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MEDICAL CORONERS—CASE OF JAMES BUTLER.
94 "
’1 17 May,
1695.
Pdtubarb in lalcol; incis., j. Corallinae, 3 s. LocxE.
111 ; f : no duluq : For Mr. Clarke’s daughter." Accompanying which, is
J.
Mr. Editor, the following memorable obser. vations, made by the Duke of Sussex, at the farewell dinner, given at the Freemason’s Tavern on Nov. 24,1826 :-
" It is to be regretted,that a man ofsach distinguished attainments should have been a letter com- denied those honours which his acquire. mencing with-" I have sent a gentle re- ments so peculiarly merit; and it is no less medie foryr little one at Ditton, which may to be regretted, that the College of Surpossibly doe without any greater businesse." geons, which was instituted to confer honour on all who should promote the science of surgery, should have been rendered avail. To the same. " able to the purposes of a most disreputable 3rd May, 1695. Apropos des remedes. Take juice ofmonopoly." I feel a pride in saying I attended his lecSelandine and Honey, with a little Safron ; an excellent remedie for a sore mouth, and tures, and being in practice in the country, am now receiving the benefit of his excel. yt which people call kankers in it." lent plan of instruction. The object of this letter is to propose opening a subscription for a handsome piece of plate, to be given by the profession to Mr. Brookes as a testiTHE ANATOMIST. MR. BROOKES, monial of the high esteem in which his WE readily give insertion to the follow- abilities are held ; and as, Mr, Editor, you yourself the promoter of ing letter. It caunot be denied that the un- have always shown of medical the and science, great principled and infamous exclusion of Mr. abuses, I am sure Ireformer cannot leave the BROOKES from a seat in the College, has inmanagement to a more fit person than yourflicted a stamp of disgrace on those who self. I shall most cheerfully contribute my hold the reins of government in that institu- guinea, whenever the suhscription is open. I am, Sir, tion, which even an age of virtuous deeds Yours, &c., could not efface. Why do the members of W. the College tamely witness the continued persecution of one of the most able and venerable of their body? It is known, and MEDICAL CORONERS—CASE OF indeed admitted, that Mr. Brookes’s otilv JAMES BUTLER. offence is, his having sold his knowledge under the College price. Would this be a To the Editor of THE LANCET. sufficient reason for exclusion, with honour- I interest and advantage with SiK,ņThe able promoters of science1 Monopoly, in a which I have perused the excellentobserscience like that of medicine, is not only vations contained in your Journal, on the disgraceful, but murderous in its conse- subject of non-medical coroners, induce me quences, as it completely prevents, or effec. to submit to your notice some observations on a recent melancholy case, in which the tually paralyses, those efforts which would life of an unhappy individual might have otherwise be made by uncontrolled freedom been saved, had there .heen in the country to airest the destructive ravages of disease. any public functionary whose peculiar duty was the investigation of such branches of To tlte Eclitor of THE LANCET. jurisprudence as are connected with scienSm,-Among the many meritorious indi- tific knowledge. viduals of the present age, who have contriThe case to which I refer is that of James lruted to the advancement of science, I I,now Butler, executed July 27, 1829, for firing of no one more justly entided to praise than the floor-cloth manufactory of Messrs. Air. Joshua Brookes, the celebrated anato- Downing at Che18ea: under very strong mist. He has a high claim to the respect pre"umptire evidence as to his guilt, conof the profession, and yet what neglect has tradicted indeed by his strongest protestahe experiencedWhy have not the College tions of innocence to the last. When I of Surgeons placed him, long ere this, in the first perused the details of his trial in the Court of Examiners ?1 What excuse have month of October last, 1 felt no difficulty in they for their negligence of this highly- assigning as the probable cause of the contalented man?1 You remember, no doubt, flagration for which he suffered, the spontaneous ignition of’ some of the material used * This is a correct copy of the prescrip- in the process of the oil-cloth manufacture. tion : I have not altered a letter.-J. P. Linseed-oil, lamp-black. and tow (substances *
.
