The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-23 00:00:00

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following night. The muscle of the peck and back Ow
stiff during the night, and those of the face were in a
Btato of great contraction ; and upon the third day were
in the same state. Upon the morning of that day the
muscular rigidity relaxed, and later was able to
open his mouth and speak ; and later felt quite
recovered. He had no return of the spasm till half-pas
five the following day. He then asked the nurse to
change his linen, and as she was about to do so 3
violent spasm came on, and he died in a few minutes;
About 30 hours elapsed between the last convulsions °I
which he died and the preceding one. The last
paroxysm continued two minutes. The rigidity before
that had been completely relaxed. I gave the patient on
the second day a small dose of tartar emetic, containing
antimony, which produced vomiting. I increased it ill
quantity on the third day, but I did not repeat it after
that day.
Cross-examined by the Attorney-General.—The tete'
nus arose from a stone falling on the mdddle toe doe
patient, completely smashing it. The wound had O.
come very unhealthy. I amputated the remaining part °I
the toe. When I saw the boy the wound was almost
closed. The jaw was closed when I administered tartar
emetic to him. On the 29th the rigidity relaxed ; the ious'
cles of the chest, back, and abdomen continued rigid. Puri
in, the time there were no convulsions whilst
administered tartar emetic. I have no doubt the
of the muscles of the chest and stomach would go taste
prevent sickness. I suppose the boy would l
vomited but for the rigidity of the muscles. I exeecl!
he would have done so from the large dose I adroinl°,,
tered. The symptoms began to abate on the 4th day'
4
and gradually subsided for sonic time. The syloPtl-
were reproduced by the nurse setting the boy up in ue
The cause had not entirely gone before that irritation
must have been set up in connection with the spinal
a
cord, and the original Feat of the wound that produced
spasms.
Re-examined by Mr. Gray—The causes of irritatiotal
producing spasms may be various. Supposing "et
occurred acc inspanied with tetanic symptoms, and the
medical man had no knowledge of the cause exeep'i Ib,,e
irritation of the spinal cord, I think it is extretele,u
difficult—probably impossible—for him to ascribe it to
any particular cause. al
Dr. M'Donald said—l am a licentiate of the R°1;„
College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. I have been
practice for a number of years, and have had cases of
traumatic and idiopathic tetanus. I have seen two Csse,
of idiopathic. I have also made experiments. Tetallu-
will proceed from slight causes.' Any internal alterA,i
tion of the secretions will produce it. Exposure to o°l
would produce it. Mental excitement will also 031159
tetanic convulsions. Sensual excitement will prod°
tetanus. Grasules in any part of the body connected
with the nervous structure might produce it. Tetal'o
causes are produced by means yet undiscoverable be
human science. There is some obscurity about tu,,
disease. Many post mortem examinations have take;
place in cases of death by tetanus, and no cause of dis
has been discovered. Strychnia is easily discoverable
In the case of Catherine Watson I was fortunate to ear:
her, and she is at present in court. [The Witllsejo
here read the minutes of the case which he had m°°,
at the time]. In that case there was a lock jaw ; hei;
cuffed about the middle of the attack, but she WO
to speak. In acute idiopathic cases it is a late synlPle;
I have had a patient, named Copeland, who had bees
attacked with idiopathic tetanus under my care ; thaat
was no external cause. Death took place in soratirr";,f
less than half an hour. I have made a number
experiments on animals with respect to stryche"s
psis nase and have found the post mortem examinatio%
very generally,to concur. The membranes of the bre,lid
are highly congested, the sinus gorged with blood,
in one case I had hemorrhage from the nostril. 1,"„a-
-eut through the substauce of the brain and fousaw"h;
merous red spots ; these are the general results.
lungs of those animals had been either collapsed or cri'd
g sted, the heart invariably filled on the right side eliej
very often on the left. The liver has been congas 5i
and the kidneys normal ; tie spleen in a natu.,,,-'
condition. Tee vessels of the stomach I be:
als r found congested on the outside surfaci;
On the mucous or inner side I found them filled trltrj
blood, the vessels of the membrane of the spinal °to
congested, also with sometimes red points cutting
the spinal cord. The appearances of post mortem
minations are always a true test of the cause of deny
I have experimentalised in a great many cases of stlais
nia. If you kill an animal with a grain of stry°L;liis
you may discover traces of it that is evidence 014
presence. The 50-1000th part of a grain c.
kill, and that can be found if in the body. I haee,alll,
tually experimented so as to discover that quanta
theory of the decomposition of strychnia, as Pt' e
pounded by Dr. A. Taylor, is quite new. The first I';1
I ever heard of it was in the Court. There is n° 11-1
founded reason, in my opinion, for such a theorY.,,eo
have proved it by numerous experiments. I have to
the blood of an animal poisoned with two grains ouf
strychilia, about the least quantity that would desq,i,
it, and have injected it into the abdonienal caci%ll
of smaller animals, and have destroyed them with he
the symptoms, and post mortem appearances of nee„el
by strychnia. It would make no difference, I sil°-ej,
think, in finding strychnia, how it was administero,
If the pills containing it were hard, and not W dA,
ill
solved, it would be easier to find. I differ from Dr' to
Taylor relative to his colour tests. I believe 002 of
be reliable tests for finding strychnia. I have f°lins
it invariably in urine that has been ejected by the the
maim that have taken it, part of it is thrown off bjlid
watery excretions. Stryehrine ca,:not be cenfeti°ll A
with salacine or anthyue. An increased flow of sPirli
is a very marked s3mptom, so is susceptibility of to
lierj
in all cams. A slight touch, or a sharp vl°/
will produce violent convulsions. They are reec-trie
nised as chronic convulsions, a stiffening °` „id
arms. A man who had taken strychnine,
his neck rubbed before the paroxysms came sif
would be likely to be Verown into convulsilAd,
the first symptoms of poisoning had conotneefe-tf
It would not give him any relief. I think it 'of
improbable that a man under the influenccAli
strychnia could pull a bell violently. I agree "-
Dr. Herapath that strychnia coed be found' self
have heard the symptoms in Cook's case descri",o
but do not attach much importance to them, as I !foe
seen symptoms developed from other causes. -11.,4u0-ol
strong enough to destroy life at one paroxysm wool'
take an hour and a half to manifest itself. le,,itt
opinion death arose from epileptic convulsions "di
telasic complications. The post mortem appearancLo
Cook's case being so different from those which I ';.,01
observed in cases of strychnine poisoning that I d°;00
suppose that a dose sufficient to destroy life in 00
paroxyism could not, so far as I am aware, require eose
an hour to manifest its affects. The interval of rel:001
from Monday to Tuesday was, in his opinion, iinPel` pi'
as to the epileptic nature of the convulsions, OS °besot
lepsy the recurrence of the fit generally comes on 34re
the same hour. Any of the causes which have 'the
heard described, such as cold, the excitement uPrln cad
race-course, and the vomiting, might have procilla is
the symptoms and death which has been describe
Cook's case.
The Court here adjourned.
Upon the re-assembling of the Court,
The Attorney-General cross-examined the witiles%lc
[The witness was under examination when we well
press.]