II. Necessary Implements
14. Besides the ordinary instruments used in common dissections, the inspector should be provided with a foot-rule for measuring distances, and a glass measure graduated to drachms, for measuring the quantities of fluids, two or three stoneware jars of medium size, or when these cannot be had, a few clean bladders, for carrying away any parts of the body which it may be necessary to preserve for future examination, and in cases of possible poisoning, three or four bottles of eight, twelve, and sixteen ounces, with glass stoppers or clean corks, for preserving fluids to be analysed. The common square green glass pickle bottles are very suitable, and can generally be obtained. No bottle or jar should be used until it has been thoroughly washed under the supervision of one of the inspectors. In cases of infanticide a balance, having a flat scale-pan with a foot-rule painted on it, is of great use; on it the infant may be stretched, weighed, and measured at one operation. Paper, pens, ink, and sealing-wax should also be provided.
15. All distances, lengths, surfaces, and the like, whose extent may require to be described, ought to be accurately measured; and the same rule ought to be followed in ascertaining the volume of fluids. When large quantities of fluids are to be measured, any convenient vessel may be used, whose capacity is previously ascertained by the inspectors. Conjectural estimates and comparisons, however common, even in medico-legal inspections, are quite inadmissible.
III. External Aspect, and
Examination of the Body
16. The importance of the external examination, and the particulars to be chiefly attended to in performing it, will vary in different cases with the probable cause of death. It comprehends an examination—(1) Of the position of the body when found, as well as of all external injuries or marks presented by it. (2) Of the vicinity of the body, with a view to discover the objects on which it rested, or from or upon which it may have fallen, marks of a struggle, signs of the presence of a second party about the time of death or after it, weapons or other objects the property or not the property of the deceased, the remains of poisons, marks of vomiting; and where marks of blood are of importance, and doubts may arise as to their really being blood, the articles presenting them must be preserved for further examination. (3) Of the dress, its nature and condition, stains on it of mud, sand, and the like, of blood, of vomit, of acids, or other corrosive substances, marks of injuries, such as rents or incisions; where injuries have been inflicted on the body, care should be taken to compare the relative position of those on the body and those on the clothes; and where stains, apparently from poison, are seen, the stained parts are to be preserved for analysis. (4) Ligatures, their material and kind, as throwing light on the trade of the person who applied them; the possibility, or impossibility, of the deceased having applied them himself; their sufficiency for accomplishing their apparent purpose, &c.
17. The inspectors will commence the examination of the body itself by surveying the external surface and openings. Before cleaning it they will examine it on all sides, not neglecting the back, as is often done, and look for marks of mud, blood, ligatures, injuries, stains from acids, and the like; foreign bodies, or injuries within the natural openings of the body, viz. the mouth, nostrils, ears, anus, vagina, and urethra. If there are impressions of finger marks, they will consider which hand produced them. If there be any doubt about stains being blood, the skin presenting them must be preserved for analysis. If there be acid stains, or other probable remains of poison, or any foreign matter, the nature of which may require to be determined by analysis, these must also be preserved. The ordinary places for the impressions of ligatures are the neck, the wrists, the ankles, and the waist. The degree of warmth of the trunk and extremities, the presence or absence of cadaveric rigidity, and whether it exists equally in the upper or the lower extremities, should be noted in this stage of the proceedings; in other cases the progress of putrefaction, as indicated by the odour of the body, the looseness of the cuticle, the colour of the skin, and formation of dark vesicles on it, the evolution of air in the cellular tissue, the alteration of the features, the softness of the muscles, the shrivelling of the eyes, the looseness of the hair and nails.
18. In this part of the examination it will sometimes be necessary to observe the particulars by which the body may be identified. These are numerous. But the most important are the stature, the age and sex, the degree of plumpness, the size and form of the nose and mouth, the colour of the eyes and hair, the state of the teeth, warts, nævi, deformities, scars of old abscesses, ulcers, and wounds, and, if a woman, marks of her having had one or more children.
19. The body is next to be washed, if necessary, and the hair of the head shaved, or at least closely cut; and a thorough examination of the whole integuments is to be made. At this stage the inspectors will look particularly for the appearance of lividity, noting its chief seat and its relation to the posture in which the body was found—for impressions on the skin of objects on which it had rested—for marks of injuries, more especially contusions, taking care to ascertain their real nature by making incisions through the skin—for marks of disease, such as eruptions, ulcers, and the like—for marks of burning—for marks of concealed punctures in the nostrils, mouth, external openings of the ears, the eyes, the nape of the neck, the arm-pits, the anus, the vagina, and beneath the mammæ or scrotum; in infants, also in the fontanelles and the whole course of the spine. At this stage, wounds and other injuries should be carefully examined according to the directions given in Division V. (infra). Where the injury may have caused loss of blood, the presence or absence of pallor of the skin, lining membrane of the mouth, and the gums ought to be noted.
IV. Dissection, or Internal
Examination of the Body
20. In commencing the dissection of the body, it must be laid down as an invariable rule that all the great cavities should be examined, and also every important organ in each, however distinctly the cause of death may seem to be indicated in one of them. It is right to examine the cavity of the spine, and at all events its upper portion, in any case where an unequivocal cause of death has not been discovered elsewhere.