Lord Campbell.—“ Would the heart contract if there was blood in it?”
Answer.—“No.”
Lord Campbell.—“When you find the heart contracted, you know, then, that it was contracted at the moment of death?”
Answer.—“It is necessary to draw a distinction between the two cavities. It is very common to find the left ventricle contracted and hard, while the right is uncontracted.”
Lord Campbell.—“That is death by asphyxia?”
Answer.—“Precisely.”[56]
By the Attorney-General.—“In Cook’s case the lungs were described as not congested. Entosthema is of two kinds; one of them consists of dilation of the cells, the other of a rupture of the cells. When animals die from strychnine, entosthema occurs. I do not know the character of the entosthema in Cook’s case. It did not occur to me to have the question put to the witnesses who described the post-mortem examination.”
Question.—“To what constitutional symptoms about Cook do you ascribe the convulsions from which he died?”
Answer.—“Not to any.”
Question.—“Was not the fact of his having syphilis an important ingredient in your judgment upon his case?”