The Statesman. — London, England, 1810-12-19 00:00:00

- ot b e r circumstances to make me doubt of his ,y r ecovery) than the r e having elapsed another oir4lit, w ithout his being at present fortrarder Jibe was at that time. , • • doe hi s Physicians been disappointed in their et. of the tinettutions iu the King's disorder, ; bet9th of November ? They have nut been 4,,,,,,,wated in their general view of the case; . a t itarticular period of remission of his Majesty's they have entertained a hope that it might I los,on a u earer approach to recovery than it has R' ki When were you first called upon to attend the i n your professional capacity ? On the 14th 4 r e b ro ary, 1804, , began a regular attendance " ur ,„ p l y Maksty. Re may have occasionally asked ~,tm•tngi) on the suOject of kis health, before t but hi out as a consultatios of a regular Physi. .n. NI you attend the King during the whole pro. er i o f that disorder ? Yes, I did. 0- 1 1 ,1 you refer that disorder to any assignable Yes.OW • pj you think that a patient who has been afflict.' s a with menial derangement, frequently, during bij hits, i imore or loss likely to recover from the iiiiunkr under Which he may labour at the present time, th,in if he hail never been so afflicted I ibutil3 conceive it must depend upon the effect* ap. produced by each attack of the ,disorder..; to the case of the King, do you think, th,it his he-n afflicted three times previously with the thsurder, makes him olore or less likely to waver from the present attack? More likely. D, you take his age into Consideration, when ails wer that question ? I do. You hare stated, that the greater number of pa. tims, as far as your cup/thence and infuriation 'we guile, have recovered from attacks of 'a situ'. hi nature ;in speaking upon that subject you ioctude patients of the age at which the King has now arrived? No; the cases that I know distinct. ly of, respecting parsons of the King's age, have been too few for we to speak particularly to that effrtt• floc you known any cases of patients above se wily years of age ? I have known eases of derange. nide persons above 70 years of age ; I have t''wu no case similar to his Majesty's, in any p e rt n of that age. ft those cases of derangement of patients above 70 years of age, have any of them recovered ? lo derangement, if the delirium of fevut may be so certainly many have. 110 you, speaking medically, consider the deli rium of fever to come under the description of de nugesnent of mind ? It certainly does not come eider the general eharacter of insanity ; no mote does his Majesty's case. What description would you give of his Mis s ies. ty o 4 case; is it merely the deliritetu of fever ? No, It is not merely the delirium of fever ; nor is it soy common case of 'insanity ; it is a derangement Shahid with more or less of fever, and liable to accessions and remissions. - • • liar it at times happened, dories your different stteuthaces upon the King, la - dborillers of this mein, that the. King has boo ofigeted,with &leer Throup the whole course of it, his Majesty has sot uniformly been affected with fever ; the begia.. sing of the last attack, and the present attack . 'hied is all I can personally sprit top have been attended with fever; and fever has ocoasionally oc curred during the course of them. Has tittle bequ, at any time, in the 016 daring the coarse of these disorders, .derauderamet without km.? yes.. ' During the periods at which derengetthenthas oee awed without fever, how would you then describe the disease? I can give it au OWN term than de. nngement. Hare you seen . patients above seventy years of ate, who have laboured under derangesneat without bier? I have seen cases of insanity in persons above Selt toy years of age. • ' , . Har thiise patients recovered? • tsso: Have tio:e ititients, or anytif these, trittlnitynn lave seen labouring wider insanity, and leafy years of age, been attacked after the egsool mein) ? I believe not. Were they patints, er any of them, who had :eperienced attacks of insanity In the earlier parts ' ef their lives, and had intervals of sanity between gym attacks, or were they *lnds who bed been afflicted with one continued Insanity ? I Can only speak decidedly ot• one case where there have been intervals of sanity.; .Is the patient no* dead Yes. llow long was it from the floseof the last attack 'la that patient to his death 3 I did sot'see it at the beginning, but I believe fotir or five years. Do you know how long previous to the age of Meaty the last attack which terminated only in dasth had commenced t I believe very much 'boot age of seventy. What is the present state of the King's bodily hilith, in your opinion ? There is no material in lay that his Majesty appear; to have ,suffered In hi bodily health. Is his Majesty's conatitntioa what may be called, Perfectly sound ? Perfectly. - Do you think a perfectly sound'Constitutitin em.