The correspondence relating to the Lancet Sanitary Commission : (which appeared lately in The Times) / examined by James Caesar Durnford, John A. Power and Raymond S. Daniell ; with an appendix of documents.

  • Durnford, James Caesar.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The correspondence relating to the Lancet Sanitary Commission : (which appeared lately in The Times) / examined by James Caesar Durnford, John A. Power and Raymond S. Daniell ; with an appendix of documents. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    33/64 (page 31)
    SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTS OF ANALYSES Performed by Dr. Letheby at the request of Dr. Hassall, for the Sana- tory Commission of the Lancet. Dr. Hassall lias placed before us certain letters, accounts, and charges in the handwriting of Dr. Letheby. These were sent in at different periods during the last four years, and they specify the nature and number of the analyses performed by him during that period at the request of Dr. Hassall for the Lancet Sana- tory Commission. They have been submitted to a careful examination by us, and we now report upon them to the following effect: — From these documents it appears that in 1851 twenty-one analyses were made by Dr. Letheby in all: 10 of these were ashes of cocoa, one being a quantitative analysis and the rest merely qualitative, ■whilst the remaining 11 samples consisted of breads and flours which were ana- lysed for alum only. That in 1852 twelve analyses were made by Dr. Letheby ; of which 8 were of samples of ale, 3 of vinegar, and 1 of cayenne. That in 1853 one hundred analyses were made by Dr. Letheby ; of which 8 were of samples of tobacco, 12 of Manilla cheroots for opium, 43 of snuff ashes, and 37 of powdered opium. That in 1854 the number of analyses performed by Dr. Letheby was thirty-two; of which l6 were of powdered opium, 10 of blue sugar confectionary for the blue pigment only, 2 of snuff, and 4 of samples of gin. The accounts rendered by Dr. Letheby, being so clear and in his own handwriting, furnish indisputable and conclusive evidence of the actual number of analyses performed by him, some of them being par- tial analyses only. Thus it is distinctly shown that the entire number of chemical analyses performed by Dr. Letheby, viz. 165, bears but a very small proportion to the number of the analyses, as well microsco- pical as chemical, performed by Dr. Hassall, viz. 2481. Of these samples 63 were of tobacco and snuff, and 53 of opium ; thus leaving 48 samples of all other kinds ; but it is to be especially noted that the analyses of these 53 samples of opium are not recorded in Dr. Hassall’s work on “ Food and its Adulterations.” As witness our hands this first day of August, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. Ravmond S. Daniell, M. A., Oxon. Georoe Bolton. 9, Queen Street, Brompton. In this statement of the number of analyses made by Dr. Letheby in each year, the dates given in his own account are followed.