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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    somebody from town—he did not suggest Dr. Todd at that time; I am certain of that—I did not suggest that my partner, Mr Bii’d, should attend then—I don’t think I suggested it to liim until some days later than that— Mr. Bird began to attend on the I8th—I suggested his attendance before that, that he should attend instead of me—there was no arrangement that I should cease to attend—he had not suggested that Dr. Todd should be sent for before I suggested Mr. Bird—I told him Mr. Bird had been a pupil of Dr. Todd’s; that was not in consequence of his suggesting Dr. Todd to me— I told him that Mr. Bird had had great experience in diarrhoea, and diseases of that kind—it is a fact that Mr. Bird has had considerable experience, in the Crimea; knowing that, I recommended him to Dr. Smethurst—at that time I had formed an unfavourable opinion that my remedies were counter- acted ; I had at that time formed an unfavourable opinion, as to the possibility of the lady’s recovery ; I thought her in a very precarious state ; 1 mean on April 18th, there is no mistake about that—I did not communicate my impi’ession to Mr. Bird—I was present when Mr. Bird was examined here on the last occasion—I heard him examined—I did not hear him say that I had communicated to him my unfavourable impression j I certainly had not— Dr. Smethurst suggested Dr. Todd’s coming down after this ; I think that was on Wednesday, the 27th—he came down on Thursday night, the 28th—I wrote a note to Dr. Todd, and sent it up by my son—I saw Dr. Todd when he came down ; it must have been a few minutes before 10 when he came ; I met him at the station, I should think about a quarter to 10 ; that was the time the train was due—I had not communicated to Dr. Smethurst that he w'as expected by that train—that was not the latest train ; there are several later than that; there is one at 12 o’clock—I had not told Dr. Smethurst the time I expected Dr. Todd to call—it was a little before 10 when I went with Dr. Todd to Alma-villas; we went there direct from the station—I simply told Dr. Todd the symptoms from which she was suffering, and the remedies that had been used—told him that all those symptoms had failed to yield to my remedies—I told him what the remedies were that I had used—I never Bonveyed to him any further impression than w’hat 1 have stated—I did not express to him my great surprise that they had failed—I will undertake to say that I never expressed anything more to him than just detailed the symptoms and the medicines I had used—I have not got the note I sent to him—I cannot recall to my recollection Mr. Smethurst saying, that if the patient had been under his responsibility he should have preferred soothing re- medies ; I do not recollect his saying he should have given her a slight occasional emetic, with calomel and opium, and no irritants—nothing of the kind was expressed to me, to my recollection—hydrocyanic acid, or prussic acid, is very frequently used to check sickness; it is used to check vomiting in the early stage of pregnancy ; it is a medicine that is very fre- quently used for that purpose ; it is of a very sedative character—I thought the dose that Dr. Smethurst suggested was a very large dose for a person in the weak state in which she was; it was 2 drops of Scheel’s strength, mixed with the ordinary dose of water, of course—I have the prescription here ; it is 12 drops of hydrocyanic acid, 2 drachms of carbonate of soda, syrup of orange-peel, and 6 oz. of water; that would be 2 drops to 1 oz. of water— an ounce of water is 2 table-spoonfuls—that was not the dose to be taken, because she had to dissolve a powder in some more water, so that she would perhaps take 3 or 4 table-spoonfuls of water; that would dilute it still more—there were 6 doses in the bottle, to be taken with a powder to make it effervescent—I sent a dose that was one-third less than that; Mr. Caudle