There was as great a crowd as usual in court this morning, long before
the commencement of the proceedings.
The Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Albemarle, Lord Donoughmore, Lord
Dufferin, Lord Feversham, Sir J. Pakington, Mr. Harcourt Vernon, General
Peel, Mr. Tollemache, Mr. S. Warren, and other Members of Parliament,
were present.
The learned Judges, Lord Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice
Cresswell, took their seats upon the bench at about ten o’clock, and,
the prisoner having been placed at the bar, the examination of witnesses
for the defence was resumed. No alteration has taken place in the
prisoner’s demeanour.
Counsel for the Crown: The Attorney-General, Mr. E. James, Q.C., Mr.
Welsby, Mr. Bodkin, and Mr. Huddleston; for the prisoner, Mr. Serjeant
Shee, Mr. Grove, Q.C., Mr. Gray, and Mr. Kenealy.
Mr. J. B. ROSS, examined by Mr. GROVE: I am house-surgeon to the London
Hospital. I recollect a case of tetanus being brought into the hospital
on the 22d of March last. A man, aged thirty-seven, was brought in about
half-past seven o’clock in the evening. He had had one paroxysm in the
receiving-room; his pulse was rapid and feeble, his jaws were closed and
fixed, there was an expression of anxiety about the countenance, the
features were sunken, he was unable to swallow, and the muscles of the
abdomen and the back were somewhat tense. After he had been in the ward
about ten minutes he had another paroxysm, and his body became arched;
it lasted about a minute. He was afterwards quieter for a few minutes,
and then had another attack and died. The whole lasted about half an
hour. There was an inquest held on the body. It was examined, and no
poison was found. I think tetanus was the cause of death. There were
three wounds on the body, two at the back of the right elbow, each about
the size of a shilling, and one on the left elbow, about the size of a
sixpence. The man had had those wounds for twelve or sixteen years. They
were old chronic indurated ulcers, circular in outline, the edges
thickened and rounded, and covered with a white coating, without any
granulation. I am unable to say what was the origin of those ulcers, but
I have seen other wounds like them. I have seen old chronic syphilitic
wounds like them in other places. Those wounds were the only things
which would account for tetanus.
Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--I ascertained that poultices
had been applied to the wounds a day or two before, but I am not certain
as to the exact time. The man’s wife had objected to their application.
They were made of linseed meal. The man’s jaws were fixed so as to
render him perfectly incapable of swallowing anything. He said he had
first been taken with symptoms of lockjaw at eleven o’clock--as he told
me, at dinner,--but, as he told my colleague, at breakfast. He was able
to speak, but could not open the jaw. That is a symptom of tetanus.
There were symptoms of rigidity about the abdominal and lumbar muscles.
He did not say how long he had felt that rigidity. I gathered that some
other medical man, a surgeon, had seen him in the afternoon before he
came to the hospital, but I am not certain as to that; he was a
labouring man.
Have you any doubt that the disease had been coming on since the
morning?--No doubt at all. The sores were ugly sores of a chronic
character--ulcers. There was an integument which connected the two on
the right arm, so that they would be likely to run into one another. The
wounds continued under the skin, and there were no signs of healing.
They had the appearance of old neglected sores. They were at the seat of
the ulnar nerve--a very sensitive nerve,--that which is commonly called
the “funny-bone.” I believe he had successive paroxysms all the
afternoon before he came to the hospital. I think his attack arose from
tetanus. My opinion is founded upon the facts that he had had wounds,
that he had died of spasms, that he had lockjaw, that the muscles of the
abdomen and back were rigid, and that he complained of pain in the
stomach. I did not hear the account of the symptoms of Cook’s death. An
affection of the ulnar nerve was peculiarly liable to produce tetanus.
Re-examined by Mr. GROVE.--Strychnine was suspected in that case. The
nerves of the tongue are very delicate, as are also those of the throat
and fauces. I have read descriptions of tetanus in the books. The case
described by Mr. Gay was idiopathic, having been caused by a cold. An
injury to any delicate nerve would decidedly be a cause of tetanus.
Mr. RYNERS MANTELL, examined by Mr. GRAY.--I am a house-surgeon at the
London Hospital. I saw the case mentioned by Mr. Ross, and his statement
with respect to the symptoms is correct. In my judgment, the disease of
which the patient died was tetanus, produced by the sores on the arms.
