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MEDICAL
JURISPRUDENCE.
BY
J. A. PARIS, M.D. F.R.S. F.L.S.
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS;
AND
J. S. M. FONBLANQUE, Esq.
BARRISTER AT LAW.
“Hæc est illa amica Imperantium atque Medentium conspiratio, qua effectum est, ut aliquo veluti connubio Medicina ac Jurisprudentia inter se jungerentur.”
Hebenstreit Anthropolog: Forens:
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. III.
LONDON:
PRINTED & PUBLISHED BY W. PHILLIPS, GEORGE YARD, LOMBARD STREET;
SOLD ALSO BY T. & G. UNDERWOOD, AND S. HIGHLEY, FLEET STREET;
AND W. & C. TAIT, EDINBURGH.
1823.
CONTENTS
OF THE
APPENDIX.
Statutes, [9 Hen. 5.]—[3 Hen. 8, c. 11.]—[5 Hen. 8, c. 6.]—[14 and 15 Hen. 8, c. 5], containing the Charter of the College of Physicians.—[32 Hen. 8, c. 40.]—[32 Hen. 8. c. 42].—[34 and 35 Hen. 8, c. 8].—[1 Mary, c. 9].—[6 and 7 Will. 3, c. 4.]—[Preamble of 10 Geo. 1, c. 20], (expired).—[18 Geo. 2, c. 15].—[55 Geo. 3, c. 194.]—[Charter of the Apothecaries.]—[Royal Letter to the College of Physicians], (Chas. 2.)—[Royal Letter to the Lord Mayor of London], (Chas. 2).—[College Questions], (1607) and opinions thereon.—[Dr. Bonham’s case.]—[Groenvelt v. Burwell.]—[William Rose’s case.]—[Dr. Stanger’s case.]—[Return to a Habeas Corpus], and copy of the Censor’s Warrant.—[Dr. Burgess’ case.]—[Dr. Winterton’s Letter to the College of Physicians.]—[Lilly’s Diploma from the Archbishop of Canterbury.]—[Order in Council] (1809).—[Rex v. Master and Wardens of the Company of Surgeons.]—[Midwife’s Oath.]—[Certificate concerning Midwives.]—[Statute 59 Geo. 3, c. 41.]—[14 Geo. 3, c. 49.]—[Report on the Plague] (1819).—[Chorley v. Bolcot.]—[Lipscombe v. Holmes.]—[Slater v. Baker and Stapleton.]—[Seare v. Prentice.]
[Severn v. Olive] (cost of experiments).—[Mr. Hargrave’s notes on the legal time for human birth.]
[Report of the College of Physicians on a case of murder], (Joseph Lane’s 1632).—[Case of Standsfield]; Report of the Surgeons of Edinburgh on the same; Report of the College of Physician’s (Edinb.) on the same.—[Extract from the medical evidence in the case of Spencer Cowper, Esq.]—[Extract from the evidence of Drs. Addington and Lewis in the case of Mary Blandy.]—[Extracts from the medical evidence in the case of Donellan].—[Extracts from the medical evidence in the case of Donnall.]—[Eugene Aram’s defence.]
Medical Jurisprudence.
PART III.
Introduction—1. Of Arson—Human Combustion.—2. Of Rape, with Physiological and Medical Illustrations.—3. Of Homicide generally.—4. Of Real and Apparent Death.—5. Of the Physiological Causes, and Phenomena of Sudden Death.—6. Of Syncope.—7. Of Suffocation by Drowning, Hanging, and other causes.—8. Death by exposure to Cold—Heat—Lightning—Starvation.—9. Application of the Physiological Facts, established in the preceding chapters, to the general treatment of Asphyxia.—10. Of the Coroner’s Inquest.—11. Suicide.—12. Of Murder generally—by Wounding, or Blows—by Poisoning.—13. Of Poisons, Chemically, Physiologically, and Pathologically considered.—14. Of Homicide, by Misadventure or Accident.—15. A Synopsis of the Objects of Inquiry in Cases of sudden and mysterious Sickness and Death,—Commentary thereon, including practical rules for Dissection.—16. Abortion and Infanticide—with Physiological Illustrations.—17. Of Criminal Responsibility, and Pleas in bar of Execution.—18. Of Punishments.—19. Postscript.
Medical Jurisprudence.
PART III continued.
[15. A Synopsis of the Objects of Inquiry in Cases of sudden and mysterious Sickness and Death,]—Commentary thereon, including practical rules for Dissection.—[16. Abortion and Infanticide,]—with Physiological Illustrations.—[17. Of Criminal Responsibility, and Pleas in bar of Execution.]—[18. Of Punishments.]—[19. Postscript.]
A SYNOPSIS OF THE OBJECTS OF INQUIRY IN CASES OF SUDDEN, AND MYSTERIOUS SICKNESS, AND DEATH.
THE PATIENT IS LIVING, AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED.
Account given by the patient and his friends.—How far their report deserves credit.—Whether there be any external injuries.—Previous state of the patient, with respect to bodily health and strength.—The age and occupation of the individual in question.—Season of the year.—Present symptoms of the patient; with the circumstances of their accession, progress, intensity, and duration.—Whether any similar attack has been experienced by himself at any previous period, or by any part of his family and friends at the present time; and whether the latter have felt any degree of nausea or uneasiness.—What remedies have been employed, by whom recommended, and by whom administered.—Nature of the food last taken as to quantity and quality.—Whether the patient had observed any unusual flavour, or grittiness in his food.—Condition and nature of the utensils in which it was cooked.—Appearance of the evacuations.
THE PATIENT IS DEAD.—THE ATTENDANTS CAN FURNISH ONLY AN IMPERFECT ACCOUNT OF HIS DISSOLUTION.
Examination of the attendants.—Circumstances to be investigated.—How soon the deceased is supposed to have died, after the alleged cause of his dissolution.—Had the deceased been under the influence of violent passion.—Was he at the time of death in a state of intoxication.—Plan of the inquiry to be adopted according to the principles already explained in Case I, in combination with those to be developed in the following still more complicated one.
THE BODY IS FOUND DEAD.—ITS HISTORY IS UNKNOWN.
Plan to be adopted in the investigation of this case.—Four great avenues of inquiry, viz. 1. Inspection of the dead body; 2. Examination of surrounding and collateral objects; 3. Interrogation of witnesses; 4. Anatomical Dissection.
1. Inspection of the dead Body.
Situation and attitude of the body.—General appearance of the countenance, as to colour, vascular turgescence, or congestion, and morbid physiognomy.—Appearance of the eyes, and eye-lids, lips, and gums.—Whether any, and what discharge issues from the mouth, nostrils, ears, or any other orifice.—Apparent age of the deceased.—Description of his person as to bulk, stature, obesity, muscular powers, &c.—Conformation of the neck, with respect to its shortness, fullness, and thickness.—Probable period that has elapsed since the extinction of life.—State of the body, in relation to the degree of stiffness, or flexibility of its limbs, progress of putrescence, &c.—Whether any, and what marks, or ecchymoses are visible upon the throat, or under the ears.—Whether there are any, and what marks, punctures, wounds, contusions, and ecchymoses, dislocations, or injuries, on the chest, abdomen, or in any other parts of the body; and whether their appearance and character lead to any conclusions respecting the nature of the operation or instrument by which they were inflicted.—Whether such wounds were necessarily of a mortal nature, or sufficiently severe to have caused immediate death.—What is their direction.—Whether they were inflicted during life.—If during life, whether they resulted from an act of suicide or otherwise; whether from accident or design.—State of the linen and clothes of the deceased.—Whether torn, or in any way disordered.—Whether stained with blood.—Whether they yield the odour of spirit, sourness, putridity, or that of tobacco.—Whether any articles have been broken, or injured in the pockets.—Whether there is reason to believe that the deceased had been robbed.—What are contained in his pockets.—Whether any soil, or other matter adheres to the shoes, or dress; and if so, how far it corresponds with the surrounding soil or herbage.—Whether the hair of the deceased appears dishevelled.—If the deceased be a female, whether there be any marks or bruises that would indicate the commission of a rape.
2. Circumstances to be learnt by an examination of surrounding and collateral objects.
Whether the spot in question be of a description to explain the cause of the deceased having been found there; or how far its retired situation excites the suspicion of his having been conveyed thither for concealment, or some other purpose.
Character and condition of different objects surrounding the body.—If in the open country, whether any indications of a struggle having happened on the spot are visible upon the ground, or herbage, near the deceased.—Whether any footsteps can be traced near the body, and if so, what is their exact shape and dimensions, and what their direction.—Can the particular spot in which the body was found have been invested with unwholesome vapour, or with air destructive of animal life.—Has there been any violent thunderstorm.—or can the person have been exposed to any extraordinary degree of heat.—Whether any and what weapons are lying near the body.—If so, what is their exact position in relation to the body and its members.—If the body is found in the water, are there any and what reasons for supposing that he was killed by other means, and subsequently thrown into the water.—What are the principal local circumstances of the water in question.—Was the body found floating or otherwise.—What wounds and contusions are visible on its surface.—If the body were drowned, was the death accidental or malicious; was it perpetrated by himself or others.—Whether any footsteps are visible on the margin of the water.—Whether any soil or herbage be found in the grasp, or under the nails, of the deceased.—If the deceased be found suspended by the neck, was it by an act of suicide or otherwise.—Was he killed by strangulation or by other means, and subsequently suspended.—What is the nature of the ligature, and the manner in which it is fixed.—Are the hands tied.—If the deceased be found in an apartment, whether it be in a house of ill fame, or in one of suspicious character.—If the deceased be found dead in bed, or chair, or on the floor, what is the nature of the excrementitious matter in the night-vessels.—What bottles, and other articles of medicine are in the apartments?
3. Circumstances to be learnt by the interrogation of competent Witnesses.
Report of witnesses.—Is the body in the same situation and condition as when first discovered.—Can the body be identified.—Period at which the deceased was last seen, by whom, in what place, under what circumstances, and in whose society.—Are there any moral reasons to excite the suspicion of his having committed suicide.—What was his occupation.—Had he lately met with any disappointment or misfortune.—Had he appeared dejected or melancholy.—Are there any persons with whom he associated, who had any remarkable interest in his death.
4. Circumstances to be learnt by anatomical dissection.
Practical instructions for performing it with success.—Dissection of the Brain and its appendages.—Method of opening the head.—Appearance of the skull-cap, whether fractured or in a state of disease.—Whether any and what extravasated matter is visible on the dura mater.—State of the meningeal vessels in relation to sanguineous congestion.—Substance of the brain.—State of the ventricles.—Base of the cranium, whether fractured.—Cervical vertebræ, whether dislocated.
Dissection of the Thorax, Abdomen, and Uterus.—Manner of opening the chest.—Whether any fluid be found in that cavity.—Appearance of the lungs.—Condition of the bronchiæ.—Pericardium, whether it contains more than a usual proportion of fluid.—General appearance of the viscera.—Particular condition of the intestines.—The stomach, its appearance, and contents.—The duodenum, colon, rectum.—State of the liver.—Gall bladder, and ducts.—The spleen-kidneys.—Organs of generation.—Uterus.—Fallopian tubes.—Ovaria.—External parts of generation.
A COMMENTARY
UPON THE
PRECEDING OBJECTS OF INQUIRY:
With a view to appreciate and explain the relative importance of each, in enabling the Medical Inquirer and Jurist, to arrive at just conclusions, in cases of complicated doubt and difficulty.
CASE I.
THE PATIENT IS LIVING, AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED.
This is the least complicated case that can occur; the medical inquirer has not only the advantage of the patient’s testimony, but that also of his own observations upon the symptoms and circumstances of the case. We have already stated that the declaration of a person, made under an apprehended pending dissolution, is by the law of this realm considered tantamount to an oath, (see vol. i. p. 165), and we have also stated what it becomes our duty to repeat in this place, that in recording such testimony, we must be prepared to combat various errors and prejudices: we do not mean to deny that the awful situation in which the patient is placed will not, in general, secure us against any wilful misrepresentation, but we contend, that a person acting under the influence of bodily suffering is very apt to fall into numerous fallacies respecting the transactions in which he may have been previously engaged; especially in such cases as usually constitute the objects of medico-judicial inquiry, where the passions not unfrequently increase the natural disturbance of the mind, while the eagerness which is so justly felt for the detection of the author of the injury, will tend rather to heighten than to correct any hallucinations under which the sufferer may happen to labour; for on such occasions the imagination is always ready to supply the want of testimony, and to fill up the spaces which actual observation may have left vacant.
Patients have not unfrequently laboured under the impression of their having taken poison, when there can never have existed the least ground for such a suspicion, and yet their general conduct has been in complete opposition to the idea of insanity:[[1]] a curious case of this kind is related in the Sepulchretum of Bonetus; and even during the progress of the present work, the author was consulted upon an illness, which the patient seriously attributed to the operation of a slow poison, declaring that it had been secretly administered during a philanthropic visit to one of our public prisons. Dr. Esquirol[[2]] also relates the case of a lady, twenty-seven years of age, who in the last stage of phthisis pulmonalis perceived in her room the odour of burning charcoal, and immediately conceived that there was a design against her life; in consequence of which she left her lodging, and sought another abode, but the fumes incessantly pursued her, and she died fully convinced that she was the victim of some malicious persecution.
But of all the fallacies with which we have to contend, no one is more dangerous in its effects, or more frequent in its occurrence, than that which leads them to mistake the identity of the offender; we have already alluded to this fallacy (vol. i. p. 440), and we shall hereafter have occasion to refer to it.
When a medical practitioner is summoned to investigate a case, in which severe sufferings have supervened, without any apparent or assignable cause, the following interrogatories are calculated to elicit data for a just conclusion.
Previous state of the patient, with respect to bodily health and strength?—The knowledge of these facts will materially assist us, not only in explaining the violence of the present symptoms, but in estimating their indications, in forming some opinion with regard to their causes, and in prognosticating their results.
The age and occupation are also to be ascertained. Violent tormina of the bowels, and other symptoms resembling those of acute poisoning, are frequently explained at once, by learning that the individual in question has been engaged in some trade or manufactory, from which he has been necessarily exposed to metallic exhalations; thus painters, gilders, smelters, and others, from living almost constantly in an atmosphere charged with such fumes, are always liable to sudden and violent attacks, dreadful cholics, paralysis, and premature death. See our chapter on the poison of Lead, vol. 2, p. 336, and that on Aerial Poisons, page 457.
Present symptoms of the patient.—Having gained the necessary information with respect to the previous history of our patient, we are prepared to investigate the symptoms under which he at present labours, and to inquire into the circumstances of their accession, progress, order of succession, intensity, and duration. If this investigation be conducted with skill, we shall be enabled to form some opinion respecting the origin of the sufferings, and, perhaps, to distinguish the invasion of a spontaneous disease from the effects of acute poisoning: upon this latter point, however, we shall require the aid of much collateral information,[[3]] as whether the patient has ever suffered in a similar manner at any previous period, or whether any part of his family or friends have experienced a similar attack at the present time? If the reply to this latter query be in the affirmative, we may look for a common cause of the complaint, and be led to suspect that it may arise from the ingestion of some acrid matter. We should therefore proceed to discover the nature of the meals last taken as to quantity and quality; the practitioner should, at the same time, pay particular attention to the state of the different persons affected, and to the existence or absence of vomitings and stools. The following case, reported by Morgagni, and quoted by Orfila & Foderé, may be introduced as affording good illustrations of those points of inquiry, whose importance we are anxious to enforce. “In the month of May, 1711, four persons, that is to say, a priest, two women, one of which was his sister-in-law, and another person, all in good health, and on a journey, stopped at an inn to dine. Setting out on their road after dinner, the priest in a short time felt himself so ill in his bowels, that he was obliged to dismount from his horse. Notwithstanding the copious evacuations, both upwards and downwards, the pain increased every moment, and it was necessary to take the patient back to Céserne, the place where they had dined, and where the priest arrived half dead. A medical man who was called in, thinking he had only to deal with an ordinary cholic, employed a number of fomentations, glysters, purgative draughts, and anodynes; although he saw that one of the women had also strong evacuations with pains and faintings, and that the other person complained of pains and of a weight at the stomach, he never suspected the presence of a poison, because the other woman had no complaint, and the landlord protested with many imprecations, that there was nothing dangerous in his dishes; however, the evacuations saved the patients, and as they diminished a little next morning, it allowed of their removing into the neighbourhood of Morgagni’s residence, whom they immediately called in. This great physician having ascertained whether there was any dish at the table of which the woman who was in good health had not eaten, and having found that it was a great dish of rice which had been first served up, concluded from this circumstance that it was this dish that contained the poison. The difficulty however, was, that the priest who had eaten the least, and who had been on the whole extremely abstemious, was precisely the person who had suffered the most, and the soonest; that the woman, who had eaten more than the priest, had been less sick than he; and that the other person, who had eaten more than all the rest, was the one who was the least incommoded.”
Was there no cheese rasped over this rice? demanded Morgagni. They answered in the affirmative; the priest who had little or no appetite, ate scarcely any thing but the cheese. In that case, said Morgagni, you understand already that there was arsenic among that cheese, which had probably been prepared for killing rats, and not having been laid away with sufficient care, some one had taken it to serve up with your rice during the time that you were hurrying the landlord to send up your dinner. These conjectures were verified by the confession of the landlord himself, who, having learned that the patients were out of danger, was no longer afraid to acknowledge that such had been the cause of this unfortunate accident.
The practitioner, says Orfila, will not be able to form a correct judgment in cases of this kind, if he neglect to pay attention, first, to the state of the stomach of the different persons poisoned; in fact, those who have taken a great quantity of food or drink, would feel in general less severe symptoms than others; second, to the nature of the dishes and of the drinks, as well as to the quantity that each person may have eaten or drank; third, to the existence or absence of vomitings and stools. It is evident that it may happen, that some persons have eaten a tolerably large quantity of a poisoned dish without any serious symptoms taking place, for this very reason, that the quantity of the food was considerable, and that it easily produced copious evacuations, by means of which the poison had been expelled. Numerous cases of culinary poisoning might be adduced in this place, in illustration of the important lights which are to be derived from the investigations which form the subject of the present chapter; but we have already considered the subject very fully under the head of poisons; and in the history of the effects of copper and lead, we have particularly explained the evils that may arise from the careless use of such metallic utensils in cookery.
Whether any and what remedies have been used; by whom recommended; and by whom administered?—The importance of this part of the enquiry is too obvious to require explanation; we are to learn from it whether the administration of the medicines might not have accidentally contributed to the aggravation of the symptoms they were designed to allay; suppose, for instance, we were to be told that the patient had resorted to copious libations of brandy to mitigate the sufferings of the bowels, which were afterwards found to depend upon Enteritis; the inference is obvious—but in performing this part of our professional duty, the greatest caution is necessary, and we must take care that our own medical opinions do not carry us to an unjustifiable extent in our reprehension of the plan of treatment which has been pursued by others; a striking instance of this want of propriety occurred in the late celebrated trial of Donnell, and was very properly denounced by the court, (see page 161 in the second volume, and Appendix, p. [304].) But there still remains another reason why we should cautiously and attentively examine any medicine that may have been administered, and it would be right in the practitioner to procure a portion of such medicine, with a view to its future analysis; for it has happened that where the assassin has supposed that his first dose would be insufficient to effect his purpose, he has artfully insinuated an additional dose in the medicines which are administered for the relief of his victim, and thus the hand, which is treacherously held out with promises of succour, adds a stronger poison to the cup; this occurred in the diabolical case of Mary Bateman,[[4]] better known by the name of the Yorkshire witch, who having poisoned a family with arsenic, sent a jar of honey, mixed with corrosive sublimate, for their relief.
A knowledge of the nature of the medicines that may have been taken, will also assist the chemist in his examination of the matter vomited, as we have fully explained under the history of Poisons.
Appearance of the evacuations.—This should always be attended to, for although it can hardly afford, in itself, a satisfactory indication, yet we have shewn, in the course of our history of poisons, that it may concur with the facts to heighten the probability of a case. The chemist will also require them for examination.
CASE II.
THE PATIENT IS DEAD.—THE ATTENDANTS CAN FURNISH ONLY AN IMPERFECT ACCOUNT OF HIS DISSOLUTION.
In conformity with the plan upon which we have arranged the objects of inquiry into the causes of sudden sickness and death—that of beginning with the most simple and plain, and passing in regular gradation to the more complicated and obscure problems, the present case, in which the patient is dead, but the attendants are able to furnish some history, however imperfect, very naturally constitutes the connecting link between that in which the patient is living, and that in which the great avenues of information are entirely closed upon us by the death of the individual, and the total absence of all direct testimony. The plan, therefore, upon which the investigation of this case is to be conducted, is in a great measure to be derived from the application of those precepts which are contained in the other cases; that relating to the examination of the attendants being collected from the first, and all that concerns the death, from the third.
