Reports of Trials for Murder by Poisoning;: by Prussic Acid, Strychnia, Antimony, Arsenic, and Aconita. Including the trials of Tawell, W. Palmer, Dove, Madeline Smith, Dr. Pritchard, Smethurst, and Dr. Lamson, with chemical introduction and notes on the poisons usedBrowne, G. Lathom (George Lathom)
Science
Reports of Trials for Murder by Poisoning;: by Prussic Acid, Strychnia, Antimony, Arsenic, and Aconita. Including the trials of Tawell, W. Palmer, Dove, Madeline Smith, Dr. Pritchard, Smethurst, and Dr. Lamson, with chemical introduction and notes on the poisons used
Browne, G. Lathom (George Lathom)
Medical jurisprudence -- Great Britain; Poisons; Trials (Murder) -- Great Britain; Trials (Poisoning) -- Great Britain
_Re-examined by the Attorney-General._—“In cases of death from
strychnia the heart is sometimes found empty after death. That is
the case of human subjects. There are three such cases on record. I
think that emptiness results from spasmodic affection of the heart.
I know of no reason why that should rather occur in the case of man
than in that of a small animal like a rabbit. The heart is generally
more filled when the paroxysms are frequent. When the paroxysm is
short and violent, and causes death in a few moments, I should expect
to find the heart empty. The rigidity after death always affects
the same muscles; those of the limbs and back. In the case of the
rabbit, in which the rigidity was relaxed at the time of death, it
returned while the body was warm. In ordinary death it only occurs
when the body is cold, or nearly so. I never knew a case of tetanus
in which the rigidity lasted two months after death; but such a fact
would give me the impression that there were very violent spasms. It
would indicate great violence of the spasms from which the person
died. The time which elapses between the taking of strychnia and the
commencement of the paroxysms depends on the constitution and strength
of the individual. A feeling of suffocation is one of the earliest
symptoms of poisoning by strychnia, and that would lead the patient
to beat the bedclothes. I have no doubt that the substances I used
for the purpose of analysis were pure. I had tested them. The fact
that three distinct processes each gave the same result was strong
confirmation of each. I have no doubt that what we found was antimony.
The quantity found does not enable me to say how much was taken. It
might be the residue of either large or small doses. Sickness would
throw off some portion of the antimony which had been administered. We
did not analyse the bones and tissues. I suggested questions to the
coroner because he did not put such as enabled me to form an opinion.
I think that arose rather from want of knowledge than intention. There
was an omission to take down the answers. At the time I wrote to Mr.
Gardiner I had not learnt the symptoms which attended the attack and
death of Cook. I had only the information that he was well seven days
before he died, and had died in convulsions. I had not information to
lead me to suppose that strychnia had been the cause of death, except
that Palmer had purchased strychnia. Failing to find opium, prussic
acid, or strychnia, I referred to antimony as the only substance found
in the body. Before writing to the _Lancet_, I had been made the
subject of a great many attacks. What I had said as to the possibility
or impossibility of discovering strychnia after death had been
misrepresented. In various newspapers it had been represented that I
had said strychnia could never be detected—that it was destroyed by
putrefaction. What I had said was, that when absorbed in the blood
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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