Dr. WRIGHTSON, examined by Mr. KENEALY: I was a pupil of Liebig, at
Giessen. I am a teacher of chemistry in a school in Birmingham. I have
studied the nature and acquired a knowledge of poisons, and I have been
engaged by the Crown in the detection of poison in a prosecution. I have
experimented upon strychnia. I have found no extraordinary difficulties
in the detection of strychnia. It is certainly to be detected by the
usual tests. I have tested and discovered it both pure and mixed with
impure matter after decomposition has set in. I have detected it in a
mixture of bile, bilious matter, and putrifying blood. Strychnia can be
discovered in the tissues. I have discovered it in the viscera of a cat,
in the blood of one dog, and in the urine of another dog, both of them
having been poisoned by strychnia. I am of opinion that strychnia does
not undergo decomposition in the act of poisoning or in entering into
the circulation. If it underwent such a change, if it were decomposed, I
should say it would not be possible to discover it in the tissues; it
might possibly be changed into a substance, in which, however, it would
still be detectable. It can be discovered in extremely minute quantities
indeed. When I detected it in the blood of a dog, I had given the animal
two grains. To the second dog I gave one grain, and I detected it in the
urine. Half a grain was intended to have been given to the cat, but a
considerable portion of it was lost. Assuming that a man was poisoned by
strychnine, and if his stomach were sent to me for analyzation within
five or six days after death, I have no doubt that I should find it
generally. If a man had been poisoned by strychnine, I should certainly
expect to detect it.
Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Supposing that the whole dose
were absorbed into the system, where would you expect to find it?--In
the blood.
Does it pass from the blood into the solids of the body?--It does; or, I
should rather say, it is left in the solids of the body. In its progress
towards its final destination, the destruction of life, it passes from
the blood, or is left by the blood in the solid tissues of the body.
If it be present in the stomach, you find it in the stomach; if it be
present in the blood, you find it in the blood; if it be left by the
blood in the tissues, you find it in the tissues?--Precisely so.
Suppose the whole had been absorbed?--Then I would not undertake to find
it.
Suppose the whole had been eliminated from the blood, and had passed
into the urine, should you expect to find any in the blood?--Certainly
not.
Suppose that the _minimum_ dose which will destroy life had been taken,
and absorbed into the circulation, then deposited in the tissues, and
then a part of it eliminated by the action of the kidneys, where should
you search for it?--In the blood, in the tissues, and in the ejections;
and I would undertake to discover it in each of them.
Re-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: Suppose you knew a man to have been
killed by strychnia, administered to him one and a-half hours before he
died, in your judgment would that strychnia certainly be detected in the
stomach in the first instance?--Yes.
Suppose it to have been administered in the shape of pills, and
completely absorbed and got out of the stomach, would it still be
found?--I can’t tell. If it were found, it would be in the liver and
kidneys.
Could it be detected, under those circumstances, in the coats of the
stomach?--Not knowing the dose administered, and the power of
absorption, I cannot say that it could certainly be detected, but
probably it could.
When death has taken place after one paroxysm, and an hour and a half
after ingestion of the poison, can you form an opinion as to whether the
dose was considerable or inconsiderable?--I cannot.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON: How do you suppose strychnine acts when taken into
the stomach?--I cannot form an opinion.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON: It goes, I suppose, from the stomach to the blood,
and from the blood somewhere else, and, arriving at that somewhere else,
it kills.
Lord CAMPBELL: I cannot allow this witness to leave the box without
expressing my high approbation of the manner in which he has given his
evidence.
Mr. Serjeant SHEE requested to be allowed to ask the witness whether a
strong dose was likely to pass through all the stages his lordship had
mentioned.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON: That depends on where the killing takes place.
Professor PARTRIDGE, examined by Mr. GROVE: I have been many years in
extensive practice as a surgeon, and I am a Professor of Anatomy in
King’s College. I have heard the evidence as to Cook’s symptoms and
_post-mortem_, examination. I have heard the statements as to the
granules that were found on his spine. They would be likely to cause
inflammation, and no doubt that inflammation would have been discovered
if the spinal cord or its membranes had been examined shortly after
death. It would not be likely to be discovered if the spinal cord was
not examined until nine weeks after death. I have not seen cases in
which this inflammation has produced tetanic form of convulsions, but
such cases are on record. It sometimes does, and sometimes does not,
produce convulsions and death.
