The Attorney-General.—“They can’t ask to have their ears rubbed, of course.”
Mr. Serjeant Shee.—“The witness was about to explain the effect of being rubbed upon animals.”
Witness.—“In no single instance could the animals bear to be touched.”
Question.—“Did not Mrs. Smyth ask to have her arms and legs rubbed?”
Answer.—“In the Leeds case the lady asked to be rubbed before the convulsions came on, but afterwards she could not bear it, and begged not to be touched.”
Question.—“Can you point out any one point, after the premonitory symptoms, in which the symptoms in this case differ from those of strychnia tetanus?”
Answer.—“There is the power of swallowing, which is taken away by inability to move the jaw.”
Question.—“But have you not stated that lockjaw is the last symptom in strychnia tetanus?”
Answer.—“I have. I don’t deny that it may be. I am speaking of the general rule. In the Leeds case it came on very early, more than two hours before death, the paroxysms having continued for two and a half hours. In that case we believed the dose was four times repeated. Poison might probably be extracted by chemical process from the tissues, but I never tried it except in the case of one animal. I am not sure whether poison was in that case given through the mouth. We killed four animals in reference to the Leeds case, and in every instance we found strychnia in the contents of the stomach. In one case we administered it by two processes—one failed, and the other succeeded.”