Cook, John Parsons, -1855; Palmer, William, 1824-1856 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Murder) -- England -- London
However, before I go to that, perhaps you will
permit me to call your attention to the symptoms of traumatic disease.
My belief is, and I submit it to you, and it is what I shall hope you
will confirm by your verdict, that this complaint was not strychnia
tetanus at all, but it was, according to this description--the
description to which I will call your attention--it may well have been
some form of traumatic tetanus or idiopathic tetanus--there being no
broad general distinction or certain confine between idiopathic or
self-generating tetanus, or tetanus not arising from any extreme hurt or
any violence to the interior part of the system; and many forms of
convulsions, that is tetaniform, are pretty much the same as idiopathic
tetanus, and we have had numbers of medical gentlemen who have told us
they never saw a case of idiopathic tetanus. The answer to that is, you
have had very limited experience. They are not very frequent; but there
are gentlemen here who have seen cases of idiopathic tetanus, and they
are not of such unfrequent occurrence by any means. There is one
gentleman who is here, and whom I will call before you--a gentleman who
attended at the bedside of the lady at Leeds who was suffering under
strychnia, who has himself seen four cases of idiopathic tetanus; and
there are other gentlemen here who have seen them also--they are not so
rare, but they very rarely fall under the notice of surgeons of
hospitals; they are not so frequent as traumatic tetanus. Cases of
traumatic tetanus do frequently supervene from the operations of the
surgeons themselves; sometimes after operations, however skilfully
performed, a lockjaw is the consequence. The persons to give you
information on the subject are the general practitioners.
[Sidenote: Serjeant Shee]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account