„ slitting with a complete . mental distemper, a favour. able symptom towards recovery from a mental disor. ‘ 4ll l In such cases, where the mental disorder has ,onnsttended with any a ff ection of the bodily health, laboold consider the soundness of the constitution, Nod perfect state if health, to be material to a per son's recovery. You would have greater tropes from thocireum. !tam of a sound constitution and bodily health ? 44 ones where the mental disorder had been con. ocend with any affection of the body. In the King's present disorder,. du you attribute that disorder to any bodily derangement? Not Does it nowdepeod upon anybedilyderesgement ? It is connected with his bodily health, his bodily health has been affested by his disorder. Hu that affection of his bodily health, produced !Ws a re.actien as to account for his present state !together ? Ido not consider his Majesty's bodily ocs Ith to have been the on of his disorder; but Majesty's bodily health p ar tbeen affected along Oh the disorder, and made of the disorder. O. Are there any Symptemi now attending his Ma. jetty's bodily health, by the removal of which you think that the recovery of his Majesty's reason would be attained ? His Majesty has a tendency to fever, sometimes existing, sometimes not exist. ing, the removal of which tendency would contri bute to his Majesty's restoration, In my opinion. Has there been, during the present illness, at any period, a total absence of fever ? Yes. During the total absence of. fever, in the present illness, has at any time, the derangement of mind continued ? I believe never, in a great degree. In day degree ? Yes. You have stated that it has happened, that the Kieg has had some hours sleep in the course of the pight, and has not been better after that sleep: do yen reckon that a favourable or an unfavourable symptom, in regard to the King's recovery ? I should' think it iudilferent, in regard to his Ultimate recovery. Would It lead yon to suppose, that his recovery was not likely to be so speedy as if sleep prodoeml its desired effect ? It would oot lead me to form any certain conclusion, with regard to that elect. When you attended the King in the year 1804, did you sign the bulletins at that time ? Yes. Du you recollect the last bulletin that was put forth to the Public ? No. Was it intended that that bulletin should convey to the Public that. hit Majesty wes cosapletel►y um). rued ? I apprehend that the bulletin must have been intended to convey en idea that kis Majesty was per fectly recovered, so far as regarded a competency to transact public business. Are the Committee to understand, that when you apply the words " perfectly recovered" to the King, you apply • them in the same sense as you weuld to any private individual, that he was per. fectly recovered, for the transaction of any busi ness, public or private, which might belong to him, and to the entire management of his affairs? Yes. The Committee then are to understand, that at the cessation of the bulletins, in the year 1804, the King was so completely recovered ? I apprehend so. After the cessation of the bulletins 9 did you visit the King as his Physician, in 1804 ? After the ces. cation of the bulletins, his Majesty went out of town ; I was not with hint out of town ; he re turned to town at no very long intervals, and then his Majesty's Physicians attended him. I believe it. was in the month of Auguit that his Majesty went down to Weymouth, and from ( h ut time to the end of October, Sir Francis Millman and myself were one of us always with his Majesty ; for the 1 greater part of the time, I was with his Majesty. Were you and Sir Francis Milleme—the only at. temdauts upon his Majesty at Weymouth ? Yes. At any period subsequent to the bulletins in 1804, did you perceive in the King any flurried manner whicli excited your attention ? His Majesty was i more liable to hurries; but I believe that at any pc. ' clod of any day ha was perfectly competent to transact business. ••• Du you consider the hurries, of which you have been speaking, to have been vestiges of, or at all de pendent upon the King's malady ? I do. You have tiabl, that. fever . lust aceossoutied the King% malady, and that that fever has been inter. mitting during the course of his malady ; but that . you did not Consider the fever to be the cause of his malady ; do you conceive the cleave of his ma. lady to have been the affliction of the King for the illness of his daughter ? I do. • You bare said, that you do not consider the King's to be a case: of ordinary insanity ? I did. What is the Cause in your opinion subsisting in the King's constitution which renders him liable to these attacks of mental derangement ? It is a pe culiarity of constitution of which I can give no distinct account. Can you give any distinct account of the cause of tie accession of fever which sometimes attends the mental derangement of his Majesty ? In the . disorders which his Majesty has had similar to the present, and in the present disorder, the whole frame has been more or less disordered, both body 'tied mind. . LCan you form any,opinion of the cause of that fact ? .I coaceiv,e i with reference to the present ease, that the cause was certainly . owing to his Ma. ' esty's anxiety on the subject of his daughter's ill. nots '. that cause produced, from thirpecultiarity •of 'Ms Majesty's Constitution, the derangement both in body and mind which constitutes his present dis. 