Cook, John Parsons, -1855; Palmer, William, 1824-1856 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Murder) -- England -- London
There are no other poisons that I know of that
produce convulsions of a tetanic character. The symptoms described which
attended this gentleman’s death are not referable to idiopathic or
traumatic tetanus. I have never seen a person die from the
administration of strychnia, but I have seen a person suffer from the
consequences of an overdose. There was the opisthotonos and there was
the consciousness perfectly retained. There was also dilation of the
pupils, a peculiar convulsion of the muscles of the trunk, and the limbs
were stiffened out. Difficulty of breathing is common to both tetanus
and to tetanic convulsions from strychnia. In the case of Mr. Cook, I
think it is an important distinction that he seems to have been able to
swallow sufficiently easy, and there was no rigidity of the muscles of
the jaw which is characteristic of tetanus, of disease, or of wound. I
think the symptoms in his case, judging from my own experience, were
those of tetanus from strychnia.
Cross-examined by Mr. GROVE--The proximate effect of tetanus, whether
caused by idiopathic or traumatic tetanus, or strychnia, is probably the
same on the nerves leading from the spine. The particular affection of
the nerves is unknown. In the disorder of convulsions there are cases of
very slight affection, others more serious, and so on. I adhere to the
opinion given by me in my lectures on “Diseases of the Brain and Nervous
System,” that the results of the administration of strychnine exactly
imitate the convulsions of tetanus. It does not produce the exact
phenomena of the disease in a clinical sense. I have no doubt the
peculiar irritation of the nerves in tetanus is identical with the
peculiar irritation of the nerves in strychnine poisoning. In traumatic
tetanus I do not recollect any instance of the limbs being affected
before the jaw. An examination of the spinal cord in tetanic affections
shortly after death is of importance. If it were deferred as late as two
months, there would be, to a certain extent, a fallacy. There are morbid
appearances produced by wounds after death which sometimes simulate
diseased conditions before death.
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