"Is all this necessary?" the latter inquired. "I mean, is it material to
the subject of the inquiry?"
"I should say not," replied Dr. Burrows. "It appears to me to be quite
irrelevant, but Dr. Thorndyke, who is watching the case for the defence,
thought it necessary."
"I think," said the coroner, "you had better give us only the facts that
are material. The jury want you to tell them what you consider to have
been the cause of death. They don't want a lecture on pathology."
"The cause of death," said Dr. Burrows, "was a penetrating wound of the
chest, apparently inflicted with a large knife. The weapon entered
between the second and third ribs on the left side close to the sternum
or breast-bone. It wounded the left lung, and partially divided both the
pulmonary artery and the aorta--the two principal arteries of the body."
"Was this injury alone sufficient to cause death?" the coroner asked.
"Yes," was the reply; "and death from injury to these great vessels
would be practically instantaneous."
"Could the injury have been self-inflicted?"
"So far as the position and nature of the wound are concerned," replied
the witness, "self-infliction would be quite possible.
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