The writ 'de lunatico inquirendo,' in the case of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick's : with observations / by J.T. Banks.

  • Banks, John Thomas, 1811-1908.
Date:
[1863]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The writ 'de lunatico inquirendo,' in the case of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick's : with observations / by J.T. Banks. 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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    u THE DE LUNATICO IN THE CASE OF ) )) JONATHAN SWIFT, D.D. DEAN OF ST. PATRICK’S i WITH OBSERVATIONS. BY J. T. BANKS, M. D. T. C. D., M. R. I. A., KING’S PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE; VISITING PHYSICIAN TO THE RICHMOND LUNATIC ASYLUM, ETC., ETC. Chance lately placed in my hands the legal document which proves that, after due inquiry before commissioners appointed under the great seal, Jonathan Swift was declared to be “ a person of unsound mind and memory,” and placed under the protection of the Court of Chancery. The original, with the autographs of the commissioners and the jury, I had the ho- nour to bring under the notice of the Royal Irish Academy, at a recent meeting of that learned body. So much of doubt and uncertainty rests upon many pas- sages in the life of Swift, that it is of great importance to add any fact, the authenticity of which is beyond all question. As a proof of the contradictory nature of some of the statements, I may mention that the mode of his death is still an unsettled point. Lord Orrery says, “ His death was easy, without the least pang or convulsion ; even the rattling in his throat was scarce sufficient to give any alarm to his attendants, till some very little time before he expired.” Falkner, on the contrary, asserts that “ he died in very great agony ; having been in strong con- vulsive fits for 36 hours before.” Every circumstance, every event, in the life of the illustrious Dean of St. Patrick’s must be fraught with interest, connected as they are with one who A