“My dearest Annie,—I snatch a moment from my studies to write to your dear, dear little self. I need scarcely say that the principal inducement I have to work is the desire of getting my studies finished, so as to be able to press your dear little form in my arms. With best, best love, believe me, dearest Annie,Your ownWilliam.”
“My dearest Annie,—I snatch a moment from my studies to write to your dear, dear little self. I need scarcely say that the principal inducement I have to work is the desire of getting my studies finished, so as to be able to press your dear little form in my arms. With best, best love, believe me, dearest Annie,
Your ownWilliam.”
Now this is not the sort of letter that is generally read in courts of justice. It was no part of my instructions to read that letter, but the book was put in to prove that this man is a wicked, heartless, savage desperado; and I show you what he was seven years ago—that he was a man who loved a young woman for her own sake—loved her with a pure and virtuous affection—such an affection as would, in almost all natures, be a certain antidote against guilt. Such is the man whom it has been my duty to defend upon this occasion, and upon the evidence that is before you I cannot believe him to be guilty. Don’t suppose, gentlemen, that he is unsupported in this dreadful trial by his family and his friends. An aged mother, who may have disapproved of some part of his conduct, awaits with trembling anxiety your verdict; a dear sister can scarcely support herself under the suspense which now presses upon her; a brave and gallant brother stands by him to defend him, and spares neither time nor trouble to save him from an awful doom. I call upon you, gentlemen, to raise your minds to a capacity to estimate the high duty which you have to perform. You have to stem the torrent of prejudice; you have to vindicate the honour and character of your country; you have, with firmness and courage, to do your duty, and to find a verdict for the Crown if you believe that guilt is proved; but, if you have a doubt on that point, depend upon it that the time will come when the innocence of that man will be made apparent, and then you will deeply regret any want of due and calm consideration of the case which it has been my duty to lay before you.
The speech of the learned Serjeant occupied exactly eight hours in its delivery. There were some slight indications of an attempt to applaud at its conclusion, but they were instantly repressed.
The Court then adjourned till 10 o’clock next morning.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge was among the distinguished persons who were accommodated with seats upon the bench.
The learned Judges, Lord Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell,took their seats at ten o’clock. The prisoner was at once placed at the bar. His demeanour was, as on the previous days of his trial, calm and attentive, but betrayed no additional anxiety.
Immediately after the learned Judges took their seats,
LordCampbellsaid: Before the proceedings commence I must express a most earnest hope that until this trial is concluded the public journals will continue to abstain from any comments upon the merits of the case, or upon any part of the evidence. The propriety of this course is so obvious as to need no explanation. This warning ought to extend to the insertion of letters as much as to that of editorial articles.
Thomas Nunneley, examined by Mr.Grove: I am Fellow of the College of Surgeons, and Professor of Surgery at the Leeds School of Medicine. I am also a member of several medical and learned societies, foreign and English, and have been in practice between twenty and thirty years. I have a large practice, and have seen cases of both traumatic and idiopathic tetanus. Of the latter disease I have seen four cases. They did not all commence with lockjaw. One did not commence so, nor did lockjaw become so marked in it as to prevent swallowing once during the course of the disease. I have heard the evidence as to the symptoms of Cook, and had previously read the depositions as to that part of the case. Judging from those symptoms, I am of opinion that death was caused by some convulsive disease. I found that opinion upon the symptoms described in the depositions and the evidence before the Court.
LordCampbellsaid that the witness could only be examined as to his opinion founded upon thevivâ voceevidence before the Court.
Mr.Grovesaid that his object was to distinguish between the opinion founded on thevivâ voceevidence and that founded on the depositions.
Examination continued: From the symptoms described by the witnesses in court, I am of opinion that death was caused by some convulsive disease. Looking at Cook’s general state of health—
Mr. BaronAlderson: You have nothing to do with that. You must only give an opinion upon the symptoms described in evidence.
Examination continued by Mr. Serjeant Shee: I have been in court during the whole of the trial. I have heard the evidence as to the symptoms of Mr. Cook’s health previous to his final attack at Rugeley, the description of the actual symptoms during the paroxysms, and the appearance of the body on thepost-mortemexamination. Do you remember the account of the syphilitic sores?
TheAttorney-Generalobjected to this mode of putting the question, because it was an assumption that these sores existed. A medical man ought to be asked his opinion on the supposition only that certain symptoms existed.
Mr. JusticeCresswell: Let the witness describe what he assumes to have been the state of Cook’s health, and you will then see whether he is justified in his assumption.
Examination continued: I assumed that Cook was a man of very delicate constitution—that for a long period he had felt himself to be ailing, for which indisposition he had been under medical treatment; that he had suffered from syphilis; that he had disease of the lungs; and that he had old standing disease of the throat; that he led an irregular life; that he was subject to mental excitement and depression; and that after death appearances were found in his body which show this to have been the case. There was an unusual appearance in the stomach. The throat was in an unnatural condition. The back of the tongue showed similar indications. The air vessels of the lungs were dilated. In the lining of the aorta there was an unnatural deposit, and there was a very unusual appearance in the membranes of the spinal marrow. One of the witnesses also said that there was a loss of substance from the penis. That scar on the penis could only have resulted from an ulcer. A chancre is an ulcer, but an ulcer is not necessarily a chancre. The symptoms at the root of the tongue and the throat I should ascribe to syphilitic inflammation of the throat. Supposing these symptoms to be correct, I should infer that Cook’s health had for a long time not been good, and that his constitution was delicate. His father and mother died young. Supposing that to have been his state of health, it would make him liable to nervous irritation. That might be excited by moral causes. Any excitement or depression might produce that effect. A person of such health and constitution would be more susceptible of injurious influence from wet and cold than would one of stronger constitution. Upon such a constitution as that which I have assumed Cook’s to have been convulsive disease is more likely to supervene. I understand that Cook had three attacks on succeeding nights, occurring about the same hour. As a medical man, I should infer from this that the attacks were of a convulsive character. I infer that in the absence of other causes to account for them. According to my personal experience and knowledge from the study of my profession, convulsive attacks are as various as possible in their forms and degrees of violence. It is not possible to give a definite name to every convulsive symptom. There are some forms of convulsion in which the patient retains hisconsciousness. Those are forms of hysteria, sometimes found in the male sex. It is also stated that there are forms of epilepsy in which the patient retains consciousness.
By LordCampbell: I cannot mention a case in which consciousness has been retained during the fit. No such case has come under my notice.
Examination continued: I know by reading that that, although rarely, does sometimes occur. The degree of consciousness in epilepsy varies very much. In some attacks the consciousness is wholly lost for a long time. Convulsive attacks are sometimes accompanied by violent spasms and rigidity of the limbs. Convulsions, properly so called, sometimes assume a tetanic complexion. I heard the passage from the works of Dr. Copland read to the Court yesterday. I agree with what he states. Convulsions arise from almost any cause—from worms in children, affections of the brain in adults, hysteria, and in some persons the taking of chloroform. Adults are sometimes attacked by such convulsions. Affections of the spinal cord or eating indigestible food will produce them. I know no instance in which convulsions have arisen from retching and vomiting. I agree with Dr. Copland that these convulsions sometimes end immediately in death. The immediate proximate cause of death is frequently asphyxia.
