504 
ACCIDENTAL  POISONING. 
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  recollected  the  taste.  Witness 
asked  for  the  prescription  of  the  powder,  and  retired  with  Dr. 
Harris  to  consult  as  to  what  was  to  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  attend- 
ance, was  the  only  pain  complained  of. 
Amongst  the  witnesses  examined  in  support  of  the  prosecu- 
tion was  Dr.  Nottingham,  who  gave  evidence  as  to  the  appear- 
ance 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  Dr.  Edwards.  Taking  into  considera- 
tion 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  strych- 
nine. 
Dr.  John  Baker  Edwards,  analytical  chemist  and  lecturer  on 
chemistry  and  medical  jurisprudence  at  the  Liverpool  Royal 
Infirmary  School  of  Medicine,  stated  that  he  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  treatment  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 
