Twelve years' experiences of a London coroner / by W. Wynn Westcott.

  • William Wynn Westcott
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Twelve years' experiences of a London coroner / by W. Wynn Westcott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    common, but questions demanding unpleasant answers are often avoided with some skill; witnesses feign ignorance more often than swear falsely. On two points I have found false evidence may be expected; one, of course, is the question of the habit of alcoholic excess practised by the deceased, and the other is that of infants suffocated in bed. Mothers will strenuously deny that they have found their babies dead beside them, even when a doctor called in at once declares the body to have been found by him already in a state of rigor mortis. It is a curious point that a woman giving evidence as to her husband’s death, when asked what relation she bears to the deceased, almost invariably answers “ Wife,” and not “ Widow,” although the latter state must be predominant in her mind. In addition to the inquests actually held, there have been private inquiries into the circumstances of the deaths of about 250 other persons in each year; for medical information as to these deaths no fees are paid to medical men. The general death-rate has shown a slight decline for several years past, and so has my annual number of inquests been less for five years past. The demolition of insanitary areas and their replacement by dwellings of a modern type, and by offices and factories, accounts for this improvement. Although I have always considered the coroner’s court to provide a valuable teaching centre for the ignorant poor, I cannot feel sure that the teachings of temperance, proper infant feeding, the need for cradles and cots, and the avoidance of infection, have made much impression on the grossly ignorant and careless poor in the district. Old legendary customs and prejudices die hard among the poor and ignorant, and, for example, I note the constant administration of saffron in brandy to children with the measles; the giving of “ a powder from the chemist,” of any sort, to a child who has had a fall; the hesitancy to cut down a man found hanging; and the neglect to free the nose and mouth of an infant born in the absence of doctor and midwife. Many babies die annually from this cause, the woman present declaring she was “ afraid to touch it.” These cases are placed in the Kegistrar-General’s column named, “ Died from want
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