By LordCampbell: Death from a spasm of the heart is often described as death by asphyxia.
Examination continued: I have seen convulsions recurring. I have seen that in very various cases. The time at which a patient recovers his ease after a violent attack of convulsions varies very much. It may be a few minutes, or it may be hours. From an interval between one convulsion and another I should infer that the convulsions arise from some slight irritation in the brain or the spinal cord. When death takes place in such paroxysms there is sometimes no trace of organic disease to be found by apost-mortemexamination. Granules between the dura mater and the arachnoid are not common at any age. I should not draw any particular inference from their appearance. They might or might not lead to a conjecture as to their cause and effect. I do not form any opinion upon these points. They might produce an effect upon the spinal cord. There are three preparations in museums where granules are exhibited in the spinal cord, in which the patients are said to have died from tetanus. Those are at St. Thomas’s Hospital. To ascertain the nature and effect of such granules the spinal cord ought to be examined immediately after death. Not the most remote opinion could be formed upon an examination made two months after death, more especially if the brain had been previously opened. Independently of the appearance of granules, it would not after that period be possible to form a satisfactory opinion upon the general condition of the spinal cord.
If there were a large tumour, or some similar change, it might be exhibited; but neither softening nor induration of the structure could be perceived. The nervous structure changes within two days of death. To ascertain minutely its condition, it is necessary to use a lens or microscope. That is required in an examination made immediately after death. I have attended cases of traumatic tetanus. That disease commonly begins with an attack upon the jaw. One of the four cases of idiopathic tetanus that I have seen was my own child. In three of those cases the disease began with lockjaw. The fourth case commenced in the body, the facility of swallowing remaining. I have, within the last twelve months, madepost-mortemexaminations of two persons who had died from strychnia. I did not see the patients before death. In both cases I ascertained, by chemical analysis, that death had been caused by strychnia. In both I found the strychnia. In one case—that of a lady aged 28 years—I made my examination forty-two hours after death, and in the other thirty hours. In the former case, the body had not been opened before I commenced my examination. [The witness read a report of this examination, in which it was stated that the eyelids were partially open, and the globes flaccid, and the pupils dilated. The muscles of the trunk were not in the least rigid; indeed, they were so soft, that the body might be bent in any direction. The muscles at the hip and shoulder joints were not quite so flaccid, but they allowed these joints to be easily moved, while those of the head and neck, fore-arms, &c. were rigid. The fingers were curved, and the feet somewhat arched. All the muscles, when cut into, were found soft and dark in colour. The membranes of the liver were exceedingly vascular. The membrane of the spinal cord was much congested. There was bloody serum in the pericardium; the lungs were distended, and some of the air-cells were ruptured. The lining membrane of the trachea and bronchial tubes were covered with a layer of dark bloody mucus of a dark chocolate colour. The thoracic vessels and membranes were much congested, and the blood was everywhere dark and fluid.] After reading this report the witness continued:—In the second case I made my examination thirty hours after death. I first saw the body about twelve hours after death. It was a woman somewhere near twenty years of age. [The witness also read the report of the examination in this case. The appearances of the body were substantially similar to those presented in the previous case.] In two other cases I have seen a patient suffering from over doses of strychnia. Neither of those cases was fatal. In one case I had prescribed the twelfth of a grain, and the patient took one-sixth. That was for a man of middle age. Strychnia had been givenin solution. In a few minutes the symptoms appeared. They were a want of power to control the muscles, manifested by twitchings, rigidity, and cramp, more violent in the legs than in any other part of the body. The spasms were not very violent. They continued six hours before they entirely disappeared. During that time they were intermittent at various intervals. As the attack passed off the length of the intervals increased. At first their length was but a few seconds. The spasms were not combatted by medical treatment. The other case was a very similar one. The quantity taken was the same—double what I had prescribed. I have experimented upon upwards of sixty animals with strychnia. Those animals were dogs, cats, rats, mice, guinea-pigs, frogs, and toads. The symptoms of the attack in all animals present great resemblances. Some animals are, however, much more susceptible of its influence than others are. The period elapsing between the injection of the poison and the commencement of the symptoms has been from two minutes to thirty—more generally five or six. I administered the poison occasionally in solution, but more generally in its solid state. It was sometimes placed dry upon the back of the tongue, and some fluid poured down the throat; sometimes it was enclosed between two portions of meat; sometimes mixed up with butter or suet, and sometimes rolled up in a small piece of gut. To frogs and toads it was administered by putting them into a solution of strychnia. I have also applied it direct to the spinal cord, and in other cases to the brain. The first symptom has been a desire to be quite still; then hurried breathing; then slavering at the mouth (when the poison had been given through that organ); then twitching of the ears, trembling of the muscles, inability to walk, convulsions of all the muscles of the body, the jaws being generally firmly closed; the convulsions attended by a total want of power in the muscles, which, on the least touch, were thrown into violent spasms, with a galvanic-like shock. Spasms also come on if the animal voluntarily attempts to move; that is usually the case, but occasionally the animal is able to move without inducing a recurrence of the spasms. These spasms recur at various periods, but do not always increase in violence. The animals die after periods varying from three hours to three hours and a half. In the cases where the animals live longest the paroxysms occur at the longest intervals. In all cases, in the interval before death, the rigidity ceases (I know no exception to this), and the muscles become quite soft, powerless, and flaccid. The limbs may be put in any position whatever. There is but little difference from ordinary cases of convulsive death in the time at which therigor mortiscomes on.
I have destroyed animals with other poisons, and there is very little difference between the rigidity in their cases and that in the cases of death from strychnia. In the two women I have mentioned therigor mortiswas much less than is usual in cases of death from natural disease. I have known fatal cases of poisoning animals by strychnia in which there has between the first and the second paroxysm been an interval of about half an hour, but that is not common. I have examined the bodies of upwards of forty animals killed by strychnia. I have invariably found the heart full on the right side; very generally the left ventricle firmly contracted, and the blood usually dark, and often fluid. There is no particular appearance about the spine. I have experimented with other poison upon upwards of two thousand animals, and have written upon this subject. It very often happens that in the case of animals dying suddenly from poisoning the blood is fluid after death. That also happens in cases of sudden death from other causes. I have attended to the evidence as to the symptoms exhibited by Cook on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night. The symptoms on Sunday night I assume to have been great excitement. Cook described himself as having been very ill, and in such a state that he considered himself mad for a few minutes. He stated that the cause of this was a noise in the street. These symptoms, in the three nights I have mentioned, do not resemble those which I have seen follow the administration of strychnia. Cook had more power of voluntary motion than I have observed in animals under the influence of this poison. He sat up in bed, and moved his hands about freely, swallowed, talked, and asked to be rubbed and moved, none of which, if poisoned by strychnia, could he have done. The sudden accession of the convulsions is another reason for believing that they were not produced by strychnia. Other reasons for believing that the convulsions were not produced by strychnia are their sudden accession without the usual premonitory symptoms, the length of time which had elapsed between their commencement and the taking of the pills which are supposed to have contained poison, and the screaming and vomiting. I never knew an animal which had been poisoned with strychnia to vomit or scream voluntarily. I apprehend that where there is so much spasm of the heart there must be inability to vomit. In the cases related in which attempts were made to produce vomiting they did not succeed. There is such a case in the 10th volume of theJournal de Pharmacie, in which an emetic was given without success. The symptoms exhibited after death by animals poisoned by strychnia differ materially from those presented by the body of Cook. In his case the heart is stated to have been empty and uncontracted.