There is, however, one object of inquiry which may be mentioned in this place with peculiar propriety, as the obscure and often erroneous evidence which is given in cases of sudden death, during an affray, renders it highly important to learn, whether the deceased had died during a paroxysm of passion. We have little doubt but that many persons have been convicted of murder, where the death of the individual in question, was the sole effect of the high state of irritation in which he had been placed. That life may be suddenly extinguished by the violent impulse of passion we have already shewn under the consideration of Syncope (p. [26]), and we are farther prepared to assert that Apoplexy[[5]], and other fatal diseases may also, in certain states of predisposition, result from the same powerful cause; violent transports of the mind may likewise occasion the return of any particular disease to which the patient had been formerly subject, as epilepsy, and other spasmodic diseases; they may likewise bring a chronic disease at once to a fatal crisis, as we have seen in the case related at page 29 of the 2d volume; the fact has been also well illustrated by Dr. Gordon Smith, in the case which occurred to a surgeon of his acquaintance in one of the midland counties, of which the following is an outline. “In the course of an altercation between a man and his wife, the woman died, and a clamour was raised that the husband had murdered her: an inquest being held, a verdict was returned against him, and he stood his trial at the following assizes; he was, however, acquitted, for it appeared in evidence that he had not even touched his wife during the quarrel. The deceased was a person of an extremely violent temper, and on opening her body, it was found that she had been labouring under suppuration of the liver, and that an abscess had burst into the cavity of the abdomen, in consequence of the agitation into which she had been thrown.” Baron Larey describes the case of a person who had been violently wounded in the thorax by a sword in a duel; but the man was progressively recovering, when in the fourth month from the period of the injury, he died suddenly in consequence of a violent fit of anger; upon dissection, the heart and pericardium exhibited traces of inflammation. We should also learn, if possible, whether the deceased had been at the time of death in a state of intoxication: for in such a condition a comparatively slight injury may occasion death. The following case, related by Dr. Cheyne, in which Mr. Charles Bell was concerned, we quote from Mr. Shaw’s excellent Manual of Anatomy[[6]], (p. 165.) “An industrious man returning home from his work, found his house empty; the bed he was to lie upon, and the tools of his trade, sold for liquor by his wife, whom he found in a gin shop, where she had been drinking and dancing. He brought her home, and in the passage of his house struck her, and ordered her to go up stairs; she refused to go; he carried her upon his shoulders, and the contention continuing up stairs, he struck her again. There having been no one present, we have only the husband’s account of her death. He said that whilst sitting on her chair, she fell down, upon which he threw her on the bed, conceiving that she was in a fit, such as he had seen her in formerly. Some of her neighbours coming in, found her dead. Mr. C. Bell was requested to examine the body of this woman. The man was afterwards tried at the Old Bailey, for murder, when Mr. Bell deposed, that upon taking out the brain, and tracing the vessels in the base, the anterior artery of the cerebrum going off from the internal carotid of the left side, was found torn half way across. The cause of this woman’s death was the bursting of the blood from the ruptured vessel; as to the cause of the rupture, Mr. Bell’s opinion coincided with the best authorities in pathology, that there is a state of the vessels, in which an external injury or shock is more apt to produce rupture; and drunkenness may be supposed to be the artificial state of excitement which most resembles this state of the vessels. Being asked whether the blows were the cause of the rupture, he said he conceived it very likely that a shock would rupture the vessel; and being then asked whether he conceived that this woman was more likely to have a vessel ruptured, from having been intoxicated—he was of opinion that intoxication, and the struggle, were likely to produce such a degree of activity of the circulation in the head, that a less violent blow might produce rupture, than what, in other circumstances, would have proved fatal.” The prisoner was acquitted.—At the York assizes in the year 1820, a somewhat analogous question arose,—whether the deceased might not have been attacked with apoplexy during the struggle? The light of anatomical dissection will be required in such a case, and the remarks which Mr. Shaw has offered upon the subject, appear to us to be extremely judicious and valuable; if, says he, effusion of blood be found between the dura mater and scull, and if a bruise on the scalp corresponds to the part, we may conclude that it has been caused by the blow; but if blood is found between the dura mater and the brain, though we should discover the marks of blows, or even fracture of the scull, still the question may be entertained whether the patient might not have been attacked with apoplexy during the struggle.
How soon is the deceased supposed to have died, after the alleged cause of his dissolution.—This is a very important question, for by learning the length of the interval between the attack and the death, we shall at once be enabled to accept as probable, or reject as impossible, the accounts given by the friends and neighbours. Thus, poisons, in general, require some time for their operation. Apoplexy does not generally destroy life under several hours[[7]].
CASE III.
THE PERSON IS FOUND DEAD, AND THE HISTORY OF HIS DISSOLUTION IS UNKNOWN.
The deep obscurity in which this case is necessarily involved, can alone be dissipated by the concentrated light of circumstantial evidence, derived from the inspection of the dead body, in the exact situation and posture in which it was found, and that of the surrounding objects; from the information afforded by competent witnesses, respecting the previous history of the individual in question; and, lastly, from anatomical dissection.
In conducting such an inquiry the most trifling incidents connected with the deceased should not pass unheeded, for however unimportant they may at first, individually, appear, we shall often find that in combination they will afford the principal data for the solution of our problem. With how many examples will the history of crime present us where the more minute circumstances have alone furnished the “damning proofs” of guilt? Their apparent insignificance in such cases would seem to exempt them even from the usual precautions of concealment, and more especially from those artful measures by which the designing assassin seeks to cast an impenetrable veil over the more direct evidences of his crime.
1. Circumstances to be learnt by the Inspection of the Body.
That the inspection of the body could furnish the satisfactory means of discovering the cause of its death, is an opinion which has been very naturally entertained from the earliest ages; although it is easy to perceive that the extent and just value of the indications, which such a practice is capable of affording, could never have been appreciated until the more advanced periods of physiological knowledge.
As the ancients exposed their sick on the high roads, for the advantage of receiving from the casual passenger his opinion and experience respecting the particular malady under which they laboured, so did they expose the bodies of persons, supposed to have been murdered, in order that each spectator might candidly observe their appearance, and freely inquire into the circumstances which attended their decease; thus, as we are informed by Pliny, was the body of Genucius, a tribune of the Roman people, on his being found dead in bed, brought forth to the assembled multitude, who, unable to discover any external marks of violence, pronounced his death to have been a visitation of the gods; and we learn from Tacitus, that the remains of Germanicus, who was poisoned by Piso, were exposed in the market place of Antioch; thus too, in conformity with ancient custom, was the bleeding corpse of Julius Cæsar exposed to public gaze and animadversion. The decisions, however, which such a custom was intended to facilitate, were generally perverted by the delusions of credulity and superstition. Among the more prominent instances of the latter source of fallacy, we may notice a belief that has extended even into later days—that upon the presence of the murderer the wounds of his victim will bleed afresh!
“O gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry’s wounds
Open their congeal’d mouths, and bleed afresh!
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For ’tis thy presence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells;
Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge most unnatural.”—
Richard III. act 1. s. 2.
Situation and attitude of the body.—It cannot be too generally known that, upon the discovery of a dead body, its situation and attitude should never be disturbed until it has been examined by competent persons. The information which the medical inquirer may obtain from his observations upon the position of the dead body, is often important and decisive; it may even, in some cases, furnish data for determining whether the death was occasioned by accident, suicide, or murder. We may, for example, find the deceased in a posture which he could never have himself assumed, whence we should be led to conclude that he had not fallen by his own hands. In the case of the disputed suicide of the Earl of Essex[[8]] in the tower, much information was lost by the body having been stripped and removed before a due examination took place; the hasty manner in which this was performed, excited on that, as it necessarily must on all similar occasions, very considerable suspicion respecting the motives which could prompt so premature and unnecessary an interference. An attention to the posture of the body is also important in cases of wounds, which should always be examined with reference to this circumstance. It has also been very justly observed, that a person in a fit, or in a state of intoxication, might fall accidentally into such a posture, as to be actually suffocated by the pressure of his own hand, or that of any resisting body upon his throat. If such a case were to occur, all evidence of the fact would be destroyed by any officious interference that might change the exact posture in which the body was found.
General appearance of the countenance, as to colour, vascular turgescence, or congestion, and morbid physiognomy.—The observation of the countenance of a deceased person will very frequently furnish the medical inquirer with a useful hint in the investigation; we have, for instance, already spoken of the expressive physiognomy of a strangled person, (page [45]) and in the course of our work, the reader will find ample illustrations of the general importance of the subject.
Whether any discharge issues from the mouth, nostrils, ears, or any other orifice.—The appearance of froth about the mouth indicates that the death of the person has not been instantaneous, but sudden, either from apoplexy, epilepsy, or any other violent cause, see Appendix, p. [273]. In drowned persons the mouth and nostrils are covered with foam. In epileptic paroxysms there is sometimes an involuntary discharge of fæces, urine, and semen; the evacuation of the fæces very generally occurs in cases of strangulation, and sometimes in those of apoplexy. The appearance of blood flowing from the ears would indicate a violent death from some external cause.
Apparent age of the deceased.—It is important to notice this circumstance, as it will not only assist us in identifying the individual, but, at the same time, point out the diseases of which he was most susceptible, and those of which he was less liable. In relation to such an object the question of age was keenly debated on the trial of Donellan, for an account of which we must refer the reader to the evidence printed in the Appendix. Apoplexy rarely occurs except in the middle or decline of life. Hippocrates says chiefly between the 40th and 50th year. Aphor. Sect. vi, 57.
Description of his person, as to bulk, stature, obesity, muscular powers, &c.—Many are the reasons which render a full and accurate investigation of these points an extremely important part of the inquiry. To say nothing of their use in identifying the individual, they will point out the diseases to which such a habit of body would render him liable; and we shall be enabled to deduce a general inference as to the probable state of his health. If suspicions should exist against any individual, we shall be thus prepared to arrive at some probable conclusion with regard to the degree of resistance which the deceased might be able to offer; by comparing which with the powers of the supposed assailant, some valuable circumstantial evidence may be elicited.
Conformation of the neck as to shortness, thickness, &c.—The apoplectic conformation may be said to be indicated by a large head, red face, short and thick neck, broad shoulders, capacious thorax, prominent abdomen, low stature, robust limbs, and considerable corpulence; this last indication, however, is liable to many exceptions, for dry and spare constitutions, if any confidence is to be placed in the comparative tables of Rochoux, are more frequently even attacked with apoplexy, than the plethoric. Under this subject we may notice that the habitual use of tight ligatures disposes to the disease. Portal speaks of an ambassador who was attacked with apoplexy, after having long employed general compression, for the reduction of excessive corpulence. Dr. Donald Monro states that he has known soldiers carried off by apoplexy, in consequence of stricture on the veins of the neck, from their having been obliged to wear their cravats too tight. Winslow has made a similar observation in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for the year 1741.
Probable period that has elapsed since the extinction of life.—Before the process of putrefaction has commenced, we can only adduce an opinion upon this subject from the circumstance of the coldness, rigidity, and general complexion of the body. Under ordinary circumstances, the body looses its vital heat in a very short space of time, and cadaverous[[9]] stiffness takes place and continues until relaxed by the progress of putrefaction; but there are many circumstances that appear capable of controlling and modifying this general result; the heat of the body is not only abstracted with very different degrees of celerity in different situations, but even in the same situation, in death from different causes. Portal and other physiologists have observed, that after death from apoplexy, the temperature of the body is frequently maintained, even above the natural standard, to a period beyond that in which it would be totally abstracted from an inanimate mass under other circumstances.[[10]] It has been laid down as a general rule, that the more sudden the death, the longer is cadaverous stiffness from taking place, M. Orfila also states, that if the body of a person suffocated, either by a non-respirable gas, or by strangulation, be cold or stiff, we may be certain that more than twelve hours have elapsed since the fatal event, for in death by such causes, the heat of the body is preserved for at least that period; this statement is corroborated by Richerand, who says that in asphyxia from carbonic acid, the blood preserves its fluidity, the limbs their flexibility, and the body its natural heat for some hours after death. When the process of putrefaction has established itself, we must deduce our conclusions from the extent of its progress, always taking into consideration the collateral circumstances which may have operated in retarding or accelerating its developement, such as the state of the atmosphere in relation to temperature and humidity, the particular circumstances of the spot in which the body was found, &c.
The determining, as accurately as possible, the length of time the individual has been dead, is not only important in cases of murder; it may be highly essential to the ends of justice in questions of survivorship; the following curious case, cited by Dr. Male,[[11]] will not only serve to substantiate this assertion, but it will, at the same time, afford a triumphant instance of the application of chemical science in promoting the due administration of the laws. It is well known that when dead animal fibre is exposed, for a certain period, to the action of a current of water, it becomes converted into a fatty substance, resembling spermaceti, and known to chemists under the name of adipocire. The period of time required to effect this change has been the subject of dispute. At the Lent assizes held at Warwick, in the year 1805, a cause was tried, in which a gentleman, who was insolvent, left his own house with the intention, as it was presumed from his preceding conduct and conversation, of destroying himself. Five weeks and four days after that period, his body was found floating down a river. The face was disfigured by putrefaction, and the hair separated from the scalp by the slightest pull; but the other parts of the body were firm and white, without any putrefactive appearance. The clothes were unaltered, but the linen was exceedingly rotten. On examining the body, it was found that several parts of it were converted into adipocire. A commission of bankruptcy having been taken out against the deceased a few days after he had left his home, it became a question of great importance to the interests of his family, to ascertain whether he was living at that period. From the changes which the body had sustained, it was presumed that he had drowned himself the day he left home; and to corroborate this presumption, the evidence of Dr., now Sir George, Gibbs, of Bath, was required, as he had lately been engaged in experiments[[12]] upon this subject. He stated on the trial, that he had procured a small quantity of this fatty substance by immersing the muscular parts of animals in water for a month, but that it required five or six weeks to produce it in any quantity. Upon this evidence the jury were of opinion that the deceased was not alive at the time the commission was taken out, and the bankruptcy was accordingly superseded.
Whether any, and what marks, punctures, contusions, echymoses, dislocations, or other injuries, are to be observed about the face, neck, chest, or any other parts of the body; and how far their appearance and character demonstrate the nature of the operation, or instrument by which they were inflicted?—Upon the discovery of a dead body, it becomes one of the first objects to ascertain the nature, extent, and direction of any wounds, or marks of violence, that may be observed. Whether they be merely superficial, or extend beyond the local injury and penetrate the cavities, will be a matter of subsequent investigation by dissection. The examination of deep wounds, in the first instance, is comparatively unimportant, for they are not liable to obliteration by incipient putrefaction; whereas marks and bruises, unless they be carefully inspected before the body undergoes this change, will not be easily distinguished from spontaneous discolouration. This precaution is highly important in those cases in which we suspect the person to have been strangled; when we shall generally discover a circular mark about the neck produced by extravasated blood, or, if the act has been committed by the hand, irregular patches corresponding in some places with the fingers and nails of the assailant; traces of violence will be frequently also discoverable on the chest which will answer to the impression of the knees. Upon examining the body of Sir John Dinely Goodere, who was murdered on board the Ruby ship of war in 1741, the surgeon’s mate stated that he found the marks of nails and fingers on his neck; this testimony was satisfactorily fortified by another witness, who declared that on looking into the cabin, he had seen a hand on the neck of the deceased. An accomplice also confessed that after having strangled him with their hands, they drew a rope tight about his neck.[[13]] A very satisfactory instance of the same kind occurred to the author of the present work, during his residence in the county of Cornwall; and he feels no inconsiderable satisfaction in reflecting upon the train of circumstances, through which he was enabled, by his evidence at the assizes of the county for 1814, to secure the conviction of the murderer. The evidence was wholly circumstantial, and the relation of it is well calculated to illustrate the great importance of the particular line of investigation, which it is the object of the present chapter to elucidate. For these reasons he is induced to compile from his notes the following brief sketch of the case. A Cornish peasant, engaged in attending upon the light-house on the western coast, was found dead in a field near the public road leading from Penzance to the “Land’s end,” on Sunday, December the 12th, 1813; he was lying in a dry ditch, with his stick at a little distance from him; one of his shoes was down at the heel, and both were smeared with mud; his pockets were empty. The body was taken to a public house in the village, and the coroner having received notice of the occurrence, an inquisition was taken, and the verdict of wilful murder returned against some person or persons unknown. The body was afterwards buried, but a rumour having arisen that the anatomical inspection had not been sufficiently minute and satisfactory, it was, by an order of the magistrates, disinterred; and the author was desired to assist in the further investigation of the subject. Upon examining the body, which had not yet advanced so far in putrefaction as to obliterate the traces of violence, or to confuse the appearances they presented, patches, arising from extravasated blood, were seen in different parts of the throat, and distinct abrasions corresponding with the nails were visible; the face presented the physiognomy of a strangled man. On the chest, bruises, evidently occasioned by the pressure of the assailant’s knees, were also noticed. Upon dissection the brain was found excessively turgid with blood. The rest of the organs appeared in a perfectly healthy, and natural condition. It is worthy of remark that the field in which the deceased was found contained several shafts of abandoned mines; upon visiting the spot the author observed tracks in the grass, as if it had been scraped, proceeding in a direction from the hedge next the public road to that in the opposite part of the field, and under which the body was found; near the former hedge also some fragments of a glass bottle were discovered. The deceased, it appeared, had been at Penzance for some medicine, and it was proved that he had left that town, on his return to the light-house, with a phial in his pocket. All these circumstances combined, placed the matter beyond conjecture. He had evidently been strangled, probably at the spot where the glass fragments were found, which were undoubtedly the remains of his phial, broken during the scuffle; besides, it would appear that he had been dragged along the field from this spot to the opposite hedge, for marks denoting such an act were visible on the grass, and this received farther confirmation from the condition in which the shoes of the deceased were found. Who then committed the murder? From the circumstances of its having been perpetrated in a field containing several old mines, without any attempt on the part of the villain to avail himself of the advantage which these caverns would have afforded for the concealment of the dead body, the author was convinced that the perpetrator of the deed would be found in some stranger to the country, for such a one alone could be unacquainted with the mines to which we allude. The suggestion of this idea very naturally gave a direction to the line of inquiry. Were any suspicious strangers in Penzance or its neighbourhood? Had the deceased been seen in the society of any person unacquainted with the country? He had been seen, it was discovered, playing at cards in a public house with some of the privates of the artillery stationed in the Mount’s Bay, amongst whom was a very powerful and athletic Irishman, of the name of Burns, who had lately landed, and immediately enlisted into the corps. Burns was accordingly arrested on suspicion, when the purse of the deceased containing thirty shillings was found on his person. He was, moreover, unable to shew where he was at the time the deceased left Penzance, in the evening; and he was subsequently recognised by two witnesses who had seen him accompanying the deceased on the road towards the Land’s End. It is only necessary to add that he was convicted and hanged; and it is not the least satisfactory part of this case to state, that on the evening previous to his execution he confessed to the author, that all the circumstances of the case occurred precisely as we have stated, that he strangled his victim with a pocket handkerchief, but that from the difficulty of completing the act, he was compelled to press his knees upon his chest. In the year 1763, a person of the name of Beddingfield was found lying near his bed, with his face on the floor, and with one hand round his neck. It was argued that he had probably fallen out of bed in a fit of apoplexy, and that the pressure of his own hand had occasioned the marks that were visible on his throat; and a verdict was returned in conformity with such an opinion. Circumstances,[[14]] however, arose which excited a strong suspicion against the wife and a man-servant named Ringe, and they were accordingly charged with the murder, tried at Bury St. Edmonds, and condemned. Before execution the man confessed that he had strangled the deceased, having seized him while asleep by the throat, with his left hand.
Whether the wounds observed in the body were necessarily of a mortal nature, or sufficiently severe to have caused immediate death?—It will be generally impossible to solve this problem without the aid of dissection, for although such injuries may appear extensive, we have already in the course of the present inquiries shewn the fallacies to which such indications are exposed, (see our chapter on wounds, vol. ii, page 116) and the practitioner who ventures to give his judgment on such an occasion, without adequate data, will render himself contemptible in the eyes of the profession, and dishonest in the opinion of the public.
Whether they were inflicted during life?—In discriminating between a wound inflicted upon the living body, and one which has been artfully occasioned after death, for the purpose of embarrassing judicial inquiry, it will be essential to observe, whether any hemorrhage has taken place, externally, or internally, and, moreover, to ascertain whether the blood so effused had coagulated. An instructive illustration of this point is furnished in the very extraordinary trial[[15]] of Green, Berry, and Hill in the year 1678, for the murder of Sir Edmonsbury Godfrey, a zealous protestant magistrate, during the pretended popish plots in the reign of Charles the second. It appeared from the evidence of one Praunce, that Sir Edmonsbury was strangled by a handkerchief in Somerset house, on a Saturday night, and after remaining concealed until the following Wednesday, he was carried at midnight into the fields beyond Soho, where he was thrown into a ditch, and his own sword thrust through his body, in order to excite a belief that he had committed suicide. Upon the trial, Messrs. Skillard and Cambridge, surgeons, stated that the sword must have been passed through the body after death, as there was no evacuation of blood, which must have happened had such a wound been inflicted during life.[[15]] With regard, however, the fact of hemorrhage being received as a test of life, a few observations may be necessary; it must be remembered that extensive wounds may be inflicted on the living body, with but little or no effusion of blood, but such wounds always belong to the class of lacerations, see vol. ii, p. 123. On the other hand, the knife of the anatomist not unfrequently draws considerable blood from the dead body, and wounds have been known to bleed long after life has fled; a fact which, as we have already observed, has been raised by superstition into prophetic importance. The orifice of a vein that may have been opened during life will sometimes bleed afresh after death; this occurred to a very considerable extent in the body of the Prince Royal of Sweden, who had died of apoplexy. John Lees,[[16]] the subject of the noted inquest at Oldham, bled after he was laid in his coffin; but, under such circumstances, the blood is never found in the state of coagulation.
If it be determined that such wounds have been inflicted during life, it then becomes important to solve the following questions.
Whether they resulted from an act of suicide or otherwise; whether from accident or design?—There are certain acts of violence which we feel no hesitation in declaring are not likely to be accomplished by the individual himself; such are incisions, or gun-shot wounds on the back of the body, and, perhaps, fractures of the skull; with regard to wounds in the throat, the death of the Earl of Essex, during his imprisonment in the Tower, has given rise to much speculation, and the reader will find an interesting digression upon the subject in the history of Bishop Burnet. Some stress has, in a late case, been laid upon the fact of the wound being even and regular, which it was asserted would not have happened had it been inflicted by the hand of an assassin—because any struggle would have made it irregular. This is really a refinement that we do not pretend to understand. Is not convulsive action likely to disturb even the cold and calculating admeasurements of the suicide? instances have frequently occurred where even the chin has been cut during the operation, as in the case which lately occurred near the Serpentine river in Hyde Park, and yet no grounds existed to excite the least suspicion of murder.
Where the individual has perished by fire arms, the circumstance of his fingers being found discoloured by the combustion of the powder in the pan has been alluded to by authors as a proof of suicide, and it certainly carries some weight with it, although the crafty assassin might contrive to produce such an appearance. The state of the linen of the deceased, as indicating the effects of a struggle, may furnish some evidence upon these occasions; and cases have occurred where bloody marks have been discovered on parts of the body, which, from their situation, could not have been produced by the deceased. In Hargrave’s State Trials[[17]] there is a very remarkable instance of a woman who was found in bed with her throat cut, and a knife sticking in the floor near her; three of her relations were in an adjoining room, through which it was necessary to pass to the apartment of the deceased; the neighbours were alarmed, and the body was viewed; these relations declared she must have destroyed herself; but, from a particular circumstance, they were suspected, and found guilty of the murder; for on the left hand, was observed the bloody mark of a left hand, which of course could not be that of the deceased. How often has the left hand[[18]] of the murderer betrayed his deeds of blood!