'order. .. Are you able to afford the Committee any Wm. relation as to the peculiarity of that constitution,..ia J what it consists ? I conceive the perularity to be' Simply, that Ms Majesty has appeared liable to at. tacks of disorder similar to his present ; but the Cause of his being liable I cannot at all assign. r Has the remisside of the fever, after the last con. Adorable access of the disorder, been as entire and complete is after any former attack, in this now subsisting inchposidon of his Majesty ? I consider, the present remission to bear date from the evening of the 10th of this mootir; during that interval, front the lOili to the time that I left his Majesty yester. day morning, I should content the intermission is as perfect as during the same number of days in any former intermission of his present illness. Do you conceive the defect of his Majesty's sight to be a circumstance favourable or unfavourable to his ultimate recovery ? I should consider it as a circumstance of. inconveuience, but not a cir. cumstance at all prejudicial to his ultimate sects- • very. Do you conceive it in be a circumstance having any influence upon the 'duration of his illness, and tending either to prolong or to shorten it ? should not consider it likely either 4o prolong or to shorten his illness to such a period when his Majes ty was described, in my answer, to a former ques. tion, to have been considered capable of transact. lug public business; after that period I should con ccive it of infinite use to his. Majesty in preventing the subsequent hurries that were alluded to. Is the Committee to understand you as saying, that you consider the defect of his Majesty's sight as a circumstance neither likely to retard tt.n‘ likely to accelerate the period Jf his recovery, so as that his Majesty shall arrive at that state which you call a fit one for, the distliarge of business ? d con. ceive it to be an indifferent circumstance as to that.. I You have stated, that since you were examined rA beloril the Privy Coins:ll, bit !Majesty hal been won foes fee &A sad Mace theebettet agala Yes: Is the Committee td tinderibuid hem that, that since the examination before the Privy Council, his Majesty has had a relapse? Tes. State whether, since that relapse, Or in COMP& quence of that relapse, you have the same contldeeee and expectation of a speedy recovery that you had before ? It would not alter my opinion of the prob4ble time of his Majesty's recovery, though I can hardly pronounce it speedy. Do yon know whether during the former attacks of his Majesty, after any remission of the disorder, there was any renewed increase of his illness ? There have been several. . HAS the apprehension of a recurrence of mental malady in the mind of any patient after repeated at tack*, any and what effect in producing the renewal of such ; attack ? I should conceive, an apprehen. alon in the mind of the patient would not tand to produce any recurrence of the disorder. Does the advance of his Majesty's age, since his first attack in 1788, increase or diminish pier ex. Initiation of his Majesty's ultimate recovery ? Ab. .strectedly considered, his Majesty's greater age would certainly be considered an unfavourable dr. cumstance ; but when I have regard to the peculiar circuautances of his Majesty's disorder, I think bicadvanced age does not alter my own eipectatban -of his ultimate recovery. Would the greater treasure of public . business now than in the year 1788, have any and what effect, in your opinion, as to' aimelerating or re. tarding his Majesty's complete likeocery ? I really am not competent to give any - distinct wawa to that question. - Du ,on think more or less favoirablyor the pro bable Issue of his Majesty's malady, from there being such an assignable cause' for that .rnaladras you hue stated ? I should think more favourably.. Sir RittltY II A LYO RD, Dart. called Ixdsidesasslitid. Has any amendment already taken place in the course of his Majesty's disorder, and does the ap pearance of such amendment continue at present ? A. very considerable amendment has taken place in his Majesty's disorder since its commencement. I do not think hie Majesty has made much progress within the last fOrtnight. When did you last see the King ? This