"I have examined the body of the deceased. It is that of a man of about eight-and-twenty years of age. Very badly nourished, and with comparatively little food in the stomach. The stomach itself was healthy, but I found the vessels of the head unusually turgid throughout. There was also great fluidity of the blood, and serous effusion in the ventricles. The pupils of the eyes were much contracted. Judging from these appearances, and from the turgescence of the vessels of the brain, I have no hesitation in declaring that the deceased died from an overdose of morphia or of opium." _Coroner_.--"Then you think the deceased took an overdose of poison?" _Witness_ (with bland reproof).--"I say he died from an overdose, but I am not prepared to say that he took it himself." _A Juryman_.--"Then some one administered the dose?" _Witness_.--"I can't say anything about that." _A Juryman_.--"When do you think the deceased died?" _Witness_.--"That is a very difficult question to answer. In most cases of poisoning by opium, death takes place within from six to twelve hours. I examined the body of the deceased between one and two o'clock the next day, and from all appearances he had been dead ten hours. According to the evidence of Miss Chickles, he went to bed at nine o'clock, so if he took the dose of opium then--as was most likely--he must have died about four o'clock in the morning." _Coroner_.--"During his sleep?" _Witness_.--"Presumably so, opium being a narcotic." _Coroner_ (prompted by London detective).--"Did his stomach look like that of an habitual opium-eater?" _Witness_.--"No, not at all." _Coroner_.--"According to you, the deceased must have taken the poison at nine o'clock when he went to bed, and on looking at the evidence of Miss Chickles, I see that the deceased stated that he took his tonic pill regularly before he went to bed. Now did it strike you that he might have taken two pills by mistake, which would account for his death?" _Witness_ (hesitating).--"I acknowledge that such an explanation certainly did occur to me, and I analysed three pills selected at random from the box. When I did so, I found it was impossible such pills could have caused his death." _Coroner_ (obviously bewildered).--"Why so?" _Witness_.--"Because these tonic pills contain arsenic. There is not a grain of morphia to be found in them. If the deceased had died from an overdose of these pills, I would have found traces of arsenic in his stomach; but as he died from the effects of morphia or opium--I am not prepared to say which--these tonic pills have nothing to do with his death."