LordCampbell: I do not remember that. I think it was said that it was contracted.
Mr. BaronAlderson: According to my note, Dr. Harland said that the heart was contracted, and contained no blood.
Examination continued: The lungs were not congested, nor was the brain. In the case of animals which have recovered, the paroxysms have subsided gradually. I never knew a severe paroxysm followed by a long interval of repose. I have experimented upon the discovery of strychnia in the bodies of animals in various stages of decomposition, from a few hours after death up to the forty-third day, in which latter case the body was quite putrid. It has never happened to me to fail to discover the poison. I have experimented in about fifteen cases.
Supposing a person to have died under the influence of strychnia poison in the first paroxysm, and his stomach to have been taken out and put into a jar on the sixth day after death, must strychnia have, by a proper analysis, been found in the body?—Yes. If the strychnia be pure, such as is almost invariably found among medical men and druggists, the test is nitric acid, which gives a red colour, which in a great measure disappears on the addition of protochloride of tin. If the strychnia be pure, it does not undergo any change on the addition of sulphuric acid, but on an addition of a mixture of bichromate of potash, with several other substances, it produces a beautiful purple, which changes to varying shades until it gets to be a dirty red. There are several other tests. In this case the stomach was not, in my opinion, in an unfavourable condition for examination. The circumstances attending its position in the jar, and its removal to London, would give a little more trouble, but would not otherwise effect the result. If the deceased had died from strychnia poison, it ought to have been found in the liver, spleen, and kidneys. I have seen this poison found in similar portions of animals which had been killed by it. I have also seen it found in the blood; that was by Mr. Herepath, of Bristol.
Could the analyses be defeated or confused by the existence in the stomach of any other substance which would produce the same colours?—No. Supposing that pyrozantine and salicine were in the parts examined, their existence would not defeat the analysis. Pyrozantine is very unlikely to be found in the stomach. It is one of the rarest and most difficult to be obtained. The distinction between pyrozantine and strychnia is quite evident; pyrozantine changes to a deep purple on the addition of sulphuric acid alone, and the bichromate of potash spoils the colour. In strychnia no change is produced by sulphuric acid. It requires the addition of the bichromate to produce the colour.
Supposing the death to have been caused by a dose of strychnia, not more than sufficient to destroy the animal, would it be so diffused by the process of absorption that you would not be able by these tests to detect it in any portion of the system?—No; I believe it would not.
Had that question occupied your attention before you were called upon to give evidence upon this trial?—It had.
What is your reason for stating that strychnine, when it has done its work, continues as strychnine in the system?—Those who say that some change takes place argue that as food undergoes a change when taken into the body, so does the poison; it becomes decomposed. But the change in food takes place during digestion; consequently its traces are not found in the blood. Substances like strychnine are absorbed without digestion, and may be obtained unchanged from the blood. They may be administered in various ways.
In your judgment will any amount of putrefaction prevent the discovery of strychnine?—To say that it is absolutely indestructible would be absurd, but within ordinary limits, no. I have found it at the end of forty days.
What is the probable relative rapidity of the action of strychnine in an empty and a full stomach?—The emptier the stomach the quicker the action.
Cross-examined by theAttorney-General.—I am a lecturer on surgery. Mr. Morley, who was called for the prosecution, is a lecturer on chemistry. Part (perhaps half) of the experiments on the 60 animals were made by me and Mr. Morley jointly. There was nothing to distinguish the experiments which I made alone from those which I made jointly with him. I state the apparent results of the whole. My experiments were spread over a period of thirty years. Many of them have been made since the Leeds case. Some of them were made in reference to this case. I can’t say how many.
Now, don’t put yourself in a state of antagonism to me, but tell me how many of your experiments were made in reference to this particular case?—I cannot answer that question. The great bulk certainly were not. I was first concerned in this case about the time of the death of the person at Leeds. I was applied to. I was in correspondence with the attorney for the defence. The details of the Leeds case were forwarded to him by me, and I called his attention to them. The general dose in these experiments was from half a grain to two grains. Half a grain is sufficient to destroy life in the larger animals. I have seen both a dog and cat die from that dose, but not always. Some animals as a species are more susceptible than those of a different species, and among animals of the same species some are more susceptible than others. The symptoms in the experiments I have mentioned did not appear after so long a period as an hour. We have had to repeat the dose of poison in some instances when half a grain has been given. That happened in the case of a cat. Symptoms of spasm were produced,but the animal did not die. She had not, however, swallowed the doses. I think I have known animals of the cat species killed with half a grain.
Have you any doubt about it?—Yes.
Half a grain, then, is theminimumdose which will kill a cat?—I think it would be theminimumdose in the case of an old strong cat. If administered in a fluid state I think a smaller dose would suffice. Harried breathing is one of the first symptoms, afterwards there are twitching and tremblings of the muscles, then convulsions.
Is there any diversity, as in the intervals and the order of the symptoms, in animals of the same species?—They certainly don’t occur after the same intervals of time, but I should say they generally occur in the order I have described. There is some difference in the periods at which the convulsions take place. Some animals will die after less convulsion than others, but an animal generally dies after four or five. In one or two instances an animal has died after one convulsion. In those instances a dose has been given equal in amount to another dose which has not produced the same effect. The order in which the muscles are convulsed varies to some extent. The muscles of the limbs are generally affected first. The convulsions generally occur simultaneously.
Do you know any case of strychnine in which the rigidity after death was greater than the usualrigor mortis?—I think not. I don’t think there is any peculiar rigidity produced by strychnine.
Have you never found undue rigidity in a human subject after death from strychnine?—Considerably less.
In the anonymous case to which we have referred were not the hands curved and the feet arched by muscular contraction?—Not more than is usual in cases of death from ordinary causes. The limbs were rigid, but not more than usual.
In face of the medical profession, I ask you whether you signed a report stating that “the hands were curved and the feet decidedly arched by muscular contraction,” and whether you meant by those words that there was no more than the ordinary rigidity of death?—Certainly; I stated so at the time.
Where? In the report?—No; in conversation. Allow me to explain that a distinction was drawn between the muscles of the different parts of the body. I heard Mr. Morley’s evidence with regard to experiments on animals, and his statement that “after death there was an interval of flacidity, after which rigidity commenced more than if it had been occasioned by the usualrigor mortis.”
You don’t agree with that statement?—I do not. I generally found the right side of the heart full.
Does the fact of the heart in Cook’s case having been found empty lead you to the conclusion that death was not caused by strychnine?—Among other things it does. I heard the evidence of Dr. Watson as to the case of Agnes Sennet, in which the heart was found distended and empty; also, that of Mr. Taylor as to thepost-mortemexamination of Mrs. Smyth. No doubt he stated that the heart in that case also was empty.
And do those facts exercise no influence on your judgment?—They would not unless I knew how thepost-mortemexamination had been made. If it was commenced at the head, the blood being fluid, the large drains would be opened, and the blood, from natural causes, would drain away.
