With that knowledge, upon being consulted with regard to Cook, you gave it as your opinion that he died from the poison of antimony?—You pervert my meaning entirely. I said that antimony in the form of tartar emetic might occasion vomiting and other symptoms of irritation, and that in large doses it would cause death, preceded by convulsions. [The witness was proceeding to read his report upon the case, but was stopped by the Court.] I was told that the deceased was in good health seven or eight days before his death, and that he had been taken very sick and ill, and had died in convulsions. No further particulars being given us, we were left to suppose that he had not died a natural death. There was no natural cause to account for death, and finding antimony existing throughout the body, we thought it might have been caused by antimony. An analysis cannot be made effectually without information.
You think it necessary before you can rely upon an analysis to have received a long statement of the symptoms before death?—A short statement will do.
You allow your judgment to be influenced by the statement of a person who knows nothing of his own knowledge?—I do not allow my judgment to be influenced in any way; I judge by the result.
Do you mean to state that what Mr. Stevens told you did not assist you in arriving at the conclusion you state in writing?—I stated it as a possible case, not as a certainty. If we had found a very large quantity of tartar emetic in the stomach, we should have come to the conclusion that the man had died from it; as we found only a small quantity, we said he might have died from it. I attended the inquest on the body of Mr. Cook. I think I first attended on the 14th of December. Some of the evidence was read over to me. I think that Dr. Harland was the first witness I heard examined. I heard Mr. Bamford examined, and also Lavinia Barnes. I cannot say as to Newton. I heard Jones. I had experimented some years ago on five of the rabbits I have mentioned; that is about twenty-three years ago. That is the only knowledge of my own that I had of the effect of strychnia upon animal life. I have a great objection to the sacrifice of life. No toxicologist will sacrifice the lives of a hundred rabbits to establish facts which he knows to be already well established. I experimented upon the last rabbits since the inquest.
Do you not think that is a very slight experiment?—You must add to experiment the study of poisons and cases.
Do not you think that a rabbit is a very unfair animal to select?—No.
Would not a dog be much better?—Dogs are very dangerous to handle. (A laugh.)
Do you mean to give that answer?—Dogs and cats bear a greater analogy to man because they vomit, while rabbits do not, but rabbits are much more manageable.
Mr. Serjeant Shee: I will take your answer that you are afraid of dogs.
Witness: After the experiments I have tried with dogs and cats, I have no inclination to go on.