Whether the cloaths of the deceased betray any odour of spirit, tobacco, sourness, or putridity?—In every case of mysterious death it is an important object to ascertain whether the deceased had been in a state of intoxication; of which the odour of the clothes may in some cases furnish a presumptive proof. It will be seen by consulting our chapter on “Death by exposure to Cold,” that the life of an individual may, under certain circumstances of intoxication, be extinguished by a very slight degree of cold; see vol. ii, page 60.
Whether any articles have been broken or injured in the pockets?—The case of the Cornish murder related at page [27] affords an example of the value of this inquiry; but in appreciating the indications which it may furnish, we must view the circumstance in relation to the other features of the case, when it may acquire an importance which the fact did not individually assume; or it may lose by such a comparison the little value which it appeared to possess.
Whether there is reason to believe that the deceased had been robbed?—We are to derive from this question a probable argument in support of the fact of suicide, for in such a case it is not reasonable to expect any evidence of robbery. In the unfortunate case of suicide lately committed in Hyde Park, a base sixpence was found in the pocket of the deceased; had he been plundered, the robber would not have left the base coin, which in the dark and hurry he could not have distinguished. In the instance of a travelling empiric, of the name of Evans, or Evando, as he called himself, for the sake of euphony, who was found dead in a ditch in Cornwall, the exact sum was discovered in his pocket, which he had taken in change at the last public house. Any memorandum found on the person of the deceased, in his own hand-writing intended to convey directions, or his last wishes, to his friends, is a strong presumptive proof that he fell by his own hand. The remains of any poison found about him is one of those facts that is equally favourable to the suspicion of murder as of suicide. We must be allowed to observe that upon the occasion of an unknown person being found dead, some responsible individual should examine the contents of his pockets, and having, if possible, acquired every information as to his name and residence, he should carefully enclose every article so found in a paper, and place his seal upon the packet, and his signature, and the date of the event, upon the cover.
If the deceased be a female, whether there be any marks or bruises that would indicate the commission of a rape?—The importance of this inquiry need not be argued, nor is it necessary in this place to point out the indications which may confirm our suspicions upon this subject. We must refer the reader to our chapter on rape, vol. I, p. 416. The interesting trial of Abraham Thornton, for the murder of Mary Ashford, abounds with curious evidence upon this point.
2. Circumstances to be learnt by an examination of surrounding and collateral objects.
The information which may be occasionally derived from the state of the objects surrounding the body, will be best illustrated by the numerous cases in which they have furnished the principal means of discovery.
Whether the spot in question be of a description to explain the cause of the deceased having been found there; or how far its retired situation excites the suspicion that the body has been conveyed thither for concealment, or some other purpose?—Having examined all the circumstances which attach to the person of the individual, we should direct our attention to the spot in which the body is found. The Cornish case which is related at page [27], offers an admirable illustration of the utility of such observations. The nature of the place may perhaps suggest the probability of the person having fallen down from some height, in which case any appearance of wounds must be examined with reference to such a suspicion. We may also in the progress of such an inquiry be led to conclude that the spot may have been infested with some unwholesome vapour, destructive of life; the various circumstances which may contribute to the generation of noxious air have been fully examined under the head of Suffocation, vol. ii, p. 48, and were we to discover a dead body in the vicinity of a lime-kiln, or in an unventilated apartment, where charcoal[[19]] had been burning, or in a cellar where carbonic acid might probably have accumulated, we should derive an important clue for the investigation.
Whether any indications of a struggle having happened on the spot are visible on the ground, or herbage near the deceased; and whether any footsteps can be traced near the body?—The Cornish case presents itself to us again in illustration of this question. There are also several cases where impressions upon the snow have led to the detection of the guilty party. In the case of Wm. Spiggot, Wm. Morris, David Morgan, Walter Evans, Charles Morgan, and David Llewellin, for the murder of Wm. Powell, Esq. at Glenareth, in Caermarthenshire, March 30, 1770, footsteps were traced from Powell’s house (a deep snow having just fallen) to that of Charles Morgan, who was in consequence apprehended, and did not long deny the fact. Some very interesting evidence was delivered upon the subject of footsteps, on the celebrated trial of Abraham Thornton, for the murder of Mary Ashford, at the Warwick assizes of 1817. William Lovell, a workman at Penn’s Mills, and several other witnesses, spoke as to the presence and direction of the footsteps of a man and a woman, which approached each other at one spot; their appearance shewed that the persons had been running, and dodging each other, “as well from the stride, as the sinking in of the ground, and the little scrape at the toe of the woman’s shoe.” The footsteps were afterwards compared with the shoes of Thornton, and found to coincide; the shoes, moreover, had a particular nail, called a sparrow bill, the impression of which was also perceptible. The same comparison was made with the shoes of the unfortunate Mary Ashford, and with a result which appeared to be equally satisfactory and conclusive. Instances have also occurred in which the presumption of guilt against certain persons has arisen from the absence of such marks; this happened in the murder of Mr. Jeffries, by Elizabeth Jeffries, his niece, and John Swan, his servant, at Walthamstow, in July 1751; in which case the perpetrators of the deed were suspected to have been domestics, from the single circumstance of the dew on the grass surrounding the house not having been disturbed on the morning of the murder, which must have happened, had any persons left the premises.
Has there been any thunder storm?—For an account of the appearances in the body of a person, who has been thus suddenly deprived of life, we must refer the reader to our chapter on “Death by Lightning,” vol. ii, p. 63. It will, at the same time, be right to consider, whether the death of the person in question can have arisen from an exposure to the rays of the sun, which has occasionally happened in the harvest field—“And Manasses was her husband, of her tribe and kindred, who died in the barley harvest. For as he stood overseeing them that bound sheaves in the field, the heat came upon his head, and he fell on his bed, and died in the city of Bethulia.” Judith, chap. viii, v. 2, 3. Sauvage relates the case of several young persons, who suffered an asphyxia from sleeping in an open field, exposed to the rays of the sun; and it may deserve notice in this place, that in such cases, hemorrhage from the nose is not an uncommon occurrence; the appearance of blood will thus receive an explanation which might otherwise excite unjust suspicions of violence.
Whether any, and what weapons are lying near the body; and what is their position in relation to it?—Much light may be thrown upon the inquiry by an attentive examination of the weapons found near the deceased; and some interesting cases are recorded, wherein this circumstance alone led to their developement. In the year 1764, a citizen of Liege was found shot, and his own pistol was discovered lying near him; from which circumstance, together with that of no person having been seen to enter or leave the house of the deceased, it was concluded that he had destroyed himself; but on examining the ball, by which he had been killed, it was found to be too large ever to have entered that pistol; in consequence of which, suspicion fell upon the real murderers. The wadding of the pistol has also in several instances offered the means of affixing the accusation on the guilty. The Lord Chancellor, in a debate in the House of Lords, in November 1820, quoted a very curious case in which the wadding of the pistol was found to correspond with a torn letter in the possession of the murderer.
If the body is found in the water, are there any and what reasons for supposing that it was killed by other means, and subsequently thrown into the water?—This question has upon several occasions been discussed with great eagerness; see the Reports of the Edinburgh Colleges in the case of Sir James Standfield, in our Appendix, p. [225]; and also Extracts from the medical evidence in the case of Spencer Cowper, Esq. for the murder of Sarah Stout, ibid. p. [230]. We have already, under the consideration of the phenomena of drowning, p. [35], endeavoured to appreciate the true value of the several indications which have been received as physiological evidence upon this subject, such as the presence of water[[20]] in the stomach and lungs, the buoyancy of the body, &c. We have therefore only to observe in this place, that upon such occasions there will generally exist collateral circumstances to fortify our judgment; where, for instance, mud, or sand, are found under the nails, or any grass or weeds are discovered in the grasp of the deceased, the inference will be strong that the person died under water; on the contrary, if we discover mortal wounds, or any marks of violence inflicted upon the body, by weapons, we may very justly suspect that the deceased was murdered, and subsequently thrown into the water. But in conducting this enquiry we must be aware of the fallacies to which it is exposed; a person may in the act of drowning accidentally receive bruises and lacerations, or he may have been driven against rocks and stakes by the force of the current. The following case, related by Dr. Gordon Smith, offers a very good illustration of this point. “A few years ago, a man who had leaped from each of the three bridges into the Thames with impunity, undertook to repeat the exploit for a wager. Having jumped from London bridge he sunk and was drowned. When the body was found, it appeared that both his arms were dislocated, in consequence of having descended with them in the horizontal, instead of the perpendicular position.” If we arrive at the conclusion that the body was drowned, we have next to inquire whether the event was accidental or malicious? and whether the act was perpetrated by the deceased or others? The solution of these problems is to be generally effected by the examination of what may be called the external circumstances of the case; the locality of the water may be such as to account for the deceased having accidentally fallen into it, or its situation may at once preclude the possibility of such an event. The suspicion of the person having been violently thrown into the water by the hands of the assassin, will be fortified by the discovery of footsteps on the brink, and by the indications of resistance on the part of the deceased, as manifested by the appearance of bruises on the arms and other members of the body. In the case of Mr. Taylor who was murdered at Hornsey, in December, 1818, marks of footsteps, deep in the ground, were discovered near the new river; and on taking out the body, the hands were found clenched, and contained grass, which he had torn from the bank. If the person be found in the water tied hand and foot, there is a strong presumption that he was forcibly placed in such a situation; and yet there are two instances on record which afford very extraordinary exceptions to the truth of such a conclusion. The one occurred in the end of June, 1816, in the case of a gauging-instrument maker, who had been missing from home for several days. His body was discovered floating down the Thames; and on being taken out, his wrists were found tied together, and made fast to his knees, which were in like manner secured to each other. He had been in a state of mental derangement for two years. The cord with which he had tied himself was recognised as one that had hung from the ceiling over his bed, by which he used to raise himself up, having been confined to his bed for several weeks; he was a good swimmer, and it was presumed he had taken the precaution to prevent himself from swimming. The verdict was “found drowned.” The other instance occurred two years afterwards. A man, aged 28, with a wife and children, was reduced to great distress. On a certain day he took an affectionate leave of his family, declaring he would not return until he had obtained some employment, by which he should be able to procure them bread. The following day his body was taken out of the new river, with his hands and legs tied. A card with his address was found in his pocket; and also three-pence; when he left home he had five-pence, and it was supposed that he had purchased the cord with the deficient sum. The verdict in this case was “insanity.”
If the deceased be found hanging by the neck, whether he was suspended during life, or hung up after death? Whether it was an act of suicide or murder?—In cases where the deceased has been hanged alive, we shall find the trace of the rope in the neck very distinctly marked by a deep discolouration; whereas, the effect occasioned by such a ligature upon the dead body, will be far less striking. We have also to inquire whether the deceased has any wounds, or whether, upon dissection, the usual appearances are found which generally occur in hanged persons. But, should any marks of external violence present themselves upon such an occasion, we must judge of them with caution. They may perhaps be purely accidental. Dr. Male supposes a case in which the person, with the view of speedily destroying life, may have thrown himself off with violence, broken the rope, and wounded himself by falling upon articles of furniture, and yet had sufficient fortitude again to suspend himself. “An apprentice boy, in my neighbourhood,” says this author, “working alone in an attic, tied one end of a rope loosely round his neck whilst his master was from home, probably without any intention of destroying himself, and twisted the other round the projecting part of the top of a door, the planks of which were irregular and somewhat divided; a small stool, on which he stood, slipped from under him, when he fell forwards, striking his temple against the corner of a box which cut him to the bone; he lay along the floor, his head and shoulders only elevated a few inches above it; the cord not being tied, had run nearly its whole length, and then caught between the planks of the door; in this state he perished. The wound was magnified by popular rumour into many, and vengeance was denounced against the innocent master, who was accused of having first killed, and afterwards suspended the boy. On examining the boy the mark of the cord was found to extend from ear to ear; the vessels of the brain were turgid, the thyroid cartilage broken; the nails blue, and the hands firmly closed. From this and other important circumstantial evidence, the coroner’s jury were convinced that the charge was unfounded.” Dr. Smith remarks that, except in the instance of children, or extremely feeble persons, it is very difficult to hang an individual by force, unless the situation be remote, and no interruption likely to take place; or the assailants be numerous and powerful enough, (as in the celebrated case of Porteus) to set all interference at defiance.
Persons have been accidentally hanged, as in the case above cited from the work of Dr. Male, and instances are recorded where the operation has been resorted to as a mode of exciting passion. In all such cases of doubt and difficulty, each particular circumstance, however minute, must be noticed—the nature of the ligature—the manner in which it is fixed—the state of surrounding objects, are often capable of throwing light upon the transaction. In the case of George Hebner, a tailor, who was found hanging to the top of a bedstead, in a garret of a house of ill-fame in Dean Street, East Smithfield, kept by a widow of the name of Hughes, the manner in which the hands of the deceased were tied behind his back, and his handkerchief was drawn over his face, proved most decidedly that he had not strangled himself. Upon examining the rope round his neck, it was found to have been fastened by what is termed a sailor’s knot; in consequence of which circumstance a sailor named Richard Ludman, together with the aforesaid Eleanor Hughes, were indicted for the murder, found guilty, and executed.
If the deceased be found in an apartment, whether it be in a house of ill-fame?—Although the act of sudden death in a brothel very naturally excites the suspicion that some act of violence may have been committed, yet this feeling should not be carried too far; we must remember that the individual has been thus exposed, in an increased degree, to the occurrence of several of those natural accidents by which life is so suddenly extinguished; apoplexy, hæmopthysis, and syncope have assailed those who might have been predisposed to such diseases, at the moment of sexual indulgence. In persons advanced in life the trunks of the internal, carotid, and basilary arteries are frequently diseased, and are therefore very liable to rupture whenever the blood is accumulated in any unusual quantity, or the circulation is preternaturally accelerated.
3. Circumstances to be learnt by the Interrogation of competent witnesses.
It is merely necessary to enumerate the facts which it is our duty to elicit by such an inquiry, in order to shew their importance and relations; we shall therefore conclude this part of our subject without any farther comments, and proceed to furnish such directions as may enable the medical witness to complete his investigation by the anatomical examination of the body, without which, our preceding researches can never be received as satisfactory and conclusive. “Inspectio ejusmodi cadaveris adeo necessaria est, ut omissa ea, nihil certi de reo statui possit.”[[21]]
4. Circumstances to be learnt by Anatomical Dissection.
After the observations which we have already offered upon the subject of wounds, it can be scarcely necessary to urge the necessity of a speedy examination of the more superficial lesions, which are likely to be effaced, or changed in character by the progress of decomposition; “putredo mutat formam cadaveris et lesionem.” The deeper wounds may at the same time be inspected, but the greatest care should be taken that they are not extended during the dissection, for unless they be preserved, as far as it is possible, in their natural condition, we shall not be able to establish a satisfactory connection between the external injury, and the internal lesions with which it may be complicated. Having complied with these injunctions, we are to proceed to lay open the cavities. The order in which these operations are to be performed is not of much moment; but let it be generally understood that the discovery of what may appear sufficient to account for death in one cavity, ought never to prevent our proceeding to the investigation of the rest.
Dissection of the brain and its membranes.—The body having been placed on its breast, and the chin raised and supported by a block of wood, the anatomist must proceed by making an incision over the top of the head, from the root of one ear to that of the other; and then by dissecting off the integuments, so as to invert one flap over the face, and the other over the occiput, he will be able to discover whether the scalp has sustained any injury, as indicated by the presence of abscesses, sinuses, contusions, and extravasations; he will, at the same time, ascertain whether any fissure or fracture exist, or any morbid change has occurred in the bone, such as sponginess, exostosis, caries, or exfoliation. In performing this part of his duty, we trust he will not mistake, as Hippocrates[[22]] confesses he once did, a fracture for a suture, and vice versa. It is not always easy, however, to determine whether a fracture discovered in the cranium, was produced during life. If it should have occurred immediately before the death of the person, there will be found coagulated blood upon the bone and in the fissures; if the individual has survived for some time, there will be marks of inflammation, and perhaps the formation of pus in contact with the skull; but if a fracture has been occasioned in making the dissection, an accident which may occur in the most careful hands, the blood in the fracture will not be coagulated, nor will there be any effusion around the portions. The skull-cap may be now removed; for which purpose the cranium is to be sawed in a circular direction, about a finger’s breadth above the superciliary ridges, and lateral sinuses; the operation must be conducted with great care, or we shall be in danger of wounding the dura mater; the bone must be then divided by a few slight strokes with the chissel and mallet. We shall always find a strong adhesion between the inside of the cranium, and the dura mater; partly, in consequence of the small blood-vessels with which these surfaces are connected, and partly, from the close application of the fibrous structure of the membrane to the bone, and which will vary with the age of the subject, and the form of the skull; the handle of the scalpel carefully introduced will afford the best instrument for overcoming this resistance, and will not be liable to lacerate the dura mater, or to injure the brain. In effecting the separation, the meningeal vessels frequently deluge the whole surface with blood, a circumstance that deserves attention, in as much as their plenitude marks the congestive state of the brain; it shews also that the blood is in a liquid condition, a fact to which some importance has been attached, as it is supposed to occur more particularly in cases of suffocation. The inner surface of the skull may be inspected with the view of ascertaining whether it be carious. The dura mater, thus brought into view, may exhibit marks of inflammation; or coagulated blood or pus may be discovered on its surface, especially in cases where external violence has been inflicted; and it is particularly worthy of notice that such an extravasation, or injury, is not necessarily under the fracture, or part of the cranium upon which the violence that produced it, had been received; on the contrary it often happens that disorganization occurs in the hemisphere opposite to that upon which the blow was struck; a phenomenon to which the term “contre coup” has been aptly applied.[[23]] The dura mater may now be removed and thrown back, by dividing it all round the margin of the skull, and separating its attachment to the crista galli with a pair of scissars; before we part, however, with this membrane, we should observe whether any osseous deposits,[[24]] or other morbid alterations are visible in its texture; for such changes are not uncommon in the dura mater, especially in the falx: the tunica arachnoidea thus brought into view may present various morbid appearances; it may be opaque, or water may be found effused under it.[[25]]. The pia mater often exhibits its veins turgid with blood, which indicates that some impediment had existed to the return of the circulation from the head to the heart. It is very important to distinguish between this appearance and that which is the result of the inflammation of the membrane; in this latter case, it should be remembered, that the small arterial branches are the vessels gorged with blood;[[26]] and which are so multiplied as to form, by their numerous anastomoses, a beautiful network. In true inflammation also the membrane will be found thickened. There is still another source of fallacy with which the anatomist may have to contend in his examination of this organ, a state of vascular congestion, arising after death, from the effect of gravitation. In attending however to the position of the head, and to the circumstances above mentioned, it will not be difficult to establish a just diagnosis upon these occasions. Before cutting into the brain, we should observe whether the convolutions are furrowed as usual, for when much fluid is contained in the ventricles, as in hydrocephalus, the sulci are more or less obliterated. Such a change, therefore, will offer a precaution to the anatomist, to proceed slowly in his dissection, so that the accumulated fluid may not escape. Where a person has been suddenly killed, while in a state of health, the ventricles will, on examination, appear merely lubricated with a fluid; but in cases where the patient has died after protracted disease, more or less serum will be found in these cavities. In our examination of the substance of the brain, we ought to notice its consistence and tenacity, for in many recorded cases, a part of the medullary mass has been found so morbidly soft as to have assumed nearly the consistence of custard; and it has been said to have occurred in cases of fatuity; it seems, however, more correct to consider it as the effects of inflammation: the phenomenon must be carefully distinguished from that natural deliquescence which the whole of the brain undergoes after death, when in an incipient stage of putrefaction. In some instances, the texture of the brain has been found tougher than is natural, and even to have been dry and friable. (See our observations upon the brain in cases of mania, vol. i, p. 327.) Scrophulous and encysted tumours, hydatids, abscesses, and extravasated blood, may also occur, and its cavities may be distended with fluid. The state of the larger blood-vessels should be attentively inspected, for in persons advanced in life there appears to be a strong disposition to disease in the internal carotid and basilary arteries. The great importance of minutely inspecting every part of the brain cannot be too frequently, or too forcibly urged, in cases of forensic inquiry. The instances already recorded (page [16]) are sufficient to sanction this assertion; and to these, we may add the following illustration which is to be found in the article Cas Rares of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, by M. Fournier, who was called upon for his opinion in a case of alleged murder at Brussels.[[27]] The deceased had quarrelled with another man, some blows had been interchanged, and he had died a fortnight afterwards, emaciated and completely exhausted. Two of the lowest order of practitioners in France, officiers de Santé, as they are called, inspected the body, and pronounced that death had taken place in consequence of the blows. M. Fournier discovered an extensive suppuration in the brain, with a very carious state of the inner surface of the cranium, and learnt that the deceased had been afflicted with head-aches for twenty years. He therefore declared it to be his opinion, that the man had died of a disease of long standing. In this opinion we concur, but it is not equally clear that the crisis was not accelerated by the violence which he had sustained.[[28]]
We ought not to quit the examination of the head, until we have examined the base of the cranium, in order to determine whether any fracture exists in that part; a curious case is related by Mr. Charles Bell,[[29]] of a person who died suddenly some weeks after having received an injury of the head, when it appeared, on dissection, that the base of the skull had been fractured, and that the foramen magnum having been thus roughened, a sudden turn of the head had forced a spiculum of bone into the spinal marrow. The brain has also received fatal injuries from the introduction of pointed instruments through the orbits; Macklin, the comedian, was tried for killing a brother actor by the thrust of his cane. Thomas Dangerfield, one of the celebrated and perjured witnesses on the Popish plot, in the reign of Charles II, was killed by Mr. Robert Francis, by the blow of a cane, the end of which penetrated the orbit.[[30]] The author also well remembers the case of an old woman, who, in a fit of intoxication, fell to the ground upon the stem of the tobacco-pipe with which she was smoking, when it penetrated the orbit, and occasioned immediate death; the cause of her dissolution was never suspected until after dissection, as no external wound was visible. In some cases it may be considered expedient to extend our anatomical researches into the spinal column, which may be effected by sawing off the transverse processes. The cervical vertebræ should always be examined where dislocation of the neck can be suspected; for in such cases death may be produced without leaving any external vestige of the injury. This has frequently occurred to coachmen and others, who have been crushed while driving under low archways, by which the nerves, necessary for the support of the vital organs have been compressed or lacerated, and death has in consequence ensued. If the cervical vertebræ should be dislocated, a general paralysis will follow, and life can no longer be maintained. M. Petit relates the case of a boy suspended by the head, who striving to disengage himself dropped down dead; and Dr. Monro saw a case where four of the cervical vertebræ were dislocated by a fall, which ended fatally in a few hours.
