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him back to Guy’s Hospital, to torture hisunfortunate fellow-creatures ? Again and
again he would say to the jury, let them re-member that only one of all the witnesses ofthe operation had been called by the plain-tiff, aad that one a dependent upon the hos-pital. For his own part, he had not wordsto express the disgust with which he hadlistened to the evidence given by the gangof hospital surgeons produced by Mr. Cooper.(A laugh.) They stuck to him, and for agood reason, because they knew that hiscase now, might some day be theirs. Theyhad come there to bear down the weight ofhonest testimony by their names, not bytheir talents ; for it did not always happenthat great names and great talents wenthand in hand. If the jury, after listeningto the whole of the evidence, would decidethat they were willing to submit to Air.Cooper’s operations, as a surgeon,-and,without that decision, they would not givethe plain tiff their verdict,-he (Mr.Wakley)was willing to give up THE LANCET, and goany where, even to a dungeon. But hetrusted that such would not be his fate. Hetrusted that the jury would overturn this
gang of hospital surgeons, who wanted tosupport one another’s bad practices ! Hetrusted that they would, in future, preventthe poor from being hacked and hewed inour hospitals. In the course of his addressto the jury, the defendant was so over-
powered by the heat, pressure, and fa-ttigue, that lie obtained leave from the courtto withdraw for a few minutes.Lord Tenterden then proceeded to sum up
the case, and recapitulated the evidence to
the jury. With respect to the desire ofthe man to be released, he believed that itwas pretty generally understood by sur-geons that, unless a man was of extraordinarynerve, he often wished to be released fromthe operation, to which wish the surgeon,of course, ought not to attend, as long asthere was a reasonable expectation of re-leasing the patient from his suffering. Asto the report, he thought there could be noquestion that it was drawn up in an unpro-fessional manner ; in such a way as no onewould have done with a real sense of pro-priety. The defendant had objected, that- only one of those who were present at theoperation, had been called by Mr. Cooper ;but he (the Chief Justice) did not see whomhe could, with propriety, liav called besidesllr. Callaway. The others were all youngmen, only pupils, and probably too youngand inexperienced to form any judgmentin the case, that could be reasonably reliedupon. The question was one of the greatestinterest to the public, and to Mr. Cooperhimself. It appeared, on nearly all hands,that the operation was one of great diffi-culty; one in which the most able surgeons
were liable to failure. It also appeared thatthe length of time occupied, and the numberof instruments used, were no criterion of thewant of skill of the operator. All these cir-cumstances the jury were to take into theirconsideration. If they thought that the de-fendant had proved the unskilfulness, or
unsurgeon-like conduct, of the operator,they were bound to give him their verdict,whatever their opinion might be as to theform of the report, or the motives Mr. Lam-bert might have had in writing it. If, onthe other hand, they were of opinion that
that had not been made out, they must re-turn their verdict for the plaintiff ; and, inthat case, they would have to consider whatdamages the case required. The report cer-tainly placed an imputation on the profes-sional character of the plaintiff; and, as thework was in large circulation, if the jurybelieved that the defendant was in fault,they were bound to give the plaintiff suchcompensation as should meet all those cir-cumstances ; but he (the judge) could by nomeans go the lengths of the learned counsel,in saying that the jury ought, by their da-mages, to mark their indignation of whathad taken place. Their verdict should markcool and deliberate consideration, and regardfor justice.At a quarter to nine o’clock the jury reo
tired, and did not return into court till fiveminutes to eleven o’clock, when they deli-vered a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages100l.—Laid at 2.000l.!!The announcement of the verdict was
followed by loud applause from Mr. Wak-ley’s friends ; and the defendant, on leavingthe court, was cheered by the populacein Palace Yard.
MR. CALLAWAY AND MR. B. COOPER.
To T. Callaway, Esq.
J. HASLAM, M.D.
SIR,—In my conversation with you at thelast meeting of the Kent Medical Society,I hereby declare, that you never imputed toMr. Bransby Cooper any want of intellec-tual capacitv, or professional unskilfulness :and especially, that the word ’° ideot," asapplied to Mr. B. Cooper, was never men-tioned by you.
Yours truly,J. HASLAM, M.D.
Hart Street, Dec. 15,1828.