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all extensive respiratory efforts and othercauses. Though these become more frequentas age advances, they occur likewise in in-

fancy, and from the mere respiratory act.All diseases of the lung, however slight,tend also to incapacitate that organ.&mdash;G<tz.des Hop.

SCANDALOUS TRICK SUBSEQUENTTO AN INQUEST.

In inserting the following communication,which appeared in The Times newspaper ofWednesday, February the 21st, we havemerely to remark, that we shall have some-thing additional to publish on the same sub-ject on another occasion. The inquiry can-not rest at its present stage. That a scanda-lous fraud has been committed, little doubtcan be entertained by any impartial person,and we believe that we shall be enabled atno very distant time to drag the real culpritbefore the public :&mdash;’

INQUEST AT HORNSEY.To the EditQI’ of " The Times."

Sit’,&mdash;We, the undersigned, having beenthe jury who sat on the body of the late Mr.Henry Pledger, chemist, of Hornsey, havingread in The Times of Thursday, Februarytlie,16tij, some statements relating to the in-quest, think it right to offer to you for inser-tion the subjoined refutations of certain ofthe allegations therein contained.* The in-

* The following was the paragraph whichcontained those statements :&mdash;

" A SLIGHT MISTAKE.&mdash;For the last fewdays the little suburban village of Hornseyhas been roused from its ordinary quietnessin consequence of the sudden death of ayoung man named Pledger, carrying on thebusiness of a chemist in that neighbourhood.Reports were soon spread that he had diedfrom the effects of poison, which coming tothe ears of the parish beadle, that function-ary thought it was his duty to circulate thereport by waiting upon Mr. Wakiey, the

coroner, who ordered an inquest to be held.The jury was empanelled on Wednesdaylast, and on viewing the body with them,the coroner is repurted to have used the fol-lowing words, at the same time lifting up thedeceased’s head :-’ Ah, gentlemen, this isa sudden death ; the man has died from adiseased heart, I’ve no doubt, and there willbe no occasion for a medical man.’ Thejury returned to the inquest-room, and, afterhearing evidence as to the suddenness of the Ideceased’s death, returned a verdict ofNatural death.’ The friends of the de-

ceased, not being so fond of doing withoutmedical testimony as the coroner, determinedon having the body opened, and the actual

cause of death explained. AccordinglyMr. Baker, of the New North road, andMr. Hands, surgeon, undertook the post-mortem examination, and on opening the ab-domen there was a strong smell, like prussicacid. On opening and analysing the con-tents of the stomach, nearly an ounce of theessential oil of almonds was found, enoughto kill upwards of a dozen persons, and fromthe effects of which Mr. Pledger had died.On the result being made known to the

friends, it was understood that the wholefacts would be laid before the Middlesexmagistrates, and that proceedings would betaken to quash the inquisition. The aboveshows the necessity of post mortem examina-tions in all cases of sudden death, withouttaking the dictum of either a medical or anon-medical coroner as to the cause."

quest was held on Tuesday, the 7th of

February, and it is stated by the writer ofthe paragraph, published in The Times ofthe 16th inst., that 11 reports were soon

spread that he (Mr. Pledger) had died fromthe effects of poison." We reply that nosuch reports existed at Hornsey,-no suspi-cion whatever was entertained there that Mr.Pledger had either destroyed himself or hadtaken poison.The writer further states that the report

that Mr. Pledger had so died 11 came to theears of the parish beadle," who 11 thought ithis duty to circulate the report, by waitingupon Mr. Wakley, the coroner."- Thebeadle, Mr. Crouch, has this day stated inour presence that, previous to the inquest, henever heard, and therefore never conveyed tothe coroner, any such report.

Lastly, it is stated in the paragraph that" the coroner is reported to have used thefollowing words, at the same time lifting upthe deceased’s head, Ah, gentlemen, thisis a sudden death ; the man has died from adiseased heart, I’ve no doubt ; there will beno occasion for a medical man."’At the inquest one of our number said to

the coroner (after the testimony of three wit-nesses had been given), " Should not themedical man who saw him after death becalled in, Mr. Coroner ?" to which the coroner replied in the following words :-" Ihave no opinion to give, Sir; but, if youhave any suspicion that he died from anyother than a natural cause, then there mustbe an examination of the body, as it is quiteuseless to have him here for the mere purposeof stating that he does not know what wasthe cause of death, for it is certain that hecould not tell you that cause unless an exa-mination was made."One of us then stated that not the least

suspicion was entertained that the deathhad occurred from any other than a naturalcause, and another juryman confirming this(and the opinion was unanimously agreedto), added (as expressive of the feeling of

