What do you mean by a trace of it?--Evidence of its appearance.
Does that mean an imponderable quantity?--It may.
Do you mean by traces to convey the idea that you can discover the smallest quantity?--That will kill.
What is the smallest quantity you can discover?--The fifty-thousandth part of a grain.
Have you actually experimented so as to discover that quantity?--Yes.
You have heard a theory propounded in the course of this inquiry by Dr. Taylor--I mean the destruction by the supposed decomposition of strychnia--to your knowledge has any scientific man of eminence ever propounded that theory at all?--I never heard of it until mentioned in this Court. In my opinion there are no well-grounded reasons for that theory. I have proved that that theory is false by numerous experiments. I have taken the blood of an animal poisoned with 2 grains of strychnia, about the least quantity which would kill an animal, and have injected it into the abdominal cavities of some animals, and have destroyed them, with the symptoms and post-mortem appearances of strychnia. It should not make it any more difficult to detect if the strychnia is administered in the form of pills. If the pills were hard, and not readily solved, you would find it much easier, because you might find some remains of the pill. I do not agree with Dr. Taylor’s opinion about the fallacy of colour tests. I believe a colour test is a reliable mode of ascertaining strychnia. I agree with Mr. Herepath that it is found in urine that has been ejected. I have found it invariably.
Does it first pass into the blood and then into that watery excretion?--Part of it may be drawn off by that means. It is not true that strychnia can be confounded with pyroxanthine. In these animals which I have killed with strychnia I have generally observed an increased flow of saliva; that was a very marked symptom. The animals were very susceptible to touch. A stamp of the foot, a slight touch, or a breath, or a sharp word, would drive them into tetanic convulsions. We recognised them by the straightened condition of the muscles.
Supposing that a dose of strychnia sufficient to kill a man were administered to him, do you think he could bear to have his neck rubbed?--I think it would be very likely to throw him into convulsions before the paroxysm came on.