Do you know how thepost-mortemexamination was made in this case?—No. Excuse me, I do. The chest and the abdomen, not the head, were first opened.
The heart, then, was not emptied in the first instance?—No.
Then what occasioned the contraction of the heart?—When the heart is emptied it is usually contracted.
But how do you account for its contraction and emptiness?—I cannot say that I am able to account for it.
LordCampbell: Would the heart contract if there were blood in it?—No.
LordCampbell: When you find the heart contracted you know, then, that it was contracted at the moment of death?—It is necessary to draw a distinction between the two cavities. It is very common to find the left ventricle contracted and hard, while the right is uncontracted.
LordCampbell: That is death by asphyxia?—Precisely.
By theAttorney-General: In Cook’s case the lungs were described as not congested. Entosthema is of two kinds; one of them consists of dilation of the cells, the other of a rupture of the cells. When animals die from strychnine entosthema occurs. I do not know the character of the entosthema in Cook’s case. It did not occur to me to have the question put to the witnesses who described thepost-mortemexamination.
To what constitutional symptoms about Cook do you ascribe the convulsions from which he died?—Not to any.
Was not the fact of his having syphilis an important ingredient in your judgment upon his case?—It was. I judge that he died from convulsions by the combination of symptoms.
What evidence have you to suppose that he was liable to excitement and depression of spirits?—The fact that after winning the race he could not speak for three minutes.
Anything else?—Mr. Jones stated that he was subject to mental depression. Excitement will produce a state of brain which will be followed, at some distance, by convulsions. I think Dr. Bamford made a mistake when he said the brain was perfectly healthy.
Do you mean to set up that opinion against that of Dr. Devonshire and Dr. Harland, who were present at thepost-mortem?—My opinion is founded in part upon the evidence taken at the inquest, in part on the depositions. With the brain and the system in the condition in which Cook’s were I believe it quite possible for convulsions to come on and destroy a person. I do not believe that he died from apoplexy. He was under the influence of morphia. I don’t ascribe his death to morphia, except that it might assist in producing a convulsive attack. I should think morphia not very good treatment, considering the state of excitement he was in.
Do you mean to say, on your oath, that you think he was in a state of excitement at Rugeley?—I wish to give my evidence honestly. Morphia, when given in an injured state of the brain, often disagrees with the patient.
But what evidence have you as to the injured state of the brain?—Sickness often indicates it. I can’t say whether the attack of Sunday night was an attack of convulsions. I think that the Sunday attack was one of a similar character, but not so intense, as the attack of Tuesday, in which he died. I don’t think he had convulsions on the Sunday, but he was in that condition which often precedes convulsions. I think he was mistaken when he stated that he was awoke by a noise. I believe he was delirious. That is one of the symptoms on which I found my opinion. Any intestinal irritation will produce convulsions in a tetanic form. I have known instances in children. I have not seen an instance in an animal. Medical writers state that such cases do occur. I know no name for convulsions of that kind.
Have you ever known a case of convulsions of that kind, terminating in death, in which the patient remained conscious to the last?—I have not. Where epilepsy terminates in death, consciousness is gone. I have known four cases of traumatic, and five or six of idiopathic tetanus.
You heard Mr. Jones make this statement of the symptoms of Cook after the commencement of the paroxysms:—After he swallowed the pills he uttered loud screams, threw himself back in the bed, and was dreadfully convulsed. He said, “Raise me up! I shall be suffocated.” The convulsions affected every muscle of the body, and were accompanied by stiffening of the limbs. I endeavoured to raise Cook with the assistance of Palmer, but found it quite impossible, owing to the rigidity of the limbs. When Cook found we could not raise him up, he asked me to turn him over. He was then quite sensible. I turned him on to his side. I listened to the action of his heart. I found that it gradually weakened, and asked Palmer to fetch some spirits of ammonia to be used as a stimulant. When he returned the pulsations of the heart were gradually ceasing, and life was almost extinct. Cook died very quietly a very short time afterwards. When he threw himself back in bed he clinched his hands, and they remained clinched after death. When I was rubbing his neck, his head and neck were unnaturally bent back by the spasmodic action of the muscles. After death his body was so twisted or bowed, that if I had placed it upon its back it would have rested upon the head and the feet.—Now, I ask you to distinguish in any one particular between those symptoms and the symptoms of tetanic convulsions?—It is not tetanus at all; not idiopathic tetanus.
I quite agree with you that it is not idiopathic tetanus, but point out any distinction that you can see between these symptoms and those of real tetanus?—I do not know that there is any distinction, except that in a case of tetanus I never saw rigidity continue till death and afterwards.
Can you tell me of any case of death from convulsions in which the patient was conscious to the last?—I do not know of any; convulsions occurring after poison has been taken are properly called tetanic.
We were told by Sir B. Brodie that while the paroxysms of tetanic convulsion last there is no difference between those which arise from strychnine and those which arise from tetanus properly so called, but the difference was in the course the symptoms took. Now, what do you say is the difference between tetanus arising from strychnine and ordinary tetanus?—The hands are less violently contracted; the effect of the spasm is less in ordinary tetanus. The convulsion, too, never entirely passes away. I have stated that tetanus is a disease of days, strychnine of hours and minutes; that convulsive twitchings are in strychnine the first symptoms, the last in tetanus; that in tetanus the hands, feet, and legs are usually the last affected, while in strychnine they are the first. I gave that opinion after the symptoms in the case of the lady at Leeds, which were described by the witness Witham, and I still adhere to it. I never said that Cook’s case was one of idiopathic tetanus. I do not think it was a case of tetanus in any sense of the word. It differed from the course of tetanus from strychnine in the particulars I have already mentioned.
Repeat them: There was the sudden accession of the convulsions.
Sudden—after what?—After the rousing by Jones. There was also the power of talking.
Don’t you know that Mrs. Smyth talked and retained her consciousness to the end; that her last words were “turn me over?”—She did say something of that kind. No doubt those were the words she used. I believe that in poison from tetanus the symptoms are first observed in the legs and feet. In the animals upon which I have experimented twitchings in the ears and difficulty of breathing having been the premonitory symptoms.
When Cook felt a stiffness and a difficulty of breathing, and said that he should be suffocated on the first night, what were those but premonitory symptoms?—Well, he asked to be rubbed; but, as far as my experience goes with regard to animals—
TheAttorney-General: They can’t ask to have their ears rubbed, of course. (A laugh.)
Mr. SerjeantSheesaid the witness was about to explain the effect of being rubbed upon the animals.
Cross-examined continued: In no single instance could the animals bear to be touched.
Did not Mrs. Smyth ask to have her legs and arms rubbed?—In the Leeds case the lady asked to be rubbed before the convulsions came on, but afterwards she could not bear it, and begged that she might not be touched.
Can you point out any one point, after the premonitory symptoms, in which the symptoms in this case differ from those of strychnine tetanus?—There is the power of swallowing, which is taken away by inability to move the jaw.
But have you not stated that lockjaw is the last symptom that occurs in strychnine tetanus?—I have. I don’t deny that it may be. I am speaking of the general rule. In the Leeds case it came on very early, more than two hours before death, the paroxysms having continued about two hours and a half. In that case we believed that the dose was four times repeated. Poison might probably be extracted by chemical process from the tissues, but I never tried it, except in one case of an animal. I am not sure whether poison was in that case given through the mouth. We killed four animals in reference to the Leeds case, and in every instance we found strychnine in the contents of the stomach. In one case we administered it by two processes, and one failed and the other succeeded.
