Medical Opinion in the Parish Will Case, New York, 1857

1857. A Notable Nineteenth-Century Will Case Involving Codicils and Questions of Sanity [Trial]. [Parish Will Case]. Bell, Luther V. [1806-1862]. Medical Opinion in the Parish Will Case. New York: John F. Trow, 1857. 69 pp. Octavo (9-1/4" x 6"). Stab-stitched pamphlet in printed wrappers, spine reinforced with archival tape. Light soiling and a few minor marks to exterior, wear to spine ends and corners, a few small chips to wrappers and edges of a few leaves, moderate toning to interior. $450. * Only edition. Henry Parish, a New York merchant, died in 1856, at age 69. He left a will made in 1842 that had been amended with three codicils signed by him some time after suffering a paralyzing stroke in 1849. These codicils were contested on the grounds of mental impairment. This trial attracted a good deal of attention and it involved testimony by several leading medical and legal experts. At time of this pamphlet's publication Bell was president of the Massachusetts Medical Society and a former superintendent of the McLean Asylum for the Insane near Boston. Not in Cohen, which lists a composite volume by Trow containing this title. See Bibliography of Early American Law 11386.