794

the whole jury), that we did not consider, asneighbours well acquainted with the de-

ceased, that there was the least necessity forthe evidence of a medical gentleman.On the coroner being asked what he him-

self considered was the cause of the death,he replied, "that he had had too much ex-perience in the office of coroner to speculate ’,on so obscure a matter ;" that " an externalview of the body was in nineteen cases outof twenty of sudden death, medically consi-dered, perfectly useless, and afforded no me-’dical information whatever ;" and that " ifany doubt or suspicion of wrong-doing in thepresent case was entertained by only one ofthe jury, a majority of them had the power todirect him to summon a medical witness to

appear at the inquest to satisfy their doubts bya post-mortem examination of the body." Thejury again gave the coroner to understandthat no such doubt or suspicion existedamongst them. IThe first witness who was called before us

Iwas Caroline Martin, a servant of the de-ceased, who stated, on oath, that she foundhim, at eight o’clock in the morning of the 4thof February, lying insensible, and perhapsdead, behind the counter in his shop, whichhe had just before gone to open ; that she atonce called in her fellow-servant, and thatthe dead body was taken into the parlouradjoining the shop; that a surgeon, Mr.Hands, was sent for immediately, and cameand examined the body externally ; that shehad seen the deceased on the night before,that he then seemed to her to be perfectlywell and in good spirits, and that he did notcomplain of anything being the matter withhim or of anything else; that he had not,that she knew, met with any injury or vio-lence ; that she had not the least reason forbelieving that he had taken anything to de-stroy himself, but that she believed he haddied a natural death.

Martha Tribe, also a servant of the de-ceased, stated that she was called by thelast witness to see the body of Mr. Pledgeras he lay in the shop ; that she had not seenhim on that morning before, but had seenhim at eleven o’clock the previous night ;that he most certainly, as she believed, didnot destroy himself; that she had neverheard him talk of destroying himself, or wishthat he was dead ; that she felt perfectlyassured that he had died from a naturalcause, and not otherwise ; that nothing what-ever had occurred while she had been in hisservice to induce her to think that he had

taken, or had ever contemplated taking,poison to kill himself.

Ebenezer Pledger, brother of the deceased,stated that he had seen the body of thedeceased about an hour and a half after hewas found dead ; that no circumstance what-ever had occurred to raise a suspicion onhis (the witness’s) mind that his brother haddestroyed himself, and that he was thoroughly

and perfectly satisfied that his brother haddied from a natural cause.

In short, Sir, there could not be elicitedfrom the witnesses, during the examination,the slightest evidence to induce us to believethat Mr. Pledger had taken anything to

produce his death. He had resided in thevillage of Hornsey for nearly nine years,and, from his general conduct, not one of usentertained the least suspicion of his havingtaken poison. In fact, not any doubt wasfelt amongst us that his death arose from

any but a natural cause. No influence wasused by the coroner to affect our decision,other than the clear exposition of his viewsthat he stated as above quoted.We feel that these facts ought, in justice

to the coroner and jury, and the relatives, tobe laid before the public, in contradiction ofthe insinuation that is contained in the para-graph to which we have directed yourattention, and we have the honour to remain,Sir, your very obedient servants,THOMAS ROWLEY,

(Foreman,)CHARLES DAVIES,JOHN CLANTY,EDWARD ROBINSON,WILLIAM SYMES,JAMES TURNBULL,

WILLIAM COOPER,JOHN MORRISFIELD,JOSEPH BRETT,WILLIAM HARRIS,EDWARD ELLIS,JOHN BALE,CHARLES PROUGHTEN,

ihe late inquest-room, King’s-head,Crouch-end, Hornsey, Feb. 20.P.S. We earnestly hope that, as an act of

justice to all parties concerned, the editorsof those papers who copied the paragraphfrom The Times will publish the above con-tradiction of its false allegations.

The following communications have alsobeen sent to us (The Times) for publication :-

" To Mr. THOMAS WAKLEY, Coroner." Hornsey, Feb. 20.

