Suppose it to have been administered in the shape of pills, and completely absorbed and got out of the stomach, would it still be found?—I can’t tell. If it were found, it would be in the liver and kidneys.
Could it be detected, under those circumstances, in the coats of the stomach?—Not knowing the dose administered, and the power of absorption, I cannot say that it could certainly be detected, but probably it could.
When death has taken place after one paroxysm, and an hour and a half after ingestion of the poison, can you form an opinion as to whether the dose was considerable or inconsiderable?—I cannot.
Mr. Baron Alderson: How do you suppose strychnine acts when taken into the stomach?—I cannot form an opinion.
Mr. Baron Alderson: It goes, I suppose, from the stomach to the blood, and from the blood somewhere else, and, arriving at that somewhere else, it kills.
Lord Campbell: I cannot allow this witness to leave the box without expressing my high approbation of the manner in which he has given his evidence.
Mr. Serjeant Shee requested to be allowed to ask the witness whether a strong dose was likely to pass through all the stages his lordship had mentioned.
Mr. Baron Alderson: That depends on where the killing takes place.
Professor Partridge, examined by Mr. Grove: I have been many years in extensive practice as a surgeon, and I am a Professor of Anatomy in King’s College. I have heard the evidence as to Cook’s symptoms and post-mortem, examination. I have heard the statements as to the granules that were found on his spine. They would be likely to cause inflammation, and no doubt that inflammation would have been discovered if the spinal cord or its membranes had been examined shortly after death. It would not be likely to be discovered if the spinal cord was not examined until nine weeks after death. I have not seen cases in which this inflammation has produced tetanic form of convulsions, but such cases are on record. It sometimes does, and sometimes does not, produce convulsions and death.
Can you form any judgment as to the cause of death in Cook’s case?—I cannot. No conclusion or inference can be drawn from the degree or kind of the contractions of the body after death.