Some Important Deductions from Medical Testimony
From Dr. Humphreys’ testimony it appears that, after the days when he was away from the patient, and when Mrs. Maybrick had undisturbed access to her husband, no symptoms whatever of arsenical poisoning appeared. If, then, arsenic was administered by Mrs. Maybrick under the doctors’ eyes, without their detecting it, what value can attach to the testimony of the medical attendants as to the cause of death, apart from the post-mortem examination, by which they practically admit they allowed their judgment to be governed?
Does not the only alternative present itself that Drs. Humphreys and Carter are driven to the admission: “That the deceased died of arsenical poisoning we deduce, not from the symptoms during life, but from the fact that arsenic was found in the body after death”?