had given only the medicinal dose ordered by the doctor, but was
not believed. After death we found thrombosis of the brain--a rare
affection, leaving such minute traces behind it that a careless
examination will always fail to detect them. This was one of the
affections which, as I had stated on the witness-stand some months
before the occurrence just narrated, might have caused the death of
Miss Stennecke with symptoms resembling those of opium poisoning.]

[Footnote 16: According to the testimony in both the cases of alleged
poisoning by Mrs. Wharton, professional advice was called in at her
request.]

[Footnote 17: I think the general opinion of the profession has
endorsed the position of the defence. It is very probable that General
Ketchum did die of the disease named, but there are other affections
of which he I may have died; and certainly there were no sufficient
grounds for asserting that the facts of his case were inconsistent
with natural disease. The truth is, disease is often so hidden, its
manifestations so obscure, its stamp upon the tissues so faint, that
rarely is a physician justified in asserting from the symptoms and
a _partial_ negative post mortem, such as was performed on General
Ketchum, that any given death could not have been due to a natural
cause. Numerous cases of death from natural causes have occurred in
which science has been apparently baffled. I have myself seen at least
one sudden death in which a careful post mortem failed entirely to
detect the cause.]

[Footnote 18: Since writing the present paper I have been shown a
private letter of Judge Pierce, written last April in regard to the
first trial of Mrs. Wharton. After considerable solicitation the judge