Great interest has been taken this week in an inquest
intc the death of Mr. Harold Frederic, the author of "Illumina- tion," a novelist of much originality and some distinction. He suffered from heart-disease and rheumatic fever, and was cared for by a Mrs. Lyon, who passed as his wife, and Mrs. Mills, a lady who professes, under the title of a Christian Scientist, to practise some form of faith-healing for pay. Under this system no doctor is called in and no medicine given, and Mr. Frederic, who, according to medical testimony, could have been saved by proper treatment, died. The evidence as to his sanity was conflicting, but the Coroner's jury returned a verdict of "Manslaughter," and Mrs. Mills and Mrs. Lyon were committed for trial on a charge of man- slaughter. The public is so impatient of anti-scientific opinions that the verdict has been received with general approval; but, of course, the true point to be tried is whether Mr. Frederic was or was not a free agent. If he was, and himself rejected medical aid, there is no case. The first law of liberty, its very groundwork, is that a man may be a fool provided his folly only affects himself. We do not compel grown men even to learn the alphabet, and we are right. If, on the other hand, the victim is at the time incompetent to form an opinion or give an order, then those who refuse him medical aid break the law,—the fac' which justifies prosecutions of the Peculiar People, whethei medicine is useful or not.
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