morning. What was the state of the King, at that tiipe? Nis Majesty had had sAniet night, and was corn. posed in his conversation. Do you think the King was better today than be was yesterday ? I think he was quite as well to day as he was yesterday. Do you think there was any amendment today l from yesterday ? No; I think the King was much the same to-day as he was yesterday. What symptoms were there to induce you — to thick the disorder was in the same state as it was yesterday, *ben the King had had a quiet night, and was composed 2 That was the case the Etutter part of yesterday, though there were occasiohally moments of discomposure. Was t the cam-yesterday miming, that Is was composed ? No, not iu the early part of the morning. Dave:you seen any patients of the King's age, afflicted with the same malady ? Not precisely un. der the same circumstances with , the King's; the King% case must be in some respects peculiar. In what does the peculiarity of the King's case consist ? More in the circumstances of the manage ment. Is there any thing omitted in the management of the King's case, that would be applied to that of any other patient ? I believe not. - Is there any thing added to the management . is the King's case, which could norbe added to *id in the ease of any other patient? I believe not. . Then is what does the difference' of the manage- . mesa consist ? I conceive the King is more capable of being excited by external causes, from not being 'in the habits of being contradicted or opposed through his life. • ' Are pow hopes of recovery more febst-.10 the ease' of the King, from the CirCatrollatieds .described, than they would' thp cat .: of Any other patientmentally citeemstbsteed at thaiLing is? Not 'of uttiniate recovery. : • - • -- Are your hopes' of the epitcdy recovery of the. ILiog as strong as they Were on.the2eth pf • • umber,. when you were examined before the Privy Council.? -I had nut hopes of his apeedyieceicry at that time. Have you hopes of his' speedy recovery nois.tj . Aefl Not of speedy recovery. • • Can you limit any time within ihiabit is probik We the King way be recovered'? - 1 cintiot. Have you had any patient•underyiser care, nibit;', tally deranged, at or above the niiss.etteventy ? have seen people deeanged, about sevesarl pore of age ; but do not recollect that L bate hula ate& nuder my own care, Of • those persons whole yon have seen in such II state at that age, hays all or soy of them reotereg ed ? I cannot speakmith confidence to that once.' ; lion ; because, as they havis not been, people under my own care, I do not know the result. •' Do you not know the rgselt of any of those eases which you have seest, pejoi toppoot speak confidently • to the recovery of . ,Osove seveoty-two Ire t, of age. t . - Then you cannot take upon yourself. to 'est' , whether any pnitients et or above 70 years of age, whom you have keow.e to have been meatally, - dew ranged, has or has not recovered ? J csalot speak . confidently IP that point. • e. Do you know any one who has iecoveielit do not speak of My own knowledge, bet heard of recoveries. . • What is the present state of the king't loony health ? Not perfectly good. What are the symptoms of disorder in bodily health ? He has feverish symptom,. ' . Have those feverish symptoms Continued, from the time that you were first celled itt to. visit Wa t t to the present time I • Ills Majesty his, occasion.' ally, appeared almost free from fever; but I think I can hardly say that be has at any time appeared , entirety so. , . Du you ettribete hir mental derangement to eey body complaint 2 I should conceive, theie were 1 two cause. of this eotiplaint ; the body *est be predisposed by ledispositioni to receive the I' h. woes of Such a Cause as produces the King's quip. 'toms. • . When you say thit the getlyiiist lie predilpiiied, 'de you mean to say that hi all cases, derangement of mud is accompanied by indisposition of - body I am speaking of the King's case is particular. Do you mean to say, that there must in all . :Isett be in iediiposltioo of body, when there is $ metal deringeteent? I think it • probable there must be so. - Hive you ever had under yotir Care, or erei ken, persons in a case of mental derv:sante r, where it lees impossible for the physician to t ra c e b o dily in . 