Can you form any judgment as to the cause of death in Cook’s case?--I
cannot. No conclusion or inference can be drawn from the degree or kind
of the contractions of the body after death.
Lord CAMPBELL: Can you not say, from the symptoms you heard, whether
death was produced by tetanus, without saying what was the cause of
tetanus?
Witness: Hypothetically I should infer that he died of the form of
tetanus which convulses the muscles. Great varieties of rigidity arise
after death from natural causes. The half-bent hands and fingers are not
uncommon after natural death. The arching of the feet, in this case,
seemed to me rather greater than usual.
Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Granules are sometimes, but not
commonly, found about the spine of a healthy subject--not on the cord
itself; they may exist consistently with health. No satisfactory cases
of the inflammation I have described have come under my notice without
producing convulsions. It is a very rare disease. I cannot state from
the recorded cases the course of the symptoms of that disease. It varies
in duration, sometimes lasting only for days, sometimes much longer. If
the patient lives, it is accompanied with paralysis. It produces no
effect upon the brain which is recognisable after death. It would not
affect the brain prior to death. I do not know whether it is attended
with loss of sensibility before death. The size of the granules which
will produce it varies. This disease is not a matter of months, unless
it terminates in palsy. I never heard of a case in which the patient
died after a single convulsion. Between the intervals of the convulsions
I don’t believe a man could have twenty-four hours’ repose. Pain and
spasms would accompany the convulsions. I cannot form a judgment as to
whether the general health would be affected in the intervals between
them.
You have heard it stated, that from the midnight of Monday till Tuesday
Cook had complete repose. Now, I ask you, in the face of the medical
profession, whether you think the symptoms which have been described
proceeded from that disease?--I should think not.
Did you ever know the hands completely clinched after death except in
case of tetanus?--No.
Have you ever known it even in idiopathic or traumatic tetanus?--I have
never seen idiopathic tetanus. I have seen the hands completely clinched
in traumatic tetanus. A great deal of force is often required to
separate them.
Have you ever known the foot so distorted as to assume the form of a
club foot?--No.
You heard Mr. Jones state that if he had turned the body upon the back
it would have rested on the head and the heels. Have you any doubt that
that is an indication of death from tetanus?--No; it is a form of
tetanic spasm. I am only acquainted with tetanus resulting from
strychnine by reading. Some of the symptoms in Cook’s case are
consistent, some are inconsistent, with strychnine tetanus. The first
inconsistent symptom is the intervals that occurred between the taking
of the supposed poison and the attacks.
Are not symptoms of bending of the body, difficulty of respiration,
convulsions in the throat, legs, and arms, perfectly consistent with
what you know of the symptoms of death from strychnine?--Perfectly
consistent. I have known cases of traumatic tetanus. The symptoms in
those cases had been occasionally remitted, never wholly terminated. I
never knew traumatic tetanus run its course to death in less than three
or four days. I never knew a complete case of the operation of
strychnine upon a human subject.
Bearing in mind the distinction between traumatic and idiopathic
tetanus, did you ever know of such a death as that of Cook according to
the symptoms you have heard described?--No.
Re-examined by Mr. GROVE: Besides the symptom which I have mentioned as
being inconsistent with the theory of death by strychnine, there are
others--namely, sickness, beating the bed clothes, want of
sensitiveness to external impressions, and sudden cessation of the
convulsions and apparent complete recovery. There was apparently an
absence of the usual muscular agitation. Symptoms of convulsive
character arising from an injury to the spine vary considerably in their
degrees of violence, in their periods of intermission, and in the
muscles which are attacked. Intermission of the disease occurs, but is
not frequent, in traumatic tetanus. I don’t remember that death has ever
taken place in fifteen hours; it may take place in forty-eight hours
during convulsions. Granules about the spine are more unusual in young
people than in old. I don’t know of any case in which the spine can
preserve its integrity, so as to be properly examined, for a period of
nine weeks. I should not feel justified in inferring that there was no
disease from not finding any at the end of that time. The period of
decomposition varies from a few hours to a few days. It is not in the
least probable that it could be delayed for nine weeks.
By the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Supposing the stomach were acted on by other
causes, I do not think sickness would be inconsistent with tetanus.