Dissection of the contents of the thorax.—An incision must be made through the integuments, in a straight line from the os hyoides to the navel; we are then to open into the cavity of the abdomen, for the sake of affording the anatomist free space for his dissections in the chest; and this is to be effected by incisions from the navel to each spine of the ilium, so that we shall have thus described by our dissection a figure resembling the letter Y inverted, thus
In cases where a violent effort has preceded death, violet-coloured spots containing venous blood may be perceived on the surface of the lungs, and which are true ecchymoses, occasioned by the rupture of some small vessels. Such phenomena must be carefully distinguished from the livid, black spots, which have been observed in cases of narcotic poisoning, and which are characterised by a more dense, and less crepitating texture. In this stage of the dissection, we may conveniently extend our examination into the trachea, and bronchiæ, and observe whether these tubes contain frothy mucus as in drowning; coagulated blood, as in pulmonary hemorrhage; pus, as in the event of the rupture of a vomica or impostume; or ropy and tenacious mucus or lymph, as in croup, tracheal inflammation, and bronchitis; or chyme, as may occur in cases of intoxication, and diseases of the brain, where vomiting has taken place during a state of insensibility.[[31]] We shall at the same time be enabled to ascertain whether any mechanical obstruction, from the presence of foreign bodies, exists in the pulmonary passages, and which might have occasioned death to the patient, as related under our history of suffocation, vol. ii, p. 57.
The pericardium may now be laid open by a longitudinal incision, and we should note the quantity of fluid found in this cavity; in that of a healthy subject there is generally as much as a tea-spoonful of serum. It is important also that we should observe the quality, as well as quantity, of this liquor. Blood has occasionally been found in this situation, when neither a rupture of the heart, or any of its vessels could be discovered; in such cases Dr. Baillie is of opinion that the blood has either passed through the coats of the vessels upon the surface of the heart, by transudation, or been poured out by the relaxed extremities of the small vessels opening upon the surface of that portion of pericardium which forms the immediate covering of the heart.[[32]] The general appearance of the heart, as to colour, flaccidity, size, and external character, should be observed before its cavities are opened; for the energy of the heart may, in some degree, be inferred from the tension of its fibres, and the red colour of its substance; on the contrary, the opposite appearances would indicate a very different condition of this vital organ, as is well illustrated in the asphyxia idiopathica of Mr. Chevalier.[[33]] It is not very unusual to find adhesions connecting the heart more or less closely to the pericardium; and it is perhaps worthy of remark that the length of these adhesions will furnish, in some measure, an indication of the interval that has elapsed, since the occurrence of the inflammation by which they were produced; for they become gradually elongated by the heart’s motion. Dr. Baillie has noticed in his “Morbid Anatomy” an appearance which the author has frequently met with in his dissections,—a white opaque spot, as if from a thickening of the pericardium; in some cases, it is not broader than a sixpence, at other times, it equals in size that of a crown piece; it is most commonly situated on the surface of the right ventricle, and consists of an adventitious membrane formed on a portion of the pericardium, which covers the heart, and may be easily dissected off, so as to leave that membrane entire. The attention of the enquirer is directed to the subject with a view to remind him, that the appearance is one that ought not to be considered as morbid in its origin, or dangerous in its effects. In acute rheumatism a fatal translation of the disease to the heart sometimes occurs, in which case, its surface will be found encrusted with coaguable lymph.—The condition of the blood-vessels forms the next object of research; and they should be examined previous to the removal of the heart, as to their calibre, and thickness, and whether any inflammatory indications are observable, or any aneurism; this latter disease has often existed without exciting any suspicion during life. In opening the body of George II, the aorta was found callous at the lower border of its curvature, and so dilated at its upper border, that it was as thin as the finest paper, in which part the rupture took place, and which was succeeded by a fatal hemorrhage; and yet the king, before his death, had not the slightest symptom that appeared to deserve much attention. In every case of sudden death the heart should be removed from the body for the purpose of examination, and no anatomical evidence should be received as conclusive, unless such an operation has been duly performed. For this purpose, the blood-vessels should be first secured by ligatures, for it is very essential to prevent the effusion of blood; and, having then separated it from its attachments, we should proceed to examine the organ in the following manner. Slit open, longitudinally, by means of scissars, the right auricle, at its foreside, then make an incision from the mouth of the pulmonary artery to the point of the heart, guarding against the accident of injuring the two sets of valves; now cut open the whole length of the pulmonary artery, except at its beginning, and at its valves, which ought to be left entire; lastly, open the pulmonary veins, and then the left auricle and ventricle, in a similar manner with what was done to the corresponding parts of the right side.
We beg to direct the attentive consideration of the anatomist to this important part of the inquiry; he ought to notice the quantity of blood contained in the cavities of this organ, as well as its colour, and state of coagulation, especially in relation to the arterial and venous sides of the heart; the indications which such an examination may afford will be fully appreciated by referring to our chapter upon “the causes and phenomena of sudden death,” and that upon “suffocation.” In examining the cavities of the heart, especially the ventricles, it not unfrequently happens, that a mass of coagulated lymph, of a yellowish colour, and of considerable firmness, is found to occupy them; this phenomenon, from the manner in which its processes extend into the fasciculi of muscular fibres of the heart, has acquired the name of “polypus of the heart,” and was regarded by the older anatomists as a very common and fatal disease. It is necessary to observe that the phenomenon is now better understood, and it is universally admitted to be the result of slow coagulation after death. The state of the valves of the heart should be attentively inspected, for a disease in these parts may have been the cause of the sudden death which we are endeavouring to discover. The three semi-lunar valves at the origin of the aorta, and the mitral valves, are sometimes in a state of ossification; those placed at the commencement of the pulmonary artery, and the tricuspid are less disposed to take on morbid action than the preceding ones that occupy the arterial side; indeed, there are very few well authenticated instances of such a change. Such a state of the valves of the heart necessarily places the life of the individual in extreme jeopardy, a rupture may be induced, and thus prove instantly fatal, or the action of the heart may be suddenly arrested, and a fatal syncope be the result; and from the suddenness with which death takes place in such cases, there is no doubt that many persons so dying, have been erroneously included in the list of apoplectic deaths. In certain diseased states of the valves, the extremities of the body become gangrenous, as if the heart were unable to propel its blood to the extreme parts: the author well remembers two females who were admitted into the Westminster hospital, with a disease of this kind, in which the gangrene gradually extended upwards, and that, after death, the valves of the heart were found ossified. The coronary arteries are occasionally ossified, a circumstance which often accompanies a diseased state of the valves of the heart, and that of the aorta; a change which has been regarded as giving rise to the disease, termed angina pectoris, but which would seem to be symptomatic of any morbid state of the heart. In some cases the heart itself has been found ruptured; we have already offered some observations upon this event, under the history of syncope, p. 27. Dr. Baillie has seen only one case, and in that, the blood escaped into the pericardium, and the person instantly expired.
Examination of the abdomen.—In proceeding to the examination of this cavity, and its contents, the first appearance to be noticed, is that of the peritoneum, in which we have to observe whether any marks of inflammation exist, as displayed by a crowd of very small vessels, injected with florid blood, and a change in the texture of the membrane, by which it appears to be thickened, more pulpy, and less transparent. The existence and character of any fluid in the abdominal cavity should be noted, for its nature will be found to be immediately connected with the nature and extent of the disease by which it has been produced; if the liver be schirrous, the fluid will be tinged with bile, and of a yellowish colour; if extreme debility accompany the disease, it will often be of a chocolate colour, from the admixture of blood; should no disease exist in any of the viscera, it will resemble that of the serum of the blood. Previous to the removal of the viscera for more minute examination, it will be proper to observe their general situation and appearance, and to notice particularly whether the calibre of the visceral tube be natural, distended, or contracted; in some instances its diameter is sensibly diminished, as in cases of poisoning by lead. It sometimes occurs that the intestines are glued together with extravasated lymph; and, at others, that the abdominal viscera are more or less joined together by adhesions, which are the effects of former inflammation; these adhesions become gradually so elongated as to produce little or no inconvenience. If upon opening the cavity of the abdomen we should have reason to suspect the existence of any perforations in the stomach or bowels, the anatomist must proceed with great caution, so as not to enlarge their diameters, or alter their appearance. In the case of Miss Burns, the medical report lost much of its value, from the want of due precaution in this particular; see our account of the dissection, vol. ii, page 178. Should the contents of the stomach or intestines have escaped into the general cavity, we should be careful in collecting such matter, with a view to its future analysis. The size and appearance of the stomach must be noted, and we should observe whether any marks of inflammation, or gangrene, are visible on its external surface; in tracing the intestinal tube through its course, any appearance of inflammation, or phlogosis, should be attentively examined; for which purpose a ligature may be passed at some distance above and below the patch, and the portions of the intestine be then removed. In many cases it will be essential to remove the stomach, as where poisoning is suspected; for which purpose double ligatures, about an inch asunder, must be placed above the cardia, and similar ones in the duodenum; the division may then be made by the scalpel in the space between them. The stomach should be examined without delay, for no one who has not been engaged in such researches, can form an idea of the rapidity with which this viscus loses its characteristic appearances by exposure to air. The stomach is to be slit open with a pair of scissars, care being taken that none of its contents are lost. If the deceased had been found in the water, the quantity of that fluid, found in this viscus, should be noted; and under such circumstances, the presence of any weed, mud, or other extraneous matter, requires particular notice. The quantity of alimentary matter will also afford an object of remark, and it will be right to observe whether, by odour or inflammability, the presence of any spirit can be detected. Having then disposed of the contents of the stomach, and referred them to the chemist for examination, we proceed to examine the viscus itself; in the first place, we should be careful in ascertaining whether any white, or shining particles adhere to its coats; if so, the substance must be preserved for future analysis; the cardia and whole interior of the stomach is to be carefully inspected, and every indication of inflammation, ulceration, gangrene, and schirrosity, is to be noted in reference to its exact situation and appearance; with a view to deduce an opinion as to the probability of its being the effect of poisonous ingesta, or of recent, or remote disease. The mucous membrane of the stomach should be squeezed between the fingers, and the nature of the matter, if any should ooze out, must be noted, which on some occasions will furnish a valuable diagnosis; where, for instance, the person had died of melæna, a black matter, similar to that vomited will exude, a phenomenon which is never visible in cases of acrid or corrosive poisoning. We have already entered so fully into the history of gastric perforations, that it will be only necessary to allude to them on this occasion; see vol. i, page 164. The state of the villous coat should always be minutely inspected, we should however be cautious in pronouncing every red appearance as indicative of inflammation; it may in some cases depend upon the presence of colouring matter derived from the ingesta; (see the case related in vol. ii, p. 231.) Nor ought the state of the œsophagus to be overlooked, which in cases of poisoning will afford an important indication; it should, therefore, be removed from the body; had this dissection been performed in the case of Miss Burns, the medical witnesses on that memorable occasion, would have been spared, at least, one great cause of censure. It is not impossible but that the œsophagus may be ruptured in a violent paroxysm of vomiting, and thus be the cause of death. Boerhaave relates an interesting case of this kind, which occurred to Baron Van Wassener, Admiral of Holland.
Rupture of the stomach is an occurrence which sometimes takes place from the action of vomiting, during the progress of ulceration, when the membranes of this viscus are nearly perforated. It also occasionally happens from external violence. In the Medical Repository,[[34]] a case of ruptured stomach is related by Mr. Brown, in which the accident must have been occasioned by the action of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, at the time of exertion, the stomach of the individual having, from disease, been less capable of sustaining any degree of violence. The following are the particulars of the case; “A coal-heaver, aged 50, whilst stooping in the act of lifting some coals, placed his hand suddenly on the pit of the stomach, and complained of severe pain in that situation; this was immediately succeeded by two deep sighs, when he dropped down and expired. On dissection, the parts immediately round the opening were in a higher state of vascularity than the rest, and put on a decidedly torn appearance, which was also observable in the peritoneal coat.”
In pursuing the track of the alimentary canal we have to observe whether any marks of peritoneal inflammation present themselves; and whether any signs of inflammation in the muscular or mucous coats are visible through the transparent parietes of the intestine; and although no appearance of this kind can be discovered on the external coat of the bowels, we are not, on that account, to conclude that they have been free from inflammation; we must persevere in our dissection, and slit open the intestines in different parts, especially at the entrance of the ilium into the colon; the valve of the latter gut should also be inspected; nor should the rectum escape our attention, for its extremity is sometimes inflamed together with the stomach, while the intermediate portions of the canal are not in the least affected; this peculiarity occurs in many cases of poisoning, as those, for instance, in which colocynth or elaterium have been exhibited. An empoisoned clyster may have been administered; or, as in the case of King Edward II, a hot poker, or some other instrument thrust up the rectum. We should also in this part of the dissection, ascertain whether any intus-susceptio has taken place, a derangement not very rare, and frequently fatal; it consists in a portion of gut passing for some length within another portion, and dragging along with it a part of the mesentery; it may take place in any part of the canal, but it more usually occurs in the small intestines, especially where the ilium terminates in the colon; in the examination of infants an intus-susceptio is not unfrequently found, which had been unattended with mischief, and in which the natural peristaltic motion of the intestines would have easily disentangled them; but, in other cases, an unrelenting obstruction is established, inflammation follows, and life is soon terminated, as was exemplified in the case of the infant Princess Elizabeth of Clarence.
The liver may present several morbid phenomena, which, in a dissection instituted for the purpose of discovering the cause of death, ought not to be overlooked. It may also be found ruptured, an occurrence which may take place where little or no external injury can be perceived, as from a sudden fall, or from the application of strong pressure applied to the upper part of the abdomen, such as might be occasioned by the passage of a heavy carriage over the body. Morgagni relates several instances of ruptured liver, by mechanical causes, without any considerable injury of the integuments. In the Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians,[[35]] a very interesting case is communicated by Dr. George Pearson, of a young man who fell with his right hypogastrium and epigastrium, upon the edge of a pail, which he held in his hand, as the sixth step of a ladder, upon which he was standing, suddenly broke; his death happened ten hours after the accident, and upon dissection, the right lobe of the liver was discovered divided, in an oblique direction, through its whole substance, from its extremity on the right side, to the border of the left lobe; the two portions being only connected by the vena cava, and the trunks of the venæ cavæ hepaticæ.
The author has been informed by Dr. Harrison that, while at Mantua, he saw a man who had received a kick on the right hypochondrium from a horse that he was shoeing; he did not complain of much pain at the time, but exhibited an anxious countenance, and was attacked with coffee-ground vomiting. He died on the following day, and upon opening the abdomen the liver was found ruptured, and the peritoneum inflamed.[[36]]
The spleen may be brought into view for our examination by drawing the stomach towards the right side, when the one viscus will follow the other. This organ, like the liver, may be ruptured by violence; of which we have already cited an instance[[37]].
The pancreas is to be seen by tearing through the great omentum, between the large curve of the stomach, and the arch of the colon. The anatomist will proceed to the examination of the remaining structures in the abdomen with a facility that renders any farther directions unnecessary; we have only to repeat that in cases of forensic interest, the inspection cannot be too minute. The appearance of the kidneys, although not generally an object of dissection, ought to be noticed, as it is frequently connected with the exhibition of poisons; like the other solid viscera too, the kidneys may be ruptured by external violence, and several instances are recorded of sudden death having been thus occasioned.
Examination of the uterus and its appendages.—In the case of a female the organs of generation should always be inspected; very important conclusions may be deduced from the discovery of an unimpregnated uterus. In the case of Miss Burns, to which we have so frequently alluded in the progress of our work, this part of the dissection was so incomplete as to occasion considerable dissatisfaction. The uterus and its appendages having been carefully removed from the body, we should proceed to expose the cavity of the former by an incision, from near the os tincæ to the fundus, and by a transverse section at the fundus, between the inner ends of the fallopian tubes. This organ is liable, amongst other diseases, to inflammation, ulceration, schirrus, tubercles, polypus, dropsy, and organised masses, or moles; upon which we shall offer such observations as appear to connect the dissection with questions of forensic interest. In an adult and unimpregnated female its length is about 2½ inches; its thickness, 1 inch; its breadth at the fundus 1½ or 2 inches, and at the cervix about 10 lines. Although it returns after parturition to its original size, it never becomes again so small as it was in the virgin. In women who have borne many children, the neck of the uterus is generally thicker, and more rounded; its orifice, or os tincæ, is always very gaping, and the lips more or less irregular, presenting generally one or more grooves, or chops, separated by what appear like tubercles. The os uteri may, however, be as regular in its figure in women who have borne children, as in others; and on the contrary, it may present in the latter, those irregularities which are more usual in the former; hence the inferences drawn from the state of this part, in cases where infanticide is suspected, or where parturition is supposed to have been concealed, cannot be received as being unexceptionable, although they will add to the weight of evidence, and assist us, in conjunction with other evidence, in attaining that high degree of probability, which practically amounts to certainty. The cavity of the cervix uteri undergoes also a change in form and appearance, which it is necessary to notice, although we are not disposed to assign very great importance to its indications. In women who have never borne children, the figure of the cavity may be said to resemble that of two cones joined bases to base, more capacious in the middle than at the two extremities; but, from the time of conception, that extremity of the canal, which opens into the vagina, is dilated; and, after parturition has once occurred, it is always found much wider than before, when it represents a cone with the basis towards the vagina, and the apex towards the fundus uteri. By a schirrous enlargement, the uterus may arrive at a very considerable size. Dr. Baillie has seen it as large as the gravid uterus at the sixth month; the cavity may also enlarge and contain a polypus, which is a very common disease at middle or advanced age; it has been defined “a diseased mass, which adheres to some part of the cavity of the uterus, by a kind of neck, or narrower portion.” An attempt was made on the trial of Charles Angus to explain the appearance presented by the uterus of Miss Burns, upon the supposition of an hydatid having been recently ejected from it, (see vol. i, p. 254.) Water has been known to have accumulated in very considerable quantities in the cavity of the uterus,[[38]] in some cases to the amount of fifty, sixty, or even a hundred pints.
If a woman die from hemorrhage, or from any other cause in child-birth, the appearances that will present themselves on dissection have been thus clearly described by Professor Burns.[[39]] “The uterus is found like a large flattened pouch, from nine to twelve inches long; the cavity contains coagula, or a bloody fluid, and its surface is covered by the remains of the decidua. Often the marks of the attachment of the placenta are very visible. This part is of a dark colour; so that the uterus is thought to be gangrenous by those who are not aware of the circumstance. The surface being cleaned, the sound substance of the womb is seen; the vessels are extremely large and numerous; the fallopian tubes, round ligaments, and surface of the ovaria, are so vascular that they have a purple colour. The spot where the ovum escaped is more vascular than the rest of the ovarian surface. This state of the uterine appendages continues until the womb has returned to its unimpregnated state. A week after delivery, the womb is as large as two fists; at the end of a fortnight, it will be found about six inches long, generally lying obliquely to one side; the inner surface is still bloody, and covered partially with a pulpy substance like decidua. The muscularity is distinct, and the orbicular direction of the fibres round the orifice of the tubes very evident. The substance is whitish. The intestines have not yet assumed the same order as usual; but the distended cæcum is often more prominent than the rest. It is a month, at least, before the uterus returns to its natural state, but the os uteri rarely, if ever, closes to the same degree as in the virgin state.”
The ovaria are susceptible of very considerable enlargement by diseases, so as to occasion the appearance of pregnancy, the most common of which is dropsy; in some cases the whole substance is converted into a capsule containing fluid, so large as to occupy nearly the whole cavity of the abdomen. There is one phenomenon, connected with the morbid anatomy of these organs, that deserves particular notice in this work, as being a subject in some degree connected with judicial enquiry—the change of these parts into a fatty substance containing hair and teeth! these appearances have been often regarded as imperfect ova, in consequence of impregnation, but it should be generally known that they take place without any intercourse between the sexes, and appear to depend upon causes very remote from those to which we allude.[[40]] In our examination of the ovaria, it is essential to remark whether any corpus luteum be present; and upon this subject and the value of its indications, it will be necessary to offer a few remarks. The corpora lutea are oblong glandular bodies, found in the ovaria of pregnant animals; they have been regarded as the calyces, from which the impregnated ovum has dropped;[[41]] they are largest and most conspicuous in the early state of pregnancy, and remain for some time after delivery, when they gradually fade and wither until they disappear. The phenomenon has been eagerly seized by the juridical physician as furnishing an indication of pregnancy; and, to a certain degree, the test may be admitted; but cases have occurred in which a corpus luteum has been found, where impregnation could not have occurred;[[42]] it is probable that upon certain occasions extreme salacity may disengage an ovum, and thus produce the corpus luteum, although the former without sexual intercourse can never be developed in the uterus; but this is an exception to the general law of Nature, and the corpus luteum may still be regarded as a presumptive proof of pregnancy. Mr. Stanley, in a very excellent memoir, published in the Medical Transactions of the College, vol. vi, observes that “the corpora lutea in the ovaries of virgins may, in general, be distinguished from those which are the consequence of impregnation, by their smaller size.”
After all that has been said, our opinion in a case of supposed impregnation must, in the earlier stages, be formed from a review of all the circumstances appertaining to the condition of the uterus, ovaria, and fallopian tubes; and should these present such appearances as they usually assume in pregnancy, and the condition of the mammæ should at the same time agree with them, the proof is strongly presumptive; although it must fall short of the demonstration which the actual inspection of the ovum in utero can alone afford.
The external parts of generation ought also to constitute an object of inspection. We have already considered the degree of evidence which they are capable of affording upon the subject of virginity, vol. i, p. 203, 429. In examining the vagina, it will be necessary to observe whether any shining or gritty particles are discoverable, (see vol. ii, p. 222.) It is also possible that some hard body may have been introduced into the genital organs, for a felonious purpose; a trial for a crime of this nature took place at Durham in the year 1781, when Magaret Tinckler was indicted for the murder of Janet Parkinson, by having inserted wooden skewers into the womb, for the purpose of producing abortion; it appeared on dissection that there were two holes, in a gangrenous condition, which these extraneous bodies had occasioned, and to which the deceased had fallen a victim. East’s P. C. tit. Murder. Had these skewers been introduced after death, the appearances would have immediately denoted the fact, and could not be mistaken for the effects of inflammation and gangrene.
