Evidence for Prosecution.
Sir William H. Willcox
We know that from the ;16th she suffered from severe vomiting,
and there was diarrhoea, and again a very high pulse and systolic
murmur, some indication of trouble in the heart, and you remem-
ber the rest of her symptoms. Will you speak of those and say
to what you attribute those symptoms?—Those symptoms were3 in
my opinion, undoubtedly due to an irritant poison, and in view
of the presence of this peripheral neuritis I should say that un-
doubtedly those symptoms were symptoms of arsenical poisoning.
Poisoning over what period and in what doses, do you mean?
—First I must deal with the recrudescence of the peripheral
neuritis. That indicates the taking of arsenic a few days before
those symptoms reappeared. I believe they reappeared on the
llth February. That would indicate the taking of arsenic before
the llth, say sis or seven days, but it is impossible to say exactly
—several d&ys before. Then on 16th February there were symp-
toms of acute latent poison, and those indicate that some poison,
arsenic, was taken on that day or within a few hours of the onset
of the symptoms.
And from and after that time the continued vomiting and the
diarrhoea, pulse, and so on, what do they indicate to your mind?
—Those indicate taking of further large doses of arsenic.
By Mr. JUSTICE DABLING—When?—It is impossible to say,
though certainly some must have been taken a few hours of the
onset of the symptoms on the 16th.
Examination continued—Having regard to the analysis of the
organs of the body taken ten months after burial, from the distri-
bution of the arsenic in the alimentary canal, I have no doubt
that a possibly fatal dose was taken within twenty-four hours of
death. By a possibly fatal dose, I mean 2 grains is usually
accepted as a possibly fatal dose. With regard to the three places
where Dr. Spilsbury said he found a liquid which contained
arsenic, the jejunum, the ileum, and the caecum, I entirely agree
with Dr. SpiLsbury's figures as to the time which it would take
for arsenic taken through the mouth to get to those points, I
think he gave four hours for the passage through the stomach and
ten hours for the passage through the small intestine, and I think
he gave twelve hours for the coecum. They are very fair figures.
With arsenic found in these places, and having regard to the time
it would take to get there, I have no doubt whatever that a large
dose was given some time before death—within twenty-four hours
of death. A large quantity, over 2 grains, was found in the liver.
That indicates to my mind that there must have been a good deal
of arsenic absorbed during the last few days of life. Two grains
is an unusually large quantity to find in the post-mortem in the
liver. Arsenic was also found in the kidneys and other places,
and ttyat supports my contention.
Does the finding of that arsenic in the kidneys give any ex-
planation of what was put down in the certificate—nephritis,
kidney trouble 1—Yes, the case itseff, the whole history of the case,
157