The age-herald., 1902-03-11
Expert Testimony aS to the
 Effects of ChIOrOfO.m
USUALLY EXCITES PATIENT
Physician Says If Both Lungs were Conqested After the Use of Chloro- form Other Organs Would
 Also Be Congested.

or court marked tne poSiiiiiiiS eighth week of the trial of A. T. Fat rick, the lawyer accused of the murder or w. M. Rice, a texas millionaire, in this city on September 2S, 1900
 Robert H. Anrich. who has charge Of the autopsy department of the city morgue was the first witness today. He assisted at the autopsy of Rice's oody' He was not permitted to answer ques- ton as to whether Donlin said at the end of the post mortem eXamlnatlon' the old mans time had come. He died of old age and that's all there is to it.
 The defense asked permission to recall pr. Donlin to ask the question of him and Prosecuting Attorney Osborne asked for time to decide whether he should accede to the request. Dr. R. A Lea a surgeon who said he had administered chloroform about 5000 times, was then called.
 Odor of ChIoroform Lasting.
 The ooor of chloroform, he said, was lasting and should be noticeable for more than an hour after its use. The ten dency of the drug was to excite the per son to whom it was given.
 MT. Moore of Patricks counsel describ- ed to Dr. Lea in a hypothetical question of great length the condition shown by the autopsy of MT. Rice's body and asked what, in his opinion, was the cause Of death. The wintess rephed Lnat he would say it was --ue to congestion of the lungs ,aYafn a described to him, he said did not show that the heart was a factor in the cause of death. Dr. Lea said co-extensive con- gestion of the lungs would be caused by pneumonia. Replying to a question, he said that chloroform was not combusti- ble.
 ross-examined by MT. Osborne, the witness told the component parts of chloroform, and said that a cloth satu- rated with the drug would burn in fifteen minutes or so, when all parts but the alcohol had evaporated. The vapor of chloroform. he said, was not an active irritant He held a bottle of the anaes- thetic close to his tongue for few mo- ments and then placed it close to his eye to show that there was no irritation caused by the vapor.
 Experiments Dropped.
 The examination of Dr. Lea was con tinued after recess and the matter of ex- perimentS was dropped. In answer to MT. Osborne the witness said in case of death by chloroform poisoning he would expect to find congestion of the other organs where there was congestion of the lungs. He had found congestion of the lungs after death by chlorcform but did not 1r.., .f direct examination. pr. Lea said in his opinion Rices death was not caused by chloroform.
 Prof James Ewing of the medical de- paItment of Cornell University, said the same causes that produced the dropsy of the lower limbs, from which Mir. Rice suf- fered, would tend to pT oduce an oedema- tious condition of the lungs.
 MT. Moor e asked hypothetical question as to the cause of death. and Dr. Ewing said in his opinion, under the conditions prescribed, death was due to congestion of the lungs, brought on by pneumonia To a second question he said the condi- tions described could not have been brought about by ch.oroform.
 "N hat did you regard from the con- dition as revealed. as the chief factor of death?' asked MT. Moore.
 "The congestion and oedema of the lungs.
 No Evidence of Pneumonia.
 Mir. Osborne objected to this line of questioning on the ground that no evi- dence of pneumonia had been submitted. The recorder allowed the questions after Ewing had said that the report of the autopsy showed conclusively that a form of pneumonia existed in the lungs. The doctor stated that chloroform kills in two ways; by asphyxiation or by paralysis of the heart. When death followed as- phyXiation there was no pathological way of determining the cause of death
 -dr. Osborne cross-eXamined Dr. Ewing The witness testimony differed so much from that given by H. P Loomis who was called by the state that MT Osborne asked:
 Do you consider pr. Loomis an au- thority in pathology"
 No" replied the witness. His father was Dr. Loomis, a medical authority"
 MT. Osborne quoted to him some of the deductions drawn by Dr. Loomis and asked what he had to say to them.
 'I should say" replied the witness that pathologist who could make such reductions does not know his business .
 ''The authority of every pathologist who ever has written on the subject"
 Dr. Ewing was still on the stand when court adjourned.