Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of
Professor John W. Webster ...
, 1850
,
Image No: 21
   Enlarge and print image (56K)           << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
clear space clear space clear space white space


 

Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of
Professor John W. Webster ...
, 1850
,
Image No: 21
   Enlarge and print image (56K)           << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
12 dence of this, (you will understand me in stating this point, =the extent and weight and force of it you will judge of hereafter,) indi- cating that before the bones were subjected to the action of fire, those bones had been fractured. Then, Gentlemen, you will have placed for your inspection a block of mineral teeth, which was found in that furnace, and found so near the bottom of the furnace that it took the current oof cold air,-found resting upon the grate, a fact of some significance, -a block of min- eral teeth, which will be testified to by two gentlemen, accomplished dentists, to be the teeth of Dr. Parkman, made for him in 1846, upon an occasion which Dr. Keep distinctly recollects, recognizing his own work, and beyond that giving you the grounds upon which he feels the confidence that he will express in his testimony; a confidence so strong, from his recollection of the work itself, and the formation of these teeth, the peculiarities of their formation, and other facts, that if he had seen them in Africa, or beyond the sea, he should have known them to be the teeth which he made for Dr. George Parkman, in the autumn of 1846. There were other portions of mineral teeth. found, which will go to aid you in your judgment of the reliability of the testimony of Dr. Keep, but which are not so characteristic as the block of which I speak. It will be shown that Dr. Keep has in his Possession, and can produce now, a mould of the entire jaw of Dr. arkman, taken at the time he made this block of mineral teeth. You will see, by that mould, which will be testified to you by Dr. Keep, that it is a mould which showed the peculiar conformation of Dr. Parkman's jaw,-a peculiarity so great, that you could not find, through any caprice of nature, another precisely like it. The Sheriff. Quiet in the gallery ! Mr. Clifford. It will appear from the evidence, that these mineral teeth must have been cast into that furnace in connection with the head. That will be made perfectly clear and apparent to you, upon the evidence, found in connection, as they are, with certain portions of the bones, which will be explained to you by another medical, anatomical and scientific witness. Beyond this, you will have exhibited to, you, from among the bones, the bones of the right lower jaw, found in that furnace, in frag. ments, in portions, there broken and with serried edges, put together to show that they belonged to one and the same jaw; and the con- formation of that jaw, when thus put together, you will find precisely like that taken in the mould in 1846, by Dr. Keep. This will be the nature of the evidence to satisfy you that Dr. Parkman came to his death as charged in that indictment, and in connection with the Med- ical College. There are one or two points, before proceeding to the other evidence, which I shall offer, to which it may be proper, in this connection, to advert. The thorax, which I have spoken of as having been found in the tea-chest, exhibits a perforation, upon which there will be evi- dence laid before you to show that it was a wound which penetrated between the ribs, taking off a portion of the membrane which covers one of the ribs, and entering the region of the heart. It will also appear to you, Gentlemen, that to these remains there have been chemical applications made of strong alkalis, which, upon a chemical analysis, is found to be demonstrated by an accomplished chemist,