In the present state of our knowledge of the subject, I do not think it is possible to fix the precise time when the operation of the poison commences on a human subject. In the case of an animal we take care that it is fasting, and we mix the poison with ingredients that are readily soluble, and every circumstance favourable for the development of the poison. I have seen many cases of tetanus arising from wounds and other causes. The general symptoms of the disorder very nearly resemble each other, and in all the natural forms of tetanus the symptoms begin and advance much more slowly, and they prove fatal much more slowly, and there is no intermission in certain forms of natural tetanus. In tetanus from strychnia there are short intermissions. I have heard the evidence of what took place at the Talbot Arms on the Monday and Tuesday, and the result of my experience induces me to come to the conclusion that the symptoms exhibited by the deceased were only attributable to strychnia, or the four poisons containing it. [The witness gave the technical names of the poisons he referred to.] There is no natural disease of any description that I am acquainted with to which I could refer these symptoms. In cases of tetanus consciousness remains to the very last moment. When death takes place in a human subject by spasm it tends to empty the heart of blood. When death is the consequence of the administration of strychnia, if the quantity is small, I should not expect to find any trace in the body after death. If there was an excess of quantity more than was required to cause the death by absorption, I should expect to find that excess in the stomach. The colour tests for the detection of the presence of strychnia are uncertain. Vegetable poisons are more difficult of detection than mineral ones, and there is one poison with which I am acquainted for which no known test has been discovered. The stomach of the deceased was sent in a very unsatisfactory state for examination, and there must have been a considerable quantity of strychnia in the stomach to have enabled any one to detect its presence under such circumstances.
Cross-examined.—The experiments I refer to were made many years ago. In one instance I tried one of the colour tests in the case of a man who was poisoned by strychnia, but I failed to discover the presence of the poison in the stomach. I tried the test for the development of the violet colour by means of sulphuric acid and oxide of lead. From my own observation I should say that animals destroyed by strychnia die of asphyxia, but in my work, which has been referred to, it will be seen that I have left the question open.
Some further questions were put to the witness by the learned counsel for the prisoner, in reference to opinions expressed by him in his work, and he explained that this work was written twelve years ago, and that the experience he had since obtained had modified some of the opinions he then entertained.
Cross-examination continued.—I have not noticed that in cases where a patient is suffering from strychnia the slightest touch appears to bring on the paroxysm. It is so remarkably in the case of animals, unless you touch them very gently indeed. Strychnia has a most intensely bitter taste. It is said, on the authority of a French chemist, that a grain will give a taste to more than a gallon of water. If resinous substances were used in the formation of a pill it does not follow that they would necessarily be found in the stomach; they might be passed off.
By the Attorney-General: One of the cases referred to in the work that has been referred to was that of a game-keeper, who was found dead; his head was thrown back, his hands were clinched, and his limbs were rigid. A paper containing strychnia was found in his pocket, and upon a post-mortem examination there were indications which, under the circumstances, satisfied him of the existence of strychnia. There was a substance in the body of an intense bitter, which was tested by the colour test, and it succeeded in one instance, but failed in another. I have no doubt that colour-tests are not to be relied on.
The trial was then again adjourned at six o’clock, until the following (Tuesday) morning, at ten o’clock. The jury were taken, as on the former occasions, to the London Coffee-house, in the charge of the officers of the court.
SIXTH DAY, May 20.
The trial of William Palmer on the charge of poisoning John Parsons Cook was resumed this morning. The court was quite as much crowded as during the previous days. Among the gentlemen upon the bench were Mr. Horsman, M.P., Sir J. Ramsden, M.P., and Sir John Wilson, Governor of Chelsea Hospital.
The learned Judges, Lord Chief Justice Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell, accompanied by the Recorder, the Sheriffs, Under-Sheriffs, and several members of the Court of Aldermen, came into court shortly before 10 o’clock, and took their seats upon the bench.