he medical evidence which
declares that Mrs. Macallan died poisoned. But we assert that she died
of an overdose of arsenic, ignorantly taken, in the privacy of her own
room, as a remedy for the defects--the proved and admitted defects--of
her complexion. The prisoner's Declaration before the Sheriff expressly
sets forth that he purchased the arsenic at the request of his wife."

The Lord Justice Clerk inquired upon this if there were any objection on
the part of either of the learned counsel to have the Declaration read
in Court before the Trial proceeded further.

To this the Dean of Faculty replied that he would be glad to have the
Declaration read. If he might use the expression, it would usefully pave
the way in the minds of the jury for the defense which he had to submit
to them.

The Lord Advocate (speaking on the other side) was happy to be able
to accommodate his learned brother in this matter. So long as the mere
assertions which the Declaration contained were not supported by proof,
he looked upon that document as evidence for the prosecution, and he too
was quite willing to have it read.

Thereupon the prisoner's Declaration of his innocence--on being char
ged before the Sheriff with the murder of his wife--was read, in the
following terms:

"I bought the two packets of arsenic, on each occasion at my wife's own
request. On the first occasion she told me the poison was wanted by the
gardener for use in the conservatories. On the second occasion she said
it was required by the cook for ridding the lower part of the house of
rats.

"I handed both packets of arsenic to my wife immediately on my return
home. I had nothing to do with the poison after buying it. My wife was
the person who gave orders to the gardener and cook--not I. I never held
any communication with either of them.

"I asked my wife no questions about the use of the arsenic, feeling no
interest in the subject. I never entered the conservatories for months
together; I care little about flowers. As for the rats, I left the
killing of them to the cook and the other servants, just as I should
have left any other part of the domestic business to the cook and the
other servants.

"My wife never told me she wanted the arsenic to improve her complexion.
Surely I should be the last person admitted to the knowledge of such a
secret of her toilet as that? I implicitly believed what she told me;
viz., that the poison was wanted for the purposes spe