodies were
found. They were those of persons who had been
nightly lodgers in the house,—a German hawker of
jewellery, a tailor, a Hungarian refugee, a commission-
agent, a carpenter, two slipper-makers, and a man
unknown; nearly all foreigners. There has been an
inquest on the bodies, but the origin of the fire has not
been discovered.

A singular Death from Chloroform has taken place
at St. George's Hospital. Eliza Harvey, a single
woman, aged 37, was admitted to the hospital, suffering
from a tumour in the breast, which it was proposed to
remove. Being of a very nervous disposition, and of
a weak constitution, she was allowed to remain in the
institution for upwards of a fortnight before the operation
took place. During that period Dr. Hawkins,
senior surgeon, and the other medical gentlemen of the
institution, held a consultation as to whether the patient
was a fit subject for chloroform, and they were all
unanimously of opinion that she was. Having been
taken into the theatre, where Dr. Hawkins was in
readiness to perform the operation, the chloroform was
applied by Mr. Patten, the assistant apothecary, who
observing that she was very nervous, endeavoured to
calm her by telling her not to be frightened. The
apparatus had not been attached more than a minute
and a half, when the patient was observed to faint and
become suddenly pulseless. It was immediately
withdrawn, and endeavours made to recover her, but in
vain, as she had ceased to breathe. It was positively
stated by Dr. Hawkins that the apparatus had not been
applied more than a minute and a half, the usual time
being five minutes, and that only one-tenth part of the
chloroform usually given was inhaled. The apparatus
was so combined as to tell to one drop how much of the
anaesthetic agent was inhaled. The post-mortem
examination showed no appearance of disease in any portion
of the body, and at the inquest afterwards held Dr
Hawkins gave it as his opinion that death resulted from
the combined effects of the chloroform and fright.
Before the introduction of chloroform he had heard of
cases where persons died from nervousness, through
dread of an operation. The jury returned a verdict in
accordance with Dr. Hawkins's evidence, and exonerated
all parties from blame in the affair.

There was a Thunderstorm at Leeds on the afternoon
of the 2nd inst. At Richmond Hill, two of the workmen
employed in building a Roman Catholic chapel there
sought refuge from the rain under an arch, and were
killed by lightning: several others were struck. Hard
by, workmen were sinking a well: one man was on the
surface; his thigh was broken, and the lightning as it
passed down the well covered a man at the bottom with
stones and rubbish; but he was got out alive. A number
of labourers at some new houses in the vicinity were
also struck down, and were senseless for a time.

A frightful Railway Accident happened on Sunday
night the 14th inst., on the London and South Western
Line. Between Richmond and Mortlake, a crash was
heard, and the passengers experienced a sensation as if
the carriages were being lifted off the metals. Being
unable to communicate with the driver, the train went
on, and on reaching the Mortlake station, the station-
master missed the guard, whose name was Day, from his
accustomed place. Lamps were procured, and the
wheels of the carriage examined, when it was found
that blood, hair, and brains were adhering to them. A
porter named Forrester, belonging to the Mortlake
station, was despatched to look for the poor man, and
found him lying across the outer rails quite dead, the
wheels of the engine or carriages having passed over
him. His cap was found six or seven yards this
side of the body. It seems that he must have been
standing on the steps of the carriage, and have slipped
down, as his boots were found about five yards between
his body and his cap.

A government gun-boat, the Jasper, was Destroyed
by Fire, on the morning of the 15th, off Beachy Head.
She had left Portsmouth harbour for the Baltic, under
the command of Lieutenant Crawley, having about two
tons of powder on board and other ammunition. She
had proceeded as far as Beachy Head, when about half-
past six in the morning a fire was discovered between
the boiler and the powder-magazine. Every effort was
made to extinguish the flames, but without avail. For
nearly two hours the crew remained in the vessel
exerting themselves to arrest the progress of the fire,
but finding that there was no prospect of getting it
under, and that the flames were rapidly approaching
the magazine, they deemed it expedient to quit the
ship in their three boats. They lay by the vessel, at a
safe distance, for nearly half an hour, when the flames
and smoke subsided, and some of the crew volunteered
to return to the vessel; almost at the same instant the
flames burst forth with renewed violence, and in a few
moments more, about half-past nine o'clock, the vessel
blew up. The crew were picked up by the Vanguard,
of Liverpool, Crosby, Master, which took them to within
about three miles of Brighton, where they safely landed
in their boats, and proceeded forthwith to Portsmouth,
having lost nearly everything on board.

A distressing case of Poisoning through Carelessness
with Drugs has occurred at Leeds. A woman, named
Stancliffe, went to Mr. Exley's (druggist) shop, in
Hunslet-lane, and purchased a pennyworth of bichromate
of potash and vitriol for colouring, which, though
of a very poisonous nature, was supplied to her without
being labelled, and she took it home, and being ignorant
of its nature, laid it on the table. Whilst occupied in
putting some water upon the fire, one of her children,
a little boy two years old, took hold of the parcel, went
with it to the door, and after eating a portion of the
contents scattered the rest on the floor. Very shortly
afterwards he was seized with vomiting, and was
conveyed first to the druggist's and thence to the Leeds
Infirmary; yet, notwithstanding every effort to
counteract the effects of the poison, he died during the
afternoon. At the inquest on the body a verdict of
"Accidentally poisoned" was returned, and the jury
specially urged upon chemists the importance of labelling
all poisons disposed of by them.

A labourer has been Killed in a tunnel at Halshaw
Moor, on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. The
tunnel is a very dangerous place, the only way for
workmen to escape destruction, if two trains pass at the
same time, is by their lying down on the ground
between the two lines or close to the walls of the tunnel
—then the foot-boards of the carriages will not strike
them. Two men were at work in this perilous place;
a train approached on either line; one man lay down
between the lines, and shouted to his companion to do
the same; but the unfortunate fellow seems to have
attempted to run out of the tunnel—the train struck
him down and killed him on the spot. A coroner's
jury pronounced the death "Accidental," but called on
the railway company to provide recesses in the tunnel
as places of refuge when trains are passing.

Mr. Daniel Barnett, head of the firm of Neustadt &
Barnett, general merchants in Birmingham, was Killed
on the North Western Railway, on the 22nd inst. He
had left Birmingham by the mail train for London
about midnight. He occupied alone a compartment of
a first-class carriage, and very soon after the train had
entered the Beechwood tunnel, near Coventry, the
guard felt a slight concussion; he looked out, and saw
a carriage door open. He signalled the driver to stop,
and presently the body of Mr. Barnett was found lying
across the rails, his legs nearly severed from his body
and his carpet bag a little distance off. He had fallen
from the carriage and been jerked from the wall of the
tunnel to beneath the rails, and the train had passed
over him. He was alive when picked up, and he
uttered a sentence or two: but he had scarcely reached
Coventry before he expired. It seems probable that he
was laying down the cushions and making his bed
comfortably for the night, and that the door of the
carriage not being fastened he fell backward on to it,
and was cast beneath the rails.