DEATH AT THE LUNATIC ASYLUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4852, 5 June 1877, Page 4

DEATH AT THE LUNATIC ASYLUM.

CORONER'S INQUEST. A conoxEK's inquest into the circumstances connected with the death of Henry Swaiu, was held yesterday, :it the Lunatic Asylum, before Dr. Goldsbro' and a jury. Mr. G. \V. Morris was chosen foreman of the jury. Timotlii' Lowry, chief keeper of the Asylum, and Job Humphries, one* of the attendants, were examined. Thomas Aickeu, M.0., llesident Surgeon of the Asylum, deposed that he knew the deceased, HenrySwain, since liis admission on the 20th September, IST(i. Ho was then labouring under a peculiar form of insanity, called kleptomania. Hu ha.l been ia the habit of stealing anything he could lay hands on, even to the p:itient.s , blankets. His bodily health was not good ; he was pale and I Wt.'d. lie was puc under appropriate treatment, but the ease gradually developed to one ot acute mania. In the December r;i.n.jeroi:s, and de-tructive. Dr. Aickea gave further details of the nature of ik'C'.'a?v:d"s illneas. There were no external marks of violence. The body wa- ; t<.l fcr:i b!y well nourished. On rein .iviiii; tlie sealp liu t'.iuud it congested, out large nuautitU-H of b[..c.i. On the inner surface of the skull, towards tiie anterior porcinn of thefioiital bone, he found a siiecuhim of bone n quarter of an iueh loin ,, whieli he thought mi-lit have been a sounfe o: irrigation to the "membranes and brain. The doctor then proceeded tn de.-cribe tiie appeiranec of the l..r.\in, which, from its loading of b!.,od, was, in liis opinion, quite suliieient to cause sanguiueous apoplexy. The lungs and heart were quite health/, also tho other organs, exo-.-pt the ki'd-r.'-ys, which were decidi-dly 'l.iseased. The cauae u f d, nch he attribired to exhaustion, ru-iiltin- from eoig.stion of the hiain and chronic .ll.i-v.se of the brain, a< :iiio\vn by iho old adhesions.—The jury, afti-r a bi'i.-f deliuerati.jn, returned a verdict to the i-ifi\:t chat deceased died from i-xhau>-tion, produced by chronic disease of, thu braiu.