Witness.—“I did.”
The Dean.—“Did the black particles you found correspond to the constituents of the colouring matter?”
Witness.—“They have a close resemblance to them, both in physical appearance and in chemical properties.”
The Dean.—“Were they not in physical appearance and chemical properties, identical?”
Witness.—“They were.”
Professor Christison, to whom, on the 11th of May, Dr. Penny had delivered similar portions of the body to those on which he had experimented, together with portions of the deposits from the stomach and intestines, made a chemical analysis of the white powder, and the fluids obtained from the stomach, and the small intestine, and of a portion of the liver. As from these he obtained unequivocal proofs of the presence of arsenic, he did not, at that time, proceed further. Subsequently, however, on the 28th of May, he analysed a portion of the great intestine, and was satisfied of the presence of arsenic; and in a portion of the brain he found “traces of arsenic, but not satisfactory evidence, which might be owing to the small quantity of material he had to analyse.”
“The fluid from the stomach,” he said, “appeared to indicate a considerable quantity in the system—more than sufficient to destroy life. The symptoms of arsenic poisoning are variable. Sometimes they pass off quickly, sometimes continue for weeks or months. When they continue, they are indigestion, loss of strength, emaciation, sometimes diarrhœa, lassitude of the limbs. If there appeared erosions with elevated edges in the intestines, I should have been led to suspect the existence of some affection of the intestines previous to the final attack. The appearances exhibited by the post-mortem examination were such as the witness would expect from arsenic.”
By the Lord Advocate.—“If you had been consulted in a case of this kind,—that on the 18th or 19th of February a person having gone out in good health returns, is attacked during the night with great pain in the bowels, severe vomiting of a green viscous fluid, accompanied by intense thirst and purging, and after the lapse of two or three days and partial recovery the patient is again seized with the same symptoms, though in a somewhat modified form, and that after the second attack he had continued affected with great lassitude, change of colour, low pulse, and that after going from home for ten or fourteen days, had again returned and been attacked the same night with those symptoms in an aggravated form, and had died within eight or ten hours of his return, and that on a post-mortem examination the results were found of which you are aware in this case:—I wish you to give me your opinion, as a man of science and skill, what conclusion you would draw as to the cause of the previous illness and death?”
Witness.—“I could have no doubt that the cause of death was poisoning by arsenic, and such being the case, I should have entertained a strong suspicion in regard to his previous illness, because his death would have prevented me from taking the means of satisfying my mind on the subject by a careful examination of all the circumstances.”
The Lord Advocate.—“Are the symptoms consistent with what you would expect if continuous poisoning was taking place?”