Re-examined: In making reports upon cases such as that which has been referred to, we state ordinary appearances; we state the facts without anything more.
Mr.William Herapath, examined by Mr.Grove, Q.C.: I am a Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology at the Bristol Medical School. I have studied chemistry for more than forty years, and toxicology for thirty. I have experimented on the poison of strychnine. I have seen no case of a human subject during life, but I have examined a human body after death. In one case I examined the contents of the stomach and I found strychnine about three days after death. There are several tests—sulphuric acid and bichromate of potash, sulphuric acid and puce-coloured oxide of lead, sulphuric acid and peroxide of lead, sulphuric acid and peroxide of manganese, &c. The lower oxides of lead would not succeed. These are all colour tests, and produce a purple colour, passing to red. Another class of tests give a different colour with impure, but not with pure, strychnia. The process used previous to these tests is for the purpose of producing strychnia. I obtained evidence of strychnia by the colour tests in the case I have mentioned. I have experimented upon animals with regard to strychnine in eight or nine cases. I have analysed the bodies in two cases in which I destroyed the animals myself. Both of them were cats. I gave the first one grain of strychnia in a solid form. The animal took the poison at night, and I found it dead in the morning. It was dreadfully contorted and rigid, the limbs extended, the head turned round—not to the back, but to the side—the eyes protruding and staring, the iris expanded so as to be almost invisible. I found strychnine in the urine which had been ejected, and also in the stomach, by the tests I have mentioned. I administered the same quantity of strychnine in a solid form to another cat. It remained very quiet for 15 or 16 minutes, but seemed a little restless in its eyes and in breathing. In 35 minutes it had a terrible spasm, the extremities and the head being drawn together, and the feet extended. I watched it for three hours. The first spasm lasted a minute or two. The saliva dripped from its mouth, and it forcibly ejected its urine. It had a second spasm a few minutes afterwards. It soon recovered and remained still, with the exception of a trembling all over. It continued in that state for three hours. During nearly two hours and a half it was in a very peculiar state; it appeared to be electrified all through; blowing upon it or touching the basket in which it was placed produced a kind of electric jump like a galvanic shock. I left it in three hours, thinking it would recover, but in the morning I found it dead, in the same indurated and contorted condition as the former animal. I examined the body 36 hours after death, and found strychnia in the urine, in the stomach and upper intestine, in the liver, and in the blood of the heart. I have discovered strychniain all other cases by the same tests, but I took extraordinary means to get rid of organic matter. In all cases in which strychnia has been given I have been able to find it, and not only strychnia, but also the nux vomica from which it is taken. I have found nux vomica in a fox and in other animals. The detection of nux vomica is more complicated than that of strychnia. In one case the animal had been buried two months. I have experimented with strychnia not in a body, but mixed purposely with organic putrefying matter. I have found it in all cases, whatever was the state of decomposition of the matter.
Are you of opinion that where strychnia has been taken in a sufficient dose to poison it can and ought to be discovered?—Yes; unless the body has been completely decomposed; that is, unless decomposition has reduced it to a dry powder. I am of opinion from the accounts given by Dr. Taylor and the other witnesses, that if it had existed in the body of Cook it ought to have been discovered. I am aware of no cause for error in the analyses, if the organic matter had been properly got rid of. The experiments I have mentioned were made in Bristol. I have made experiments in London, and found strychnia in the stomach, liver, and blood of an animal.
Cross-examined by theAttorney-General: I don’t profess to be a physiologist. I have principally experimented on the stomach until lately. I tried my chemical process on the 8th of this month with a view to the present case. The experiment here was on a dog. I experimented on the tissues of a cat at Bristol, and of a dog in London. I found strychnia in the blood, the heart, and the urine of the cat, besides the stomach. One grain was given to the dog. It was a large dog. I have seen a cat killed with a quarter of a grain. I have said that Dr. Taylor ought to have found strychnia.
Have you not said that you had no doubt strychnia had been taken, but that Dr. Taylor had not gone the right way to find it?—I may have said so. I had a strong opinion from reading various newspaper reports—among others theIllustrated Times,—that strychnia had been given. I have expressed that opinion, no doubt, freely. People have talked a great deal to me about the matter, and I can’t recollect every word I have said, but that was my general opinion.
Re-examined by Mr.Grove: What is the smallest quantity of strychnia that your process is capable of detecting?—I am perfectly sure I could detect the 50,000th part of a grain if it was unmixed with organic matter. If I put 10 grains in a gallon or 70,000 grains of water I could discover its presence in the 10th part of a grain of that water. It is more difficult to detect when mixed with organic matter. If a person had taken a grain a very small quantity would be found in the heart, but no doubt it could be found. I made four experiments with a large dog to which I had given the eighth part of a grain. I have discovered it by change of colour in the 32d part of the liver of a dog.
Mr.Grovesaid he believed his Lordship was of opinion that experiments could not be shown.
LordCampbell: We have intimated that that is our clear opinion.
Mr.Rogers, examined by Mr.Gray: I am Professor of Chemistry at St. George’s School of Medicine, in London. I have made experiments upon one animal (a dog) poisoned by strychnia. The experiments commenced at the close of last December, and ended about ten days since. I gave it two grains of pure strychnia in meat. Three days after death I removed the stomach and contents, and some of the blood. The blood became putrid in about 10 days, and I then analysed it with a view to find strychnine. I separated the strychnine by colour tests. I cannot say how much it was by weight. In a month or five weeks, when the matter had putrefied, I analysed the stomach and its contents. I treated it with acidulated distilled water, and succeeded in discovering strychnia in large quantities about 10 days ago. I never analysed a human subject with a view to find strychnia, but I have many times done so to find other poisons. Strychnia must unquestionably have been discovered in this case if it had been present and the proper tests had been used.
Cross-examined by theAttorney-General: I have only made one experiment. If the contents of the stomach were lost it would make a difference, but not if they were only shaken up. The operation would then be more difficult. I am a medical man. I did not analyse the tissues of the body of the dog. If I had tried the tissues of Cook’s body it might have been found if it was there, notwithstanding the time that had elapsed since he died. I don’t say that the time would prevent its discovery if there.
Re-examined by Mr.Gray: If strychnia were in the stomach a portion would probably be smeared over the mucous membrane, and then I should expect to find it on the surface.
