"From what you observed, Doctor," said he, "are you prepared to assign a cause of death?"
"I should conclude that she died of coma!" was the reply.
"Can you state whether this coma had been produced by a poisonous dose of morphine?"
"I should say that it was very probable that opium in some form had been exhibited, in a poisonous dose."
"State specifically why you have adopted that opinion!"
"I found the brain wet, the convolutions flattened; the lungs, heart, liver, and spleen, distended and engorged with dark fluid blood. The vessels of the cerebro-spinal axis were also engorged with black blood, and the capillaries of the brain, upon incision, vented the same fluid."
"And these signs are indicative of opium poisoning?"
"They are the only evidences of opium poisoning that can be discovered by an autopsy. Of course a chemical analysis, if it should show the presence of the drug, would go very far to corroborate this presumption."
"Then if the chemical analysis shows the actual presence of opium, would you say that this patient died of opium poisoning?"
"I would!"