They Hanged My Saintly Billy (62 page)

Nor
was
there
agreement
about
muscular
rigidity
after
death. Dr
Monckton
stated
that
Cook's
muscles
were
not
more
rigid than
is
usual;
Dr
Francis
Taylor
of
Romsey,
that
distortion
from rigidity
generally
continues
when
death
has
supervened;
Professor Taylor,
that
it
sometimes
does.
Professor
Nunnely
related
that
in two
cases
of
stryclinine
poisoning
which
had
come
to
his
attention,
there
was
no
such
rigidity.

That
epileptic
convulsions
occasionally
assume
tetanic
features was
a
doctrine
held
by
Dr
Jones
of
Lutterworth
and
others;
Dr Macdonald,
Dr
Robinson,
and
Dr
Richardson
(a
London
physician)
concurred
in
saying
that
this
is
invariably
the
case.

Cook
had
suffered
from
locked-jaw,
according
to
Elizabeth Mills's
new
evidence;
but
loc
ked-jaw,
as
a
primary
symptom
of tetanus,
was
another
dogma
that
invited
dispute.
Nearly
all
cases commence
with
locked-jaw,
said
Dr
Curling,
Surgeon
to
the London
Hospital;
and
Dr
Todd
agreed
that
it
is
an
early
symptom;
but
Dr
Macdonald
contradicted
all
his
colleagues
by
testifying
that
locked-jaw
is
generally
a
late
symptom.

Cook
had
suffered
from
an
ulcerated
throat,
and
that
ulcerations cause
tetanus
was
yet
another
theory
productive
of
no
little
discord.
Dr
Curling
quoted
two
such
cases
from
the
records
of the
London
Hospital;
Sir
Benjamin
Brodie,
however,
had
never heard
of
tetanus
proceeding
from
ulcers
or
sores.

Opinion
was
also
divided
on
the
question
of
Cook's
heart, which
had
contained
no
blood.
Dr
Todd
observed
that
the
heart is
rarely
full
after
death
by
strychnine
poisoning.
Sir
Benjamin Brodie
could
not
say
whether
it
would
be
full
or
not.
Dr
Morley asserted
that
it
is
generally
very
full.

Cook
had
shrieked
on
the
Sunday
night.
Shrieking,
as
a
special symptom
accompanying
attacks
of
convulsions,
found
no
greater identity
of
views.

Cook
had
remained
conscious
to
the
very
end.
Dr
Solly,
of
St Thomas's
Hospital,
stated
that
epileptic
convulsions
are
not
always attended
with
want
of
consciousness;
Professor
Nunnery
agreed with
him.
Dr
Robinson
and
others,
on
the
contrary,
asserted
that consciousness
is
lost
in
almost
every
instance.

What
do
we
learn
from
The Times
report
on
the
subject
of paroxysms
and
the
several
causes
that
stimulate
them?
Dr
Corbett, the
Glasgow
physician,
denies
that
touching
produces
paroxysms in
cases
of
strychnine
poisoning.
Dr
Morley
of
Leeds
asserts
that they
are
so
induced.
Professors
Taylor
and
Letheby,
opposed
on
so many
points,
agree
that
the
very
slightest
touch
or
exertion
induces paroxysms,
and
that
the
symptoms
of
strychnine
poisoning
arc: irritability,
aversion
to
touch,
noise,
light,
or
currents
of
cool
air; also
dilated
pupils,
with
continuous
twitchings
and
jerkings.
But the
intolerance
to
touch,
th
ey
say,
is
the
truly
diagnostic,
the
leading
symptom,
and
touch
invariably
produces
paroxysms.
Yet Cook
had
rung
the
bell,
and
suffered
no
paroxysm
in
consequence. He
had,
moreover,
invited
Dr
Jones
to
rub
his
neck;
and
Dr Bamford
deposed
to
having
gently
applied
his
hand
to
Cook's abdomen
without
occasioning
the
least
discomfort
or
paroxysm.

'Asphyxia,'
Dr
Curling
rules,
'does
not
produce
death
in
these cases.'
Professor
Taylor
states
exactly
the
opposite.
Dr
Todd
here differs
from
Professor
Taylor,
and
supports
Dr
Curling.
Professor Christison
of
Edinburgh
University
thinks
that
death
may
arise from
asphyxia,
but
leaves
the
question
open.

Cook's
attacks,
which
in
each
case
occurred
at
midnight,
after a
day
comfortably
spent,
were
attributed
by
some
doctors
to tetanus.
Drs
Todd
and
Watson
hold
that
the
symptoms
of
tetanus are
intermittent;
Professor
Christison
and
Sir
Benjamin
Brodie insist
that
they
are
continuous.

On
the
question
of
what
immediately
caused
death,
we
find
a grand
me
lee
of
disputants.
Their
arguments
and
counter-arguments fog
every
uninitiated
mind,
and
damp
all
hope
of
reaching
a
just verdict.
We
are
left
with
one
consolation
only—that
we
never ourselves
won
a
professorship
in
a
science
offering
facilities
for such
profound
discord!

That
Cook
died
of
strychnine
poisoning
is
affirmed
by
Professors
Taylor,
Brodie,
Rees,
and
Ch
ristison;
and
Drs
Todd, Daniel
and
Solly.
Here
are
seven
eminences
on
one
side.
That Cook
died
of
some
other
cause
is
affirmed
by
Professors
Rodgers (of
the
St
George's
School
of
Medicine),
Partridge,
Letheby, Herapath,
and
Nunnely;
also
by
Drs
Macdonald,
Robinson, Bamford,
Jones,
Bainbridge
of
St
Martin's
Work
House,
and Richardson
of,
we
believe,
Stepney.
Thus
eleven
eminences
range themselves
in
opposition.
Eleven
more
venture
no
opinion
at all.