Did you not say at the time it was from over-excitement that he died?—I could not tell the cause. I was so much taken by surprise. I said I had no idea of the cause of death.
Whatever you said about “violent convulsions,” did you say, “I could not tell the cause; I imagined at the time it was from over-excitement”?—Yes.
[The deposition of the witness before the coroner was read.]
You say in your deposition you had been in your bed a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Was it not as much as twenty minutes?—I do not think it was. I had not begun to dose. I do not remember ever having stated I thought he died of epilepsy. Mr. Bamford said it was apoplexy; I said it was not. I could not make up my mind what sort of fit it was. I said it was more like an epileptic fit than apoplexy.
Re-examined—There was a partnership between Cook and Palmer about the mare “Pereine,” but it was discontinued some months before Cook’s death, and the mare became the property of Palmer. I have only seen one case of traumatic tetanus.
Was that from a wound?—From a wound in the thumb. It ended in death.
How long was the patient in dying from the time he received the wound?—Three days. The patient died of lockjaw. I have seen cases of epilepsy.
Are there any such symptoms in epileptic fits as those convulsive spasms of the muscles?—No; the consciousness is lost, and there is none of this rigidity of the muscles. In apoplexy consciousness is generally lost too. I am satisfied in my own mind that this case was not apoplexy.
W. H. Jones
By Lord Campbell—Supposing he had any secondary symptoms of syphilis, do you think they could have produced the symptoms you saw on the Tuesday night?—No, I say not, decidedly, and for two months before death he was clear of them, and the throat was well.