130 
ACCIDENTAL POISONING. 
him the charge of manslaughter. In order to mate out the charge in a case of this 
description, it would be necessary to show that the prisoner had been guilty of gross 
and culpable negligence. The row of bottles, to which allusion had already been made, 
had been placed in a box in precisely the same order as that in which they had stood 
upon the shelf, and were in court; and the jury would see that the strychnine bottle 
had, in addition to the label “strychnia” on it, a second label, bearing the word 
“ poison.” He submitted that if the other facts of the case were proved, the jury 
would be of opinion that the negligence was made out, even though the two bottles 
might at the time have been reversed as to position on the shelf. 
Hr. James S. Smyth, of Rodney Street, deposed that he saw deceased before death. 
He was sent for at half-past ten; reached deceased’s house at twenty-five minutes 
to eleven; death took place a quarter before eleven. The deceased, when first seen by 
witness, seemed in comparative repose. He inquired from Hr. Harris, who was in the 
room on his arrival, if he had seen the previous convulsion, and what was the nature 
of the attack. Hr. Harris said that it seemed to be epileptic. Mr. Merrick, partner 
to the deceased, was present, and remarked that Lingard told him that there must 
have been strychnine in the powder that he had taken. Witness asked Lingard what 
he knew of strychnine; he said that he had once taken it as a medicine, and recol¬ 
lected the taste. Witness asked for the prescription of the powder, and retired with 
Hr. Harris to consult as to what should be done. They had not been more than two 
minutes in the adjoining room before they were recalled. Lingard was then in strong 
convulsions, and in these he died. Cross-examined: Are you aware that Lingard 
suffered from gall-stones ? Witness: No. Would not they, if present, produce great 
pain ? Witness : Yes; but not cramp in the legs, which, as far as I understood from 
those in attendance, was the only pain complained of. 
Amongst the witnesses examined in support of the prosecution was Hr. Nottingham, 
who gave evidence as to the appearance of the deceased’s body after death. He made 
a 'post-mortem examination of the body eighteen hours after death, when the blood 
was fluid; the scalp, the membranes of the brain, and the membranes covering the 
spinal cord, were charged with blood ; there was a considerable quantity of a reddish 
watery fluid in the cavity of the skull; the lungs were heavily gorged with dark fluid 
blood ; the heart was empty. The stomach and contents were placed in a jar and 
sealed, and other portions of the body were placed in three other jars, and these were 
handed over to Hr. Edwards. Taking into consideration the symptoms attending the 
death of the deceased, and the appearances visible at the time of the post-mortem 
examination, he considered the cause of death to be poisoning by strychnine. 
Hr. John Baker Edwards, analytical chemist and lecturer on chemistry and medical 
jurisprudence at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary School of Medicine, stated that be had 
examined the stomach portion of the duodenum, spleen, and heart, the liver, blood, 
and kidneys, handed to him by the last witness. After detailing the analytical treat¬ 
ment to which he had subjected the contents of the jars severally, he said the results 
of repeated and various tests applied to them corresponded in appearance with those 
which would be produced by strychnine. He had poisoned two frogs and two mice, 
with all the physiological effects of poisoning by strychnine, by administering to them 
small doses of the substance extracted from the contents of the jars which had before 
given the test results stated. From these experiments, he was satisfied that the stomach 
of the deceased contained a fatal quantity of strychnine. He also detected strychnia in 
the liver, in the kidneys, and in the structure of the tongue. He found traces of 
meconic acid in the stomach, but no antimony. 
The Lord Chief Justice, addressing witness,—Hr. Edwards, you have given your 
evidence with great distinctness and lucidity. 
Joseph Whitton, an assistant in Messrs. Clay and Abraham’s shop, said that on the 
11th instant the prisoner was engaged as the regular dispenser, but had occasional 
assistance. It was his duty to make up the medicine. When Miss Witter brought 
Hr. Nottingham’s prescription to him, he entered it in an order-book, and then passed 
it on to the prisoner. The powder contained James’s powder and Hover’s powder. 
He did not see the bottles from which the prisoner made it up. One bottle separated 
the bottle containing the James’s powder from that containing the strychnine. The 
Hover’s powder was kept on the dispensing counter on a shelf facing the dispenser’s 
