Had you any reason to think any undue quantity had been administered to him?—I could not speculate on that from the quantity there, for I did not know at all what quantity he had taken, and whether it had been prescribed medicinally.
May not the injudicious use of quack medicines containing antimony, such as James’ powder or other mixtures, have accounted for as much antimony as you found in the body of Mr. Cook?—Any antimonial preparation would account for it. I knew strychnia was bought before we sent in the report. Mr. Gardner gave the information in a letter in reply to that which has been read that strychnia, prussic acid, Batley’s sedative of opium, had been bought by the prisoner. After giving my evidence at the inquest I returned to town. Soon after I knew that the prisoner had been committed on the charge of wilful murder.
You knew, of course, that his life depended in a great degree on your opinion?—No; my opinion was in reference to the death by poison; I expressed no opinion of the prisoner’s guilt. I knew I would be examined as a witness upon his trial. I wrote a letter to the Lancet on the subject, contradicting several misstatements which were made regarding my evidence. I have never had under my own observation the effects of strychnia on the human body; but I have written a book upon the subject.
Do you, from your reading, know of any fatal case in which the patient under strychnia poison has had, while the paroxysm lasted, as much command over the muscles and voluntary motion as Mr. Cook had on the Monday and Tuesday nights, according to the evidence of Mills and Jones?—I do not see that he had much command over the muscles of voluntary life. His symptoms are quite in accordance with the ordinary action of strychnia.
Can you tell me a single case of a patient seized with tetanic symptoms by strychnia poison sitting up in his bed talking?—He was seized with the tetanic symptoms after he sat up in his bed.
Do you know of a single case of the symptoms of poison by strychnia commencing or exhibiting themselves during any time of the paroxysm by the operation of beating the bed?—There have been only about fifteen cases altogether; I have not heard of a person taken ill in bed before.
Alfred Taylor
Is not the beating of the bed well known under the name of malasaux; is it not a very common symptom of ordinary convulsions?—No, I do not think it is the case, not to my knowledge. I have not a case of a person sitting up in bed and beating the bed.
Have you known any instances in which the patient has screamed before he was seized with the fit?—No. That is common in convulsions not occasioned by strychnia poisoning. In many cases they scream very soon after the spasm sets in; the pain felt is very severe.
This is before the convulsions begin?—No, I have never known that. I have known cases in which they speak freely, but not after the paroxysm has commenced; I do not remember a case at the present time.