The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-12 00:00:00

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INQUEST ON THE' LATE DR. RICHARD
OHAMBBRS.

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ye rannodo na
jaun inquest
ry,on
the was he
body
ofl d beforepr .
Richard
hMa r
dr.
CChambers, who was found dead in bed on Wednesday
morning last at his own residence in Wimpole-street,
Cavendish-square.
Thomas Baynes, man-servant to the deceased, de-
posed that his master was about 34 years of age. On
ea cye arasei lyingng ai
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half-past
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the left side. The
only parts of the body exposed were the left arm and
face. Witness did not touch the body, but immediately
fetched Dr. Richardson, a colleague of the deceased.
Dr. Ashton, of Cavendish-square, arrived soon after,
and a policeman was then sent for, and shown the posi-
tion in which the body was found. A small phial was
discovered on a table at the side of the bed. It was
empty. Witness had seen similar bottles there before,
and his master was in the habit of taking medicine from
them. No letters or documents of any kind were
found in the room. The last time witness saw his
master alive was about twelve o'clock the previous
night. He was then reclining on a sofa in his study.
He spoke to witnes, and asked him what o'clock it was.
Witness answered it was near twelve, whereupon the de-
ceased pulled out his watch, and said, " Dear me, so it
is." During the three days previous to his death the
deceased had been suffering from a slight attack of rheu-
matic gout, and on Sunday he was so unwell that he did
not; get up until two -o'clock, in -the afternoon. On
Tuesday he dined at home, and did not leave the house
during the evening. -He had beeti out during the day,
and on coming home felt so much indisposed that he
told witness he would not see any patients before twelve
o'clock on Wednesday. Witness did not think there
was anything strange in this, because the deceased was
in the habit, when he complained of illness, of remaining
in bed till the middle of the day, and sometimes later.
Between two and three o'clock on Tuesday afternoon
the deceased gave witness a prescription, and directed
him to go to the shop of Mr. Court, chemist, for medi-
cine. Witness had frequently done so before, and on
this occasion he fetched the medicine in the bottle which
was found next morning near the body of his master.
No relations of the deceased were in the house at the

time of his death, the only inmates being witness and
three maid servants. The deceased was married, but
his wife and child were in the country when he died.
Witness did not observe anything peculiar in his master's
manner previous to his death, nor was he aware that he
had had a fit at any time. He was perfectly sober the
last time he saw him. There was no blood on the sheets
when he was found dead.

Dr. Wilson, of Upper Charlotte-street, Fitzroy-square,
said he made a post mortem examination of the body on
Friday morning, in the presence of Mr. Weedon Cook,
a colleague of the deceased, and another medical gentle-
man. The skin was discoloured, .owing to the position
in which the body was lying, and blood was oozing from
the nose and mouth. Decomposition had proceeded so
far that the skin separated upon being touched, and the
cellular tissue was inflated with air. The eyes were also
much swelled. On the body being opened, the lungs,
liver, stomach, intestines, and all the other functional
organs, except the heart, were found in a healthy condi-
tion. The right ventricle of the heart was enlarged at
least a third beyond its natural size, and was thinner
than it ought to have been, and the left ventricle was
also slighly extended. There was only a small quantity
of blood present. Externally the stomach was in a
healthy condition, but internally there was a slight
appearance
inflammationearanceofinflammation of the mucus membrane.
The
thweasstoinma
a pint, and were of a reddish brown colour.
They emitted a very peculiar odour, which was
stomach
patches
m e a
cu overrod thea
bus ut r fahcael f
The contents of .
instantly known to be that of prussic acid, and
accordingly the presence of that poison was detected on
analysis, along with a small quantity of opium. Owing
to decomposition having taken place, witness could form
no opinion of the quantity of prussio acid which might
have been contained in the stomach, but he succeeded
in discovering undoubted traces of it. lie had seen the
prescription which the deceased had sent to Mr. Court,
the chemist, the day before his death, and found that
the ingredients of the draught were six drops of prussic
acid, of Scheele's strength, with ten drops of Battley's
solution of opium,' one drachm of colchicum, two, of ace-
tate of ammonia, and an ounce and a half of water.
His opinion was that death was caused by the ,prussic
acid acting in conjunction with the disease of the heart.
He did not think there was sufficient prussic acid to
have destroyed life in the absence of disease of the heart ;
but he believed there was sufficient to produce death, the
vital action being low and weak. The effect of the in-
creased size of the heart would be to cause the blood to
flow into the lungs, and the patient, on taking prussic
acid, might die before sufficient blood returned to put
the heart in motion. The rest of the contents of the
stomach consisted of animal matter and alcohol. Wit-
ness had ascertained that on the Monday before his
death the deceased sent a prescription to Mr. Court
somewhat different from the last, inasmuch as it con-
tained only five drops of prussic acid, the action of which
moreover was dulled by carbonate of potash—a guard
which had not been observed in the second dose.
Dr. Dillon, a juryman, remarked that he was himself
aware that Dr. Chambers had complained of diSease of
the heart, and had expressed apprehensions of it.
The Coroner—l am sorry to say that a good many in
this room may make the same complaint. Disease of
the heart exists to a very frightful extent, andl it is a
most common cause of death.
Dr. Dillon—On Tuesday morning I walked home
with him from a rt and he then told me that he
wash afraid he had disease of the heart, but I made light

of it.
about two o'clock on
witness knew of the Dr. Dillon, having been sworn, stated
ttsh.at he
iktnneesws
t
the deceased intimately, and met him at a party on the
Monday night previous to health death.
s
wwnhdoorat w a
tn On that occasion
Tuesday
hnensddeacye
accompanieded
morning.wasb inm t g o
Fb oirsno
mod
de-
ceased's habits and character, h e was perfectly sure he
did not commit suicide. Dr. Chambers was attached
to life, he had a great deal of happiness, and enjoyed
the world very much. Witness was not in the habit of
prescribing prussic acid to his patdin ients, because he was
afraid of mistakes in the compounding of i.
A Juryman asked how many drops of prussic acid it
would take to destroy life ?
The Coroner—That would be rather a difficult ques
tion to answer. However, I would not advise you to
swallow a very large dose, else you might not survive to
describe its effects. (A laugh.) A single drop of prussic
acid on the arm has been known to occasion death.
Dr. Wilson said the action of prussic acid was rela-
tive. A. single drop might kill a child in whom vitality
was weak, whereas a strong healthy man might possibly
swallow several drops without serious injury.
The Coroner then briefly recapitulated the chief points
of the case, and said that, whatever rumours might have
prevailed in the neighbourhood, there could be no doubt,
after the evidence the jury had just heard, that death
had been produced by disease of the heart, probably in-
fluenced by prussic acid taken medicinally.
Verdict returned accordingly.