The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-14

New York
 As soon as could procure copies 9f their testimony in full, took this testimony and the minutes of the cor oner's hearing and called on Dr. Phelps and requested him 10 take this testimony, including that given by pr. Cheney on the same commission, l. C., all the medical testimony in the case up to that time, the minutes Of the investigation by the coroner, nciui- and the chemical report of pr, smith, and after a careful and thorough ex- animation of the same, to give ms his opinion as to the cause Of death. The result was that l received from Dr. Phelps last summer an exT tensive opinion. which is exceedingly interesting reading.
 Dr. Carmalfs and pr. Hawkes.
 Theory of Opium Poisoning. It must be remembered in consider ing this opinion that both Dr. Hawkes. and Dr. Carmalt testified specifically that they were able 10 state with req sonahle certainty that MT. Edwards death was caused by opium poisoning and Dr. Carmalt specially gave 1t as his opinion that the injuries to the brain were too trivial to have caused death.
 Dr. Phelps says at page of his opinion:
 The pathic conditions noted and as l sumed to indicate opium poisoning were the dark and fluid condition of the blood in the heart and blood ves- | sells and beneath the dura-mater; and 1 the congestion of the pancfeasi liver. f kidneys and brain.
 These conditions though existent In | certain number of cases or opium poisoning. have no pathosnomonie value, they are not only absent Tn large number if not in the majority or instances, but when present may equal 1 ly result from any other disease or ln- l jury which has seriously or fatally em- | barrassed respiration--as in poisoning l by other alkaloids, death from asphyxia, or as In the present Instance l from an lntracranial Injury with hem- orrhage into the posterlor cranial fos- sac.
 These views are in accord with those of writers on Medical Jurisprud- ence generally"
 Dr Phelps then proceeds to review the evidence of renal disease as evid- enced at the autopsy and reaches this conclusion:
 There seems 10 be no warrant there fore for including disease of the ldd- neys as cause of death in the case l of Mir Edwards-either directly through uraemia or Indirectly by an | intonslfication of the poisonous effects of opium which 1t is alleged he had l taken"
 Dr Phelps then passes to a consld- eratlon of what he terms Assumed insunciency of intraeranlal leslons." :" He goes over first the facts stated In the report of pr Bartlett as substan- tiated by the evidence of the doctors who had testified on the commission and who were present at the autopsy, considering them under the following heads;
 l, Pial hemorrhage,
 2. Tissue injuries of the pia mater. Contusions of the brain substance. And he then proceeds as follows:
 They" tthe facts detailed in his opinion under the foregoing headsl \ Indicate collectively a high degree of general intracranial confusion, both of the membranes and of the brain itself. W general in all fatal cases of intra- cranlal confusion when post mortem examination Is practicable In gunshot wounds of the head, With penetra ton d e.. of the skulO there is, of course additionally laceraiion. when penetration Is lacking gunshot wounds fall under the general class of head in juries. and the calbra of the bullet IS then material only when all other con ditlons arc equal. Differences in me- chansm of the pistol or in range, or in weight of powder may more than oountorhalance differences in weight of the projectle. II is the force of im- pact which determines the amount of injury inflicted, Just as 1t does when the head is struck with n bludgeon or by some falling object. There is a case reported by mo in which death resulted from q non penetrating gun shot wound of tho head made by a bull let of 03S cad. and in which the lesions were much less pronounced fhan in the present instances, tNumerous exam ples of similar iesens in eases of fatal intracranal contusions arc contained in my collection of cases, published and unpublished of head injuries yariously produced,"l
 Again at page of his opinion he says:
 "A contention that the intracrnnial lesions were tho result of opium pols- onng Is wholly without reason A l congestion of the cerebral vessels, and even some leakage from them, does occur in a greater or lesser number ot eases from such a cause, but hemor- rhages do not How much of the cere- hral congestion noted In the present. case might have so originated; fl such condition really existed, it Is of course impossible to say in the presence of another and more adequate cause, It is also immateral since the moro important lesions, the hemorrhages into the piearachnoid space at both the vertex and the base of the brain, and into the tissue of the pa~ mater, and the minute hemorrhages and throm- | boses in the brain substance. could not . have been produced by a simple hv- peraemia The direct and immediate ] fatal lesion was undoubtedly the hem !, orrhage into the posterlor cranial fos- 1 sac which in any considerable amount such az indicated by Dr. Bartlett leads to early death hv Interference with the 1 respiratory function.
 4 Hypothetical predisposition of the cerebral vessels to yield to external violence, induced by a congestion which . is In turn the result of opium poison ing, is too purely speculative to re- uulre consideration. The transmission of force te the cerebral base from the impact of the bullet upon the erania vertex. causing the lesions there which It did, shows an intensity suincl- ent to rupture vessels in a normal con. dition.
 From this analysis and considera- ton of the post-mortem findings in tho case of MT Edwards 1t becomes evid- ent:
 "First-That. aside from the ehemi- cal analysis of the urine, there Is nc } evidence of poisoning ny opium. The ] changes in the characters of the blood and the congestion Of the Niscera ob- served are neither constant in cases ol such poisoning nor pathognomonit when present tVide References). Any morphine extracted from the stomach had of course not entered the circula- ton, and could have had therefore nc agency in the causing cf death. The value of the results obtained from urinary analysis if is not for me to de termine.
 "Seeond-That the nature of the renal degeneration was not such as to intensity the effects of an opium