You don’t agree with that statement?—I do not. I generally found the right side of the heart full.
Does the fact of the heart in Cook’s case having been found empty lead you to the conclusion that death was not caused by strychnine?—Among other things it does. I heard the evidence of Dr. Watson as to the case of Agnes Sennet, in which the heart was found distended and empty; also, that of Mr. Taylor as to the post-mortem examination of Mrs. Smyth. No doubt he stated that the heart in that case also was empty.
And do those facts exercise no influence on your judgment?—They would not unless I knew how the post-mortem examination had been made. If it was commenced at the head, the blood being fluid, the large drains would be opened, and the blood, from natural causes, would drain away.
Do you know how the post-mortem examination was made in this case?—No. Excuse me, I do. The chest and the abdomen, not the head, were first opened.
The heart, then, was not emptied in the first instance?—No.
Then what occasioned the contraction of the heart?—When the heart is emptied it is usually contracted.
But how do you account for its contraction and emptiness?—I cannot say that I am able to account for it.
Lord Campbell: Would the heart contract if there were blood in it?—No.
Lord Campbell: When you find the heart contracted you know, then, that it was contracted at the moment of death?—It is necessary to draw a distinction between the two cavities. It is very common to find the left ventricle contracted and hard, while the right is uncontracted.
Lord Campbell: That is death by asphyxia?—Precisely.