THE PIERPOINT FUND
1862
The Lancet
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE ERLE summed up the case to the jury. He said the case had taken up a long time, but not longer than its importance either to the character of the defendant or the profession to which he belonged most fully justified. It was an action charging him with a breach of his legal duty, by reason of inattention and negligence, and want of proper care and skill; and if they were of opinion that there had been a culpable want of attention and care, he would be liable. A medical man was
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... certainly not answerable merely because some other practitioner might possibly have shown greater skill and knowledge; but he was bound to have that degree of skill which could not be defined, but which, in the opinion of the jury, was a competent degree of skill and knowledge. What that was the jury were to jndge. Looking at the whole of the evidence on both sides, one head of the charges (his Lordship observed) had been at last withdrawn-he meant the charge of being under the inflnence of drink; and, considering the effect of such a charge upon a professional man, especially in the profession of medicine, in which so much ability was seen combined with so much beneficence--it would have been better had the charge never been made or been earlier withdrawn. To him it seemed that there was no foundation for the charge, and that a more unfounded charge was never made. (The jury intimated their assent.) That, however, did not of itself deter. mine the case, which must be decided as to the charge of want of due care and skill upon the whole of the evidence. Com. menting on the evidence, his Lordship said it seemed to him that it was very hard upon the defendant, that after having been originally desired by the husband not to administer spirits, it should have been a matter of charge upon him that he had not administered spirits. This charge really appeared almost as unfounded and unjust to the defendant as that of having been intoxicated himself; and it was a great pity that, at such a trying period, the plaintiff should have pressed his teetotal theory upon his wife and her medical attendant. It was at that moment, however, that the plaintiff had declared to his wife that he could never take her to the Temperance-hall again. Probably, in the state in which his wife then was, the threat of not being taken to that genial place of resort (a lau"h) must have had some ill effect. As to the mistake about the tartaric acid, it turned out to be of no consequence, and the mere error of the nurse in giving it to the defendant instead of the gin. The medical evidence appeared to be greatly in favour of the defendant; and, considering how much the treatment of a case depended upon its varying phases, which changed as quickly as the shifting hues of the heavens, it was a pity that one medical man should be ready to come forward and condemn the treatment of a brother in the profession, and say that he would have done this or that, when, probably, had he been in a position to judge of the case from the first, he would have done no better. Upon the whole of the case, if the jury thought that there had been culpable neglect or want of due care or competent skill let them find for the plaintiff; if otherwise, for the defendant. PARISIAN MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) ONE of the most prominent features in the town of Paris formerly, and one which in no small degree contributed to its beauty, was the luxuriant foliage which, for seven months of the year, overshadowed the footpaths in the larger thoroughfares. It would be idle to call in question the purifying influ. ence exercised by the presence of growing trees upon the air of a large city, and even when viewed in their sanitary aspect alone, roadside plantations in great capitals must be regarded as highly desirable disinfectants. It is impossible, of course, very precisely to estimate the amount of effete animal matter which is daily decomposed, fixed, and rendered innocuous by these vegetable scavengers ; but the fact is not the less im. portant on that account. French taste usually stipulates that a large proportion of the dulce shall accompany the whole. some dose of the utile, and the Paris municipality has always been at great pains to combine the ornamental with the sanitary in this particular branch of its attributes. Natural decay, the disturbances of 1843, and large demand for trees of liberty, together with a species of blight, had decimated the trees of the Boulevards and other promenades ; and for the last twelve years unceasing attempts had been made to replace the dead and the missing by the transplantation of individuals of equal size. The "Systme M'Glashin," for a length of time, was perseveringly adopted, and ordinary forest-trees were to be met parading the narrow streets, drawn by scores of horses, brushing the chimney-pots off the houses on either side of the way, and making all the old women in the " Mansardes" exclaim in the words of the Scotch song, " Wha's at rhe window, wha, wha ?" Mr. M'Glashin's plan, though highly ingenious, has been found unsuccessful for town purposes ; the trees transplanted by his apparatus, in spite of bandaging, amputation, and inunction, died for the most part, and the expense incurred has not encouraged a continuance of the experiment. The municipal gardeners have now Beered on a fresh tack, and are occupied in planting the new Boulevards with saplings, for the most part of the American plane, a tree which thrives in this soil. Much care is bestowed on the preparation of the ground destined to receive the new-comer, and in the provision of proper soil for the immediate support of the tree. In order to allow of the free access of air to the roots of the plant, it is encircled by a flat iron grating, of about two yards in diameter, level with the surface of the asphalted pavement. M. Husson, the chief of the "Assistance Publique," has
doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(02)60783-4
fatcat:mz34chxdf5e37clmchgi26cepu