his head raised only two or three feet above it. He
had evidently fallen off something upon which he had
been standing, as there were an old dressing-table and
some other lumber overturned and lying about the
body. The most feasible conjectures were, either that
while preparing to fix the lower end of the cord as a
noose to the window, the article upon which he was
standing had slipped from under him, and that, when
falling, his head had got within the sling formed by the
cord; or else that he had placed his head within the
cord from a boyish desire to taste for a moment the
sensation of hanging, and that, during the experiment,
he had lost his footing and sustained a jerk that
deprived him of the means of self-deliverance.

Another dreadful Boiler Explosion took place at
Glasgow on the 22nd, in the engineering establishment
of Messrs. Forrest and Co. It appears that one of the
boilers had been lengthened by 9 feet, giving it a total
of 25 feet, and 15-horse power. On the preceding
evening the newly-altered boiler had been tested and
found to bear a pressure of 35lb. on the square inch.
When the engineer left on Friday evening he caused
the fires to be drawn, and ordered the private watchman
not again to light them sooner than 5 o'clock this
morning, stating that he himself would return to the
works at half-past 5. The boiler stood in the lower
part of a new two-story building, the upper portions
being used as a smith's shop. The poor watchman,
whose name is John M'Kinnon, had not attended to the
orders given him, and must have lighted the furnace
some hours before the appointed time, for about
10 minutes past 5 an explosion took place which alarmed
and shook the whole neighbourhood. The building in
which the boiler had been placed, was shattered to
pieces, and piles of bricks, stone blocks, and broken
beams lay scattered in every direction. The boiler itself
was forced from its bed, torn into four separate pieces,
and scattered in as many different directions. One
ponderous portion had been thrown as high as the top
of a four-story house, for in its rise or descent it had
broken the lintels of the windows, and carried away
part of the water conductor under the projecting part
of the roof. On removing the rubbish, the watchman's
body was found lying a few feet in front of the furnace
door. He was a steady, sober man, and had been in
the employment of the company for upwards of three
months. The authorities are investigating the
circumstances of the accident.

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

A Christmas Dinner to the Poor was given by the
Leicester-square Soup Kitchen and Hospice. An
interesting account of it is given in the following letter
from the chairman of the committee to the Duke of
Cambridge, the president:—

"MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS,—I have the honour
to lay before your royal highness a brief account of the dinner
given by the Leicester-square Soup Kitchen to the poor on
Christmas Day. Your royal highness's generous contribution of
half an ox became a good signal for many to follow. The Earl of
Darnley, Sir John Cathcart, and Sir J. V. Shelley, M.P., gave
each a sheep, and Mr. Jobbins a sack of flour. Several boxes of
fruit were presented by fruiterers, and a variety of presents of
food made from different tradespeople. Colonel Colt, an American
gentleman, gave £10 to buy porter with. Messrs. Manners & Co.
gave a barrel of porter, Messrs. Goding & Co. a hogshead of
porter, Messrs. Inde, Coope, & Co., a barrel of porter, Messrs.
Hoare & Co. a barrel of porter, Mr. T. Bye, of Rathbone-place,
Oxford-street, a barrel of ale and a barrel of porter. Messrs.
Travers & Co. gave a large chest of tea and 2 cwt. of sugar; and
among the donors of money I beg to mention £100 from Lord
Ward. The arrangements made, enabled poor families to take
the Christmas fare home to their children, whilst the single
persons sat down by divisions of 120 at a time to a bountiful
supply of roast beef, plum pudding, potatoes, bread, and porter.
The quantity given to each family was two pounds of roast beef,
one pound of plum pudding, half a quartern loaf, and a pint of
porter; and between the dinner hours of one and half-past four
o'clock, 2,404 bearers of family tickets were supplied, and 1,080
persons dined. The further distribution of relief was postponed
when it became dark, until the following Monday (yesterday),
when it was renewed at one o'clock, and 630 bearers of family
tickets were supplied with Christmas fare, making altogether,
allowing four to a family, the large number of 13,216 persons who
enjoyed a good substantial dinner, through the bounty of your
royal highness and the donors and subscribers to this institution.
I will just add that 1,743 single persons were also provided on
Monday with an abundant supply of soup, and bread and cheese,
540 of whom had half a pint of porter each. A considerable
amount of food was sent to the Ragged Schools; and it is
intended to give to these establishments the contributions of tea,
sugar, and biscuits. It is but justice to the recipients of relief to
say, that whilst all seemed suffering from distress, and many
from extreme indigence, they invariably conducted themselves
with propriety; and if hearty good cheers for your royal highness
and the benevolent contributors to this Christian feast be a fair
indication ol the feelings, I venture to assert that none left our
institution on Christmas Day without being impressed with
gratitude. Permit me to explain to your royal highness that all
the family tickets were distributed through the instrumentality
of the Clergy, District Visitors, Scripture Readers, City Missionaries,
and the subscribers, &c. These tickets contain various
queries relating to the condition of the party to whom they were
given; and as these queries were duly filled up, signed, and
vouched for, there exists no reason to apprehend that the relief
and good cheer have been given to any than deserving poor
people. With regard to single persons who dined at the Kitchen,
they were admitted without tickets, and, in accordance with the
teaching of the Saviour, were invited to come in from the 'streets
and lanes;' and it is particularly gratifying to be able to state
that 'none were sent empty away.' I have the honour to be
your royal highness's most obedient and very humble servant.
"Tuesday, Dec. 28th, 1852."

