“Did you make an examination of the stomach?” inquired the Coroner.
“I did. Suspecting suicide by poison, I made a most careful analysis, assisted by Dr Leverton, of King’s College Hospital, but we failed to discover any trace of poison whatsoever.”
“Then you cannot assign any cause for death in this instance?” observed the Coroner, looking up sharply in surprise.
“No,” answered the doctor. “I cannot.”
“Have you a theory that deceased died from the effects of poison?”
“Certain appearances pointed to such a conclusion,” the doctor responded. “Personally, before making the post-mortem, I suspected prussic acid; but all tests failed to detect any trace of such deleterious matter.”
“Of course,” said the Coroner, who was also a medical man of wide experience, clearing his throat, as he turned to the jury, “the presence of poison can be very easily discovered, and the fact that the analyses have failed must necessarily add mystery to this case.”
“Having failed to find poison,” continued the doctor, “we naturally turned our attention to other causes which might result fatally.”
“And what did you find?” inquired the Coroner eagerly, his pen poised in his hand.
“Nothing!” the witness answered. “Absolutely nothing.”