Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Disease, Crime

    Describes an inquest into the death of a crew member of the St Andrew's Castle. The jury returned the verdict that the deceased had died from scurvy, while the medical witness, Henry Leach, argued that the deceased had not been given the appropriate drink for preventing scurvy: he had been administered a citric acid and water mixture instead of lime-juice. Notes that the jury wanted to bring a charge of manslaughter against the chemist who administered the drink, but the coroner refused. Punch agrees that an absent-minded chemist should be charged with manslaughter, but argues that a practitioner who 'knowingly and wilfully' supplies 'useless stuff under the name of a remedy' should suffer 'capital punishment'.