95
largely used in the manufacture), are, under quently absent from the operations at this there are no official means peculiar circumstancesofj uxta-position, very hospital, because them of their also of rufavourable to this phenomenon, as may be considered the scrapings of the floorcloth, often permitted to accumulate in con. siderable heaps upon the floor. Such an opinion, if stated at the time of the trial, and supported by the various cases in which combustion has been known to arise spontaneously, and produce many lamentable conflagrations, could not, I consider, fail to have excited the attention of the judge and jury on the occasion and although they might not by them have been deemed sumcient ground for another trial, would yet have arrested their decision, and excited an additional inquiry. This opinion I some time since stated in a letter to the editor of a morning paper, which was the cause of my introduction to a benevolent individual who had commenced an investigation into the ease, and who has since, by rebutting every part of the moral evidence produced against Butler at his trial, succeeded in esta. blisliing the fact of his innocence beyond a doubt, and convinced me of the correctness of my opinion, as to the accidental origin of the conflagration. I do not consider that, from the nature of the evidence before the jury, their verdict can, in any way, be impugned ; a mystery hung over the case, which could only be re-
moved
by referring the calamity
to
acause,
of the existence of which they were unacquainted : but it is a melancholy instance of a case in which an irreparable injury has been inflicted upon an individual and his family, because no competent authority existed to intercept the necessary uncompromising denouncement of our penal code. As such, deeming that public justice requires that publicity should be given to the case, I beg to submit my observations to the readers of your invaluable Journal. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,
A. BooTtf, Operative Chemist. 20, Church Street, Shoreditch,
occurrence, apprising being the only vehicle of information
mour so
important.
’
subject of this oriental establishment, I must be permitted to comWhile
on
the
ment on the couduct of Sir W. Blizaid, who, not the old woman in the coar, far the most and cern, is
though
only
querulous
by
troublesome on operation days. Although " there is’ ample space and room enough" for pupils and visitors to witness the exploits, Sir William is so tenacious, that every old pupil or visitor, whose face he may not remember, or approve, has to submit to most offensive scrutiny and impertinent iuterrogation. I was lately present when he behaved himself so like a mountebank, that the derision of the class overpowered the complaints of the victim on the table. I recollect that a gentleman, whose litbotomic performances have obtained for him a very interesting portion of public attention, was not subjected to the annoyance complained of, when, a few months ago, he came to Whitechapel to admire the achievements of a kindred spirit. Extreme old age is sometimes venerable, and it must always claim our compassion when degenerated into imbecility ; yet this should never interfere with our obligations to others. In addition to the consideration to which their age entitles them, some are respectable for the unimpaired vigour of their faculties, the maturity of their experi. ence, or the urbanity of their manners. Sir William has lived so long as to be merely old, and senility is the sole remaining quality of the senior surgeon of the London Hospital. He were fitter for its matron. 1 am, Sir, yours obediently, A PUPIL.
SHAMEFUL
INATTENTION
TO
THE
OF THE MEDICAL OFFICERS OF
MAS’S
ORDERS ST. THO-
HOSPITAL.
April 3. Mr. Booth’s talents as a chemist, and the of the subject on which he
To tlte Editor of THE LANCET. SiR,—In No. 343 of THE LANCET you writes, are sufficient to claim immediate inenough to insert my letter sertion for his letter. It is right, however, were obliging on what I deemed gross cujpacommenting to add, that we have but a slight acquaintthe part of a surgeon of St. Thoance with the facts to which the writer ad- mas’s Hcspital. From Dr. Elliotson’s Cliverts.-ED. L. nique (No. 344, page 11, case W. P.) I extract the following : I wrote in the
importance
bility on
11
prescription-book DISTRESSING
CASE OF SENILITY.
7b the Editor of THE LANCET. London Hospital, April, 1830. Sm,—At least fact4- of the pupils are fre-
for him to have
aflannet
roller around the abdomen, as you may recollect I did upon the same day for a boy labouring under slight ascites, abdominal pains, and signs of mesenteric affection ; and I regret tJaot you witnessed the tlijJiculty I
expt:1’ieuced in obtaining it for tJtena bota."