Having concluded our dissection, it will be right to preserve those parts, from whose condition or appearance any legitimate deduction can be made. In cases of poisoning, the stomach and intestines should be kept, for we may require them in our subsequent experiments. In the occurrence of eschars, perforations, and gangrenous, or inflamed patches, the anatomist should remove such appearances together with a portion of the surrounding sound parts, and he should carefully preserve them in alcohol, or in salt and water; and in cases where the state of the uterine system is involved in the inquiry, the uterus and its appendages, should be removed. In the case of Miss Burns, the witnesses must have experienced a considerable degree of satisfaction arising from a precaution of this kind, for they were thus enabled to obtain a confirmation of their opinion from the most eminent midwives in London.
After this service has been duly performed, the body must of course be committed to the grave; but should it not have been satisfactorily identified, the head ought to be preserved in spirits, in as natural a state as possible, that it may be recognised by the friends of the deceased. A curious instance stands on record, where this precaution led to the detection of the murderers. Catherine Hayes, and two accomplices, Billings and Wood, murdered the husband of the former, cut off his head, and threw it into a dock near the Horseferry, Westminster. The head was in a few days found, and exposed on a pole in St. Margaret’s Church-yard, and afterwards preserved in spirits, by which means the face of the deceased was identified, and the perpetrators of the crime discovered, for which they were executed at Tyburn in the year 1726.
EXAMINATION OF THE SKELETON.
It will appear in the course of the present inquiry, that the anatomist may be called upon to examine a part, or the whole skeleton of a person supposed to have been murdered; and his evidence upon such occasions will be of the greatest importance. Convinced of this fact, we are induced to offer the following observations.
The stature of the human skeleton varies very considerably in different individuals; in the Museum of the College of Surgeons there is a male skeleton, the height of which is eight feet two inches; while we are informed by Mr. Wilson,[[43]] that he has seen a perfectly well formed skeleton of an adult person which measured only thirty-five inches; and a dwarf was lately exhibited in London of a still less stature; but in this latter case, the head was disproportionably large. There may have been some individuals a few inches taller, and others a few inches shorter than these, but we have no authentic records of the human stature exceeding nine, or at most, ten feet. The size and dimensions of the human figure, notwithstanding the fables of antiquity,[[44]] appear to have been much the same in all ages of the world. The Egyptian mummies of three thousand years standing, exhibit no difference in stature from the men of our own days; and we read that the Emperor Augustus was considered by the Romans as a person of middle stature, and his height is recorded as that of five feet, nine inches, of our measure.
In our general view of the human skeleton, two important problems present themselves for solution—the Age, and Sex, of the individual to whom it belonged. The skeleton of the fœtus, with which we shall commence our observations, is capable of furnishing more satisfactory data upon the subject of age than any examination of its softer textures, which are necessarily less evident and regular in their progress of developement. M. Beclard has deduced from his examination of above fifty fœtuses, the following calculations, which it may be important to record. After two months have elapsed from the period of conception, the skeleton is about 4 inches and 3 lines in length, that of the spine being 2 inches. At three months, the former is 6 inches, and the proportion of the spine as 2⅔ to 6. At four months and a half, it is 9 inches, and the spine 4. At six months it is 12 inches, the spine being 5. At seven months and a half, it is 15 inches, the spine 6⅓. At nine months, or at the period of birth, it is ordinarily from 16 to 20 inches in length; or, at a medium, 18 inches, and the spine is in the proportion of 7¾ to 18.
Ossification does not take place with equal rapidity in every bone; the ribs and clavicles are completely converted into bone long before birth, while the bones of the carpus, tarsus, and more particularly the patella, are not completed until some years afterwards; certain parts of bones are not formed until after birth, as the mastoid processes, and the projections of the frontal sinus; nor are the epiphyses consolidated with the body of the bones, so as to constitute apophyses, until many years. With regard to the general developement of the skeleton after birth, it may be observed, that the proportion of cartilage is in an inverse ratio to the age; reckoning from the twentieth year backwards, the younger the subject the larger is its head, compared with the trunk and limbs; the smaller the bones of the face, but the larger the fontanelles; the flatter is the lower part of the face; the larger the chest, in relation to the pelvis; the shorter the limbs; the larger the clavicles; the smoother and flatter the broad bones, but the rounder those that are cylindrical. (See Albert Durer on the proportions of the bones, Lib. 1.) The chemical composition of the bones, in relation to their phosphate of lime, and gelatine, varies also very materially at different ages. It may be stated that the quantity of the former substance deposited in the texture of bones, is in the direct ratio of the age; the bones of the fœtus are at first entirely gelatinous; at the time of birth, and during the first years of life the organic part superabounds; in youth the quantity of each constituent is nearly equal; in adults the calcareous earth forms almost two-thirds of their substance; and finally, by gradual accumulation in old age, its excess obliterates the organized parts; so that the skeleton of the aged person may be distinctly recognised; besides which, the sutures of the skull are generally lost, and the absorption of the alveolar processes again imparts to the face the physiognomy of the infant.
The male and female skeleton may be said to differ, not only in the whole combination, or in the general impression, from a comparative survey, but also in the form and properties of the individual parts. The bones of the female are generally smaller, more delicate, and the muscular impressions, and asperities are less distinctly marked on them. The articulations are smaller, and the shaft or body of each cylindrical bone is more slender in comparison with the articular ends; the frontal sinuses are smaller, and the superciliary arches less prominent; all the bones of the face are more slender; the figure of the alveolar circle is more elliptical in both jaws; whereas in the male it is more circular. The differences, however, are in many cases very equivocal, since they may occur in the male as well as in the female skeleton; in the former, where the individual has had a feeble constitution, and never used active exercise; while in the latter, hard labour will frequently confer upon her bony structure the masculine contour which we have described as generally belonging to the male skeleton. The only decisive marks, therefore, by which a female skeleton can at once be distinguished, are to be found in the structure of the pelvis, and arise from the obvious cause of the female possessing a proper frame to become a mother. The pelvis of a female, at and below the linea innominata, formed by the lower part of the inside of the ileum, and ridge of the pubes, is much more capacious, from side to side, than in the male. The entrance or brim of the cavity is also more oval, the greatest diameter being from side to side. In the male it is more triangular, and the greatest diameter at the brim is from the fore to the back part; there is not much difference in the breadth of a male and female pelvis, belonging to individuals of nearly the same height, if measured from the anterior part of the spine of the ileum to the corresponding part of the opposite side; the difference in breadth is chiefly confined to the basin-like part of the cavity. The symphysis pubis is broader in the female, and the angle underneath it is much more obtuse, the space between the descending rami of the pubes is consequently larger. The sacrum is broader, less curved, and turned more backwards; this also adds to the capacity of the cavity. The os coccygis is more moveable, and much less bent forwards so that it does not project so much into the pelvis. The tuberosities of the ischia are farther distant from each other, and from the os coccygis; and as these three points are farther asunder, the notches between them are consequently wider, and there is of course a much greater space between the os coccygis and pubes; and lastly the whole pelvis is less massy, but more capacious and shallow in the female structure.[[45]] There are, moreover, some striking peculiarities to be discovered in the structure of the thorax, which if not equally satisfactory with that derived from a comparison of the pelvis, deserve serious attention. The whole thorax is shorter in the female, larger above as far as the fourth rib, narrower below; more moveable, less conical; more convex in front; more distant from the pelvis, the interval between the last rib, and the os innominatum being greater; less prominent anteriorly, so that when the trunk is supine, the symphysis pubis is the highest point in the female, whereas in the male subject, the thorax is the most elevated; the sternum is also shorter in the female, ending at the plane of the fourth rib, while it reaches to the plane of the fifth in the male; the clavicles are likewise less strongly curved, so that the scapulæ are thrown backwards; the female scapulæ are, moreover, smaller, slenderer, flatter, and have acuter angles than those of the male.
We have been thus minute in our endeavour to establish rules for discriminating between the male and female skeleton, because it has been a question of judicial inquiry. The supposed difficulty of ascertaining the sex of a skeleton constituted a principal feature in the celebrated defence of Eugene Aram for the murder of Daniel Clarke, and which, on account of its extreme ingenuity, has been introduced at length in our Appendix, p. [311].
In examining detached and isolated portions of the skeleton, we must take care not to mistake natural fissures and foramina for the effects of violence; we have already observed that the sagittal suture has been pronounced to be a fracture. But the most extraordinary illustration of such an error that can be adduced, is that presented to us in the history of a case that occurred at Exeter, and which the author of this work is enabled to present in an authentic form through the kind assistance of his friend, Wm. Tucker, Esq. of Coryton, Devonshire, a gentleman, who has been too long known, and too universally respected, as an active and upright magistrate, to render any panegyric necessary on the present occasion.
The Case of Thomas Bowerman.
Devonshire.——At the Devon Assizes in March, 1800, a Bill was preferred before the Grand Jury against Thomas Bowerman, for the Murder of Mary Gollop, a Bastard Child of Sarah his Wife, by another man, previous to her marriage, at the parish of Uffculme, in the said County.
Mary Gollop lived with her mother, the wife of Thomas Bowerman, in Bowerman’s house, at Uffculme, and had been often noticed on account of the ill treatment she was known to experience from Thomas Bowerman. About Michaelmas, 1797, being then about fourteen years of age, she was reported to have died suddenly in her father’s house, and she was accordingly buried on the first day of October, 1797, in the church-yard of Uffculme.
In January, 1800, Thomas Bowerman was committed to the Devon Bridewell, at the suit of the overseers of the poor of Uffculme, on a conviction for having ran away and left his children chargeable to the parish of Uffculme. His wife was at that time dead, and Elizabeth, one of his children, about twelve years old, had been removed to the parish workhouse, and was there maintained at the expense of the parish. Elizabeth Stark, the mistress of the workhouse, in a conversation with Elizabeth Bowerman, mentioned to her, that on her father’s return from Bridewell, after the expiration of his sentence, she would be sent to her father’s house to be by him maintained and clothed. Elizabeth Bowerman burst into tears, saying she could never again live with her father if he did return, as she was afraid he would murder her as he did her sister. She then stated that her father killed her sister, Mary Gollop, by pushing an awl into her head. She saw him do it, and he made her mother and herself wipe up the blood, and said he would serve her the same if ever she told of it.
Mrs. Stark remonstrated with Elizabeth Bowerman on the incredibility of her story; but in spite of all admonition, she persisted in asserting the truth of her statements, repeated without variance the particulars of the case, and pointed out the part near the ear where the perforation had been made. On the prevalence of this report, in the month of February, 1800, it was judged expedient by the parishioners to consult the Coroner, who ordered the disinterment of the body of Mary Gollop, and held an inquest, by whom the skull was inspected, on which was found a small hole of the size of an awl on the side of the head near the ear, in the place that Elizabeth Bowerman had pointed out.
The Jury thereupon returned against Thomas Bowerman a verdict of Wilful Murder.
The circumstances of this case excited the attention of the late Mr. Sheldon, then living in Exeter. He obtained access to the skull, and on viewing it declared his opinion that the hole in the skull, supposed to have been made by an awl, was a natural perforation, and had not been effected by an awl or any other instrument; and as proofs of his position, he pointed out a small bed or channel leading from the hole, which he said was made by the passage of a vein, and a sort of enamel round the hole, which could not have been there if made by force or art. In further illustration of this truth, he produced a dozen or more human skulls having on them similar perforations variously situated, and each hole having a small channel, and the rim or edge of the hole smooth and polished.
Mr. Sheldon attended the Grand Jury at the said assizes on the investigation of this charge: before whom it is presumed he gave the same testimony. The Grand Jury returned “No Bill” against Thomas Bowerman for the murder of Mary Gollop.
Another question of forensic interest has arisen upon this subject that requires some notice. Whether there are not bones in the structures of inferior animals, that so nearly approach those of the human species in figure and appearance as to admit the possibility of their being mistaken for them, by the superficial anatomist? It must be admitted that there does exist a similitude in the skeletons of different animals, of which the common observer cannot derive the least notion from the shape of the parts they sustain, or from the general aspect of their external form. Bats, for instance, appear to have wings, but an attentive examination demonstrates that they are real hands, the fingers of which are merely somewhat lengthened; still, however, it is the bones of quadrupeds that can alone be mistaken for those of man, and of these the cylindrical ones are the most likely to mislead us; for example, the Humerus varies little in its form, except perhaps in the proportional length of the bone, and the elevation of its spines: the Ruminantia, in general, have the great tuberosity very high, and the linea aspera very prominent. To Cuvier we are much indebted for the marks of discrimination by which we may determine to what genus of animal the isolated parts of a skeleton belong; and his researches have changed the opinion regarding the character of many organic remains. Most of the labourers in the Gypsum quarries about Paris are firmly persuaded that the bones which they contain are, in a great part, human remains; but, after having seen and carefully examined many thousands of them, Cuvier unequivocally declares that not a single fragment has ever belonged to our species. Another similar discovery has been made by this illustrious anatomist, in the history of the extraneous fossil bones from the island of Cerigo, and deposited by Spallanzani at Pavia as human remains, but of which he affirms there is not one that ever formed a part of the human skeleton; the same tact, if we may so express this peculiar merit of Cuvier, enabled him to decypher the “Homo Diluvii Testis” of Scheutzer, and to restore it to its true genus, the Proteus.
We shall close our remarks upon the fallacies by which the bones of quadrupeds have been mistaken for those of man, by the interesting account of the remains which were found by Belzoni in a sarcophagus in the second pyramid of Egypt, and for a detailed relation of which we are indebted to Captain Fitzclarence, in his overland route from India. These bones were believed to be no other than the remains of King Cephrenes, who, according to Herodotus, is supposed to have built the pyramid, and to have been buried in its cavern; unfortunately, however, for the antiquarian’s conjecture, Mr. Clift, of the College of Surgeons, has satisfactorily proved that the bones in question are not human, but belong to an animal of the genus Bos.
ABORTION AND INFANTICIDE.
Although a child in ventre sa mere has for certain purposes civil rights from the earliest period of conception, yet it was long undetermined in what rank of crime the killing of a fœtus should be placed. “It was anciently holden, says Hawkins, (1 P. C. 121) that the causing an abortion, by giving a potion to, or striking a woman big with child, was murder.” But at this day it is said to be a great misprision only, and not murder, unless the child be born alive, and die thereof, in which case it seems clearly to be murder, notwithstanding some opinions to the contrary.[[46]] And in this respect the common law[[47]] seems to be agreeable to the Mosaical,[[48]] which as to this purpose is thus expressed. “If men strive and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow, he shall surely be punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him, and he shall pay as the judges determine; and if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.”
“It seems also agreed, that where one counsels a woman to kill her child when it shall be born, who afterwards does kill it in pursuance of such advice, he is an accessary to the murder.” 1 Hawk. P. C. 121, and authorities there cited.
By the old law[[49]] there was this difference between ordinary murder, and the murder of bastard children, that in the latter case the onus probandi was in some measure thrown upon the supposed criminal, a practice totally at variance with our general principles of justice; and though many fictions and judicial evasions were resorted to for the purpose of softening the extreme rigor of this statute,[[50]] as by supposing that very slight circumstances, as knocking for help when in labour, providing linen, &c. took away the concealment,[[51]] yet the law remained in nominal force till the passing of the stat. 43 Geo. 3, c. 58, by which it is enacted that trials of women for the murder of bastard children should proceed on the same rules of evidence as trials for murder.[[52]] This part of our subject, therefore, might have been considered under the general head of murder; but though the legal distinctions which marked the crime of infanticide are thus removed, there are yet so many peculiarities in the physiological mode of collecting the evidence of its commission, that we have reserved it for separate consideration, in conjunction with the offence of procuring abortion to which it bears a close affinity.
The case of the King v. Phillips, 3 Campb. R. p. 73, appears to have been the first that was tried under the new law.
This was an indictment on the 2d sect. of Lord Ellenborough’s act, 43 Geo. 3, c. 58, for administering savin to a woman not quick with child, for the purpose of procuring abortion.[[53]]
The first count of the indictment charged that the prisoner on the 10th day of January 1811, and on divers other days and times between that day and the 20th of March in the year aforesaid, at the parish of St. Mary’s in the county of Monmouth, wilfully, maliciously, unlawfully and feloniously did administer to and cause to be administered to and taken by one Hannah Mary Goldsmith, single woman, divers large quantities, that is to say, 6 ounces of the decoction of a certain shrub called savin, then and there being a noxious and destructive thing, the said H. M. G. on the said 10th day of January in the year aforesaid, and continually from thence until the said 20th day of March in the year aforesaid, at &c. aforesaid, being with child, but not quick with child, to wit, at the respective times of administering such divers large quantities of the decoction of the said shrub called savin as aforesaid, with intent thereby to cause and procure the miscarriage of the said H. M. G., against the form of the statute, &c.
It appeared that the prisoner prepared the medicine which he administered to Miss Goldsmith by pouring boiling water on the leaves of a shrub: and the medical men examined, stated that such a preparation is called an infusion not a decoction,—which is made by boiling the substance in the water.
The prisoner’s counsel insisted that he was entitled to an acquittal on the ground that the medicine was misdescribed.
Lawrence, J. This objection will not hold. The infusion and decoction are ejusdem generis, and the variance is immaterial. The question is, whether the prisoner administered any matter or thing to this woman with intent to procure abortion.
Witnesses were called for the prisoner to prove that the shrub he used was not savin.
The counsel for the prosecution, insisted, that even in that case the prisoner might be found guilty upon the last count of the indictment, which charged that he administered a large quantity “of a certain mixture to the jurors unknown, then and there being a noxious and destructive thing.”
The prisoner’s counsel objected that unless the shrub was savin, there was no evidence that the mixture was “noxious and destructive.”
Lawrence, J. In an indictment on this clause of the statute, it was improper to introduce these words; and although they are introduced, there is no necessity to prove them. It is immaterial whether the shrub was savin or not, or whether or not it was capable of procuring abortion,[[54]] or even whether the woman was actually with child. If the prisoner believed at the time that it would procure abortion, and administered it with that intent, the case is within the statute, and he is guilty of the offence laid to his charge.
The prisoner urged that he had given the young woman an innocent draught for the purpose of amusing her, as she had threatened to destroy herself, unless enabled to conceal her shame; and the Jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
The prisoner had been previously tried on the first section of the statute[[55]] for the capital charge, in administering savin to Miss Goldsmith to procure abortion, she being then quick with child.[[56]] In point of fact, she was in the fourth month of her pregnancy. She swore, however, that she had not felt the child move within her before taking the medicine, and that she was not then quick with child. The medical men in their examinations, differed as to the time when the fœtus may be stated to be quick, and to have a distinct existence; but they all agreed that in common understanding, a woman is not considered to be quick with child till she has herself felt the child alive and quick within her, which happens with different women in different stages of pregnancy, although most usually about the sixteenth or eighteenth week after conception.
Lawrence, J. said, this was the interpretation that must be put upon the words quick with child in the statute; and as the woman in this case had not felt the child alive within her before taking the medicine,—he directed an acquittal.
It cannot be necessary here to repeat that the popular idea of quick or not quick with child is founded in error;[[57]] yet as Acts of Parliament are not often drawn, and seldom even reviewed previous to their passing, by those whose profession, science, trade, or business, would best enable them to convey their meaning with distinctness; and as penal statutes must be construed strictly, and according to the ordinary and obvious meaning of the words, we must be content to recognise a distinction in law which does not exist in nature. There is, however, another peculiarity in the two sections which are founded on this distinction of quick or not quick, which calls for immediate attention; in the first of these, that which applies to women quick with child, and in which the offence is made a capital felony, there is no mention of using any instrument or other means whatever, but the crime is confined to administering any deadly poison, or other noxious and destructive substance or thing; while in the clause against the minor offence the use of instruments or other means whatsoever is expressly included. Now we shall have occasion hereafter to show that medicines internally administered can seldom produce abortion, but that the effect can be infallibly secured by instruments; the most probable mode therefore of committing the crime appears to be protected by the most penal clause.
A case[[58]] on this point is inserted in the Edinburgh Medical Journal for April, 1810; we entirely concur in the sentiment of the editors; “we cannot,” they say, “avoid remarking the apparent inconsistency of the law of England, in having no statute to punish its actual perpetration by the only certain means of effecting it, while it punishes by death, without benefit of clergy, the attempting it by means which are very seldom effectual. Thus Pizzy was tried for attempting to cause Ann Cheney to abort, by giving her medicines, which had no effect; and his having actually perpetrated the crime by mechanical violence, was only brought forward as proving the intention with which the medicines were given.”[[59]] The act therefore requires amendment, framed however with such care, that the necessary practice of procuring premature labour by qualified practitioners may be defended, while the immoral and criminal use of instrumental abortion may be adequately punished.
PHYSIOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.
Abortion.
Abortion[[60]] may be procured by the administration of powerful medicines, or by the application of mechanical violence, such as blows, or pressure on the abdomen; or by the introduction of sharp instruments into the uterus, so as to rupture the membranes. We shall offer a few remarks upon each of these several modes of accomplishing the criminal object in question. From a very early period attempts have been made to devise means of procuring abortion by the administration of certain drugs, which were considered as capable of acting specifically upon the womb, and of occasioning the exclusion of its contents. It would be idle to enumerate the various substances which have, at different times, been employed for such a purpose, not a few of which were derived from the fertile sources of credulity and superstition; and yet we are bound to admit, that upon this occasion at least, credulity has proved a blessing to mankind, by suggesting the substitution of a harmless amulet, or an inefficacious drug, for an application of extreme violence and danger, and, perhaps of death. The physicians of the present age disclaim the existence of any specific class of abortives, but we are ready to admit that the administration of violent medicines, by involving the uterus in the general shock thus given to the system, will occasion abortion, provided there exist at the same time, a certain predisposition on the part of the female; should this latter condition, however, be wanting, the poculum abortionis may, by the violence of its operation, destroy the life of the unhappy mother, or very materially injure her, without accomplishing the object for which it was administered. In the case of Mrs. Robert Turner, one of the persons poisoned by Elizabeth Fenning, notwithstanding the long and violent sufferings she had experienced during her pregnancy, brought forth a living child at the natural period. On the other hand, a grocer’s wife in Edinburgh, having swallowed by mistake a handful of nitre, suffered abortion in less than half an hour; and in the case of Mrs. Atwood, of Mitcham, who with the rest of her family was poisoned by mushrooms, as already related, (vol. ii, p. 431) although rescued from death, miscarried in consequence of the violence which her general system had sustained.