Dr.Henry Letheby, examined by Mr.Kenealy: I am a Bachelor of Medicine, Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology in the London Hospital of Medicine, and Medical Officer of Health to the City of London. I have been engaged for a considerable time in the study of poisons and their action on the living animal economy. I have also been frequently engaged on behalf of the Crown in prosecutions in cases of this nature during the last 14 years. I have been present during the examination of the medical witnesses, and have attended to the evidence as to the symptoms which have been described as attending the death of Cook. I have witnessed manycases of animals poisoned by strychnine, and many cases of poisoning by nux vomica in the human body, one of which was fatal. The symptoms described in this case do not accord with the symptoms I have witnessed in the case of those animals. They differ in this respect:—In the first place I never witnessed the long interval between the administration of the poison and the commencement of the symptoms which is said to have elapsed in this case. The longest interval I have known has been three-quarters of an hour, and then the poison was administered under most disadvantageous circumstances. It was given on a very full stomach and in a form uneasy of solution. I have seen the symptoms begin in five minutes. The average time in which they begin is a quarter of an hour. In all cases I have seen the system has been in that irritable state that the very lightest excitement, such as an effort to move, a touch, a noise, a breath of air, would send the patient off in convulsions. It is not at all probable that a person, after taking strychnia, could pull a bell violently. Any movement would excite the nervous system, and bring on spasms. It is not likely that a person in that state could bear to have his neck rubbed. When a case of strychnia does not end fatally, the first paroxysm is succeeded by others, gradually shaded off, the paroxysms becoming less violent every time, and I agree with Dr. Christison that they would subside in 12 or 16 hours. I have no hesitation in saying that strychnine is of all poisons, either mineral or vegetable, the most easy of detection. I have detected it in the stomach of animals in numerous instances, also in the blood and in the tissues. The longest period after death in which I have detected it is about a month. The animal was then in a state of decomposition. I have detected very minute portions of strychnia. When it is pure the 20,000th part of a grain can be detected. I can detect the tenth part of a grain, most easily in a pint of any liquid, whether pure or putrid. I gave one animal half a grain, and I have the strychnia here now within a very small trifle. I never failed to detect strychnine where it had been administered. I have madepost-mortemexaminations on various animals killed by it. I have always found the right side of the heart full. The reason is that the death takes place from the fixing of the muscles of the chest by spasms, so that the blood is unable to pass through the lungs, and the heart cannot relieve itself from the blood flowing to it, but therefore becomes gorged. The lungs are congested and filled with blood. I have administered strychnia in a liquid and a solid form; I agree with Dr. Taylor that it may kill in 6 or 11 minutes when taken in a solid state in the form of a pill or bolus. I also agree with him that the first symptom is that the animal falls on its side, the jaws are spasmodically closed, and the slightest touch produces another paroxysm. But I do not agree with him that the colouring tests are fallacious. I do not agree that it is changed when it is absorbed into the blood, but I agree with its absorption. I think it is not changed when the body is decomposed. The shaking about of the contents of the stomach with the intestines in a jar would not prevent the discovery of strychnia if it had been administered. Even if the contents of the stomach were lost the mucous membrane would, in the ordinary course of things, exhibit traces of strychnia. I have studied the poison of antimony. If a quantity had been introduced into brandy and water, and swallowed at a gulp, the effect would not be to burn the throat. Antimony does not possess any such quality as that of immediate burning. I have turned my attention to the subject of poison for 17 or 18 years.
Cross-examined by theAttorney-General: I am not a member of the College of Physicians or of Surgeons. I do not now practise. I have been in general practice for two or three years. I gave evidence in the last case of this sort, tried in this court in 1851. I gave evidence of the presence of arsenic. The woman was convicted. I stated that it had been administered within four hours of death. I was the cause of her being respited, and the sentence was not carried into effect, in consequence of a letter I wrote to the Home Office. Other scientific gentlemen interfered, and challenged the soundness of my conclusions before I wrote that letter. I have not since been employed by the Crown.
By Mr. JusticeCresswell: I was present at the trial. I perfectly remember it.
Cross-examination continued: I detected the poison. I said in my letter that I could not speak as to possibilities, but merely as to probabilities. I have experimented on animals for a great number of years: on five recently. I have never given more than a grain, and it has always been in a solid form—in pills or bread. In the case where poison was administered under disadvantageous circumstances, it was kneaded up into a hard mass of bread.
Mr. BaronAlderson: Did the animal bolt it or bite it?
Witness: I opened the mouth and put it into the throat. About half an hour elapsed before the symptoms appeared in one case in which half a grain had been given. In another case death took place within 13 minutes. I have noticed twitching of the ears, difficulty of breathing, and other premonitory symptoms. There are little variations in the order in which the symptoms occur. I have known frequent instances in which an animal has died in the first paroxysm. I heard the evidence of Mrs. Smyth’s death, and I was surprised at her having got out of bed when the servant answered the bell. It is not consistent with the cases I have seen. That fact does not shake my opinion. I have no doubt that Mrs. Smyth died from strychnine. Cook’s sitting up in the bed and asking Jones to ring the bell is inconsistent with what I have observed in strychnine cases.
If a man’s breath is hurried, is it not natural for him to sit up?—It is. I have seen cases of recovery of human subjects after taking strychnine. There is a great uniformity in its effects; that is, in their main features, but there is a small variation as to the time in which they are produced.
What do you attribute Cook’s death to?—It is irreconcilable with everything with which I am acquainted.
Is it reconcileable with any known disease you have ever seen or heard of?—No.
Re-examined by Mr. SerjeantShee: We are learning new facts every day, and I do not at present conceive it to be impossible that some peculiarity of the spinal cord, unrecognizable at the examination after death, may have produced symptoms like those which have been described. I, of course, include strychnia in my answer, but it is irreconcileable with everything I have seen or heard of. It is as irreconcileable with strychnia as with everything else; it is irreconcileable with every disease that I am acquainted with, natural or artificial. Touching an animal during the premonitory symptoms will bring on a paroxysm. Vomiting is inconsistent with strychnia. The Romsey case was an exceptional one, from the quantity of the dose. The ringing of the bell would have produced a paroxysm. I am still of opinion that the evidence I gave on the trial in 1851 is correct. I am not aware that there is any ground for an imputation upon me in respect of that evidence. I have no reason to think Government was dissatisfied with me. I have since been employed in Crown prosecutions. After that case Dr. Pereira came to my laboratory and asked me, as an act of mercy, to write a letter to him to show to the Home-office, admitting the possibility of the poison which I found in the stomach having been administered longer than four hours before death. I wrote the letter, drawing a distinction between what was possible and probable, and the woman was transported for life.
Mr.R. E. Gay, examined by Mr. SerjeantShee: I am a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. I attended a person named Forster for tetanus in October, 1855. He had sore throat, muscular pains in the neck, and in the upper portion of the cervical vertebræ. He was feverish, and had symptoms ordinarily attending catarrh. I put him under the usual treatment for catarrh, and used embrocations externally to the muscles of the neck and throat, and also gargles. About the fourth day of my attendance the muscular pains extended to the face, difficulty of swallowing came on, the pains in the cervical vertebræ increased, also those of the muscles of the face, particularly the lower jaw. In the evening of the same day the jaw became completely locked, the pains came on in the muscles of the bowels, the legs, and the arms. He became very much convulsed throughout the entire muscular system, had frequent involuntary contractions of the arms, and hands, and legs, his difficulty of swallowing increased, and not a particle of food, solid or liquid, could be introduced into the mouth. Attempting to swallow the smallest portions brought on violent convulsions; so strong were they throughout the system that I could compare him to nothing but a piece of warped board. The head was thrown back, the abdomen thrust forward, and the legs frequently drawn up and contracted; the attempt to feed with a spoon, the opening of a window, or placing the fingers on the pulse brought on violent convulsions. While the patient was suffering in this manner he continually complained of great hunger, and repeatedly exclaimed that he was hungry, and could not eat. He was kept alive to the fourteenth day entirely by injections of a milky and farinaceous character. He screamed repeatedly, and the noises that he made were more like those of a wild man than anything else. On the twelfth day he became insensible, and continued in that state until he died, which was in the fourteenth day from the commencement of the attack of lockjaw. The man was an omnibus driver, and when I first attended him he had been suffering from sore throat for several days. There was no hurt or injury of any kind about his person that would account for the symptoms I have mentioned. His body was not opened after death, because it was considered unnecessary. I consider his disease was inflammatory sore throat from cold and exposure to the weather, and that the disease assumed a tetanic form on account of the patient being a very nervous, excited, and anxious person. His condition in life was that of an omnibus conductor. He was a hardworking man, and had a large family dependent upon him, and this, no doubt, acting upon his peculiar temperament, tended to produce tetanic symptoms. The witness, in conclusion, said he had not heard all the evidence in this case, but he thought it right to communicate to the prisoner’s solicitor the particulars of the case to which he had now referred, as he considered it had an important bearing upon the charge against the prisoner.
