did on his last admission, with great emaciation, debility, epistaxis, and irritability of stomach. The spleen was four times its usual size, and the liver also enlarged.

Scorbutus.-Of 32 cases returned under scorbutus, 28 occurred at Deesa and two terminated fatally. They appeared chiefly after the hot and moist weather in October and November, and in men who had been long confined to hospital, especially invalids going to Bombay, weakly men out of hospital and grenadiers. Dr Thom considers these last as predisposed to scorbutus, cholera, and other humoral diseases, simply by their length and the greater force required in the circulating system than in men four or five inches shorter. In the two fatal cases the blood was found to be thin, dark, and incapable of coagulation; the cavities of the heart destitute of their usual fibrine, and sanguineous serum in the pleural and peritoneal cavities.

The supply of vegetables for the troops at Deesa is scanty and precarious in the dry season; but government having lately sanctioned the construction of two plunge-baths for the use of the Queen's Regiment stationed there, it is to be hoped a vegetable garden, to be cultivated by the men, and supplied with water from them, as recommended to the authorities, will be added and furnish a sufficient supply of vegetables at all seasons.

Epidemic Diseases.-There has been no epidemic disease among the Queen's troops during the year.

Influence of Age and Tropical Service. The following tables give the numbers and proportions of admissions and deaths at different ages and lengths of service in India.

From the first of these tables sickliness and mortality appear to have increased with age, from 20 to 45, though not progressively. The age 31 to 35 follows 18 to 20 in order of prevalence, and 21 to 23 in order of mortality. Men 26 to 30 also give fewer admissions than men 23 to 25. From 62 men under 18 years old there is no fatal case, but the proportion of admissions exceeds that at any other age.

The second table shows the large proportions of admissions and deaths that occur during the two first years of tropical service.

Every attention is given to the vaccination of the children of the Queen's troops, by government vaccinators, throughout the command; and to the re-vaccination of men who have unsatisfactory marks of that operation or of small-pox. A case of variola having appeared in a man of the 8th Regiment, who bore good marks of vaccination, Dr Tice became desirous of re-vaccinating all who had never been attacked with small-pox. The division of the regiment twice during the year prevented the completion of this design. Three hundred and sixty individuals only were subjected to the operation. Of these 195 men bore satisfactory marks of vaccination, and the operation succeeded in one only; 159 bore doubtful marks, and the operation succeeded in 140. In one officer, bearing satisfactory, and 5 bearing doubtful marks, the operation failed. It failed in 5 women, of whom 3 had satisfactory, and 2 doubtful marks, and succeeded in two children having doubtful marks. Altogether the operation failed in 218, and succeeded in 150 cases.

ART. II.-Antiquarian and Medico-Historical Notice of the Rochester and Chatham Leper Hospital of St Bartholomew. By THOMAS STRATTON, M.D. Edin.

IN the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal for 1841, (Vol. Ivi.), and in the numbers for January and April 1842, (Vol. lvii.), are three highly interesting papers by Professor Simpson, containing Antiquarian and Medico-Historical Notices

of Leprosy and Leper Hospitals in Scotland and England. In the third paper, vol. Ivii., p. 427, there is a list of hospitals of which he hes not given any account or description; in this list, St Bartholomew's at Chatham is named. While residing at Chatham in the autumn of 1849, I took the advantage of the opportunity to make those inquiries, generally conducted most conveniently on the spot, and I now beg to offer the result to the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.

Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, founded, A.D. 1078, St Bartholomew's Hospital for lepers. It was close to the river Medway, and was in the city of Rochester; the chapel of the hospital closely adjoined it, and was built on ground which is now in Chatham parish. In 1849, the chapel is the only part of the building that is extant. The corporation of the hospital was composed of a head or custos, and an unspecified number of brethren or canons. The head was sometimes called the prior. At first its income was small, and the hospital received aid from the priory or convent of St Andrew. In the time of Queen Elizabeth, it contained as inmates only two invalids. At this time, the ground belonging to the hospital being situated on the banks of the Medway became very valuable, and various persons endeavoured to steal, purloin, annex, or fraudulently take possession of the hospitalland; this was the case, particularly about the year 1579; but these attempts were put a stop to by Lord Burleigh. In the time of James VI., the ground was unjustly granted away to various persons; but about 1627, after much litigation, the right of the hospital to the lands was again settled. About 1627, a Lady Bingley received a sum of money as compensation for a real or an imaginary interest she had in the lands. This money was advanced by the Dean of Rochester, and this sum and the law expenses of the contest were made up by fines on the tenants on the renewal of their leases, and generally from the proceeds of the hospital estate. After about 1627, the hospital revenues were enjoyed by the Deans of Rochester, "as governors and patrons (!) of the hospital and brethren of the same.'

