Page:Blanchard on L. E. L.pdf/194

194 them as an effectual solution of the mystery, in which the awful calamity to which they have reference, will ever perhaps be wrapped. The writer's motive simply is, to suggest a view of the case, which seems to have almost escaped notice, amidst a multitude of ingenious or extravagant speculations.

A distinguished physician, whose opinion on some of the matters glanced at in the foregoing observations we had solicited, has favoured us with a comment, which is here subjoined:

"We dare not trust ourselves to comment upon this extraordinary inquest.* We should also animadvert upon the extraordinary conduct of the jury, in finding the verdict upon the evidence before them. In England, could such an inquest have been tolerated, the verdict would have been simply 'Found dying.'

"The only rational hypothesis which can be framed respecting the cause of death, is the possibility that, possessing a bottle of hydrocyanic acid (how procured it is impossible to say), and having found that a few drops of it relieved spasms, she might imagine that the topical application of it to her jaw, in which she endured great torture, might relieve her sufferings; and, having rubbed the face with some of the acid poured into the palm of the hand, there can be no doubt that it would prove fatal. The death of a distinguished German chemist, Schader, was attributed to some of the strong acid having been applied to the sound skin of the arm.