A letter to the Right Hon. Sir G.C. Lewis, Bart., M.P. ... / from three of the medical witnesses for the defence, in the case of Thomas Smethurst.

  • Richardson, Sir Benjamin Ward, (1828-1897)
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Right Hon. Sir G.C. Lewis, Bart., M.P. ... / from three of the medical witnesses for the defence, in the case of Thomas Smethurst. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    dysentery we affirm the correctness of that vote,— nothing more. The sum and substance of our argument is as follows:— 1. The symptoms and pathology of Isabella Bankes were consistent with dysentery occurring in a pregnant and previously unhealthy woman ; and her death is fairly ascribable to such producing cause. 2. The symptoms and pathology of Isabella Bankes are not consistent with the hypothesis of poisoning by arsenic, by antimony, or by both these poisons ; nor is death fairly ascribable to them. 3. There is no chemical proof whatever that ]{ither antimony, arsenic, or any other irritant poison, was ever feloniously administered to Isabella Bankes. With these opinions firmly fixed in our minds, we gave evidence at the trial on the part of the. defence. Nothing that has transpired either at the trial, or since, has tended in the slightest degree to modify our opinions; and now that sentence of death is passed on the prisoner, we present our evidence to