"Sir,-In consequence of your applica-tion to me this day respecting the statementin The Times of the 16th of February, headed,A Slight Mistake,’ I beg to send you thefollowing particular" On the morning on which Mr. Pledger

died I saw Mr. Hands, the highly respect-able surgeon of this place, as he was comingfrom the house of Mr. Pledger, just afterthe death, he having been called in by thefriends the moment the body was found,when I asked that gentleman, as was myduty before sending information to you, whathe considered was the cause of death, andhis reply was that Mr. Pledger had died inan apoplectic fit, produced, he believed, bydisease of the heart, and that Mr. Pledgerhad told him that he had had that diseasefor many years, I said, Then I presumethere was no suspicion that the death wasproduced wrongfully ?’ to which he repliedthat no such suspicion existed, and that

apoplexy from disease of the heart was avery common cause of death in such cases.Accordingly, I wrote to you, Sir, and until

795

Friday, the 17th of February, namely, tendays after the inquest was held, and thirteendays after the death, neither I nor any otherperson whom I had seen in Hornsey hadheard any rumour whatever that the deathwas caused by poison, and I beg to add thatup to this moment I firmly believe that thedeath was natural. I am, Sir, your’s re-

spectfully, ROBERT LUCAS CROUCH,

" Constable of Hornsey."" After a careful consideration of all the

facts and circumstances relating to the deathof my brother, Henry Pledger, and all therecent events of his life, I feel perfectlyassured, notwithstanding the allegations con-tained in a paragraph in The Times of Feb-ruary the 16th, under the head ’ A SlightMistake,’ that my brother died a naturaldeath, and did not take poison to destroyhimself.

" EBENEZER PLEDGER."" Hornsey, Feb. 18."

" ROBERT LUCAS CROUCH,

"EBENEZER PLEDGER."

FOREIGN BODY IN THE BRONCHUS SPONTANE-

OUSLY EXPELLED.

DR. WANDESLEBEN, of Stromberg, reportsthe case of a man, forty-six years of age,who, having drunk some liquid, had swal-lowed with it a piece of a wooden spoon,which at first caused symptoms of imminentsuffocation, succeeded by violent coughing,that only gradually subsided. On the fol-

lowing day an incessant pricking sensationwas felt between the fourth and fifth ribs onthe right side of the chest, and on the daynext succeeding a fever set in, which

obliged the patient to keep his bed, and wasobliged to be combatted by bleeding, lowdiet, &c. On the ninth day expectoration ofpurulent matter commenced, the prickingpain ceased, but the pulse and breathingbecame frequent. From this time thestrength rapidly decayed, the lower extremi-ties became oedematous, and, on ausculta-tion, pectoriloquy on the right side of thechest indicated the existence of a cavern

supposed to be about the size of a largeapple (du poing environ). The emaciationproceeded so far that in six weeks’ time thepractitioner was obliged to suspend all anti-phlogistic remedies for the use of tonics.Under this treatment the patient ralliedsomewhat, and recovered his appetite, in in-dulging which too greatly he subjected him-self to nausea and vomiting. In his attemptsto vomit he provoked a violent pain in theright side of the thorax, with much disturb-ance of respiration, and the cough returnedwith alarming violence. In one of his cough-ing fits, however, a hard body was dis-

charged from the lungs into the mouth, whichproved to have been the foreign body swal-lowed, and was about as large as a moderatesized hazel-nut. From this period all theuntoward symptoms before described beganto disappear.-Medic. Zeitung.

THE LANCET.

London, Saturday, February 25, 1843.

THE OVER-CROWDING OF THE PROFESSION.

, THAT 11 the profession is overstocked" we

daily hear exclaimed, and the assertion is

true. The " profession is overstocked, and

with a superabundance of unqualified men,mere speculators in drugs and chemicals.We need not wander far to prove this fact.

Wherever that " earth-born giant," London,spreads one of his hundred arms, carrying itinto some previously untrodden and almost

unknown region, there, long before the

clink of the bricklayer’s trowel has ceased,and long before the sound of the carpenter’ssaw is silenced, some glaring emporium,decorated with its red and blue bottles, its

mahogany shelves and counters, inlaid with

brass, drawers richly gilt outside, and

full of air and " empty boxes" within, pre-senting, in short, the tout ensemble yclept a" doctor’s shop," affronts the sight of the

regular practitioner, and offers its poisons tothe ignorant passenger. Long before the

grocer, the butcher, the cheesemonger, andothers that administer to our daily wants,appear in the neighbourhood, the vender of

drugs, under the popular name of "doctor,"is surrounded with all the panoply of his

self-adopted calling, so that eating and

drinking seem to be matters that are altoge-ther subordinate to the taking of pills ; anda Chinese, who might be uninitiated in

London life, witnessing some of these dis-

plays of colouredjars and uncouth symbols inscarcely tenanted places, would be confirmedin his opinion, that the " barbarians" couldnot live a day without " rhubarb."Many showmen of this class call themselves

surgeon-accoucheurs, albeit neither surgeonsnor accoucheurs, but some ci-devatit drug-gist’s apprentices, or active and clever shop-boys, who, having collected a little know-ledge of the bottling and labelling business,and by friends’ help assembled togethermoney enough" to open shops," announce