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

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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$of gentian to make np six ounces j there were also fifteen drops of dilute hydrocyanic acid—the next medicine sent was a few more of the pills similar to those on 4th April; four of them, I think, or six—there was also a draught containing powdered rlmbarb, tincture of cardamums, and magnesia—on the 7th of April the quinine mixture was repeated the same as before—^ou the 9th the same mixture was sent again—on the 13th six more of the grey- powder pills were sent, the same as those sent on the 4th of April; “ the pills as before ” was directed to be put on the box; I do not know how many were to be taken ; it was one every 4 hours—on the 14th of April T made up another bottle of the quinine mixture as before—on the 17th another bottle of quinine mixture as before—on the 18th I had to make up a prescription witli 12 drops of prussic acid of Scheel's strength; Scheel’s acid is stronger than the ordinary Pharmacopoeia acid ; I had not Scheel’s acid in the surgery at the time, and instead of the 12 drops of Scheel’s, I used the Pharmacopoeia acid, 4 drops in each dose, instead of 2 drops of Scheel’s; that would be 24 drops in the mixture, instead of 12 ; my reason for that was, partly because we had none of Scheel’s; I could have got Scheel’s with a very little trouble ; but the 4 drops of the Pharmacopoeia acid was not quite so strong as Scheel’s would be, and I thought 2 drops a very large dose, and was rather nervous at giving it; I thought it rather safer to give under the dose than over it; Dr. Julius was not at home at the time, and I wished to send it at once, and I thought it the safest thing to do; the rest of the prescription I made up precisely as Dr. Julius had prescribed it; there were 6 powders to go with it to cause effervescence, to take with each dose of the mixture; those powders were citric acid, simply to cause effervescence —on the 22d of April Mr. Bird prescribed for'Miss Bankes; the first pre- scription of Mr. Bird’s that I made up contained bismuth, carbonate of soda, hydrocyanic acid, and water, and, 1 think, a small quantity of the solu- tion of acetate of morphia {referring to the book)', there were 7 grains of bismuth for a dose, 42 grains in the mixture; it was a 6-oz. bottle; the sixth part was to be taken at a time; there were 20 drops of the Pharmacopceia dilute hydrocyanic acid, 20 drops of the acetate of morphia, 2 drachms of carbonate of soda, 2 drachms of gum-powder, containing bismuth in solution, and water; that mixture was to be taken 3 times a-day—on the 24th that mixture was repeated—on the 25th I made up 8 pills of acetate of lead and powdered opium; the dose in each pill was 1 grain of acetate of lead, and half a grain of powdered opium ; one pill to be taken every 6 hours—on the next day, Tuesday, the 26th, I made up 4 pills of nitrate of silver; there was a quarter of a grain of nitrate of silver in each pill; the prisoner saw me make them up, and saw me weigh the nitrate of silver; he appeared to be very particular how I did it, unnecessarily so ; I used great caution, and mixed them veiy well, and he requested me to do it more, with my hand; I asked him whether Mrs. Smethurst was better or no, and he said no, he thought she was in a very critical state; that was on Tuesday; at that time he also obtained some laudanum from me ; he gave me a bottle that had had laudanum in it before; as nearly as I can remember, I filled it—I did not see Dr. Todd when he came on the 28th—on the next morning I made up some sulphate of copper pills; I sent 4; I beg your pardon, I sent 6 sulphate of copper pills; there was a quarter of a grain of sulphate of copper in each pill, and a quarter of a grain of powdered opium ; one pill was to be taken 3 times a-day, about every 4 hours—on that same day there was some tincture of catechu sent, 4 ounces, and another quantity of laudanum ; they were sent separately; I suppose they were sent for injections—on the morn-$