Transcribed from the [1852] Samuel Daynes edition by DavidPrice,
OBSERVATIONS
ON
CORONERS,
BY
WILLIAM HEWITT, Surgeon,
NORTH WALSHAM,
Author of an Essay on theEncroachments of the German
Ocean, with a design to arrest its further depredations.
“Uniusætatis sunt quæ fortiter flunt,quæ
pro utilitate scribuntur æterna.”
PRINTED FORTHE AUTHOR,
BY SAMUEL DAYNES, SAINT STEPHEN’SSTREET, NORWICH;
SOLD BY JOHN CHURCHILL, MEDICALBOOKSELLER, PRINCES’ ST.,
SOHO, LONDON;
OURY AND CO., LONDON ST.,NORWICH;
JOHN MOWER, NORTH WALSHAM, AND ALLBOOKSELLERS.
Entered at Stationers’Hall.
p. 3Tothe Right Honourable The Secretary of State, for the HomeDepartment.
Sir,
The importance of the subject, I humbly anticipate will besufficient excuse for the liberty I have taken, in dedicating toyou the result of my experience connected with Coroners’Inquests.
The instances narrated with reference to apparentdelinquencies, in non-medical Coroners, contained in thefollowing pages, occurred in my immediate neighbourhood, and maybe believed, as resting on the brow of truth. Yet I mostheartily coincide in acknowledging the integrity and worth, ofGentlemen pursuing vocations, for which they have alone beenamply educated; and it is only when they assume a position, oraccept office to execute duties they are incompetent to perform,as is frequently observed, that I deem it my duty to wield my penagainst such appointments: not less for the sake of humanity,than for the dignity, and I might add, the disregarded importanceof the medical profession, to which I have the honor tobelong.
I am, Sir,
Your very humble and obedientServant,
The Author.
p.5OBSERVATIONS ON CORONERS.
“If there’s a hole in a’yourcoats,
I rede you tent it:
A Chield’s amang you, taking notes,
And, faith, he’ll prentit.”
It is no inglorious vanity inEnglishmen to consider the laws of their country afford anexample for other nations to follow. Founded on the lastingrock of integrity, shewn in the strict regard for the liberty ofthe subject, they command the obedience and the admiration ofthousands. But events, as they transpire, unfold thehumiliating circumstance, that blemishes dimly seen in thedistance become prominent on the near approach of extendingknowledge; thus disclosing the fact, that this is aprogressionary as well as a probationary world in which we live,and that perfection in human institutions canno