An enquiry into the circumstances of the death of King Charles the Second, of England / by Norman Chevers.

  • Chevers, Norman, 1818-1886.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An enquiry into the circumstances of the death of King Charles the Second, of England / by Norman Chevers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    with his hand on his stomach, till the fit came. After lie had been brought out of it, by opening a vein, he complained of a. racking pain in his stomach, and of no indisposition any where else; and, during the whole time of his sickness, and even when he seemed most insensible, he was observed to lay his hand, for the most part upon his stomach, in a moaning posture,” [?] “ and continued so to his death. And so violent was the pain that, when all hopes were gone, the physicians were desired to use all their art to procure him an easy death.” At this most important part of the narrative, the extract from the medical report, as given by Ellis and Wadd, unfortunately breaks off; from it, therefore, I learn nothing of what im- mediately followed the cessation of the first fit. The Draycot M. S. continues,—“By this time, Dr. W ether by and others were assembled, and they approved of what was done, and applied a warming-pan of coals to his head.* * * § And applied blisters to his back, arms, and thighs.” [We must here break off to say that counter-irritants ap- pear to have been applied with most unsparing severity. Lingard cites the following statements : “ On lui mit des poeles chaudes sur la tete, sans qifil parut les sentir * * * on lui a applique des vesicatoires a la tete, auxepaules, aux bras, et aux jambes, on lui a donne des vomitifs en quantite qui ont fait quelque etfet.”t “ Le roi estoist dans une chaise, un fer rouge sur la tete, les dents qidon lid tenoit onvertes a force.”] J The narrative continues. “ In the mean time, seeing him foam much at mouth, they wished a vomit, and the noise having drawn down James Chace,”§ who was going to * This rough method of counter-irritation appears to have been, then, a favourite resource, with the court physicians, in cases of apoplexy. Evelyn tells us that, ou the 27th of October 1675, “ Lord Berkeley coining into council, fell down in the gallery at Whitehall in a fit of Apoplexy, and, being carried into mv Lord Chamberlain’s lodging's, several famous doctors were employed all that night; and, with much ado, he was at last recovered to some sense by applying hot fire pans and spirit of amber to his head; but nothing was found so effectual as cupping him on the shoulders. It was almost a miraculous restoration”—vol. 2 pages 102-3. f Barillon, 12, 14 Fev. + Becit de la mort du feu roi d’ Angleterre, by a nun of the Chail- lot, who wrote it, for the use of the community, from the mouths of James and his Queen, on 10th Sept. 1692, N, S. § A John Chase, says the Editor of “ Household Words,” was Apothecary to the King’s person. On referring to the edition of Chamberlayne’s Anglia? Notiim, for 1707, we find that James Chase Esq. was, then, Apothecary to the person in the court of Queen Anne.