’1 17 May,
1695.
Pdtubarb in lalcol; incis., j. Corallinae, 3 s. LocxE.
111 ; f : no duluq : For Mr. Clarke’s daughter." Accompanying which, is
J.
Mr. Editor, the following memorable obser. vations, made by the Duke of Sussex, at the farewell dinner, given at the Freemason’s Tavern on Nov. 24,1826 :-
" It is to be regretted,that a man ofsach distinguished attainments should have been a letter com- denied those honours which his acquire. mencing with-" I have sent a gentle re- ments so peculiarly merit; and it is no less medie foryr little one at Ditton, which may to be regretted, that the College of Surpossibly doe without any greater businesse." geons, which was instituted to confer honour on all who should promote the science of surgery, should have been rendered avail. To the same. " able to the purposes of a most disreputable 3rd May, 1695. Apropos des remedes. Take juice ofmonopoly." I feel a pride in saying I attended his lecSelandine and Honey, with a little Safron ; an excellent remedie for a sore mouth, and tures, and being in practice in the country, am now receiving the benefit of his excel. yt which people call kankers in it." lent plan of instruction. The object of this letter is to propose opening a subscription for a handsome piece of plate, to be given by the profession to Mr. Brookes as a testiTHE ANATOMIST. MR. BROOKES, monial of the high esteem in which his WE readily give insertion to the follow- abilities are held ; and as, Mr, Editor, you yourself the promoter of ing letter. It caunot be denied that the un- have always shown of medical the and science, great principled and infamous exclusion of Mr. abuses, I am sure Ireformer cannot leave the BROOKES from a seat in the College, has inmanagement to a more fit person than yourflicted a stamp of disgrace on those who self. I shall most cheerfully contribute my hold the reins of government in that institu- guinea, whenever the suhscription is open. I am, Sir, tion, which even an age of virtuous deeds Yours, &c., could not efface. Why do the members of W. the College tamely witness the continued persecution of one of the most able and venerable of their body? It is known, and MEDICAL CORONERS—CASE OF indeed admitted, that Mr. Brookes’s otilv JAMES BUTLER. offence is, his having sold his knowledge under the College price. Would this be a To the Editor of THE LANCET. sufficient reason for exclusion, with honour- I interest and advantage with SiK,ņThe able promoters of science1 Monopoly, in a which I have perused the excellentobserscience like that of medicine, is not only vations contained in your Journal, on the disgraceful, but murderous in its conse- subject of non-medical coroners, induce me quences, as it completely prevents, or effec. to submit to your notice some observations on a recent melancholy case, in which the tually paralyses, those efforts which would life of an unhappy individual might have otherwise be made by uncontrolled freedom been saved, had there .heen in the country to airest the destructive ravages of disease. any public functionary whose peculiar duty was the investigation of such branches of To tlte Eclitor of THE LANCET. jurisprudence as are connected with scienSm,-Among the many meritorious indi- tific knowledge. viduals of the present age, who have contriThe case to which I refer is that of James lruted to the advancement of science, I I,now Butler, executed July 27, 1829, for firing of no one more justly entided to praise than the floor-cloth manufactory of Messrs. Air. Joshua Brookes, the celebrated anato- Downing at Che18ea: under very strong mist. He has a high claim to the respect pre"umptire evidence as to his guilt, conof the profession, and yet what neglect has tradicted indeed by his strongest protestahe experiencedWhy have not the College tions of innocence to the last. When I of Surgeons placed him, long ere this, in the first perused the details of his trial in the Court of Examiners ?1 What excuse have month of October last, 1 felt no difficulty in they for their negligence of this highly- assigning as the probable cause of the contalented man?1 You remember, no doubt, flagration for which he suffered, the spontaneous ignition of’ some of the material used * This is a correct copy of the prescrip- in the process of the oil-cloth manufacture. tion : I have not altered a letter.-J. P. Linseed-oil, lamp-black. and tow (substances *
.