JOHN GAY, examined by Mr. GRAY: I am a Fellow of the Royal College of
Surgeons, and I have been a surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital. A case
of traumatic tetanus in a boy came under my observation in that hospital
in 1843. The patient was brought in during the time he was ill. He was
brought on the 28th of July and died on the 2nd of August. He had met
with an accident a week before. During the first three days he had
paroxysms of unusual severity. His mother complained that he could not
open his mouth, and he complained of stiff neck. During the night he
started up and was convulsed. On the following night he was again
convulsed. At times the abdominal muscles, as well as those of the legs
and back, were rigid; the muscles of the face were also in a state of
great contraction. On the following (third) day he was in the same
state. At two o’clock there was much less rigidity of the muscles,
especially those of the abdomen and back. On the following morning the
muscular rigidity had gone, he opened his mouth and was able to talk; he
was thoroughly relieved. He had no return of spasms till half-past five
the following day. He then asked the nurse to change his linen, and as
she lifted him up in the bed to do so violent convulsions of the arms
and face came on, and he died in a few minutes. About thirty hours
elapsed between the preceding convulsion and the one which terminated
his life. Before the paroxysm came on the rigidity had been completely
relaxed. I had given the patient tartar emetic (containing antimony) in
order to produce vomiting on the second day; it produced no effect. I
gave a larger dose on the third day, which also produced no effect. I
gave no more after the third day.
Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--The accident which had happened
to him was that a large stone had fallen upon the middle toe of the left
foot, and completely smashed it. The wound had become very unhealthy. I
amputated the toe. The mouth was almost closed up when I first saw him.
The jaw remained closed until the 1st of August, but I could manage to
get a small quantity of tartar emetic into the mouth. The convulsions
were intermitted during the day, but the muscles of the body, chest,
abdomen, back, and neck, were all rigid, and continued so for the two
days on which I administered tartar emetic. Rigidity of the muscles of
the chest and stomach would no doubt go far to prevent vomiting. The
symptoms began to abate on the morning of the 1st of August (the fourth
day), and gradually subsided until the rigidity entirely wore off. I
then thought he was going to get well. The wound might have been rubbed
against the bed when he was raised, but I don’t think it probable. Some
peculiar irritation of the nerves would give rise to the affection of
the spinal cord. No doubt the death took place in consequence of
something produced by the injury to the toe.
Re-examined by Mr. GRAY.--There may be various causes for that
irritation of the spinal cord which ends in tetanic convulsions. It
would be very difficult merely from seeing symptoms of tetanus, and in
the absence of all knowledge as to how it had been occasioned, to
ascribe it to any particular cause.
Dr. W. MACDONALD, examined by Mr. KENEALY.--I am a licentiate of the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. I have been in practice for
fourteen years, and have had considerable experience, practical and
theoretical, of idiopathic and traumatic tetanus. I have seen two cases
of idiopathic tetanus, and have made that disease the subject of medical
research. Tetanus will proceed from very slight causes. An alteration of
the secretions of the body, exposure to cold or damp, or mental
excitement would cause it. Sensual excitement would produce it. The
presence of gritty granules in the spine or brain might produce tetanic
convulsions. I have seen cases in which small gritty tubercles in the
brain were the only assignable cause of death, which had resulted from
convulsions. I believe that in addition to the slight causes which I
have named, tetanic convulsions result from causes as yet undiscoverable
by human science. In many _post-mortem_ examinations of the bodies of
persons who had died from tetanus no trace of any disease could be
discovered beyond congestion or vascularity of some of the vessels
surrounding the nerves. Strychnia, however, is very easily discoverable
by a scientific man. I remember the case of a woman, Catherine Watson,
who is now present, and who was attacked with idiopathic tetanus on the
20th of October, 1855. [The witness read a report of the circumstances
attending this case, the subject of which was a young woman twenty-two
years of age, who, after going about her ordinary occupation during the
day, was attacked with tetanus at ten o’clock at night. By the
administration of chloroform the violence of the spasms was gradually
diminished and she recovered. After her recovery she slept for
thirty-six hours.] In that case there was lockjaw, which set in about
the middle of the attack. It is generally a late symptom. I had a
patient named Coupland who died of tetanus. It must have been
idiopathic, as there was no external cause. The patient died in somewhat
less than half an hour, before I could reach the house. I have made a
number of experiments upon animals with reference to strychnia poison. I
have found the _post-mortem_ appearances very generally to concur. The
vessels of the membranes of the brain have generally been highly
congested. The sinuses gorged with blood. In one case there was
hemorrhage from the nostrils. That was a case of very high congestion.
