The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-03-07 00:00:00

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LAW INTELLIGEXCE.
COURT•OF KINO's BENCH.—MARCS 6.
1. idun Atijounted Sittings after Hilary Ten% before
the Lord Chief Justice and Special Juries.

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ITIIIIIII, V. aillClt M. O.
.1 This was an action for a libel. The declaration
itt Jed, that the plaintiff being a surgeon and an inventor
et: patent medicine called " Rymer's Cardiac and
Nervonz Tincture," the defendant published a libel in
'a
veriodical work, called " The Gazette of Health,
alti thereby caused it to be believed that ittu plaintiff
WAS to surgeon, sad that his medicine was injurious
many respects. The defendant pleaders. a justifi-,
ewion, and averred that the plaintiff's medicine was
.et improper one in many disorders, and if. taken in
disorders would be attended with fatal effects.
do defendant's pleas issue was joined.
The plaintiff's case was conducted by Mr. OVIINEY
4,t1,1 Mr. CHITTT, and the defendant's by Mr. SCAR-
tErr and Mr. IiCTCMINSUN.
The trial of the case produced mach fun and titer-
ririent in the Court. The plaintiff was a practising
surgeon and apothecary at Reigate, in Surrey, having
b..en in the year 1790,a surgeon on board a man of
%vat, and now enjoying half pay in that respect. In
the month of July, 1792, he took out a patent for his
Cardiac and Nervous Tincture, the basis of which row
si-ted of brandy and seadeira, with the maceration of
it:tint list of simples, and almost all the spices of
Arabia Felix. 't he prospectus of the invention con-
etined a prodigiously long Catalogue of its virtues,
and the diseases which it was calculated to cure. No
soots than IG diseases, of the most opposite qualities,
would give tray to its sanative influence ; it was dia-
phoretic, a febrifuge, a tonic, a menagogite, a seila-
tit e, a cephalic, good for dispepsia, an aperient, a sti-
mulant, a corroborative, an aromatic; in short, it was
a panaera for all imaginable diseases incident to the
huwatu Cram , both mental and bodilv, in all climates;
nay, it was an infallible cure for sudden death'. In
No. 2 of the 4th vol. of The Gristle of Health, the
defendant, who was stated to be the proprietor of that
work, and a gentleman of some celebrity with re-
fen-nee to the Prophetess Johanna Soutlicutt, pub-
lished a criticism ou the plaintiff's medicine and the
empiricism of his prospectus, containing also some oh-
?mations in ridicule of the plaintiff's assuming the
dignity of Esquire. There was a good deal of hu-
mour in the criticism, the principal object of which
appeared tp be rather to point out the injurious conse-
en ce of the plaintiff's nostrum, if taken in all the
diseases for which it was held forth as an infallible
v:tre, particularly iu febrile and inflammatory diseases,
o:an to impute any thing noxious to the medicine it-
F if taken as a tonic in certain cases. The plain-
tiff's patent hail long since expired, and of late years
the sale of his medicine had greatly decreased.
The CHM Justice permitted evidence to be re-
ceived, that the plaintiff's medicine was useful in eer
t.!in diseases, that being part of his allegation in the
e.!cl.aration.
The Rev. R. Jordan, Vicar of Ifoo, near Rochester,
stated that he was cured of paralysis_ by the plaintiff's
medicine. The cure was advertised in Mr. Rynter's
Mr. Creswell, of Reigate, had been afflicted with
debility in his stomach from taking strong green tea.
Me left off drinking green tea altogether; then took
three of the plaintiff's bottles, and got well. lit-some
Ctn.! took Port wine in aid of the medicine.
Miss Peel:man, also a neighbour of the plaintiff, at
}frigate, was cured of spasms in her stomach hr
taking this tincture.
Mr. Scattier r addressed the Jury with his usual
ability, and treated the action as one deserving no-
thing but contempt and derisun. Had oe lived to
this day, and notorious quacks be permitted to bring
actions for criticisms upon their nostrums ?—Were
men of science to be brought before Courts of Justice
for ridiculing their etnpiricisnt, and pointing out to
the unwary the hazard of taking their deleterious
d:c rs ? This gentleman had sent forth into the world
a pat:ace:l for all e.i.sorders of the most opposite symp-
toms and qualities, holding out health and vigour to
t to patiri t in cases, were the medicine might produce
redden death, and was not a man of science to he at
liberty to detect the imposition, and warn the public
n-,ainst the danger they incurred ? Such erratic pub-
-1 i rations were of vast public benefit, because they elle-
tiled persons who had not access to large medical and
scientific libraries, to detect fraud and imposition.
Tile supposed libel was nothing more than a fair criti-
civet upon the plaintiff's quackery, and if it was mixed
With a little ridicule, It was the more likely to be sa-
rlittary in its effect. In this point of view the case fell
• •iirec:&e:y within the rule laid down by Lord Ellenbo-
rough in S7r J. Carr v. Hood ; in'which the plaintiff was
ridiculed as the fau4fiag-car. In that case a witness
was called to prove, that in consequence of reading a
criticlsta in Thc Edi..burgh Eerie a., upon the plain-
tirs bock, he had declined reading his works. upon
which the Learned Judge congratulated him upon the
escape lie hail had, and told him that be was the bet-
ter for it. So in this case, how many people must be
the better for not taking the plaintiff's nostrum, in
consequence of the warning voice of the defendant ?
The plaintiff professed to mire no less than Iti mortal
diseases, by the all powerful influence of his tincture;
and atuoagst its other virtues, it was c dculated to cure
tiatidi!g Would that, if such was its virtues, the
likrintitf would be good enough to ship off a cargo
of his medicine to the Kingdom of Naples, and in-
spire its inhabitants to the vigorous assertion of its
kolitiral rights. On this ocraviou he could not re-
frain from relating a story of the celebrated Dr. .-.0-ionton,
ionton, who amassed an immense fortune by his llalin
of (Mead, which be sold at 10s. 61. a bottle. The
Doctor hail shipped a cargo of it, for America, esti-
mating each bottle it one shilling, in order to evade
the duty. The Custom-house officer suspecting that
this was the Doctor's object, and that the medicine
was worth a great deal more, wade a seizure of the
sumo, and the Doctor refusing to pay the duty, be
said he would let the officer have the cargo at a
shilling a Lottle, and the officer accordingly took it.
The Doctor then shipped another and a larger cargo,
and the same consequence followed, the officer taking
Argo at a shilling a bottle. He immediately
warehouse himself for the sale of Dr. Solo-
Ins of Gilead, but finding that- be could not
half a guinea a bottle, began to suspect
was not worth so winch, and, upon a communi-
iat the Vieetor„,, he confessed the fact, and

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