95
largely used in the manufacture), are, under quently absent from the operations at this there are no official means peculiar circumstancesofj uxta-position, very hospital, because them of their also of rufavourable to this phenomenon, as may be considered the scrapings of the floorcloth, often permitted to accumulate in con. siderable heaps upon the floor. Such an opinion, if stated at the time of the trial, and supported by the various cases in which combustion has been known to arise spontaneously, and produce many lamentable conflagrations, could not, I consider, fail to have excited the attention of the judge and jury on the occasion and although they might not by them have been deemed sumcient ground for another trial, would yet have arrested their decision, and excited an additional inquiry. This opinion I some time since stated in a letter to the editor of a morning paper, which was the cause of my introduction to a benevolent individual who had commenced an investigation into the ease, and who has since, by rebutting every part of the moral evidence produced against Butler at his trial, succeeded in esta. blisliing the fact of his innocence beyond a doubt, and convinced me of the correctness of my opinion, as to the accidental origin of the conflagration. I do not consider that, from the nature of the evidence before the jury, their verdict can, in any way, be impugned ; a mystery hung over the case, which could only be re-
moved
by referring the calamity
to
acause,
of the existence of which they were unacquainted : but it is a melancholy instance of a case in which an irreparable injury has been inflicted upon an individual and his family, because no competent authority existed to intercept the necessary uncompromising denouncement of our penal code. As such, deeming that public justice requires that publicity should be given to the case, I beg to submit my observations to the readers of your invaluable Journal. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,
A. BooTtf, Operative Chemist. 20, Church Street, Shoreditch,
occurrence, apprising being the only vehicle of information
mour so
important.
’
subject of this oriental establishment, I must be permitted to comWhile
on
the
ment on the couduct of Sir W. Blizaid, who, not the old woman in the coar, far the most and cern, is
though
only
querulous
by
troublesome on operation days. Although " there is’ ample space and room enough" for pupils and visitors to witness the exploits, Sir William is so tenacious, that every old pupil or visitor, whose face he may not remember, or approve, has to submit to most offensive scrutiny and impertinent iuterrogation. I was lately present when he behaved himself so like a mountebank, that the derision of the class overpowered the complaints of the victim on the table. I recollect that a gentleman, whose litbotomic performances have obtained for him a very interesting portion of public attention, was not subjected to the annoyance complained of, when, a few months ago, he came to Whitechapel to admire the achievements of a kindred spirit. Extreme old age is sometimes venerable, and it must always claim our compassion when degenerated into imbecility ; yet this should never interfere with our obligations to others. In addition to the consideration to which their age entitles them, some are respectable for the unimpaired vigour of their faculties, the maturity of their experi. ence, or the urbanity of their manners. Sir William has lived so long as to be merely old, and senility is the sole remaining quality of the senior surgeon of the London Hospital. He were fitter for its matron. 1 am, Sir, yours obediently, A PUPIL.
SHAMEFUL
INATTENTION
TO
THE
OF THE MEDICAL OFFICERS OF
MAS’S
ORDERS ST. THO-
HOSPITAL.
April 3. Mr. Booth’s talents as a chemist, and the of the subject on which he
To tlte Editor of THE LANCET. SiR,—In No. 343 of THE LANCET you writes, are sufficient to claim immediate inenough to insert my letter sertion for his letter. It is right, however, were obliging on what I deemed gross cujpacommenting to add, that we have but a slight acquaintthe part of a surgeon of St. Thoance with the facts to which the writer ad- mas’s Hcspital. From Dr. Elliotson’s Cliverts.-ED. L. nique (No. 344, page 11, case W. P.) I extract the following : I wrote in the
importance
bility on
11
prescription-book DISTRESSING
CASE OF SENILITY.
7b the Editor of THE LANCET. London Hospital, April, 1830. Sm,—At least fact4- of the pupils are fre-
for him to have
aflannet
roller around the abdomen, as you may recollect I did upon the same day for a boy labouring under slight ascites, abdominal pains, and signs of mesenteric affection ; and I regret tJaot you witnessed the tlijJiculty I
expt:1’ieuced in obtaining it for tJtena bota."