Witness.—“They are those which have occurred in parallel cases of the administration of doses singly insufficient to cause death.”
Of the samples of Murdoch’s and Currie’s arsenic, which Dr. Penny had delivered to him, “The former,” he said, “contained the due proportion of soot; the latter was not coloured with the indigo prescribed by the Act—was not of a bluish, but greyish black colour, imperfectly mixed, and easily removeable by washing with cold water, which cannot easily be done with good indigo. The proportion was a thirty-sixth, and not a thirty-second, as the Act directs.”[110]
The cross-examination of this witness was first directed to the probability of the colouring matter in the arsenic being detected in the portions of the body analysed.
“My attention,” said Professor Christison, “was not directed to colouring matter in arsenic. I got only one article in which it might have been found—the small intestine. The others had been subjected to a previous analysis. I was not asked to attend to the colouring matter. I did not see it, and did not search for it. Supposing soot or indigo to have been given with the arsenic, I think it might have been found in the intestines by careful examination. I can’t say it would have been found: many circumstances go to the possibility of its being found. Many component parts of soot are insoluble: it might have been removed by frequent vomiting. It is very difficult to remove soot from arsenic entirely. Indigo would have been found more easily from the peculiarity of its colour, and the chemical ingredients are so precise. Currie’s arsenic is not coloured with true indigo; it is waste indigo, or what has been used by the dyer. I don’t know how it is prepared. I did not analyse the colouring matter of Currie’s arsenic. I ascertained it was not the indigo directed by the Act to be used, and I ascertained the quantity. I separated the colouring matter from the arsenic, and subjected it to the action of sulphuric acid. Charcoal (more properly—carbon) is one of the constituents of good indigo, and necessarily of waste. The chief constituent of soot is charcoal also.”
The remainder of his cross-examination was directed to the amount of arsenic found in the stomach, and the symptoms of, and the period at which the effects are exhibited.
“I was informed by Dr. Penny that he had found more than eighty grains in the stomach. There was also the white powder in addition. If there was great vomiting and purging, the quantity of arsenic administered must have been much greater than that found in the stomach and intestines. Much would depend whether means were taken to promote vomiting. If hot and cold water were freely given, that would facilitate the discharge of the poison. It is impossible to say the proportion ejected. I think it would be reasonable to suppose that as much would be vomited as remained: it might, without any extravagant supposition, be taken at four or five times as much.” Symptoms.—“There was nothing in the symptoms mentioned in the last illness in this case inconsistent with death being produced by a single dose of arsenic. The ordinary symptoms of this kind are not unlike those of malignant cholera. I think all the symptoms in this case might have occurred from malignant cholera. If there was a sense of choking and soreness of the throat, I think these are more symptoms of arsenic. I don’t think they have occurred in cholera. I think the ulcers in the abdomen might indicate the previous existence of inflammation in the duodenum, called duodenitis. It might be a disease that would present the outward symptoms of bowel complaint or cholera.” Appearance of effects of arsenic.—“The ordinary time that elapses between the administration of arsenic and death is from eighteen hours to two days and a half. The exceptions to this are numerous. Some of them are very anomalous as to the shortness of the intervals. The shortest are two and two-and-a-half hours: these have been ascertained; but it is not always possible to ascertain when it has been administered. I had a case lately in which it was five hours. There are also cases in which it was seven and even ten hours. It does not appear that the size of the dose affects this; it does not depend upon the amount taken, within certain bounds, of course; but I speak of the case as arsenic is usually administered. There are a good many cases of large doses. I think the dose in this case must have been double, probably more than double, the quantity found in the stomach. A dose of 220 grains may be considered a large dose. I can’t say if, in cases of as large a dose as this, they are intentionally administered: in great proportion of cases of suicide, the dose is generally found to be large—easily accounted for by the desire to make certain of death.”
The Dean.—“In a case of murder no such large quantity would be used? It is in cases of suicide that double-shotted pistols are used and large doses given.”
Witness.—“But murder, even by injuries, and also by poison, is very often detected by the size of the dose. In all cases of poisoning by arsenic there is always more used than is necessary. I cannot recollect how much has been used, but I know very well that what is found in the stomach in undoubted cases of poisoning by others has been considerably larger than what is necessary to cause death: because the very fact of poison being found in the stomach at all, as in the case of arsenic, shows that more has been administered than is necessary, as it is not what is found in the stomach causes death, but what disappears from the stomach.”
The Dean.—“But do you know any case in which so great a dose as the present was administered?”
Witness.—“I cannot recollect at the present moment. In cases of charges of murder by arsenic it is scarcely possible to get any information as to the actual quantity used.”