14*E:widen ? I think I have generally, been able to:trace bodily indisposition. •,• - Ito you think that the King's mental derangement ,liipeads upon the present state of his bodily indis. position ? Not entirely. Wheu were you first called in, to Visit the King in his pr esent illness? His Majesty asked nie4iome 'questions, respecting the propriety of taking medi. one, on the evening of the 25th of October. , Did yon, then, perceive'auy symptoms Of men. tal derangement in the King? The King's canter. sation and his manner was hurried. Was that such, as to amount, in your opinion, to a state of mental derangement and incapacity for 'business ? I think not, at that time. . Had psi opportunities of seeiog the before e th v e er 2 y s d th ay : of thitetormr ? Yes; ei,from l the .1111 w 4 3761Oct ila October. Did you, in the interval between the 3d and 25th of Oct. perceive any symptom of indisposition about the King ? I sometimes thought his Majesty's man. oar agitated; but there always seemed an occasion of this, in the report wlcts was made respecting the Princess Amelia. '_ • Was thatigitation eta nature to excite any par. dealer apprehensions in your mind with . regard to his Majesty's mental bealth-r,' No, not at that time. Not soy time between the 3d and the 25th of October ? No. • You have said,that on the 25th of Oct. the King was not some:. mentally indisposed as to incapa. gnate him from business, or amount' to mental de. ratigement, and you have said, the King is so ina disposed now ; when did the symptoms become so urgent as to amount to incapacity fol. business, and tsi .astablish a character of mental derangement? His Majesty's symptoms increased rapidly on the 29th of October. In point of fact, did his Majesty transact any business, to your knowledge, 'between the 25th and 28th of October ? Ido nut know. U,p to the 28th, was his Majesty in a state to transact public business ? I think to ; I think the King could transact public business. Are the Committee to understand that, up to the 28th of Oetuber, and on the 28th of October, his Majesty was in such a state as, if he had been a private ini'ividual, he would have been entrusted with the traesaetion of any thing in the manage. meet of his own concerns? I think Doti would not _ e_.. • have been justified in taking from any indivld I 12 -power of transacting his own business, under the drmenstances that his Majesty was, I think I might sty to the night a the 27th of October. Has the treatment of his Majesty, In your opi. niou, is every respect, both as to the introduction of parsons, and the system of management, as well as the system of medicine, been perfectly proper ? I believe so. You have been acquainted with the system of ma. nagement-in the most minute particularity ? Yell. And have known of every person introduced to the King ? Certainly. , And every thing in the system of management* the system of medicine, - and the introduction of per. soiii to the King ? I believe so. . There has been no person introdicedto the King whose introduction has eeeited'any aggravated de. gree of indisposition ? Catlin!, cot. • What is the state of the' King's mental health to• day, a Compared with The 'state of ithl mental health n the 25th.of October ? Ho is by oci mesas so we as he was on the 25th of October. itYlMt is tbe state of his Majesty's htelth today as compared . with the state of his health :ott:the 28th pf, Optebee ? I think, dot quite so well as it was on theffSth of October. . You olive stated, that there is an amendment ha th A King's health 1- Yes. ' If.he is not so well as be was on the 25tli; nor so well is be was on the 28th of October, with what ' period „do you draw, your comparison of the pre. pent day, when you say there is a state of amend. men% The first week of. November more particu. \l iarly, , . . ' e . ll4s ' ail King had, what may be called, a relapse, since .the ekaininstion of . the Privy Council ? The sing his bad, what we speak of in medical terms .6 tparoxypaii since that time. been. Has so : ..• • Etas that paroxysm been one of a violent nature ? i a: a s t i loshne violent p i sincee vf° u n t s a h otauttirees;babvet paroxysm, 'been i l l ti t it h :g ia s e s be iME so . . complete as it bad been subsequent . to other pa. roxysm of the lame nature ? I think not quite so ,complete. . • Has sleep the desired effect upon the King, gene. .rally and . constantly : when he obtains' sleep, does he: spoor .to be more refreshed, and to be more composed'in consequence of it, than when he has passed nights without sleep ? Certakily ; always to be more composed after sleep. Invariably ? I think, so. • Have soy •of the Royal Family peen, the King i• since' tbetsth of Oateber ? : Yes. Since•the 27th ? . Yes ; 1 . , think, the - list time the Queen saw the Ling •*****4l9lk of OetOter ; and her Majesty wanh:* I ,C9 ol ririligli . . - • ; , who has seen the gine c, , ,,.••••• •,c. - - • ~. Has.: -^;- other persamslr bit 04.01te Weil". ante, and those introtruestikli ,f Miiillint attemintits -for the purpose of - to kii medical sati t tering •health or comforts, seine 'King ? Yes., At what period ? The Chancellor ion wee Ike King twice, and I think Mr. Pert:evil has seeettiill King W . . • 'f • • ' hen did the Chancellor first see the King, sob.' sequentiy to the 25th of October ? IL think it was •oo the 29th of October ' • but I am not quite certain `dist the Chancellor saw the King on that day. t ~.,