Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of
Professor John W. Webster ...
, 1850
,
Image No: 162
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Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of
Professor John W. Webster ...
, 1850
,
Image No: 162
   Enlarge and print image (49K)           << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
153 church, I went to walk with him. He came to Boston that afternoon. I saw him that evening, between nine and ten, in his study. At about dark, I heard his voice in the entry, but did not see him. He came into the parlor about ten o'clock, from his study. I heard from my mother, that he brought out a bundle Friday. [Objected to.] DR. WINSLOw LEwis, recalled.-I have been acquainted with Prof. Webster about thirty years. I know many of his acquaintances. He is considered by others, in general, as a man of humanity and kindly feelings. I was his pupil when he was a physician in the alms-house. In regard to the time when he was Professor at Mason- street College, I could never get into his room without knocking at the door. He was Professor there at the same time I was Demon- stator. I have noticed the cut in the thorax of the remains, carefully. The cut was anything but a clean cut. If it had been a clean one, it would not have shown that it was made before death. I could not tell whether a broken calcined bone was broken before or after it was calcined. We finished our examination on Sunday. I think Dr. Strong was there afterwards. We agreed upon the substance of our report on Saturday. There was a bloodless appearance about the pelvis, as though it had been soaked. I attributed this appearance to having laid in water. Cross-examination. I have not examined osteology as closely as Dr. Wyman, and rather prefer Dr. Wyman's opinion to my own, on that subject. There is less likelihood of a clean cut after death than before. Direct examination. It could easily be done in the thorax, after death, for the flesh there is tense. GEORGE H. GAY, recalled. -I was one of the Committee tp exam- ine the remains at the Medical College. We finished on Sunday. I think I saw Dr. Strong there on Monday. My impression, at the time I looked at the cut, was, that it was done with a cane. Some of the remains were bloodless. I am speaking of the parts that were found in the privy. They seemed to have been soaked in some liquid. OLIVER, W. HOLNEs, recalled. -There are two principal author- ities on the subject of the quantity of blood in the human body; one of Haller, and the other of Valentine. Haller says one fifth of the body, or about twenty-seven or twenty- eight pounds, is the average quantity. Valentine states it to be between one fourth and one fifth of the weight of the body in an adult male, or thirty-four and a half pounds on the average - arrived at by a most exact mathematical estimate. Thirty-four pounds would be about seventeen quarts. The fracture of the bone after calcination depends upon the degree of calcination. Bones may be calcined so as to easily crumble ; but calcined partially, they will split, break outward, or inward, and di- rect across, and in almost any direction. In the experiments I have made; I find such to be the case. Cross-examination. I would not defer my opinion to that of Dr. Wyman. It is an opinion of a simple physical fact, within any one's reach.