The City of London Literary and Scientific Institution
has expired. This institution was founded twenty-
seven years ago, by Mr. Grote, Lord Denman, and
Mr. M'Culloch; and it has been fostered by the active
aid of many men eminent in literature: for some time
it has languished under inadequate support, and it has
at last been formally closed, at a final meeting, graced
by a speech from the president, Mr. Grote. At a
previous meeting it was resolved to acknowledge the long
and zealous services of Mr. George Stacy, as an officer
of the Institution, by some appropriate testimonial;
and a subscription for that purpose has been opened.

Much attention is excited by the great Exhibition of
Poultry which has taken place at the Baker-street
Bazaar, under the auspices of the Great Metropolitan
Poultry Club. It was a curious collection; nearly a
thousand cocks, each endeavouring to outvie its neighbour
in the strength and length of its crow. Cochin
Chinas abounded, and some of the male birds were three
feet in height, the hens in proportion, and chiefly of the
"buff" and white species. The price set upon some of
these birds seems almost incredible. For a pen belonging
to Mr. Fairlie, of Cheveley-park, near Newmarket,
consisting of a cock and three hens, no less than sixty
guineas were asked; and 110 of these birds, many of
them chickens of three months old, and all the property
of one lady, were sold in 102 lots, and realised nearly
£370. There were also some fine specimens of the
domestic Dorking, the spangled Hamburg, Poland ruffs,
bantams, and other fancy species, and several pens of
magnificent turkeys, geese, ducks, &c. In the pigeon
classes there were some pens of Goura Victoria pigeons,
never before exhibited in this country. These pigeons
are from one of the large islands in the Indian
Archipelago, and have a species of topknot, springing out of
the head, somewhat similar to the feathers of a
peacock's tail. In the flying tumbler class there was an
extraordinary pen of six pied rollers, feather legged.
The kind is not generally known, but the birds are
remarkable for the height of their flying. They can
keep on the wing eight hours without once settling.
Their rolling propensity is very peculiar; some of them
will roll 100 yards, and they do it so cleverly as to
resemble a ball with a small hole in the middle. Mr.
Fairlie, of Cheveley, also showed a pen of light speckled
Scotch fowls, from Ayrshire, known in the north as
"dumpies," or "bakies," remarkable for the extraordinary
shortness of their legs. Amongst the specimens
exhibited, which attracted marked attention were some
exceedingly fine Poland fowls, with white topknots, and
a pen of three geese weighing together 48 lbs. So great
a value was placed upon the eggs of many of the birds
in the exhibition that eight police-officers of the detective
force were continually on the watch to prevent their
abstraction by persons employed in the building or by
visitors. The exhibition was followed by a sale by
auction, at which enormous prices were given. A