Supposing the disease was referable to two causes, in the absence of all evidence, what is your reason for setting it down to one in preference to the other?—I quite admit that if I had known as much of the nature of strychnia as I do now I should have gone on to make analysis.
Is the disease of angina pectoris attended with painful symptoms before it terminates in death?—Most painful. The paroxysms terminating in death may run on for more than eight minutes. It comes on suddenly. It does not always kill at the first attack. It generally spreads itself over a certain period of time.
You said that the head was somewhat bent back. Was that opisthotonos?—There was rigidity, not amounting to opisthotonos, but still very marked. The neck was so stiffly bent back that if the body had been laid down, and the lower limbs, which I did not see, had been the same, I have no doubt the body would be resting on its head and heels.
You say in epileptic convulsions you have seen the hands clenched firmly till death. Did you ever see them so long after death?—I have seen them firmly clenched, not in epilepsy only.
In what cases have you seen them firmly clenched after death?—In cases where there has been violent convulsion. I saw them once from hæmorrhage.
In other cases have you?—I can only say, in a general sense, I have seen the hands clenched over and over again, and have paid no attention to it. My belief, from seeing people die, is that the clenching of the hands is, in many cases, mere matter of accident.
Re-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee—Have you known cases personally or from your reading where patients recover from angina pectoris, and whether within a short time afterwards they sometimes have another attack?—They do, sometimes in so short an interval as twenty-four hours.
During the interval between the two attacks what is the condition of the patient?—Perfectly healthy, to all appearance.
Are the symptoms described in the evidence more like the symptoms of angina pectoris or strychnia poison?—I should certainly say angina pectoris.
You had no reason to suspect poison of any kind in that case, either before or now?—Not the slightest.