Report of the trial of Madeleine Smith : before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, June 30th to July 9th, 1857, for the alleged poisoning of Pierre Émile l'Angelier / by Alexander Forbes Irvine, advocate.

Madeleine Smith

Date:: 1857

Credit: Report of the trial of Madeleine Smith : before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, June 30th to July 9th, 1857, for the alleged poisoning of Pierre Émile l'Angelier / by Alexander Forbes Irvine, advocate. 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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$Dr Steven got. The meaning of the statement, that the stomach was tied at both extremities, is that that was done before the contents were taken out. I am sure that the entire contents were poured into this bottle. The stomach itself was put into the same bottle. We took none of the intes- tines out of the body. When we put the stomach and contents into this bottle, we secui-ed it Avell with oilskin and a cork. We did that in the lodgings. The oil-silk was put under the cork to make it fit the bottle, and partly to make it more secure, and over the whole a double piece of oil-silk. We could not seal it there. We went to Dr Steven's house, where Dr Steven affixed his seal, and I took it with me, and it remained in my possession, locked into my consulting table. On the Monday of the deceased's death I was shown by Mrs Jenkins the matter which had been vomited or purged. It was not preserved, so far as I know. We made a short report on the 24th to Mr Huggins. It was delivered to one of the part- ners of the firm, I am not sure to which. At the time I attended M. L'Ange- lier in February, there were no symptoms that I could definitely say were not due to a bilious attack. They were the symptoms of a bilious attack, all of them. There was an appearance of jaundice. I have heard of that as a symptom of ii-ritant poison. It is in Dr Taylor's work on poisons. By the Lord Justice-Clerk.—Was the appearance of jaundice in the eyes ? It was in the skin. The Dean of Faculty.—Show me the passage in Dr Taylor's work ? (handing it to witness.) Witness.—I can't find the particular passage. It is in the case of Marshall. The Dean of Faculty.—What was the poison in the case of Marshall ? Witness.—Arsenic. The Dean of Faculty.—Well, see if you can find it. Lord Handyside.—Perhaps he has made a mistake on the subject, and refers to Marshall as a writer on the subject. He is referred to in Ta}- lor's Medical Jurisprudence. Witness.—Yes. [Shown Taylor on Poisons]—at page 62, INIarshall is quoted : Strangury and jaundice have been noticed among the secondary symptoms ; that is, under chronic poisoning. The Dean of Faculty.—Do you know any case in which jaundice has been observed as a symptom of arsenical poisoning, except that single line of Taylor's book ? Witness.—That is the only case. The Dean of Faculty'.—That is not a case. Are you acquainted with Marshall's work ? Witness.—No. The Dean of Faculty.—Yon never saw it? Witness.—No, I never saw it. The Dean of Faculty.—You were under the impression that ]\Iar- shall's was the name of a case ? Witness.—Yes; from the manner in wliich I had noted it down, I made that mistake. By the Dean of Faculty.—The jaundice I saw in L'Angelier's case was quite consistent with the idea that he was labouring under a bilious attack, and could easily be accounted for in that way. By the Lord Advocatk.—[Shown No. 187 of Inventory.] This is the jar in which the stoniarli and its contents were ]ilaccd.$