Cook, John Parsons, -1855; Palmer, William, 1824-1856 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Murder) -- England -- London
fixed, and there it lies, and just before its death--and I thought it
was dead, but I was told immediately before its death--just before it
dies, the limbs become as supple and as free as it is possible to
conceive the limbs of an animal to be; whichever way you placed them
after the animal is quite dead, if you place them in any form, the
rigor-mortis comes on, and they remain in the position in which you
place them. Dr. Christison says they assume rigidity. I saw this
operation performed, and also on the two rabbits, and their symptoms
were substantially the same, and their limbs in both cases were quite as
flaccid immediately on death. The animals during the time of the
intervals between the paroxysms were exceedingly touchy, and seemed
afraid of being touched at all; if you were to touch them they would
shrink away. It was more so in the dog; it was, in fact, a sort of
shudder--that is what Dr. Christison means.
[Sidenote: Serjeant Shee]
Now, gentlemen, without going through the whole of these details, I will
state to you my reasons for saying, on the authorities and from my study
of the books of those two gentlemen, that, according to their
principles, this cannot have been strychnia poison. Now, I object to the
theory of its being strychnia poison, first, on this ground, that no
case can be found in the books in which the patient while the paroxysm
lasted has had so much command over the muscles of animal life and
voluntary motion as Mr. Cook had on the Monday and Tuesday nights. You
heard that Mr. Cook was sitting up in his bed, that Mr. Cook was beating
the bed-clothes, that Mr. Cook was talking and crying out for Palmer,
and to have the remedy given to him; that Mr. Cook, so far from being
afraid of people touching him, asked to have his neck rubbed, and it was
rubbed. There is not a single instance in the books of Dr. Taylor, or in
the books of Dr. Christison, or any other books of any medical man
describing the symptoms of the strychnia poison, in which the well-known
symptoms the malasaux took place--not one, and it is inconsistent with
their description, and what I tell you will be the proof Dr. Letheby
will give of the experiment that I saw, and of many others he had
performed.
[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