Question.—“Have you ever known the feet so distorted as to assume the form of a club foot?”
Answer.—“No.”
Question.—“You heard Mr. Jones state that if he had turned the body upon the back it would have rested on the head and the heels. Have you any doubt that that is an indication of death from tetanus?”
Answer.—“No; it is a form of tetanic spasm. I am only acquainted with tetanus resulting from strychnia by reading. Some of the symptoms in Cook’s case are consistent, some are inconsistent with strychnia tetanus. The first inconsistent symptom is the intervals that occurred between the taking of the supposed poison and the attacks.”
Question.—“Are not symptoms of bending of the body, difficulty of respiration, convulsions in the throat, legs, and arms, perfectly consistent with what you know of the symptoms of death from strychnia?”
Answer.—“Perfectly consistent. I have known cases of traumatic tetanus. The symptoms in those cases had been occasionally remitted, never wholly terminated. I never knew traumatic tetanus run its course to death in less than three or four days. I never knew a complete case of the operation of strychnia upon a human subject.”
Question.—“Bearing in mind the distinction between traumatic and idiopathic tetanus, did you ever know of such a death as that of Cook according to the symptoms you have heard described?”
Answer.—“No.”
Re-examined by Mr. Grove.—“Besides the symptom which I have mentioned as being inconsistent with the theory of death by strychnia, there are others—namely, sickness, beating the bed clothes, want of sensitiveness to external impressions, and sudden cessation of the convulsions and apparent complete recovery. There was apparently an absence of the usual muscular agitation. Symptoms of convulsive character arising from an injury to the spine vary considerably in their degrees of violence, in their periods of intermission, and in the muscles which are attacked. Intermission of the disease occurs, but is not frequent in traumatic tetanus. I don’t remember that death has ever taken place in fifteen hours; it may take place in forty-eight hours during convulsions. Granules about the spine are more unusual in young people than in old. I don’t know of any case in which the spine can preserve its integrity, so as to be properly examined, for a period of nine weeks. I should not feel justified in inferring that there was no disease from not finding any at the end of that time. The period of decomposition varies from a few hours to a few days. It is not in the least probable that it could be delayed for nine weeks.”