Do you find any excitement in this case?--I find at Shrewsbury he was excited, and wherever you have excitement you have a consequent depression.
Do you find he was depressed?--When you find a man in bed sick, he must be depressed.
I was speaking of the depression consequent on these symptoms. Where do you find any symptom of illness until he begins to vomit?--If I have much excitement, if I am up all night, it upsets me the next day, and I generally vomit the food I take. Cook was overjoyed at winning his race.
And you think he vomited in consequence?--He might.
Do you mean to swear that you think the excitement of the three minutes on the course on the Tuesday accounts for the vomiting?--I do not mean to say anything of the kind.
Do you find any excitement or depression from that time till the time he died?--There is nothing reported that I can recollect just now.
On the contrary, do you not recollect that the man, when he was not vomiting, on that very night, was joking and laughing; was that sufficient to make him vomit?--That may well be where a man is subject to bilious fits.
We are talking of excitement--of epilepsy with tetanic complications; I want to know on what you can put your hand in the way of excitement or depression which will account for the remarkable symptoms?--I have told you that almost any one of them is sufficient.
Where is there one which you say might have occasioned death?--These white spots in the stomach might have caused death by an inflammatory condition of the stomach.
But there was no inflammation of the stomach, was there?--I have given you my opinion.
If there had been any, would not the gentlemen who examined it have seen it?--If those white spots were present you would have had inflammation.
They say there was none?--I do not believe them.
Sensual excitement is a cause of epilepsy with tetanic complications; is that what you say?--Yes, it might be.
Do you find a tittle of evidence of any such excitement?--I think so--the syphilitic spots. There was no doubt about it.
Do you mean to say that you attribute this to some excitement at some anterior period long before?--I am not called upon to say that. I take my opinion from what was seen.
Supposing the man had any such excitement a week before, do you mean that is sufficient?--Yes; we have instances on record of convulsions in the very act you allude to.