I quite agree with you that it is not idiopathic tetanus, but point out any distinction that you can see between these symptoms and those of real tetanus?—I do not know that there is any distinction, except that in a case of tetanus I never saw rigidity continue till death and afterwards.
Can you tell me of any case of death from convulsions in which the patient was conscious to the last?—I do not know of any; convulsions occurring after poison has been taken are properly called tetanic.
We were told by Sir B. Brodie that while the paroxysms of tetanic convulsion last there is no difference between those which arise from strychnine and those which arise from tetanus properly so called, but the difference was in the course the symptoms took. Now, what do you say is the difference between tetanus arising from strychnine and ordinary tetanus?—The hands are less violently contracted; the effect of the spasm is less in ordinary tetanus. The convulsion, too, never entirely passes away. I have stated that tetanus is a disease of days, strychnine of hours and minutes; that convulsive twitchings are in strychnine the first symptoms, the last in tetanus; that in tetanus the hands, feet, and legs are usually the last affected, while in strychnine they are the first. I gave that opinion after the symptoms in the case of the lady at Leeds, which were described by the witness Witham, and I still adhere to it. I never said that Cook’s case was one of idiopathic tetanus. I do not think it was a case of tetanus in any sense of the word. It differed from the course of tetanus from strychnine in the particulars I have already mentioned.
Repeat them: There was the sudden accession of the convulsions.
Sudden—after what?—After the rousing by Jones. There was also the power of talking.
Don’t you know that Mrs. Smyth talked and retained her consciousness to the end; that her last words were “turn me over?”—She did say something of that kind. No doubt those were the words she used. I believe that in poison from tetanus the symptoms are first observed in the legs and feet. In the animals upon which I have experimented twitchings in the ears and difficulty of breathing having been the premonitory symptoms.
When Cook felt a stiffness and a difficulty of breathing, and said that he should be suffocated on the first night, what were those but premonitory symptoms?—Well, he asked to be rubbed; but, as far as my experience goes with regard to animals—
The Attorney-General: They can’t ask to have their ears rubbed, of course. (A laugh.)
Mr. Serjeant Shee said the witness was about to explain the effect of being rubbed upon the animals.
Cross-examined continued: In no single instance could the animals bear to be touched.