The medicines more particularly employed for procuring abortion are savine,[[61]] and other irritating drugs, especially those which tend to excite a considerable degree of vascular action; such medicines, likewise, as exert a violent action on the stomach, or bowels, will be likely to produce miscarriage, and are often taken for such purpose in quantities sufficient to produce fatal results. Mr. Burns observes that it is an old remark that those purgatives which occasion much tenesmus, will be more likely to excite the expulsion of the ovum. The strong cathartics, however, which are sometimes taken to promote such an effect, not only act by exciting tenesmus, but likewise by inflaming the stomach and bowels, and thus affect the uterus in two ways. It cannot be too generally known, adds the last mentioned author, that when these medicines do produce abortion the mother will seldom survive their effect. It is a mistaken notion that abortion can be more readily excited by drastic purges, immediately after the woman discovers herself pregnant; on the contrary, the action of the uterus is then more independent of that of the other organs, and is therefore not so easily injured by changes in their condition. Upon the same principle that violent cathartics or emetics operate upon the pregnant uterus, any other sudden shock upon the body will occasion a similar effect on that organ; the extraction of a tooth, for example, has been known to produce abortion. A thunder-storm, or violent cannonade, has been supposed to occasion the same result by the concussion of the air; but Mr. Burns considers it more probable that such an effect is owing to mental trepidation. The influence of the passions upon these occasions, such as fear and joy, especially if suddenly produced, is too well known to require a comment, and it has been too often artfully excited for criminal purposes. The same observation will apply to other violent impressions upon the body, such as that occasioned by rapid and uneasy travelling, dancing,[[62]] walking, &c. Blood-letting also, if carried to any extent, will be liable to occasion miscarriage. Belloc relates a case in which these means were criminally used for such a purpose; the woman was bled by a medical practitioner, when, after his departure, the bandage was removed, and a farther quantity of blood taken. But all the modes above related were soon discovered not only to be highly dangerous to the woman, but extremely precarious in their results; and hence a practice appears to have early originated of ensuring the exclusion of the ovum by the more direct and certain method of introducing a stillet, or some sharp-pointed instrument into the uterus; an allusion to an instrument of this kind was made on the trial of Charles Angus (vol. ii, p. 177) and was described as a silver tube with a slide, at the end of which was a dart with three points. Ovid[[63]] appears to allude to this operation in the following passage.
——“sine crescere nata.
Est pretium parvæ non leve vita moræ.
Vestra quid effoditis subjectis viscera telis;
Et nondum natis dira venena datis.”?
The practice is also reprobated by Tertullian,[[64]] who has described the instrument with which the operation of penetrating the ovular membranes was performed, “est etiam æeneum spiculum quo jugulatio ipsa dirigitur, cæco latrocinio εμβρυοσφακτην appellant, utique viventis infantis peremptorium.”
It is hardly necessary to remark that such an operation, unless performed by a skilful surgeon, will be very liable to endanger the life of the female. Guy Patin relates the case of a midwife who was hanged at Paris for occasioning the death of a lady in that city, by an attempt to procure abortion by this method. On her trial she said she had frequently practised it with success; but, in this case it seems, the instrument had pierced the body of the uterus, instead of passing through the os internum. We have already noticed a parallel case which occurred at Durham, see page [72].
In cases of criminal abortion the medical practitioner may be called upon to deliver an opinion upon the circumstances of the case. The data from which he is to draw his conclusions have been already fully investigated in different parts of this work. We must therefore refer the reader to the Physiological Illustrations of Conception and Parturition, vol. i, p. 230, and to our directions for conducting the dissection of the uterus, vol. iii, p. [67], for the solution of the different problems to which the consideration of the subject may give origin.
INFANTICIDE.
In cases of alleged infanticide, the evidence of the forensic physician is of the highest importance, and as his opinion upon such an occasion must necessarily go far to influence the judgment, and direct the verdict of the jury, he should be fully prepared to appreciate the difficulties of the case, and to clear away the numerous fallacies, and popular prejudices with which the subject is embarrassed. To Dr. William Hunter, the profession and the public owe the deepest obligation, for the philosophical and humane manner in which he examined the general value of physiological testimony in proof of the commission of child-murder. Previous to this enlightened dissertation[[65]] it is to be greatly feared that many unfortunate women had fallen the innocent victims of false theory and prejudice. The objections, however, so forcibly urged by Dr. Hunter against the validity of certain physiological tests, although well calculated to awaken inquiry, in order to divest such evidence of its fallacy, were not intended, as some have imagined, to discard physiological testimony altogether. With this conviction, we shall proceed to a critical examination of the various proofs which physiology has been supposed capable of affording, in support of an accusation of infanticide.
The objects of this inquiry may be conveniently arranged under four divisions, viz.
1. To ascertain whether the child was born alive?
2. If born alive, whether its death was the result of natural causes; of wilful murder; or of negligence and abandonment?
3. If its death arose from the want of due care, whether such negligence should be regarded as criminal or accidental?
4. Whether the woman accused presents on examination, such appearances as correspond with her supposed relations to the child?
Upon each of these heads we shall offer such observations as appear to us to be essential to ensure the safe judgment of the practitioner. Several of the questions, involved in the inquiry, have already engaged our attention in the first volume of the present work, under the history of conception; while the industry with which the numerous authorities on the subject of infanticide, and its scientific relations, have been lately collated by Dr. Hutchinson,[[66]] in England, and Professor Capuron, in France, will justify us in giving to this branch of our work the character of a commentary, rather than that of a regular history.
On the discovery of the body of a newly-born infant, it becomes our first duty to ascertain whether the spark of life be entirely extinct; if the sensible proofs of absolute death should be absent, no time is to be lost in subjecting it to those means[[67]] which are best calculated to excite it to vigorous life, such as external warmth, frictions, inflation of the lungs, &c.
Having satisfied ourselves that the child is dead, we are to proceed to such inquiries, as may enable us to furnish the best possible evidence on the case, in a court of judicature, viz.
1. To ascertain whether the Child was born alive?
In the absence of all direct testimony, our investigation is to be conducted upon principles very similar to those which we have already recommended in those obscure cases of death in which “the person is found dead, and the history of his dissolution is unknown.” See vol. iii, p. [2]. The appearances of the corpse—the character of the spot in which it was found—the report of competent witnesses—and the phenomena displayed on dissection, are, in both cases, the circumstances from which we are to elicit data for the solution of our difficult problem.
A. The inspection of the body of the infant. By this we are first to learn, whether it had arrived at that degree of maturity which is essential for enabling it to sustain an independent existence—“etoit il viable?”[[68]] If it can be fairly shewn that the child had not reached the end of the seventh month of uterine gestation, the charge of infanticide ought to be withdrawn, although we are well aware that various opinions might be cited in support of a contrary position. (See Physiological Illustrations, vol. i, p. 243.) The weight of the child is a circumstance which should always be ascertained, as being capable of throwing some light on the question at issue. If the fœtus has passed the period of seven months, it will generally weigh four pounds, although upon this point again a difference of opinion has unfortunately existed.[[69]]
The length of the fœtus, at the full term, is said to vary less than its weight. It is generally from nineteen to twenty-two inches. Seventeen and twenty-six will include the two extremes. Professor Chaussier has presented us with a scale of relative admeasurements, from which he thinks we may deduce the age of a child. He asserts that at the full term of gestation, the middle of the body of the fœtus corresponds exactly with the umbicus; at the eighth month it is two or three centimeters higher; that it approaches still nearer the sternum at the seventh month; and at the sixth falls exactly at the abdominal extremity of that bone.[[70]] If this statement is to be relied upon, we should be able to conclude, says Dr. Smith, that when the middle of the length of the body falls at the cartilago ensiformis, the fœtus must be under the seventh month, and consequently could not have continued to live after birth.
The surface of the fœtus will moreover present an appearance, arising from its great vascularity, which is very characteristic of its immaturity; the red hue, however, to which we more particularly allude, is not acquired until the vessels have attained a certain capacity, and the circulation a considerable degree of vigour; and it is worthy of remark that the appearance becomes again obscure, as the developement of the fœtus advances, from the increasing opacity of the integuments, but in those parts where the deposition of fat in the cellular membrane is wanting, the redness will remain conspicuous, as in the palms of the hands, or in the soles of the feet. The head still maintains an unjust proportion to the rest of the body; the bones of which it consists are extremely soft and yielding; and, on account of the extent of the fontanelles, the connection between them is extremely imperfect. The eye-lids are closed; the hair on the eye-brows and the eye-lashes but thinly scattered; the pupil is generally closed by a membrane; the nails are wanting, or scarcely apparent. The sexual organs will also afford some characteristic appearances. In the male, the testes, between the sixth and eighth month are in progress towards the scrotum; at the end of the seventh they are not yet found there. The scrotum is generally of a bright red colour. In females the vulva is projecting, and the labia separated by the protuberance of the clitoris.
The general external appearance of a fœtus may, moreover, indicate the important fact of its having been retained in the uterus after its death. Lecieux observes that the ordinary term which it remains in the womb, in this state, is from five to twenty days; and that, according to the length of this period, the body will have lost more or less of its consistence and firmness; the limbs become lax, and the muscles are readily torn; the epidermis may be removed by the slightest friction; the skin also assumes a purplish, or brownish-red colour; there is often some bloody serum effused in the cellular tissue, just beneath the skin, especially about the cranium;[[71]] the umbilical cord is large in circumference, soft, infiltrated with serum, livid, and is very readily torn; the thorax is flattened, the head falls into different shapes, and becomes flattened from its own weight; the membranes which serve as a bond of union to the several bones of the cranium, are much relaxed. The brain is in a nearly fluid state, and emits a fetid odour.
We should next proceed to a more minute and particular inspection of the external appearances; for which purpose the body should be cleansed from the dirt and impurities with which it may be invested, taking care to notice upon this occasion, whether the surface be covered with that sebaceous matter usually present on the skin of newly-born infants, and whether any mud or other matter, capable of stopping the mouth and nostrils be found about them. The head should also be shaved, in order that the fontanelles and sutures may be carefully examined with a view to ascertain whether any injury had been committed on the brain through these avenues. A midwife was executed at Paris for having introduced fine and sharp wires into these parts, before the heads of the unfortunate infants were expelled from the vagina, and consequently before respiration could have taken place. Every appearance of ecchymosis, or wound, should be inspected with attention, in order that its true character may be verified; and upon this occasion it will be important to bear in mind that on the surface of dead bodies, especially on those parts on which they have lain, superficial livid marks, arising from stagnation of blood in the small vessels of the skin will very generally present themselves, and which have received the name of sugillations, in contradistinction to that of ecchymoses, which are produced during the life of the individual. As the people, observes Dr. Hutchinson, are apt to regard the former of these discolourations as signs of violence, and as such propositions have even been maintained in courts of judicature, it is highly essential to obviate the possibility of litigation on this point, by removing a layer of the skin where such lividness is present, to shew that it is confined to this organ, and is not attended with infiltration of blood in the cellular tissue.
The appearance of wounds inflicted during life will vary according to the length of time the subject has survived. If death takes place immediately, they will present red and bloody surfaces, with ecchymosis. Should life have lingered for some hours, their edges will be somewhat tumid and retracted, and the surrounding skin will display a reddish appearance; clots of blood may also exist in them, and these will be found to adhere to their surfaces. In those cases in which several days elapse before death, they may appear bedewed with purulent matter. Dr. Hutchinson very justly remarks that wounds, made when the circulation has ceased, and the body become cold; and when the blood has coagulated in the vessels, and the muscles have become rigid, may be known to have been inflicted after death by the pallid appearance of their surfaces, and by the total absence of tumefaction and retraction; such wounds, moreover, never contain any adherent clots of blood, and there is no surrounding ecchymosis. These characters may not perhaps be quite so distinct, where the violence has been effected immediately after death, while the body is still warm, the blood fluid, and the muscles endowed with contractility; yet in this latter case there will neither appear tumefaction, nor ecchymosis; and the blood, which may have oozed from the divided surfaces, will remain fluid, or form clots not adherent to them.
Contusions, effected during life, are always accompanied with more or less of ecchymosis; and, if produced by severe external violence, the skin will necessarily be involved in the injury. When ecchymosis is superficial, and the subject outlives its course, its progress and decline present highly characteristic phenomena; at first the injured surface presents a spot of a red, or bluish colour; this spot which is formed by the blood infiltrated into the cellular tissue, soon assumes a deep livid, or leaden hue; it then after a few days becomes, successively, violet, yellowish, and terminates by a pale citron colour. It is generally seven or eight days before it disappears. These characters will always enable the anatomist to distinguish contusions made during life, from those occurring after death.
The state of the cervical vertebræ should also be carefully examined, for the death of the infant may have been occasioned by a fatal luxation, produced perhaps by some sudden contortion of the neck. Any marks of pressure, or violence about this part should therefore be carefully noted; and it will be obviously more convenient to examine the spine, before the large cavities of the bodies are exposed; and which may be accomplished in the following manner. After dissecting the soft parts from the vertebræ, the dorsal parts may be readily removed by scissars, while the apophyses of the true vertebræ can be very easily cut through. The practitioner will thus be enabled to estimate the nature and extent of any wound, or laceration, or effusion of blood, that may be discovered in connection with the spinal marrow. The appearance and condition of the umbilical cord should also be examined before any of the great cavities are laid open; for it is obvious where a ligature has not been properly applied to it, death may have arisen as the result of hemorrhage from this part. Other reasons also exist which render such an inspection of the greatest importance.
Phœnomena displayed on the dissection of the internal parts.
The ample directions which have been already offered upon this subject, (vol. iii, p. [45]) will in a great degree supersede the necessity of very minute details on the present occasion. There are, however, some few phenomena that exclusively relate to the evidence of infanticide, and must accordingly receive a due share of our attention. Certain peculiarities, moreover, exist in the mode of conducting the dissection of an infant, which demand some explanation.
Cavities of the mouth, œsophagus, larynx, and trachea.
It will be adviseable to commence our incision through the integuments, from the under lip to the top of the sternum, passing quite through the former part; another incision is to follow the inferior margin of the lower jaw; then the triangular portions thus marked out are to be separated from the parts beneath; the head should be bent back in order to put the soft parts that are to come under the knife upon the stretch. The jaw may now be divided at its symphysis, so as to separate it into two lateral portions, which may be turned aside by dividing with a scalpel all the parts which adhere to its internal surface. The object of this arrangement is to bring into view the cavities of the mouth, œsophagus, larynx, and trachea, the condition of which is so frequently connected with the death of the child that they ought never to escape examination. The position of the tongue should be noticed, and the contents of the mouth, if any, ought to be recorded, for cases have occurred in which extraneous matters, such as mud, sand, feathers, &c. have been accidentally, or criminally introduced. It will at the same time be extremely proper to ascertain the state of the nasal cavities, and to observe the quantity and consistence of the mucus in these parts, as well as in the fauces. The tongue may now be gradually pulled downwards, until the isthmus of the fauces is stretched, when, by cutting through the arch of the palate, the whole of the pharynx will be exposed; the dissection should then be extended in order to bring the commencement of the œsophagus into view, which should be carefully examined. The position of the epiglottis is the next object of inspection; and lastly, the interior of the larynx and trachea may be disclosed by making an incision through the thyroid, crycoid, and tracheal cartilages, at their anterior parts. Ligatures should be placed on the lower parts of the œsophagus and trachea.
Thoracic cavity. Having accomplished the examination above described, we may proceed to expose the cavities of the thorax and abdomen, in the manner already explained, (vol. iii, p. [52]) remembering always that, by carelessly wounding the thoracic viscera, we shall, in a great degree, defeat the objects of the dissection; on this account it will be advisable to make the division of the ribs with scissars, instead of a scalpel. From the examination of these cavities we shall, in the first place, derive a confirmation, or refutation, of the opinion respecting the maturity, or viabilité of the subject, which the external view of the body had suggested. Previous to the end of the seventh month the heart will be found exceeding in size its just proportions, and without much difference of capacity between the auricles and ventricles. The lungs will appear small, solid, and retracted from the anterior part of the cavity. In the abdomen we shall find the liver very considerable in size, and situated near the umbilicus, from which it afterwards gradually recedes as the fœtus advances. The gall-bladder will be found to contain a nearly colourless serous fluid, which during the eighth month gradually becomes yellowish, and acquires a bitter taste. If the appearances above described be compared with those which are displayed on the dissection of a full grown fœtus, we shall be able to form a very just estimate of the value of an anatomical investigation, in discovering the term of its intra-uterine or fœtal life. But, by the inspection of the thoracic organs, we endeavour to derive an inference still more important; the state of the lungs is supposed to be capable of indicating whether respiration have ever been performed; and, consequently, whether the child was born alive. It is affirmed that the lungs of the fœtus are small, not filling the cavities of the chest, or covering the pericardium; dense; compact; of a deep-red, or chocolate colour, not unlike that of the liver; carrying but little blood, and having a specific gravity exceeding that of fresh water, and, consequently, sinking in that fluid. Upon cutting into them no air will be emitted, nor will any blood follow the incision. When, however, respiration has been established, these organs become more voluminous, present a yielding elastic texture, and assume a florid-red colour; they, moreover, contain and transmit a larger quantity of blood, and have a specific gravity less than that of fresh water, and accordingly float in it. On cutting into the lungs, under these circumstances, the air contained in their cells will escape, and produce a peculiar crackling noise, which has been well expressed by the term crepitating; a bloody fluid will at the same time exude.
That a change in the character of the pulmonary structure so important as that just described should have attracted the notice of the physiologist, and been eagerly seized, as evidence in proof of the infant having respired, and therefore been born alive, cannot be a matter of surprise; and we accordingly find that the hydrostatic test long enjoyed the unreserved confidence of the profession and the public. Whenever an infant was found dead, under circumstances of doubt and suspicion, its lungs were removed from the body, and immersed in water; if they sank, the subject of the experiment was immediately declared to have been still-born. If, on the contrary, they floated, it was concluded without farther enquiry, that the infant had lived after its birth. The aphorism of Baglivi may be received as an expression of the general feeling so long entertained upon this subject. “Pulmones fœtus mortui in utero matris, si extrahantur, et in aqua ponantur, petunt fundum; mortui vero extra uterum et aqua injecti innatent in ea. Quod signum ad infanticidia detegenda est evidentissimum.”[[72]] The number of innocent females who may have been thus sacrificed through a physiological conceit, is a circumstance that must excite the most awful reflection.[[73]] It is now well ascertained, and as generally admitted, that the validity of the hydrostatic test, as usually applied, must afford very unquestionable indications. Bohn,[[74]] Hoffman,[[75]] and Heister,[[76]] have shewn that the lungs of a fœtus, born dead, will under some circumstances, to be hereafter explained, float in water; while those of one that has lived after its birth may sink in the same fluid. Dr. Gordon Smith is inclined to attribute some of the uncertainty, by which the minds of medical men have been obscured with regard to the pulmonary tests, to confusion in the method of conducting the experiment, for there is, says he, but one order in which the steps can be taken, and if the anatomist should inadvertently resort to one stage of the process before another that should have preceded, he will baffle his own efforts. In commencing an examination of the thoracic organs, we should, previous to the disturbance of the parts, notice whether any morbid appearances present themselves, such as adhesions between the lungs and the pleura costalis, &c. We should at the same time observe whether the lungs be collapsed, or dilated, and whether they cover the lateral parts of the pericardium. We then proceed to separate the pulmonary organs from the body, in order to submit them to the hydrostatic test, to which we have adverted. For the performance of this dissection, Dr. Hutchinson has given us so many complete and satisfactory directions, that we shall here introduce them for the instruction of the forensic physician. “Ligatures must be placed on the aorta and venæ cavæ, near their attachment to the heart; the trachea is then to be removed close to the bronchiæ; the vessels cut beyond the ligatures; and the heart and lungs, attached together, removed from the cavity of the thorax. If bloody, they should be cleansed with a sponge; and then the colour of the lungs, their consistence and elasticity, and their state with regard to healthy structure, be distinctly noticed, without compressing them forcibly, or lacerating in any way their structure. If the body generally be in a state of putrid decomposition, it should be ascertained whether the lungs are also thus affected, and in what degree. A livid colour from congestion of dark coloured blood in the minute vessels, should not be mistaken for gangrene; an appearance of this kind seems often to have the same origin as the lividness of the surface of dead bodies. The lungs are to be turned with the bronchial trunks downwards, that any fluid which may be contained in these tubes may flow out; and whatever escapes from them should be preserved in a clean vessel. These organs are then to be weighed in conjunction with the heart. A vessel, of a foot or a little more in diameter, and of at least a foot and a half in depth, is to be filled to the height of not less than a foot with pure fresh, and if possible, river water, the temperature of which should be nearly equal to that of the air, unless this be very cold or very hot. The lungs and heart, still attached together, are to be placed in a gentle manner in this water. It must then be remarked, whether they float near the surface, or sink to the bottom; whether they fall suddenly, or descend slowly; whether the lungs turn uppermost, and float near the surface of the water, or about the middle of the fluid.
The heart is now to be separated from the lungs, having previously applied a ligature to the pulmonary vessels, to prevent the escape of the blood they may contain; and the weight of the heart alone then determined, that it may be subtracted from that of the heart and lungs together, as previously ascertained. The lungs are now to be placed alone in the water, and great attention must be paid to the position they assume in it; that is, whether they sink rapidly or slowly, or float near the surface; whether, by reversing their vertical situation in the water, they sink more readily or with more difficulty; and, if any part constantly rises and is drawn under water by the rest, this part should be particularly marked.
The two lobes must be separated, and the above-mentioned experiment made with each distinctly, and any difference in the results remarked; if one lobe float, and the other sink, it should be noticed whether it is the right or left that floats. Each lobe is then to be cut into several pieces, taking care not to confuse those of the right with those of the left.”
Having examined the physiological principles upon which the hydrostatic test is established, and explained the manner in which it is to be conducted, it remains for us to enumerate the several objections which have been urged against its validity.