Formerly there were only three brethren, one of whom was a clergyman and officiated as chaplain, or at least received part of the rents as such; but, in 1718, a change was made by the Dean of Rochester; a second chaplain was appointed in the place of one of the brethren, who was also to enjoy the privileges and emoluments of a brother. Thus, apparently, we have two men officiating as chaplains to a third. In 1773, this brotherly society consisted of four brethren, two of whom were clergymen. The preceding particulars are derived from the History and Antiquities of

* History of Rochester.

Rochester, p. 276, (one vol. 12mo, pp. 326. Printed by J. Fisher, Rochester; no date, but apparently printed in 1773.)

From about 1627 to 1844, or for two hundred and seventeen years, the hospital revenues were enjoyed by the Deans of Rochester, or by the dean and chapter. About 1844, the judges in chancery, on the trial whether the clergy were to be allowed to keep possession of the hospital property, or whether it was to be taken from them, gave judgment against the clergy; but it is said that the present Dean of Rochester was exempted from having to pay the law expenses, as he had not interfered with the hospital-revenue after the matter was disputed.

It is (1849) said that in a few years, when some leases fall in, the hospital property may be easily made to produce a large annual sum. As Bishop Gundulph left this property for the use of those ill of leprosy, it is evident, that now that leprosy is in a manner extinct, the founder's Will will be most nearly fulfilled by devoting the revenue to the benefit of those ill of other diseases, and not, as has been done for more than two centuries, to the benefit of various already overpaid and perhaps absentee clergymen.

As the hospital revenue was not devoted to its intended purpose, it may be interesting to inquire how it was disposed of for the two centuries. It would appear to have been amalgamated with the revenues of the dean and chapter of Rochester, on whose property and its management, so much light, and light so much. required, has been thrown by the highly-meritorious and praiseworthy researches of Mr Whiston.* The following particulars are on the authority of Mr Whiston. It may be proper to state, for the information of readers not intimately acquainted with the constitution of the English Cathedrals and Ecclesiastical Incorporations, that by the dean and chapter are meant the dean and the canons or prebendaries, who, in the case of Rochester, are five in number. The cathedral statutes mention so many offices to be filled by persons, each to receive a certain salary (of which the amount is stated in pounds, &c.); and at the time the cathedral was either founded or remodelled, the total amount of these salaries equalled the annual income of the cathedral. As land increased in value the nominal rents of the cathedral property amounted to many more pounds than at first. If the rents had been paid in kind, little difference would have arisen. As the value of any nominal sum of money was thus becoming less, it evidently would have been the just and correct

1. Cathedral Trusts and their Fulfilment. By the Rev. Rob. Whiston, M.A., Fell. Trin. Coll. Camb., and Head Master of Rochester Cathedral Grammar School. 3d. Edition. 1849. Published by Ollivier, Pall Mall, London. Pp. 126.

2. Protest, &c., delivered to the Dean and Chapter of Rochester, Sept. 1849. 3. Mr Whiston is about to publish a Translation of the Statutes of Rochester Cathedral.

course to have continued to divide the cathedral income in the same proportions as at first, and among all the holders of cathedral situations. Instead of doing this, they paid the same nominal sums to most of the officials and salaried persons, and the six individuals managing the affairs of the corporation (namely, the dean and chapter,) divided the surplus income among themselves, as is most clearly seen in the tabular view here given.

Mr Whiston continues to observe, that while the letter of justice, but not its spirit, is meted out to the scholars, who now receive the same nominal sum as they did at first, yet in other instances the letter of the law has been disobeyed, as some salaried situations mentioned in the founder's will, or in the statutes, have been discontinued; others have been continued at a less nominal salary than the original one; and others were attached to other offices established by the founder, which must have been intended to be kept distinct and separate. Most, if not all the other cathedrals in England are in the same state as regards the management of the property, of which the deans and chapters are the trustees. The incumbents may say they did not commence these practices, but only continued a system they found already in operation. The saying respecting the consciences of corporate bodies will occur to the reader. Another peculiarity about the management of this kind of property is the system of letting land on a long lease, at an enormous premium, to be paid at once to the granter, and a nominal yearly rent afterwards, of a few pounds, to be paid to his successors. Here, also, apologists may say, that the present incumbents found this practice in use.

Connected with his inquiries, and with his continuing to hold the situation of head master of the cathedral grammar school, Mr Whiston became engaged in a law-suit with the chapter. At a meeting of the inhabitants of Rochester, on the 8th of December 1849, the sum of L.200, as a commencement, was subscribed towards the expenses on Mr Whiston's side, and to meet the large sums which might be so readily drawn from the chapter's

estates.

Of late, several public meetings have been held to consider the best way of managing the leper hospital estate. Three kinds of claims have been made for a share in the revenues. Canterbury,