Full report of the trial of Thomas Hall for the murder of Captain Henry Cain : Before his honor Mr. Justice Williams, at the Supreme Court, Dunedin, January, 1887.
- Hall, Thomas, -1887?
- Date:
- MDCCCLXXXVII
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Full report of the trial of Thomas Hall for the murder of Captain Henry Cain : Before his honor Mr. Justice Williams, at the Supreme Court, Dunedin, January, 1887. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![VVe may also take it, I suppose, that in dis- ease they may be continuous ?—I should not like to say they might not be. When you say that in irritant poisoning they would be continuous, do you mean that, or do you mean that they would be persistent in irri- tant poisoning if the application of the poison was continuous?—You are talking about very different states of the system. May I explain to you that in typhus fever There was no talk about typhus fever when these answers were given to Mr Haggitt. What he was wishing to get at was whether the sym- ptoms observed were more probably attributable to disease or to poisoning. You then gave it as your idea that vomiting and diarrhcea are occa- sional in disease of the kidneys, but you said that in irritant poisoning they are persistent. Does not tha: depend upon the persistency of the poisoning?—Yes, persistent administra- tion—and I wish to guard myself here. I ad- mitted that large doses have been administered and that four or five doses might not have an emetic effect, but that would be in cases of typhus; and in cases where there is a high tem- perature there is no secretion of the gastric juice, but if you take a non-febrile disease in an old man Let us keep to one thing at a time. I was asking you, not with reference to any answers you have given me, but with reference to answers to questions by Mr Haggitt. I think that you have now answered that the persist- ence of vomiting produced by irritant poisoning would be dependent upon the continuous ad- ministration of the poison?—Yes, in small doses. His Honor : That is to say, if the doses were dropped off for a day or two the symptoms of vomiting would disappear ?—I think they would. Mr Chapman: Would not symptoms of vomit- ting disappear if the doses were dropped for a day or two ?—The patient might suffer from nausea. It might not abruptly cease with the administration of poison, but I should not ex- pect it to last very long. Witness continued: I know that antimony is very often beiieficial in chest affections, in small doses, but you have to consider the condition of the patient. When I was at the Timaru hospi- tal I prescribed it in small doses occasionally. I think antimony is used in some patent medicine, and that the compound syrup of squills is in the American Pharmacopoeia. Mr Chapman: Can you, after hearing the symptoms described by Dr Macintyr?, say what Captain Cain was suffering from ? Witness: Kidney disease of some sort. But what kind of kidney disease ?—I hap- pened to know something about Captain Cain. I know he had heart disease. I could not form an idea as to what the nature of the kidney disease was from merely seeing the patient. I could not tell without analysing the urine. That is essential in diagnosing to ascertain the par- ticular form of kidney disease. If I had had a patient of the kind I should probably have made the examination. I should certainly have made it. Had the case been in your hands you might have examined the urine after death ?—A doctor is generally supposed to have made up his mind, if possible, as to the nature of the illness before death. You could get urine after death to examine, if there was any in the bladder. You heard Dr Macintyre's description of the symptoms : was there anything in them to sug- gest Bright's disease?—I cannot answer that question. The vomiting is perhaps suggestive o* it. Is the diarrhcea suggestive of it?—There might be diarrhcea in Bright's disease. Is there thirst ?—I do not know that that is a marked symptom. It depends whether there would be much drain from the system. I am not aware that thirst is a leading characteristic of Bright's disease. I have had a medical man's ordinary experience of that disease. I have not marked thirst as a symptom. Is it inconsistent with Bright's disease ?—I should not like to say that. It depends, as I said, upon the drain from the system. Bright's disease is a very wasting and weakening one. What is its leading feature?—General debi- lity. What is found in Bright's disease is albumer in the urine. You do not always get it. You may have other things. I would not conclude a man had Bright's disease only be- cause I found albumen in the urine. But would it not be the first thing you looked for?—Yes, it would. I recognise Professor Granger Stuart as a special authority on kidney disease. If you found him making special reference to thirst as a symptom, would you consider that he attached special importance to it ?—I should. Mr Chapman then read a passage from the work in question in which albumen was men- tioned. Witness: Will you tell me what form of Bright's disease that was ? Does your answer to my question as to thirst depend upon the form of Bright's disease?— Witness (after a pause) : I don't know that it does. Then what makes you ask me the particular form of the disease in the case I read ? I should like to know. Why did you ask me the question ? Because in some forms of Bright's disease there is more copious excretion of urine than others. That would have something to do with the ques- tion of thirst. Then in some cases you would expect thirst]ta be a f eatmre ? It might be. I do not suppose Pro- fessor Stuart would have mentioned thirst unless he attached some importance to it. Diminished power of sight is also a feature of some forms of Bright's disease. I have been reading up this subject for some days to assist me in answering questions here. I have also been read- ing up the subject of antimonial poisoning. And a good many of your replies are the result of this reading ?—The result of refreshing my memory. By reading books you had read before?— No; not the same book. I daresay I have also talked upon the subject with Dr Drew. Kidney disease has been the subject of conversa- tion in many ways. I have discussed other](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2105650x_0044.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