In some cases there has been an extravasation of blood at the base of
the brain. I have cut through the substance of the brain, and have found
in it numerous red points. The lungs have been either collapsed or
congested. The heart has invariably been filled with blood on the right
side, and very often on the left side also. The liver has been
congested, the kidneys and spleen generally healthy. The vessels of the
stomach on the outer surface have been congested, and on the mucous or
inner surface highly vascular. The vessels of the membranes of the
spinal cord have been congested, and sometimes red points have been
displayed on cutting it through.
From a _post-mortem_ examination you may generally judge of the cause of
death. I have in a great many cases experimented for the discovery of
strychnia. You may discover in the stomach the smallest dose that will
kill. If you kill with a grain you may discover traces of it. By traces
I mean evidences of its presence. You can discover the fifty-thousandth
part of a grain. I have actually experimented so as to discover that
quantity. The decomposition of strychnia is a theory which no scientific
man of eminence has ever before propounded. I first heard of that theory
in this court. In my opinion, there is no well-grounded reason whatever
for it. I have disproved the theory by numerous experiments. I have
taken the blood of an animal poisoned by two grains of strychnia, about
the least quantity which would destroy life, and have injected it into
the abdominal cavities of smaller animals, and have destroyed them, with
all the symptoms and _post-mortem_ appearances of poisoning by
strychnia. Strychnia being administered in pills would not affect its
detection. If the pills were hard they would keep it together, and you
might find its remains more easily. I do not agree with Dr. Taylor that
colour tests are fallacious. I believe that such tests are a reliable
mode of ascertaining the presence of strychnia. I have invariably found
strychnia in the urine which has been ejected. Strychnia cannot be
confounded with pyrozanthe. After strychnia has been administered there
is an increased flow of saliva. In my experiments that has been a very
marked symptom. Animals to which strychnia had been given have always
been very susceptible to touch. The stamp of a foot or a sharp word
would throw them into convulsions. Even before the paroxysms commenced
touching them would be likely to throw them into tonic convulsions.
Lord CAMPBELL: As soon as the poison is swallowed? No; it would be after
a certain time. The first symptoms of poisoning must have been
developed.
Examination continued: I do not think rubbing them would give them
relief. I think it extremely improbable that a man who had taken a dose
of strychnia sufficient to destroy life could after the symptoms had
made their appearance pull a bell violently. I have attended to the
evidence as to Cook’s symptoms. To the symptoms I attach little
importance as a means of diagnosis, because you may have the same
symptoms developed by many different causes. A dose of strychnia
sufficient to destroy life would hardly require an hour and a-half for
its absorption. I think that death was in this case caused by epileptic
convulsions with tetanic complications. I form that opinion from the
_post-mortem_ appearances being so different from those that I have
described as attending poisoning with strychnia, and from the
supposition that a dose of strychnia sufficient to destroy life in one
paroxysm could not, so far as I am aware, have required even an hour for
its absorption before the commencement of the attack. If the attack were
of an epileptic character, the interval between the attacks of Monday
and Tuesday would be natural, as epileptic seizures very often recur at
about the same hours of successive days.
Assuming that a man was in so excited a state of mind that he was silent
for two or three minutes after his horse had won a race, that he exposed
himself to cold and damp, excited his brain by drink, and was attacked
by violent vomiting, and that after his death deposits of gritty
granules were found in the neighbourhood of the spinal cord, would these
causes be likely to produce such a death as that of Cook?--Any one of
these causes would assist in the production of such a death.
As a congeries, would they be still more likely to produce it?--Yes.
Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am a general practitioner, and
am parochial medical officer. I have had personal experience of two
cases of idiopathic tetanus. What I have said about mental and sensual
excitement, and so on, has not come within my own observation. In the
case of Catherine Watson, I saw the patient at about half-past ten at
night. She had been ill nearly an hour, and had five or six spasms. She
had gone about her usual duties up to evening. She felt a slight
lassitude for two days previous to the attack. It was only by close
pressing that I ascertained that lock-jaw came on about an hour or two
after I was called in. The case of Coupland was that of a young child
between three and four years old. I was attending the mother, and saw
the child in good health half an hour before it came on. It was seized
with spasm, what I conjectured to be of the diaphragm, and died in about
half an hour. I had seen the child asleep, but I did not examine it. I
don’t know whether I saw the face of the child, but it was in bed; I
judged that it was asleep.
