§ The Earl of Orfordrose to express a wish that any information which his Majesty's Government possessed, relative to the disease which was now afflicting a part of Europe, and with which, he regretted to say, this country was threatened, might be laid on their Lordships' Table. He hoped the Medical Board appointed by the Government was efficiently composed, and the members of it were well acquainted with the difficult and interesting duty with which they were charged. He asked this question, because he was told by a medical gentleman, on whose experience and good feeling he could rely, that there was not a single member of the Board, who had ever had a case of cholera under his care. He was aware, that the Government had sent out persons for the purpose of inquiring into the nature and progress of the disorder; and he hoped, when their reports were received, that there would be no objection to produce them. He did not wish to embarrass the Government in the slightest degree; but he could not help repeating, that in his opinion there ought to be added to the Board some medical gentleman Who had been conversant with the disease in India. He should like to see a list of the gentlemen who composed that Board laid on their Lordships' Table, and if that were objected to, he should think it his duty to make a formal motion on the subject.
The Marquis of Lansdownwas understood to say, that the names of the Medical Board were published in the "Gazette," and that he considered to be the regular mode of making the public acquainted with them. He had every reliance on the skill and discretion of those gentlemen, and he had no doubt but they would take all possible modes of making themselves acquainted with the subject, and of communicating with persons who were familiar with the disease and its nature and operation in India. The Government had not been inattentive to the necessity of procuring information, and Dr. Russell, who had much experience in the treatment of the disease in India, had been sent to Riga, for the purpose of ascertaining if the disorder now prevalent was the same as that which had come under his observation in the East. He should be happy to lay before the House copies of any reports or information he might receive on the subject; and he would, therefore, move in the usual manner for copies or extracts of all reports received by his Majesty's Government, relative to the disease now prevailing in the northern parts of Europe. The noble Lord added, that he believed the information, when submitted to the public, would lessen the apprehension which at present prevailed.
§ The Earl of Orfordhad no wish to interfere with the course which the Government thought best. He only felt the propriety of recommending that some medical man should be added to the Board who had experience of the disease, called the cholera, in India.