1. A fœtus may breathe as soon as its head is without the vagina, and immediately die.—This is one of the great arguments adduced by Dr. Hunter;[[77]] “a child,” says he, “will very commonly breathe as soon as its mouth is born, or protruded from the mother, and in that case may lose its life before its body be born; especially when there happens to be a considerable interval of time between what we may call the birth of the child’s head, and the protrusion of its body. And, if this may happen when the best assistance is at hand, it is still more likely to happen where there is none; that is, where the woman is delivered by herself;” and he adds, “if a child makes but one gasp, and instantly dies, the lungs will swim in water as readily as if it had breathed longer, and had then been strangled.” This opinion, however, must not be received without qualification. We admit that under such circumstances a portion of the lungs will become inflated, and therefore swim in water; but it would appear from the more precise and comprehensive views of later physiologists, that respiration is not completely performed on the first effort, but that it is a process gradually advancing to perfection; and that it will be more or less protracted according to the degree of vigour of which the infant is possessed. Portal has shewn by experiments[[78]] that the air enters the right lung sooner than the left, and that the left lobe is very often not at all dilated for several days. The same fact was observed by Blancardi.[[79]] Dr. Hutchinson states that he was informed by a late physician to the Foundling-hospital at Naples, who opened daily, on an average, the bodies of ten or twelve infants, which had generally died within twenty-four hours after birth, that he hardly ever found more than a very small portion of the lungs dilated by air; this portion was frequently not larger than a walnut in its green shell, and but rarely larger than a hen’s egg, and it was commonly situate in the right lung.[[80]] “I have seen,” continues the author above cited, “a case where the right lobe, when separated from the left, sank in water, though this was the most dilated by respiration, and the infant had lived forty hours, and cried pretty strongly: but it died from suffocation by being overlaid, as it is popularly termed, by the mother, which had produced such an engorgement of blood in the lungs, as to counterbalance the influence which the small quantity of air they contained could have exerted on their specific gravity. A piece somewhat more than a cubic inch in volume was the greatest portion that in this case floated in water.”
2. The lungs may have been artificially inflated.—It is so generally known, observes Dr. Hunter, that a child born apparently dead may be brought to life by inflating its lungs, that the mother herself, or some other person, might have tried the experiment. It might even have been done with a most diabolical intention of bringing about the condemnation of the mother. There exists not a doubt but that such an operation would impart buoyancy to the lungs, although the fact has been doubted. Camper, Jager, Schmitt, and Buttner decided the question by numerous experiments.
3. The lungs may float, in consequence of putrefaction.—We have stated on a former occasion that the buoyancy of the human body is materially influenced by the putrefactive process, (vol. ii, p. 40.) Haller procured the lungs of a child that died before its birth. They were of a dark red colour, and both when entire, and when cut in pieces, sank in water. A portion being left to putrefy in water, the colour became brighter, it was covered with air bubbles, ascended gradually as the process of putrefaction advanced, and at length reached the surface, where it continued to float. But in answer to the objection which such a fact would seem to oppose to the validity of the hydrostatic test, let it be remembered that the lungs are particularly unsusceptible of the putrefactive process, and resist it longer than any of the soft parts. So that the body must be very far advanced in decomposition before the lungs are found to participate in it. Camper instituted a number of experiments upon infants, at Amsterdam, by exposing their bodies to the action of water, as well as to that of air, and his results fully confirm the fact we have just stated. Ballard was called upon to examine a child, the muscles of whose face were reduced to “boulli”—were in a state of solution—and in which putrefaction had advanced so far as even to prevent discrimination of the sex, notwithstanding which the lungs immediately sunk. If we make incisions into these organs, when in a state of advanced putrefaction, we shall observe air bubbles of a considerable size, and running in lines along the fissures, between the component lobuli of the lungs; where such phenomena present themselves we may be assured, says Dr. Hunter, that the air is emphysematous, and not that which has been introduced by respiration; for, in this latter case, the air bubbles will be hardly visible to the naked eye. But there still remains another mode by which we may determine whether the gas diffused in the texture of the pulmonary organs be the effect of respiration, or decomposition. It consists in pressing portions of the lungs between the fingers, or twisting them in a folded cloth, with all the force we can command; when, should the gas have arisen from putrefaction, the portions thus treated will sink in water; a change which no force, however powerful, will effect in those cases where the gaseous distention has arisen from respiration.
From the view which we have taken of the hydrostatic test, and of the objections which have been urged against its validity, the practitioner will be enabled to appreciate its importance. Plouquet, desirous of procuring additional evidence, respecting the existence of respiration, from the condition of the pulmonary organs, proposed a test founded on the absolute weight of the lungs compared with that of the body. Respiration produces two important changes in them—by inflating their texture it diminishes their specific gravity; and by promoting a determination of blood to their vessels, it increases their absolute weight; upon the former of these changes, the hydrostatic test is founded, as we have already explained; on the latter, Professor Plouquet endeavoured to found his “Nova Docimasia Pulmonaris,” which is now very generally known by the name of Plouquet’s test, or assay. The blood-vessels, observes this distinguished physiologist, being collapsed and compressed in the lungs of the fœtus, admit only a small portion of blood; but after respiration, being dilated, and extended, and more free in the expanded lungs, they receive a greater quantity; in consequence of which they become still farther expanded, and of greater calibre. As this increased capacity of the vessels is necessarily permanent, a greater quantity of blood will remain after death in the arteries and veins, and more especially in the latter, than in the lungs of those infants who have never respired, and consequently the absolute weight of the lungs must be increased.
In conformity with these views, Plouquet found on examination, that the body of a male infant, born dead, and which had not respired, weighed 53040 grains, the lungs inclusive; and that these latter organs alone weighed 792 grains; the proportion of the lungs to the body, in weight, was therefore in this case as 1 to 67. In another infant, under similar circumstances, he found the proportion as 1 to 70. On examining an infant, born at the full period, and which had respired, the proportion was found to be as 2 to 70, so that the weight of the lungs was absolutely doubled by the act of respiration.
It would be a loss of time to enumerate the different objections which have been urged against the validity of this test, on various grounds, many of which admit of an easy answer. It is sufficient to state that experiments, subsequent to those of Plouquet, by Haartman,[[81]] Struve,[[82]] Schmitt, and Lecieux,[[83]] have shewn that no constant relation between the weight of the lungs and that of the body, under the circumstances above mentioned, can be established. The reason of which, as Dr. Hutchinson has justly observed, without considering the influence of variation in the original construction of the body, is sufficiently accounted for, by the great diversity in the manner in which respiration is established in new-born infants. We have already stated that, in a great proportion of them, it is but gradually and slowly effected; and that several days even may elapse before the lungs are fully dilated. Dr. Gordon Smith[[84]] is disposed to believe that data might be obtained for a just conclusion upon this point, if practitioners would institute farther inquiry into the subject; and, with this impression, he has been induced to enter more fully into the history of the test, than we deem necessary, believing as we do, that it can never afford evidence sufficiently decisive for practical application. Daniel has proposed a modification of Plouquet’s test, but which is more objectionable even than that which he professes to improve. The same physiologist considers that an inference may be drawn from the increased circumference of the thorax, and the vaulted appearance it assumes after respiration. The objections urged by Dr. Hutchinson to these latter indications appear to us to be unanswerable; the circumference of the thorax, says he, varies so much in infants of the same age and sex, both absolutely and in proportion to other parts of their body, that it cannot be possible to obtain any decisive evidence from it. The vaulted appearance of the chest is almost equally fallacious in the generality of cases, or else it is devoid of utility; because the figure of the thoracic parietes is not much changed until respiration has been fully established, and then we have other and more certain means of detecting its existence. Besides which, it appears from the experiments of Schmitt, that the thoracic parietes were distended outwards by artificial insufflation after death, as much as they are by actual respiration as it occurs in the new-born infant. With these remarks we shall dismiss the subject of Docimasia Pulmonaris, and proceed to inquire whether the structure of the heart is capable of affording any useful indications. There can be no doubt but that, some time after birth, we shall find on inspecting the heart, evident marks of the altered course of the circulation. The foramen ovale will be closed, and in extending our examination, we shall find that the ductus arteriosus and canalis venosus, have collapsed and assumed the appearance of imperforated ligaments; but it must be remembered that such changes require some time for their completion, and in cases where the child has perished shortly after its birth, we do not believe that the alteration in structure will be sufficiently obvious to afford any information of practical application. The degree of importance which is to be attached to the arched state of the diaphragm has been already appreciated. The empty state of the urinary bladder and intestines has been alluded to by some authors, as affording a degree of presumptive evidence, since the evacuation of the urine from the former, and that of the meconium from the latter, are performed by most living children soon after birth. We are, however, inclined to attach but very little importance to such indications; and with regard to the meconium, every practitioner in midwifery knows well that it is frequently evacuated by the pressure of the maternal parts on the child during its passage through the pelvis; especially in breech presentations.
The stomach and intestines ought, in every case, to be considered as important objects of examination. It is possible that the trace of some aliment may be discovered, if so, no further proof can be required as to the child having lived. If any thing more than simple mucous fluid exist in the stomach, it should be examined by chemical tests. This remark, which we owe to Dr. Hutchinson, applies especially to the possibility of poison having been exhibited; and on this point the mucous membrane of the stomach will furnish useful evidence. If there should appear any fluid in this viscus, resembling water, it will be necessary to examine its nature, and to ascertain if any vegetable matters be present in it, such as portions of weeds, straw, &c. In our examination we should always keep in mind the possibility of the child having been destroyed by drowning, strangulation, poisoning, and the infliction of wounds, subjects which we have already so fully discussed in the second volume of our work, that we do not consider it necessary to dwell upon them in this place.
The cranial cavity.—For the examination of this part Dr. Hutchinson has given us some very minute and valuable instructions, of which we shall avail ourselves. The cranial cavity, he observes, should be exposed, by making, in the first instance, an incision through the integuments of the skull, penetrating to the bone, from the root of the nose to the spinous process of the second or third cervical vertebra; another incision of the same kind should extend from one ear to the other, passing transversely over the summit of the head. Each of the four triangular portions of integuments thus formed, should then be detached from the cranium, beginning at their apex and terminating at their base. The temporal and occipital muscles should then be separated in a similar manner. After examining the state of the cranium, the bones may be removed by dividing the membranous connection between the parietal, frontal, temporal, and occipital bones, with scissars. This, however, should be done without lesion of the vessels of the brain, or of the venous sinuses; in order to avoid the lateral sinus which always contains fluid blood, and which is situated very near the mastoidean angle of the parietal bone, Dr. Hutchinson directs the anatomist, when the point just indicated is approached, to deviate a little from the membrane, and to cut the parietal bone itself near its margin. In the first place, the view of the brain will afford presumptive evidence of its age; previous to the termination of the sixth month it will appear as a soft mass, equally white throughout its whole extent; in the eighth month the cerebral substance will have acquired more consistence, its interior will present a reddish colour, although its surface still remains white. The pia mater, which in the earlier stages seemed only to be over its surface, will now be found adherent to it; and some of those grooves and undulations become apparent, which afterwards constitute the circumvolutions. In pursuing the dissection of the brain, the practitioner must be careful in noting every morbid appearance, such as congestions, extravasations, &c., for the cause of death may have arisen from the injured structure of these parts.
C. The character of the spot in which the body was found will often afford presumptive evidence of considerable weight, but in availing ourselves of its indications, we must cautiously avoid the fallacies to which it may give origin; to some of which we shall have occasion to refer at a future period of the investigation. We next proceed to the consideration of the several problems involved in the second division of our inquiry, viz.
II. Whether, supposing the child to have been born alive, its death was the result of natural causes, of wilful violence, or of negligence and abandonment?
If sufficient proof should have been obtained that the child was born alive, we have to inquire into the causes of its death; upon which the anatomical dissection will have thrown some light, and in a great measure, prepared our decision. Medical writers on the subject of infanticide have very judiciously considered the modes of violent death in new-born children, as divisible into two great classes, viz. those of omission, and those of commission. It will be convenient for us, on the present occasion, to arrange our remarks with reference to such a division.
Death by omission.—For want of due care the child may perish during, or immediately subsequent to, the labour. It may die from suffocation caused by the viscid mucus naturally existing about the pharynx and glottis in newly-born infants getting into the trachea, especially if the infant has lain on its back for some time after its delivery; or suffocation may be occasioned by the discharge of blood from the mother, or by the wet linen over it, collapsing and excluding the air, or by being drawn close to its mouth and nose by the suction of breathing. Children are, moreover, often born with a portion of the membranes over the face, which, if not removed, must impede respiration. In some cases strangulation is produced by the umbilical cord; the livid circle therefore round the neck, which without due consideration, might seem to afford a proof of criminal violence, is to be regarded with reference to the probability of such an occurrence; it is possible, adds Dr. Hutchinson, that the navel-string may be twisted round the neck of the infant, but loosely, until the body is nearly expelled; and then, if the placenta be firmly retained in the uterus, it may become tightened, and cause suffocation. These circumstances may happen when there is no person about the woman to render her proper assistance; and, therefore, careful examination is necessary, in order to ascertain, if, with the livid circle round the neck, there are marks of nails, or points of fingers, or excoriation of the skin. The breadth of the mark, also, and whether or not it makes a complete circle, with the ends exactly meeting, and without deviating from this circle, should be carefully noticed; the latter circumstances conjoined cannot arise from a natural twisting of the navel string. The livid part should be carefully dissected, in order to ascertain if there are ruptured blood-vessels corresponding to it, whether the trachea or larynx be flattened, or their cartilaginous rings laterally compressed; for it is asserted that such injuries never can occur from the natural twisting of the navel string. The practitioner will be enabled by the foregoing remarks to appreciate the value of that indication, upon which the vulgar have ever laid much stress,—the swollen and red appearance of the countenance. Dr. Hunter has made the following judicious observation upon the phenomenon: “when the child’s head or face looks swollen, and very red or black, the vulgar, because hanged people look so, are apt to conclude that it must have been strangled. But those who are in the practice of midwifery know that nothing is more common in natural births; and that the swelling and deep colour disappear gradually, if the child lives but a few days. This appearance is particularly observable in those cases where the navel-string happens to gird the child’s neck, and where its head happens to be born some time before its body.”
A woman suffering labour alone may have the fœtus escape from her, and fall to the ground, on its head, and be thus killed; or she may unexpectedly be seized with pains in situations at once destructive to the child. In the case of infants being found in privies, this circumstance ought not to escape our remembrance. A woman was tried at the Old Bailey for the murder of her child, by dropping it into a privy. She declared that while there for a natural purpose, an uncommon pain took her, the child fell, and she sat some time before she was able to stir. On this occasion, we learn from Dr. Gordon Smith, that a practitioner was examined on the possibility of such an event; who stated that an instance came within his own knowledge, where, while the midwife was playing at cards in the room, the woman was taken suddenly, and the child dropped on the floor. To this the author just cited adds another illustrative case. It recently happened, says he, in the circle of my own acquaintance, that a lady who had borne many children, and must therefore have been alive to the import of uneasiness in the last hours of pregnancy, was sitting in company at dinner, and perfectly free from any consciousness of approaching labour, when she experienced an irresistible impulse to repair to the water-closet. She had scarcely arrived there when she was delivered: now had the place of retirement been differently constructed, this infant might have perished. It will very properly be urged that a woman, on finding what has happened, ought, if her feelings and intentions were honest, to give immediate alarm. This is true, but says Dr. Smith, we must admit, in the first place, the possibility of her not being able to do so, in consequence of the effects of the occurrence on her own person; and, in the next place, it is but just to allow that, although an alarm, after she has fully recovered, might secure her in the case of trial, yet as it can be of no use in restoring the life of the child, the idea of concealment will more naturally arise.
A very remarkable case, in illustration of the subject under discussion, is related by Burnett, in his Treatise on the Criminal Law of Scotland. “It occurred at Aberdeen in September 1804. The girl had become pregnant in circumstances peculiarly disastrous; actuated by the strongest impulse of shame and remorse, she concealed her situation from every one, and ascribed her appearance to cold she had caught. On the day of her delivery she had been to market, and in returning home accidentally slipt her foot, and fell into a mill-pond, where she would have been drowned had she not obtained immediate assistance. She was carried all wet into an adjoining malt-kiln, where there was a large fire, and left under the charge of another woman. The latter having gone out for a very short time, leaving the girl sitting by the fire, found on her return that she had been delivered of a child. The infant was in life, and lying at the extremity of the ashes near the fire. The girl said that her pains came on unexpectedly while sitting by the fire, and that she became insensible and could give no assistance to her child. No violence appeared on the body of the child, but it appeared to have been scorched by the fire, which occasioned its death a few hours thereafter. The prosecutor consented to a petition for banishment.”
The next circumstance which deserves notice under the consideration of the causes of death, by omission, is that of neglecting to divide the navel-string, and to apply a ligature to the infantine portion of it.—With regard to the value of the presumptive proof of criminal intention which such neglect may offer, there are several very weighty objections, and which have been enumerated by Dr. Hutchinson, in the following order. 1. The infant may perish during its birth from hemorrhage from the placenta, or rupture of the navel string, and the mother may, or may not, have divided the latter. 2. The child may have lived after its birth, and the mother may have torn or cut asunder the navel-string, and finding no hemorrhage ensue she has not been led to put a ligature on the infantine portion, and afterwards hemorrhage has taken place from it, from which the infant has died. 3. The mother may discover the hemorrhage in the last mentioned case, and may apply a ligature to the navel string, but too late to preserve the infant’s life. 4. The blood of the mother may be artfully placed about the child, and the navel string left untied; and the mother may wish to have it appear that the infant perished from hemorrhage occurring unknown to her, and that she was not aware of the necessity of tying the navel-string, even though it be found that she had cut it, not torn it asunder with her hands. In the first three cases we shall find, on dissection, evidence of extensive hemorrhage, as indicated by the emptiness of the heart and blood-vessels, paleness of the viscera, &c. In the last case, the proper fulness of the arterial and venous systems will betray the imposture. It is impossible, as Dr. Hutchinson very candidly admits, to trace any rules of general application respecting the first three cases. The decision must be partially founded on various collateral moral circumstances, which come especially within the province of the jury.
A new-born child may perish from exposure to cold. This cause of death will be indicated by the character of the place and circumstances under which its body was found. The appearance of the corpse, upon such an occasion, will also assist our judgment; there will generally be a paleness of the skin, and a vacuity in the superficial vessels. It may perish for want of nourishment. But let it be remembered that new-born children are seldom, or never, famished to death, within a few days of their birth; for they require very little nourishment, and it was formerly the custom to keep them some days from the breast; such an omission, however, if suspected, may be ascertained by examining the stomach, and, at the same time, by deducing from the appearance of the umbilicus,[[85]] the probable period that has elapsed since its birth.
Death by commission.—We have already pointed out the various means by which the death of the newly-born infant is usually accomplished; such as by wounding, suffocating, strangling, poisoning, &c.; and in the course of our work we have so fully considered the phenomena of violent death, that it cannot be necessary, on the present occasion, to expend farther time on their discussion.
The last object of the inquiry, viz. the appearance and condition of the woman’s person, has been also considered under the history of parturition, and the various questions to which it has given origin, vol. i, p. 249.
We have thus then presented to the reader the various avenues of information, which the sciences of anatomy and physiology are capable of disclosing; and it will, we trust, appear evident, that the forensic physician can rarely furnish more than presumptive evidence in the support of cases of imputed child-murder.
With the moral circumstances of the case the medical-jurist can have nothing to do; and yet it is impossible not to inquire whether the deed may not frequently be the result of insanity. Such was the opinion of Dr. Hunter; and we cordially agree with Dr. Smith, that a verdict to this effect might be returned in many cases of this kind with at least as much truth, as in some of suicide. It must not be urged, continues the last mentioned author, that the insanity here is not real because temporary, as long as temporary insanity is so readily admitted in the other case; and we know well that in many instances of the like state of mind, where suicide is unsuccessfully attempted, the supposed lunacy shortly disappears. This plea, however, rarely avails the child-murderer; and yet if the loss of property, or other misfortunes, are to be taken into account as presumptive causes of insanity where there is real evidence of the fact, (the feelings arising from which being the real goad that stings some men to their fate) are we to give a modest female,—one that has probably erred through excess of confidence and attachment—no credit for despair, and distraction, under the anticipation of the infamy that is approaching her?[[86]]
It is stated by several authors, that the period at which puerperal mania and phrenitis supervenes is variable, but that it is seldom, if ever, sooner than the third day; often, not for a fortnight; and, in some cases, not for several weeks after delivery. We must be cautious, however, in not applying this general assertion, to the disparagement of particular cases; for several instances are recorded which furnish striking exceptions to the rule. “In the year 1668 at Aylesbury, a married woman of good reputation being delivered of a child, and not having slept many nights, fell into a temporary phrenzy, and killed her infant in the absence of any company; but, company coming in, she told them she had killed her infant, and there it lay; she was brought to gaol presently, and after some sleep she recovered her understanding, but marvelled how or why she came thither; she was indicted for murder, and upon her trial the whole matter appearing, it was left to the jury with this direction, that if it did appear that she had any use of reason when she did it, they were to find her guilty; but if they found her under a phrenzy, though by reason of her late delivery and want of sleep, they should acquit her; that had there been any occasion to move her to this fact, as to hide her shame, which is ordinarily the case of such as are delivered of bastard children and destroy them; or if there had been jealousy of the husband that the child had been none of his; or if she had hid the infant, or denied the fact, these had been evidences that the phrenzy was counterfeit; but none of these appearing, and the honesty and virtuous deportment of the woman in her health being known to the jury, and many circumstances of insanity appearing, the jury found her not guilty, to the satisfaction of all that heard it.” 1 H. P. C. p. 36. Had this woman been of doubtful character, though innocent, she might have been executed, for want of medical evidence to prove the nature and frequency of puerperal insanity.
OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY, AND PLEAS IN BAR OF EXECUTION.
In the preceding pages we have endeavoured to lay down such rules, and to draw attention to such points, as may enable medical witnesses to assist the ends of Justice in detecting the perpetration of crime; another duty remains: having discovered the guilty, questions may yet arise, as to whether the criminal is or is not a proper subject for the severity of the law; 1st, in respect of natural incapacity, as in the case of infants and idiots a nativitate; 2d, of accidental incapacities, as in lunacy and temporary derangement of intellect. So also it may be a medical question whether a prisoner stands mute of malice, or by the visitation of God; and 3dly, of temporary unfitness for punishment, as where judgment on a female is to be respited, by reason of her pregnancy; to these we shall add the plea of non-identity, for though we have already stated that personal identity does not appear to us to be a subject peculiarly appropriate to medical jurisprudence,[[87]] yet as the greater number of writers on this subject have so considered it, we should not be warranted in omiting all notice of the subject.