Is that the same as seeing it asleep?--Sometimes a medical man can form
a better judgment than a lawyer. Mr. Smith applied to me to be a witness
in this case. I communicated to him the case of Catherine Watson, as
resembling the case of Cook. I furnished my notes to be copied the night
before last. I have been here since the commencement of the trial. I
have been at all the consultations. I began the experiments for this
case in January. I had made experiments before. That was eight or ten
years ago. I then found out that strychnia could be discovered by
chemical and physiological tests. I killed dogs, cats, rabbits, and
fowls. The doses I administered were from three-quarters up to two
grains. To dogs, the smallest quantity administered was a grain. In four
cases, I killed with one grain, five with a grain and a half, one with a
grain and a quarter, and two with two grains. I never killed a dog with
half a grain of strychnia, and therefore never experimented to find that
quantity after death. I have always found the brain and heart highly
congested. The immediate cause of the fulness of the heart is, that the
spasm drives the blood from the small capillaries into the large
vessels. The spasm of the respiratory muscles prevents the expansion of
the lungs. The congestion of the brain is greatest when the animal was
young, and in full health. It does not depend upon the frequency of the
spasms. I have seen cases of traumatic tetanus. I have had two in my own
practice. One lasted five or six days, the other six or seven days, and
the patient recovered. I have never seen a case of strychnia in the
human subject. So far as I can judge, Cook’s was a case of epileptic
convulsions, with tetanic complications. Nobody can say from what
epilepsy proceeds. I have not arrived at any opinion on the subject. I
have seen one death from epilepsy. The patient was not conscious when he
died. I can’t mention a case in which a patient dying from epilepsy has
preserved his consciousness to the time of death.
You have been reading up this subject?--I am pretty well up in most
branches of medicine. (A laugh.) I know of no case in which a patient
dying from epilepsy has been conscious. My opinion is Cook died of
epileptic convulsions with tetanic complications.
By Lord CAMPBELL.--That is a disease well known to physicians. It is
mentioned in Dr. Copland’s Dictionary.
Examination continued. I believe that all convulsive diseases, including
the epileptic forms and the various tetanic complications, arise from
the decomposition of the blood acting upon the nerves. Any mental
excitement might have caused Cook’s attack. Cook was excited at
Shrewsbury, and wherever there is excitement there is consequent
depression. I think Cook was afterwards depressed. When a man is lying
in bed and vomiting he must be depressed.
This gentleman was much, overjoyed, at his horse winning, and you think
he vomited in consequence?--It might predispose him to vomit.
I am not speaking of “mights.” Do you think that the excitement of the
three minutes on the course at Shrewsbury on the Tuesday accounts for
the vomiting on the Wednesday night?--I do not. I find no symptoms of
excitement or depression reported between that time and the time of his
death. The white spots found in the stomach of the deceased might, by
producing an inflammatory condition of the stomach, have brought on the
convulsions which caused death.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--But the gentlemen who made the _post-mortem_
examination say that the stomach was not inflamed.
Witness.--There were white spots, which cannot exist without
inflammation. There must have been inflammation.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--But these gentlemen say that there was not
inflammation.
Witness.--I do not believe them. (A laugh.) Sensual excitement might
cause epileptic convulsions with tetanic complications. The chancre and
syphilitic sores were evidence that Cook had undergone such excitement.
That might have occurred before he was at Shrewsbury.
Might sexual intercourse produce epilepsy a fortnight after it
occurred?--There is an instance on record in which epilepsy supervened
upon the very act of intercourse.
Have you any instance in which epilepsy came on a fortnight afterwards?
(A laugh.)--It is within the range of possibility.
Do you mean, as a serious man of science, to say that?--The results
might.
What results were there in this case?--The chancre and the syphilitic
sores.
Did you ever hear of a chancre causing epilepsy?--No.
Did you ever dream of such a thing?--I never heard of it.
Did you ever hear of any other form of syphilitic disease producing
epilepsy?--No; but tetanus.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: But you say this was epilepsy; we are not talking
of tetanus?