The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-22 00:00:00

JULY 22, 1854.

tails relative to certain disputes which seem to have
prevailed among the members of the surgical staff
now or lately attached to the hospital in question.
It was stated on different aides that the operation
had been performed with culpable carelessness, that
the surgeons who operated had endeavoured to hush
up the matter, and that money was given to the
parents to induce them to keep silence respecting
the death of their child. Ultimately the jury re-
turned the following verdict :
" We find that the deceased, Alfred Richardson, died of inflam-
mation, caused by en operation unskilfully performed by Mr.
Thomas Weedon Cooke and Mr. Thomas Wakley, jun.
" The jury finding great difficulty in coming to a satisfactory
conclusion respecting the other matters deposed to before them,
they have resolved to exercise the discretion permitted to them
by declining to give any opiuiou on them."
The Coroner inquired if the jury wished to prefer a
criminal charge against any one, which was replied
t) in the negative by the foreman.

COMMISSION OF LUNACY ON CAPT. CHILD.
AN extraordinary inquiry de lunatioo has occupied the at-
tintion of F. Barlow, Esq., one of the Masters in Lunacy,
a id a special jury, for several days during the week, the
defendant being Mr. J. Child, formerly a captain in the
12th Lancers. Several counsel appeared on different sides
—the commission being supported by Sir F. Thesiger and
two juniors, Mr. M. Chambers and another appearing for
Captain Child, and Mr. Locke on behalf of the Lunatics'
Friend Society. The case was stated, in a six hours' speech,
by Sir F. Thesiger :
Captain Child was the second son of Mr. Child, of Kinlet-hall,
in Shropshire, and was entitled to the reversion of 4,0001. a year
on his father's decease. He was now in his forty-third year. At
the age of eighteen he entered the 12th Lancers as cornet, and,
at a particular petiod after his joining the army, his disposition,
which previously had been peculiarly affectionate and engaging,
was marked by a decided change. lie became impatient of con-
trol, hot-tempered, and inordinately vain, besides being averse to
his mother, to whom he had previously been fondly attached.
He also indulged in suoh lavish extravagance that his father bad
to interpose, and raise money on the estates. About the year
1438 he became possessed with the extraordinary infatuation
that the Queen had a marked attachment to him, and that she
evinced her affection in an evident manner e eery time they met.
The learned counsel detailed at great length the extraordinary
line of conduct into which this idea of Captain Child had for
years continuously impelled him; showing that he had at last
even written to her Majesty, inviting her to open a correspon-
dence, and thathe quarrelled with his brother and other members
of his family, who had endeavoured to disabuse him of his unfor-
tunate notions. These lettere to the Queen, though not signed
by Captain Child, were traced to him, and the result was a con-
ference between his father and Lord Hill, Commander-in-Chief,
and the Marquis of Normanby, the then Home Secretary. It
was arranged that the captain should submit to a medical exa-
mination as to the state of his mind, and accordingly, in June,
1840, he was examined by several eminent physicians, who re-
ported that he was subject to delusions, which had upset his
mental balance. Subsequently, on account of the continuation
of his extraordinary conduct, it was intimated by the authorities
to his father that if he did not take the necessary steps they
must proceed to do so themselves; and, after further communi-
cations with Lord Hill, Mr. Child at length had his son placed in
the care of Dr. Mourn, of St. John's-wood, whence (his delusions
having passed into the chronic stage) he was removed, in 1851,
to Hayes-park, near Uxbridge, where he came under the control
of the Commissioners in Lunacy.
The interference of the Lunatics' Friend Society had,
it seems, led to the defendant's removal from that establish-
ment, and, as doubts of his continued lunacy were raised,
the present inquiry became indispensable.