Were those appearances the same as described by Dr. Edwards?—They were; I have seen many instances where they were the same as described by Dr. Edwards.
And that in cases in which there was no reason to suppose that there was poison administered?—No reason whatever, my Lord.
Were you ever present at the opening of the body of a person who was supposed to have died by poison?—I was many years ago, when I was in Scotland, and when I was a young man; but the appearances were not such as to satisfy the medical men that there was arsenic.
Is there any other substance, except this phosphate of soda, that will throw down this yellow precipitate?—Not that I am aware of.
Sulphate of copper was not an infallible test, you say; explain that?—If sulphate of copper be contaminated with iron, or be not pure; if it be mixed with the carbonate of potash in solution, a yellow precipitate would be produced, and the two colours will produce green. I should also state that in mixing the solution, if the sulphate of copper should be added to a decoction or an infusion of onions, with a small quantity of the carbonate of potash, a green precipitate is also produced; I have tried it repeatedly.
Supposing a person to have been eating boiled onions for dinner, and in the course of the night to have been vomiting or purging to a violent degree, would any particular portion of the juice of the onion be left in the stomach?—Not in the stomach in a great proportion; but I think that enough may remain to affect the chemical test.
Notwithstanding the mixture of the onions with other food, there is sufficient to effect that in some degree?—Yes, my Lord.
(By Mr. Sergt. Lens, through Mr. Justice Abbott.) You have stated that you have seen many bodies opened, in which the stomach was in a state of inflammation, and in the state described by Dr. Edwards, and yet no actual poison present in those cases; what has been the state of the villous