Cross-examined by theAttorney-General: The case I have mentioned was undoubtedly one of idiopathic tetanus. It is the only one of the kind I ever had to deal with. It arose from exposure to cold acting upon a nervous and irritable temperament. I have a good many patients who are nervous and irritable, but I never met with such another case. The disease was altogether progressive from the first onset, and, although for a short time there was a remission of the symptoms, they invariably recurred. The locking of the jaw was one of the very first symptoms that made their appearance.
SerjeantSheethen addressed the Court, and said that the next witness he proposed to callwould occupy some time in examination, and, as it was now nearly 6 o’clock, he suggested that it would be better to adjourn the examination to the next day.
TheLord Chief Justicesaid he had no objection to the course proposed by the learned Serjeant, and he then inquired of him how much time the case for the defence was likely to occupy.
SerjeantSheesaid he hoped to conclude the defence to-morrow; and he should endeavour to do so if he possibly could.
TheLord Chief Justicesaid there was no desire to hurry him. It was most essential in so important an inquiry that the most ample opportunity should be allowed for a full and satisfactory investigation.
The Court then adjourned till the following morning, at 10 o’clock.
There was as great a crowd as usual in court this morning, long before the commencement of the proceedings.
The Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Albemarle, Lord Donoughmore, Lord Dufferin, Lord Feversham, Sir J. Pakington, Mr. Harcourt Vernon, General Peel, Mr. Tollemache, Mr. S. Warren, and other Members of Parliament, were present.
The learned Judges, Lord Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell, took their seats upon the bench at about ten o’clock, and, the prisoner having been placed at the bar, the examination of witnesses for the defence was resumed. No alteration has taken place in the prisoner’s demeanour.
Counsel for the Crown: The Attorney-General, Mr. E. James, Q.C., Mr. Welsby, Mr. Bodkin, and Mr. Huddleston; for the prisoner, Mr. Serjeant Shee, Mr. Grove, Q.C., Mr. Gray, and Mr. Kenealy.
Mr.J. B. Ross, examined by Mr.Grove: I am house-surgeon to the London Hospital. I recollect a case of tetanus being brought into the hospital on the 22d of March last. A man, aged thirty-seven, was brought in about half-past seven o’clock in the evening. He had had one paroxysm in the receiving-room; his pulse was rapid and feeble, his jaws were closed and fixed, there was an expression of anxiety about the countenance, the features were sunken, he was unable to swallow, and the muscles of the abdomen and the back were somewhat tense. After he had been in the ward about ten minutes he had another paroxysm, and his body became arched; it lasted about a minute. He was afterwards quieter for a few minutes, and then had another attack and died. The whole lasted about half an hour. There was an inquest held on the body. It was examined, and no poison was found. I think tetanus was the cause of death. There were three wounds on the body, two at the back of the right elbow, each about the size of a shilling, and one on the left elbow, about the size of a sixpence. The man had had those wounds for twelve or sixteen years. They were old chronic indurated ulcers, circular in outline, the edges thickened and rounded, and covered with a white coating, without any granulation. I am unable to say what was the origin of those ulcers, but I have seen other wounds like them. I have seen old chronic syphilitic wounds like them in other places. Those wounds were the only things which would account for tetanus.
Cross-examined by theAttorney-General.—I ascertained that poultices had been applied to the wounds a day or two before, but I am not certain as to the exact time. The man’s wife had objected to their application. They were made of linseed meal. The man’s jaws were fixed so as to render him perfectly incapable of swallowing anything. He said he had first been taken with symptoms of lockjaw at eleven o’clock—as he told me, at dinner,—but, as he told my colleague, at breakfast. He was able to speak, but could not open the jaw. That is a symptom of tetanus. There were symptoms of rigidity about the abdominal and lumbar muscles. He did not say how long he had felt that rigidity. I gathered that some other medical man, a surgeon, had seen him in the afternoon before he came to the hospital, but I am not certain as to that; he was a labouring man.
Have you any doubt that the disease had been coming on since the morning?—Nodoubt at all. The sores were ugly sores of a chronic character—ulcers. There was an integument which connected the two on the right arm, so that they would be likely to run into one another. The wounds continued under the skin, and there were no signs of healing. They had the appearance of old neglected sores. They were at the seat of the ulnar nerve—a very sensitive nerve,—that which is commonly called the “funny-bone.” I believe he had successive paroxysms all the afternoon before he came to the hospital. I think his attack arose from tetanus. My opinion is founded upon the facts that he had had wounds, that he had died of spasms, that he had lockjaw, that the muscles of the abdomen and back were rigid, and that he complained of pain in the stomach. I did not hear the account of the symptoms of Cook’s death. An affection of the ulnar nerve was peculiarly liable to produce tetanus.
Re-examined by Mr.Grove.—Strychnine was suspected in that case. The nerves of the tongue are very delicate, as are also those of the throat and fauces. I have read descriptions of tetanus in the books. The case described by Mr. Gay was idiopathic, having been caused by a cold. An injury to any delicate nerve would decidedly be a cause of tetanus.
Mr.Ryners Mantell, examined by Mr.Gray.—I am a house-surgeon at the London Hospital. I saw the case mentioned by Mr. Ross, and his statement with respect to the symptoms is correct. In my judgment, the disease of which the patient died was tetanus, produced by the sores on the arms.
Dr.Wrightson, examined by Mr.Kenealy: I was a pupil of Liebig, at Giessen. I am a teacher of chemistry in a school in Birmingham. I have studied the nature and acquired a knowledge of poisons, and I have been engaged by the Crown in the detection of poison in a prosecution. I have experimented upon strychnia. I have found no extraordinary difficulties in the detection of strychnia. It is certainly to be detected by the usual tests. I have tested and discovered it both pure and mixed with impure matter after decomposition has set in. I have detected it in a mixture of bile, bilious matter, and putrifying blood. Strychnia can be discovered in the tissues. I have discovered it in the viscera of a cat, in the blood of one dog, and in the urine of another dog, both of them having been poisoned by strychnia. I am of opinion that strychnia does not undergo decomposition in the act of poisoning or in entering into the circulation. If it underwent such a change, if it were decomposed, I should say it would not be possible to discover it in the tissues; it might possibly be changed into a substance, in which, however, it would still be detectable. It can be discovered in extremely minute quantities indeed. When I detected it in the blood of a dog, I had given the animal two grains. To the second dog I gave one grain, and I detected it in the urine. Half a grain was intended to have been given to the cat, but a considerable portion of it was lost. Assuming that a man was poisoned by strychnine, and if his stomach were sent to me for analyzation within five or six days after death, I have no doubt that I should find it generally. If a man had been poisoned by strychnine, I should certainly expect to detect it.
