Answer.—“I think I had a right to state that opinion in answer to the comments which had been made upon my evidence.”
Question.—“Had any comments been made by the prisoner?”
Answer.—“No.”
Question.—“Or by any of his family?”
Answer.—“Mr. Smith, the solicitor for the defence, circulated in every paper statements of ‘Dr. Taylor’s inaccuracy.’ I had no wish or motive to charge the prisoner with this crime. My duty concerns the lives of all.”
I omit here the numerous questions about Mr. Mayhew’s visit, and take up the cross-examination with the witness’s opinion of Cook’s symptoms.
“Cook’s symptoms were quite in accordance with an ordinary case of poisoning by strychnia.”
Question.—“Can you tell me any case in which a patient after being seized with tetanic symptoms sat up in bed and talked?”
Answer.—“It was after he sat up that Cook was seized with these symptoms.”
Question.—“Can you refer to a case in which a patient who had taken strychnia beat the bed with his or her arms?”