Part 27 (1/2)
drunkards, who swallow freely a great deal of liquor, and those who are forced by the civil law to drink a great quant.i.ty of water, which in giving the question (as it is called) is poured into them by way of torture to make them confess crimes,[49] have no suffocation or drowning happen to them.
But on the other hand, when any quant.i.ty comes into the windpipe, so it does hinder or intercept the inspiration, or coming in of the air, which is necessary for the respiration, or breathing, the person is suffocated. Such a small quant.i.ty will do, as sometimes in prescriptions, when people have been very weak, or forced to take medicines, I have observed some spoonfuls in that condition (if it went the wrong way) to have choaked or suffocated the person.
He took drowning to be when water got into the windpipe or lungs, and believed that whether a person fell into the water alive or dead, some quant.i.ty would find its way there. He inclined to believe that the general condition of the body was consistent with the woman having been drowned.
_Dr. Garth_ gave reasons for disagreeing with the doctors called for the prosecution in considering that the general state of the body proved that the woman had not been drowned, pointing out that it was as unnatural for a human body to float on its side, as for a s.h.i.+lling to rest on its edge, or for a deal board to float edgewise rather than otherwise. In spite of what had been said about the seamen, he believed that dead bodies would generally sink.
HATSELL, BARON--But you do not observe my question; the seamen said that those that die at sea and are thrown overboard, if you do not tye a weight to them, they will not sink; what say you to that?
DR. GARTH--My lord, no doubt in this they are mistaken. The seamen are a superst.i.tious people, they fancy that whistling at sea will occasion a tempest. I must confess I have never seen anybody thrown overboard, but I have tried some experiments on other dead animals, and they will certainly sink; we have tried this since we came here hither. Now, my lord, I think we have reason to suspect the seaman's evidence; for he saith that three-score pound of iron is allowed to sink the dead bodies, whereas six or seven pounds would do as well. I cannot think the commissioners of the navy guilty of so ill husbandry; but the design of tying weights to their bodies, is to prevent their floating at all, which otherwise would happen in some few days; therefore what I say is this, that if these gentlemen had found a cord, or the print of it, about the neck of this unfortunate gentlewoman, or any wound that had occasioned her death, they might then have said something.
_Dr. Morley_ was called, and supported the view that a drowned body need not necessarily have much water in it, and that it need not float. He had tried experiments on two dogs the night before; he drowned them both, and dissecting one found no water in its stomach, while the other sank to the bottom of the water.
_Dr. Woollaston_ and _Dr. Gelstrop_ both gave evidence to the same effect as the preceding witnesses.
COWPER--Now, my lord, I would call Mr. William Cowper; and because of his name, I must acquaint your lords.h.i.+p that he is not at all acquainted with me, though I should be proud to own him if he were so; he is a man of great learning, and I believe, most people admit him to be the best anatomist in Europe. Mr. Cowper, will you give your opinion of this matter?
_Mr. W. Cowper_[50] accordingly, premising that he would not only 'speak, from reason,' but give an account of experiments, stated that the symptoms described were consistent with drowning;
this is a truth that no man can deny who is acquainted with any thing of this nature, that when the head of an animal is under water, the first time it is obliged to inspire (or draw in air) the water will necessarily flow into its lungs, as the air would do if it were out of the water; which quant.i.ty of water (if the dimensions of the windpipe and its branches in the lungs be considered), will not amount to three inches square, which is about three ounces of water.
And this quant.i.ty of water would be sufficient to cause suffocation, and after suffocation, swallowing would become impossible. This he said, not by way of conjecture or hypothesis, but as the result of experiment.
I shall by the bye, tell you how fallacious the first experiment was, when I proposed to satisfy myself whether a dead body would float in water. It happened that a spaniel, that had a great deal of long hair was hanged for this purpose, which I found to float on the surface of the water; but when I considered that his hair might buoy him up, I caused another dog, which had shorter and less hair, to be hanged and put into the water, which (according to what I had always conceived of the human body) sunk directly to the bottom. In order to satisfy myself what quant.i.ty of water was necessary to enter the body of an animal, and cause suffocation in water, I caused three dogs, when alive, to be suddenly plunged under water till they were stifled; the result was that about three ounces of water were found in their lungs, and none in their stomachs.
Dead bodies generally sank; weights were attached to dead bodies, not so much to make them sink at the time, as to prevent them floating afterwards.
COWPER--With your lords.h.i.+p's favour, I now think it a proper time to make this observation. The witnesses that have given evidence for the king do say they believe she was not drowned; but they have not pretended to say how she died otherwise.
HATSELL, BARON--That is very true.
_Dr. Crell_ was generally of the same opinion as that expressed by the last witness, and, in spite of the suggestion of the judge that he should confine his evidence to matters within his own experience, quoted the opinion of Ambrose Parey ('who was chief surgeon to Francis the 1st, employed by him in most of his sieges and battles against emperor Charles the 5th, and consequently must observe, and could not be ignorant of such like casualties in such great bodies of men'), as expressed in his chapter of Renunciations, to the effect that the certain sign of a man being drowned was an appearance of froth about his nostrils and mouth. Altogether his firm opinion was that the woman was drowned.
_Mr. Harriot_, who had been a surgeon in the Fleet; and _Bartlet_, who had been in several naval engagements, both swore that dead bodies when thrown overboard sank at first, though they floated again afterwards.
_Mr. Camlin_ was called at the coroner's inquest, and examined the body.
He found certain marks on the head and breast which Mr. Dimsdale said were only the result of drowning; he had seen more decided marks on the body of the child that was drowned. He saw no indications that Mrs.
Stout had been strangled.
BOWD--It was much about this time twelvemonth I had some business in London; and she [Mrs. Stout] sent to me, to know when I should go to London; and I waited upon her before I went, and she desired me to do some business for her; and when I returned, I acquainted her with what I had done; and sitting together in the hall, I asked her, what is the matter with you?
Said I, there is something more than ordinary; you seem to be melancholy. Saith she, you are come from London, and you have heard something or other: said I, I believe you are in love. In love! said she. Yes, said I, Cupid, that little boy, hath struck you home: she took me by the hand; Truly, said she, I must confess it; but I did think I should never be guilty of such a folly: and I answered again, I admire that should make you uneasy; if the person be not of that fortune as you are, you may, if you love him, make him happy and yourself easy.
That cannot be, saith she: the world shall not say I change my religion for a husband. And some time after I had been in London, having bought some India goods, she came to my shop and bought some of me for a gown, and afterwards she came to pay me for it; and I asked her, How do you like it? have you made it up? No, said she, and I believe I shall never live to wear it.
COWPER--Pray how long is it since?
BOWD--It was about February or January before her death. I asked her, why she did not come to my house oftener She said, she had left off all company, and applied herself to reading; and company was indifferent to her.
Several other witnesses were then called to prove that they had recently seen the deceased woman in a state of melancholy, and that she had admitted that she was in love, though she would not say with whom.