Central Criminal Court : the Queen against Thomas Smethurst, Monday, August 15th, 1859, and following days : minutes of evidence / printed from the short-hand notes of Messrs. Barnett and Buckler.

Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Central Criminal Court : the Queen against Thomas Smethurst, Monday, August 15th, 1859, and following days : minutes of evidence / printed from the short-hand notes of Messrs. Barnett and Buckler. 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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    are very different in different individuals—diptlieretic dysenteiy is a form of idiopathic dysentery ; idiopathic dysentery applies to every case of dysentery which occurs without a particular poison of any kind, the Eastern form of dysentery, idiopathic, arising in India—there is a dysentery that ai-ises from a natural poison, just the same as fevei’, and all those diseases arise—if 1 had been acquainted with all those symptoms I have heard described in 1 Court to-day I should not have dreamt of poison. Mb. Serjeant Parry. Q. My friend asked you “ Is dysentery common V’ are you able to say how many cases of dysentery may have occurred in so many years? A. From 1848 to 1854, more than 15,000 persons died in England of dysentery; from 1850 to 1854, in London alone, dysentery killed more persons than pericarditis, or inflammation of the covering of the heart, thrush, gout, syphilis, insanity, quinsy, or 7'emittent fever, respectively —the disease which I have so described in its numerical effects, is what I call idiopathic dysentery, and is perfectly well known in the medical world and to scientific men. Dr. Gilbert Finlay Girdwood. I am a Doctor of Medicine, I have had considerable experience in midwifery—I have delivered upwards of 3,000 women—I have occasionally met with cases of pregnancy combined with diarrhoea and vomiting ; diarrhoea superadded to vomiting ; and I have had cases in which pregnancy was combined with dysentery ; on one occasion of a very severe character, but from which the patient recovered. Q. In your judgment, if a person were pregnant, and suffering from dysenteric symptoms, such as you observed in that case, would it be proper to give mineral medicines ? A. 1 should not give any in pregnancy, nor on any occasion whatever, unless I found it to be serviceable; not in any dysenteric case whatever, unless I made out the reason why I should give it —I would find out the immediate cause of the dysentery—in this country it generally proceeds from a disease, which has been very well expressed by a celebrated man. Dr. Copland, who has most admirably described the disease which is most common in this country—it commences in that portion of the intestine called the coecum, extending thence to the anus, inflammation of that portion of the intestine, ending in ulceration and death if it is not stopped—the best way to stop it is that which 1 adopted ; the application of ieeclies to that portion of the coecum, which, if a careful practitioner exer- cises his fingers, he would be sure to find out—I have heard the symptoms which Isabella Bankes exhibited during life, the remedies, and the post mortem examination. Q. In your judgment, was her death to be attributed to poison or to the effects of dysentery combined with pregnancy ? A. 1 see the whole of the ! symptoms traceable to the dysentery, and to the consequent ulceration and exhaustion—that would certainly account for the appearance of the coecum —idiopathic dysentery would be a proper phrase to give it—that is a special disease originating in itself, one single malady, one single suffering—preg- nancy and dysentery would quite account, in my judgment, for the diarrhoea _ —I have had several cases of dysentery at the early stages of j)regnancy, one of them very severe, in fact, contemporaneous with it, I would say, symptomatic of pregnancy—in many cases, instead of the usual change occurring at the period when women exhibit that change peculiar to them there has been some disease of diarrhoea in the eaidy months of pregnancy; this would be much aggravated by a bilious temperament and any affection of the liver. Cross-examined hy Mr. Serjeant Ballantine. Q. Does dysentery usually commence with fever ? A. The dysentery of all warm climates is always