Cross-examined by theAttorney-General: Supposing that the whole dose were absorbed into the system, where would you expect to find it?—In the blood.
Does it pass from the blood into the solids of the body?—It does; or, I should rather say, it is left in the solids of the body. In its progress towards its final destination, the destruction of life, it passes from the blood, or is left by the blood in the solid tissues of the body.
If it be present in the stomach, you find it in the stomach; if it be present in the blood, you find it in the blood; if it be left by the blood in the tissues, you find it in the tissues?—Precisely so.
Suppose the whole had been absorbed?—Then I would not undertake to find it.
Suppose the whole had been eliminated from the blood, and had passed into the urine, should you expect to find any in the blood?—Certainly not.
Suppose that theminimumdose which will destroy life had been taken, and absorbed into the circulation, then deposited in the tissues, and then a part of it eliminated by the action of the kidneys, where should you search for it?—In the blood, in the tissues, and in the ejections; and I would undertake to discover it in each of them.
Re-examined by Mr. SerjeantShee: Suppose you knew a man to have been killed by strychnia, administered to him one and a-half hours before he died, in your judgment would that strychnia certainly be detected in the stomach in the first instance?—Yes.
Suppose it to have been administered in the shape of pills, and completely absorbed and got out of the stomach, would it still be found?—I can’t tell. If it were found, it would be in the liver and kidneys.
Could it be detected, under those circumstances, in the coats of the stomach?—Not knowing the dose administered, and the power of absorption, I cannot say that it could certainly be detected, but probably it could.
When death has taken place after one paroxysm, and an hour and a half after ingestion of the poison, can you form an opinion as to whether the dose was considerable or inconsiderable?—I cannot.
Mr. BaronAlderson: How do you suppose strychnine acts when taken into the stomach?—I cannot form an opinion.
Mr. BaronAlderson: It goes, I suppose, from the stomach to the blood, and from the blood somewhere else, and, arriving at that somewhere else, it kills.
LordCampbell: I cannot allow this witness to leave the box without expressing my high approbation of the manner in which he has given his evidence.
Mr. SerjeantSheerequested to be allowed to ask the witness whether a strong dose was likely to pass through all the stages his lordship had mentioned.
Mr. BaronAlderson: That depends on where the killing takes place.
ProfessorPartridge, examined by Mr.Grove: I have been many years in extensive practice as a surgeon, and I am a Professor of Anatomy in King’s College. I have heard the evidence as to Cook’s symptoms andpost-mortem, examination. I have heard the statements as to the granules that were found on his spine. They would be likely to cause inflammation, and no doubt that inflammation would have been discovered if the spinal cord or its membranes had been examined shortly after death. It would not be likely to be discovered if the spinal cord was not examined until nine weeks after death. I have not seen cases in which this inflammation has produced tetanic form of convulsions, but such cases are on record. It sometimes does, and sometimes does not, produce convulsions and death.
Can you form any judgment as to the cause of death in Cook’s case?—I cannot. No conclusion or inference can be drawn from the degree or kind of the contractions of the body after death.
LordCampbell: Can you not say, from the symptoms you heard, whether death was produced by tetanus, without saying what was the cause of tetanus?
Witness: Hypothetically I should infer that he died of the form of tetanus which convulses the muscles. Great varieties of rigidity arise after death from natural causes. The half-bent hands and fingers are not uncommon after natural death. The arching of the feet, in this case, seemed to me rather greater than usual.
Cross-examined by theAttorney-General: Granules are sometimes, but not commonly, found about the spine of a healthy subject—not on the cord itself; they may exist consistently with health. No satisfactory cases of the inflammation I have described have come under my notice without producing convulsions. It is a very rare disease. I cannot state from the recorded cases the course of the symptoms of that disease. It varies in duration, sometimes lasting only for days, sometimes much longer. If the patient lives, it is accompanied with paralysis. It produces no effect upon the brain which is recognisable after death. It would not affect the brain prior to death. I do not know whether it is attended with loss of sensibility before death. The size of the granules which will produce it varies. This disease is not a matter of months, unless it terminates in palsy. I never heard of a case in which the patient died after a single convulsion. Between the intervals of the convulsions I don’t believe a man could have twenty-four hours’ repose. Pain and spasms would accompany the convulsions. I cannot form a judgment as to whether the general health would be affected in the intervals between them.
You have heard it stated, that from the midnight of Monday till Tuesday Cook had complete repose. Now, I ask you, in the face of the medical profession, whether you think the symptoms which have been described proceeded from that disease?—I should think not.
Did you ever know the hands completely clinched after death except in case of tetanus?—No.
Have you ever known it even in idiopathic or traumatic tetanus?—I have never seen idiopathic tetanus. I have seen the hands completely clinched in traumatic tetanus. A great deal of force is often required to separate them.
Have you ever known the foot so distorted as to assume the form of a club foot?—No.
You heard Mr. Jones state that if he had turned the body upon the back it would have rested on the head and the heels. Have you any doubt that that is an indication of death from tetanus?—No; it is a form of tetanic spasm. I am only acquainted with tetanus resulting from strychnine by reading. Some of the symptoms in Cook’s case are consistent, some are inconsistent, with strychnine tetanus. The first inconsistent symptom is the intervals that occurred between the taking of the supposed poison and the attacks.
Are not symptoms of bending of the body, difficulty of respiration, convulsions in the throat, legs, and arms, perfectly consistent with what you know of the symptoms of death from strychnine?—Perfectly consistent. I have known cases of traumatic tetanus. The symptoms in those cases had been occasionally remitted, never wholly terminated. I never knew traumatic tetanus run its course to death in less than three or four days. I never knew a complete case of the operation of strychnine upon a human subject.
Bearing in mind the distinction between traumatic and idiopathic tetanus, did you ever know of such a death as that of Cook according to the symptoms you have heard described?—No.
Re-examined by Mr.Grove: Besides the symptom which I have mentioned as being inconsistent with the theory of death by strychnine, there are others—namely, sickness,beating the bed clothes, want of sensitiveness to external impressions, and sudden cessation of the convulsions and apparent complete recovery. There was apparently an absence of the usual muscular agitation. Symptoms of convulsive character arising from an injury to the spine vary considerably in their degrees of violence, in their periods of intermission, and in the muscles which are attacked. Intermission of the disease occurs, but is not frequent, in traumatic tetanus. I don’t remember that death has ever taken place in fifteen hours; it may take place in forty-eight hours during convulsions. Granules about the spine are more unusual in young people than in old. I don’t know of any case in which the spine can preserve its integrity, so as to be properly examined, for a period of nine weeks. I should not feel justified in inferring that there was no disease from not finding any at the end of that time. The period of decomposition varies from a few hours to a few days. It is not in the least probable that it could be delayed for nine weeks.