“It is clear that an infant above fourteen and under twenty-one is equally subject to capital punishments, as well as others of full age; for it is præsumptio juris, that after fourteen years they are doli capaces, and can discern between good and evil; and if the law should not animadvert upon such offenders by reason of their nonage, the kingdom would come to confusion.[[88]] Experience makes us know, that every day murders,[[89]] bloodsheds, burglaries, larcenies, burning of houses,[[90]] rapes,[[91]] clipping and counterfeiting of money, are committed by youths above fourteen and under twenty-one; and if they should have impunity by reason of such their minority, no man’s life or estate would be safe. In my remembrance, at Thetford, a young lad of sixteen years old was convict for successive wilful burning of three dwelling houses, and in the last of them burning a child to death, and yet had carried the matter so subtilly, that by a false accusation of another person for burning the first house, an innocent person was brought in danger, if it had not been strangely discovered: he had judgment to die, and was executed accordingly.” 1 Hale. P. C. p. 25.
But though above fourteen, criminal incapacity cannot be presumed on the mere pretence of nonage, children considerably under that age may be found doli capaces, and be tried, and even executed accordingly, whenever from peculiar evidence it shall appear that by precocity in vice or intellect they can clearly distinguish right from wrong, malitia supplet ætatem: thus John Dean was executed under the age of nine for arson and murder; and William York, in more modern times, was tried and condemned for murder at ten.[[92]] Seven years of age, or the period of absolute infancy, is probably the limit within which actual crime or sin cannot be imputed morally or legally; (see 1 H. P. C. p. 19; 1 Hawk. P. C. p. 1; 1 Bl. Com. p. 464); but the law of England does not appear to have fixed any determinate period;[[93]] Alfred decreed that none should be punished capitally for theft under twelve years of age. Athelstan enlarged the period till fifteen, (see notes 1 H. P. C. p. 12, 23); but the old standard of twelve appears to have prevailed from the time of Hen. 1; thus in the time of Ed. 1, Adam de Arnhale, æt. 12, was committed to the custody of the marshal for stealing nine shillings at night in the dwelling house; postea habito respecto ad imprisonamentum, quod prædictus Adam habuit, & etiam ad teneram ætatem ejusdem Adæ, eo quod non nisi ætatis 12 annorum, qui talis ætatis judicium ferre non potest, ideo de gratia regis deliberetur, 1 P. C. 24; but he was spared, as Sir M. Hale says, de gratia regis, in respect that he was passed the old standard of twelve years.
If an infant clearly under seven years of age be indicted, the case ought not to go to the jury; but the prisoner should be discharged by the court; for “he cannot be guilty of felony, whatever circumstances of discretion may appear; for ex presumptione juris he cannot have discretion, and no averment shall be received against that presumption;” (1 H. P. C. p. 28) but if it be not apparent that he is under seven, and he have sufficient discretion, then, as in the case mentioned [note [[94]]] the issue may go to the jury; and with their verdict they may find, according to the evidence, that he was under seven years of age; and the court may then discharge him, for it was no felony. 1 H. P. C. 27. Also if the prisoner be above seven, and under twelve years of age, unless there be apparent proof of capacity; but it is safer for the court to discharge him, for his trial can answer no useful purpose; and if he once be a felon convict by the verdict of a jury, though subsequently pardoned, the circumstance will probably give a stamp to his character which is never likely to be effaced. Therefore if the humanity of magistrates and prosecutors does not previously interpose to save children from this peril, and the contamination of a gaol, the discretion of the judge may; and it is fortunate that, in London at least, public munificence, in this as in many other cases, has supplied the want of legislation: the Philanthropic and other similar societies afford a refuge and prospect of amendment for the infant culprit, to them therefore he should be committed.
As the fact of absolute infancy may generally be ascertained by the mere view of the party, and his capacity ascertained by questions propounded by the court, an infant prisoner may, as before stated, be discharged without further trial; not so however in cases of idiotcy, madness, or lunacy, these must be tried by a jury, for they may easily be feigned, and it is therefore by evidence of previous conduct that the question is to be determined, rather than by reference to the prisoner’s demeanor in court, which may probably be counterfeit.
If the prisoner be found to be an idiot, he must be discharged of the indictment, and handed over to safe custody,[[95]] but if he be only lunatic, then other questions arise; first, whether the prisoner is then in a lucid interval, for if he be not, he should not be arraigned at that time; “but the judge in his discretion may discharge the jury of him, and remit him to gaol to be tried after the recovery of his understanding, especially if any doubt appear upon the evidence touching the guilt of the fact, and this in favorem vitæ; and if there be no colour of evidence to prove him guilty, or if there be a pregnant evidence to prove his insanity at the time of the fact committed, then upon the same favor of life and liberty it is fit it should be proceeded in the trial in order to his acquittal and enlargement.” 1 H. P. C. 35.[[96]]
Secondly, if he be then in a lucid interval, and therefore fit to be tried, whether he was so at the time of the act committed, and this must be tried according to the whole evidence both of the fact and the lunacy, on a plea of not guilty.[[97]]
For criminal purposes it is not sufficient that a prisoner have been previously found idiot or lunatic, or the contrary, by inquisition in chancery, 1 H. P. C. p. 33, though the circumstance may create a strong presumption. For there may be a partial insanity which may disqualify a man from the management of his estate, and therefore render him a fit subject for the equitable protection, although he may have a perfect sense of right and wrong in criminal matters, and ought therefore to be responsible for his acts. Personal antipathies and fancied injury are constant subjects of limited insanity; but these ought not to excuse murder; for such a doctrine, by removing the restraints of fear, would constantly convert the passions of hatred and revenge, in themselves limited madness, into absolute insanity.
“He that is non compos mentis and totally deprived of all compassings and imaginations, cannot commit high treason by compassing or imagining the death of the king; for furiosus solo furore punitur; but it must be an absolute madness, and a total deprivation of memory.” Coke, P. C. p. 3; but in Beverly’s case, 4 Rep. 124, he says “Mes in ascun cases non compos mentis poit committe haut treason, comme si il tua, ou offer a tuer le roy.” “This,” says Sir Mathew Hale, “is a safe exception, and I shall not question it, because it tends so much to the safety of the king’s person: but yet the same author (Coke P. C. p. 6) tells us, that though this was anciently thought to be law, yet it is not so now; for such a person as cannot compass the death of the king by reason of his insanity, cannot be guilty of treason within the statute of 25 Ed. 3.” Nothing can be more honourable to the independent impartiality of the English law than such an interpretation, amply illustrated in the cases of Hatfield (27 How. St. Tri.) and others, who had attempted the life of his late Majesty George the 3d; and this more especially, as the king must at all times be more exposed to this species of attack than any other person; for beside the sense of supposed wrong, delay or perversion of justice, exaggerated political feeling,[[98]] or other causes all pointing the maniac to the same object, there is no madness more frequent than fancied greatness; lunatic asylums are filled with imaginary emperors, kings, princes, and nobles, whose only glimmering of reason is to direct their vengeance against the supposed usurpers of their dignities.
“He who is guilty of any crime whatever through his voluntary drunkenness shall be punished for it as much as if he had been sober.” 1 Hawk. P. C. 3. “A drunkard,” says Sir E. Coke, (1 Ins. 247) “who is voluntarius dæmon, hath no privilege thereby.” 4 Bl. Com. 26. But if by continual drunkenness he have become absolutely mad, then the original cause is not referred to, and he may be excused; not so however if there be only a predisposition to temporary madness, and that madness be voluntarily excited by drinking. There are many men, soldiers, who have been severely wounded, in the head especially, who well know that excess makes them mad; but if such persons wilfully deprive themselves of reason, they ought not to be excused one crime by the voluntary perpetration of another.[[99]]
“He who incites a madman (idiot, infant, or lunatic) to do a murder or other crime, (as to kill himself) is a principal offender, and as much punishable as if he had done it himself.” 1 Hawk. P. C. p. 3 and 118. 1 H. P. C. 617.
“It seems agreed at this day, that if one, who has committed a capital offence, become non compos before conviction, he shall not be arraigned; and if after conviction, that he shall not be executed.” 1 Hawk. P. C. 3; 1 H. P. C. 36. Indeed in the bloody reign of Henry the eighth, a statute was made (33 H. 8, c. 20) which enacted, that if a person, being compos mentis, should commit treason, and after fall into madness, he might be tried in his absence, and should suffer death, as if he were of perfect memory. But this savage and inhuman law was repealed by the Stat. 1 and 2 P. and M. c. 10. For as is observed by Sir Ed. Coke, “the execution of an offender is for example, ut pœna ad paucos, metus ad omnes perveniat: but so it is not when a madman is executed; but should be a miserable spectacle, both against law, and of extreme inhumanity and cruelty, and can be no example to others.” 4 Bl. Com. p. 25.
Pregnancy is a good plea in bar of execution; but it does not prevent trial or sentence; in a recent instance, however, when a woman was brought to the bar evidently in labour, she was remanded by the court; and query, whether this discretion ought not to be exercised in all cases of advanced pregnancy; for the agitation of the trial may be of more fatal effect than the judgment of the law, and the unfortunate woman, though acquitted, may perish with her child from the mere effect of mental distraction.
When the plea of pregnancy is made to stay execution “the judge must direct a jury of twelve matrons or discreet women to inquire the fact: and if they bring in their verdict quick with child (for barely with child[[100]] unless it be alive in the womb, is not sufficient) execution shall be stayed generally till the next session: and so from session to session till either she is delivered, or proves by the course of nature not to have been with child at all. But if she once hath the benefit of this reprieve, and has been delivered, and afterwards become pregnant again, she shall not be entitled to the benefit of a further respite from that cause.[[101]] For she may now be executed before the child is quick in the womb; and shall not, by her own incontinence, evade the sentence of justice.” 4 Bl. Com. 395; (see also 2 Hawk. P. C. 658, and authorities there.) But Sir M. Hale says that though she be quick a second time she shall have no respite on that account. 1 P. C. 369. And yet he afterwards draws a nice distinction in favorem prolis, that if the woman were not quick, or with child at all,[[102]] at the time of the first inquest of the matrons, and afterwards become with child, she shall have her respite; “for the advantage she had at first was not really by reason of pregnancy, but by a mistake of the jury of women.” “And therefore as hath been said, in all cases of reprieves for pregnancy, the judge ought to make a new demand, what the prisoner hath to say wherefore execution should not be awarded.” Ib. And so in all cases where any time intervenes between the attainder and the award of execution, for the party may have become insane, or may plead pregnancy, or a pardon, or an act of grace, or diversity of person, that he is not the same that was attainted. 1 Bl. Com. 396.
This brings us to the last of the pleas which we have proposed to treat upon under this head. The question of Personal Identity may arise in many ways; as whether a child claiming an inheritance is the same that he pretends, or is pretended to be, as in the Douglas or Anglesea causes; (vide ante) whether a prisoner is actually the person who committed a particular offence, when the jury tries the fact and the identity together; and where a prisoner after conviction escapes and is retaken, whether he is the same that was convicted.[[103]] The former cases we have noticed under the heads of Supposititious Children, vol. i, p. 220, warning our readers not to be too hasty in determining identity upon mere resemblance.[[104]] And in the last case “a jury shall be impanneled to try the collateral issue, namely, the identity of his person; and not whether guilty or innocent; for that has been decided before. And in these collateral issues the trial shall be instanter, and no time allowed the prisoner to make his defence or produce his witnesses, unless he will make oath that he is not the person attainted: (Fors. C. L. 41) neither shall any peremptory challenges of the jury be allowed the prisoner; though formerly such challenges were held to be allowable, whenever a man’s life was in question.” 4 Bl. Com. 396. And query whether this is not the better doctrine; the case of Mr. Radcliffe, brother of Lord Derwentwater, (Fors. C. L. 41) in which the contrary was held, was for high treason shortly after the rebellion of 1745; and as Sir M. Forster says, speaking of Monmouth’s attainder, “that was a time of great heat and violence, and few things then done ought to be drawn into example.” Ib. 44. There does not appear to be any good reason why a prisoner should not have all the safeguards on a collateral issue or inquest of office, which are allowed on the main issue; especially when, as in the present instance, his life depends upon the question.
OF PUNISHMENTS.
Punishments may be divided into three classes; capital, when the death of the offender is intended to deter others from similar offence; precautionary, when a noxious individual is removed from general society by imprisonment or transportation; and correctional, when by some pain or penalty inflicted on the individual, he is to be deterred from future crime. Though the subject would admit of much curious detail, our remaining space will not allow us to trace the different modes or modifications of legitimate punishment used in various nations or ages; nor to enter our protest of abhorrence against the many and inhuman tortures which religious fanaticism or political rancour have invented for their antagonists; the only point on which we can physiologically have occasion to observe, as applicable to the capital punishments of the present times, is, that they should be inflicted with as little pain as possible to the criminal, lest compassion for the sufferings of the man, should supersede the salutary horror of his offence; an end which is really, though not apparently, attained in our ordinary mode of execution by hanging; the victim does not suffer, though sometimes his convulsive struggles induce a contrary belief; but the method is defective in one point, it is not calculated to produce a deep impression on the minds of spectators, Pompa mortis magis terret quam mors ipsa. The French mode of decapitation, though held in abhorrence from the outrages with which its very name has become associated, is equally humane; an instant terminates the mortal sufferings of the criminal; for this reason it was originally adopted, and when we consider that it superceded the barbarous punishment of breaking on the wheel, previously in use, and the clumsy and uncertain method of decapitation by the sword or axe, we feel ourselves justified, in spite of popular prejudice, in designating the guillotine[[105]] an invention of humanity.
Decapitation is also a punishment known in the law of England, and as a more dignified and impressive death, is reserved for the execution of nobles, or distinguished commoners, in cases of high treason, the rest of the barbarous sentence (now abolished by act of parliament), and the previous sentence of hanging, being dispensed with by the king’s authority.
The barbarous punishment of burning, formerly part of the law, is no longer in use; Catharine Hayes, to whose case we have alluded (vol. ii, p. 73), was the last who suffered in this manner.
On the subject of imprisonment we have already commented, (vol. ii, p. 112), and from the very general attention now excited, as well by the discovery of abuses, as by an encreasing spirit of humanity, we may expect the best results.
Of punishment, not capital, there are two which require medical consideration; the one is military flogging, the other the novel invention of the tread-mill. On the first of these, we might have had more cause to complain, had the old system of the army been continued; it is however due to the character of the present Commander in Chief to notice, that under his direction the punishment of flogging has been much diminished; regimental courts martial, composed of five officers (possibly infants), are now restricted in their sentences to the infliction of three hundred lashes; formerly double the number was deemed a moderate punishment; and there is good reason to believe, that the discipline of a regiment, and the capacity of a commanding officer, is no longer considered in the direct, but on the contrary, in the inverse ratio of the number of lashes inflicted:[[106]] we need not say that the general state and conduct of troops has proved the policy of the alteration, we have only to hope that the improvement will be extended, and that the English army will not long be subjected to a degrading and barbarous torture, from which less moral men, and much worse soldiers, are exempted in every other service in Europe. It is necessary, however, that till this very desirable reform is effected, some observation should be made on the mode of inflicting this punishment.
It is generally supposed that the surgeon who is present at a military execution, is responsible for its consequences; this is not legally true, and it is physiologically impossible; the punishment is too uncertain in its operation to allow of any medical assistant’s ascertaining the boundaries of danger; moral feeling, age, strength, nervous irritability, climate, previous disease, organic defects, and other circumstances, many of which it would be impossible for the most skilful to detect, and least of all by mere view of the culprit tied up to the halberts, may render a punishment fatal, which had been intended to be lenient. No surgeon therefore can answer, either for the ultimate, or immediate consequences of this species of corporal punishment; he may indeed err on the safe side, by interposing as early as possible,[[107]] but there is no criterion by which he can be guided in forming an absolute opinion on the danger or safety of the punishment.
But though the surgeon cannot be held criminally responsible (except in cases of gross ignorance or negligence) for the result of such executions, yet, if the commanding officer permits a single lash to be inflicted after the medical attendant has interposed, he would be held guilty of murder should the soldier die from the effects of excessive punishment; for malice will be presumed from such continuance after due notice.[[108]] In the notorious case of Governor Wall, who was executed for the murder of a soldier by excessive and illegal flogging; the punishment was originally unlawful, having been inflicted without sentence of a court martial, the mode of infliction was unusual, and the surgeon was stated to have been so much intimidated, that he was afraid to interfere, (a poor excuse for neglect of professional duty); under these circumstances, the plea that the deceased killed himself by excessive drinking, though the fact was far from improbable under the climate of Goree, was unavailable; the illegal flogging was the primary cause of the death, and therefore neither the effect of climate, misconduct, or mismanagement, could remove the original criminality. In this as in several other cases of death from ill-usage, it is a constant but unavailing plea that the deceased died not of the wounds or blows, but of fever, or defective treatment.[[109]]
On the subject of the tread-mill, we are not enabled to pronounce any very decided opinion, the invention has not been in use long enough to determine with any degree of accuracy its merits or defects; that it is held in considerable dread by offenders is certain, and the fear of returning to it may operate favourably on that class for which it appears best calculated, the regular vagabond; but it does not give any habit of industry, or teach any mode of labour to the merely idle or casually culpable, and therefore ought not to be indiscriminately applied to all cases. The punishment too is one of the most unequal in its operation that can be conceived; a man, who has been accustomed to running up stairs all his life, with good lungs and muscular legs, will scarcely suffer by it; while an asthmatic tailor, weaver, or other sedentary artizan will be half killed by the exercise. For women in certain stages, whether of menstruation or pregnancy, it is a dangerous and indecent torture, one which should immediately be forbidden, if not by the humanity of magistrates, by the wisdom of the legislature.
One very material objection to this machine arises out of the probability of abuse in the places where it is generally erected; an air of mystery has been thrown round houses of correction, which has acquired for some of them the odious name of bastile; even grand juries have been denied admission to them, on the ground that they are the prisons of the magistrates, not of the sheriff; we certainly do not understand either the policy or propriety of this distinction; that they should not be thrown open to the idle or merely curious we are ready to admit, but contend that they should be open to all official inspection; much must in every prison depend on the conduct and discretion of the jailors—to know that he is open to public animadversion is the best security for the due exercise of his office: a contrary assurance is well calculated to produce despotic feeling in ordinary minds; how much more then is it to be guarded against, when persons of the lower class are entrusted with extraordinary power of coercion, and are continually irritated by the refractory conduct of those who are placed under their authority. In such cases constant inspection, at uncertain times, and by uninterested persons, is the best guarantee against abuse.
FINIS.
POSTSCRIPT.
While this work was in the press several circumstances have occurred which it may be necessary to notice; first, as respecting the corporate medical bodies, His Majesty has been pleased to confer additional honors on the President of the College of Physicians, for which see the Preface;—the College itself is about to be removed from their late house in Warwick Lane to a more convenient site among the new buildings of Pall Mall East. A new charter has been granted to the College of Surgeons, but as it is not yet confirmed by Act of Parliament, it does not materially vary the public right of the College, or supply what was wanting in their jurisdiction. The Apothecaries’ Company have very properly exerted their powers under the Act of 55 Geo. iii, for punishing illegal practice.[[110]]
The Marriage Act which is incidentally referred to, vol. i, p. 169, is in part repealed by an act of the last session, which in turn is about to be amended or repealed in the present. The Portsmouth case, adhuc sub judice, affords some curious illustrations on the subjects of impotence and insanity.
The impolitic duty on salt has been lowered to one-seventh of its former amount. An act has been passed to prevent nuisances by gas-water; (vol. i, p. 339) and another for regulating the sale of Bread; (vol. i, p. 375) to these we must refer our readers for the modification or correction of our former remarks on the several subjects connected with them.
INDEX OF CASES.
- A.
- Aland, Sheldon, v., 297
- Alberton, Rex, v., 217
- Alder’s case, II. 122
- Aldred’s case, 348
- Amery and Monk, the King, v., 14
- Anderson v. Edie, 382
- Angus, case of Chas., II. 176, 184—III. [69], [96]
- Annesly causes, II. 220
- Annesly in re, 298
- Aram, case of Eugene, III. [79]
- Archer’s case, 50
- Archer’s case, II. 129
- Armstrong ex parte, 296
- Arnhale, Adam de, case of, II. 136
- Arnold, Lodie, v., 340
- Askew, Rex, v., 42, 44
- Atkins v. Gardener, 29
- Attorney General v. Doughty, 340, 348
- Attorney General v. Parnther, 299
- Audley’s case, 439
- Avison v. Lord Kinnaird, 386
- B.
- Baker, ex parte, 298
- Baker, Slater, v., 80
- Barnsley, ex parte, 291
- Bateman, case of Mary, III. [13]
- Beddingfield and Ringe, case of, III. [30]
- Bellingham, case of, III. [139]
- Beswick v. Hall, 353
- Berry, Green, and Hill, case of, III. [31]
- Bevan’s case, II. 472
- Beverly’s case, 292
- Birch v. Holt, 340
- Blandy, Miss, case of, 157, 249
- Blisset, Dickenson, &, 292
- Bloomfield’s case, 434
- Blunt, Want, v., 385
- Bolcot, Chorley, v., 78
- Boldero, Goodall, &, 382
- Bonham v. Coll. of Phys., 23
- Bourne, Coll. of Phys., v., 30
- Bowerman, case of Thomas, III. [80]
- Braddon & Spake, the King, v., III. [20]
- Brain’s case, III. [122]
- Brazier’s case, 422
- Broughton v. Randall, 380
- Brown’s case, 352
- Brown, Cuthbert, v., 217
- Brownrigg’s case, II. 112
- Bugg, Coll. of Phys. v., 30
- Burns, case of, III. [29]
- Burton, Hume, v., 300
- Burwell, Groenvelt, v., 38
- Bush, Coll. of Phys. v., 28, 30
- Butler v. Coll. of Phys., 20—30—31
- Butler, Coll. of Phys. v., 31
- Butterfield’s case, 303
- C.
- Castlehaven’s case, 439
- Cambridge, V. C. of, the King, v., 14
- Canning, Elizabeth, case of, 369
- Cave’s case, 434
- Chester, King v. Bishop of, 3
- Chester, B. of, Fox, v., 387
- Chetwynd’s case, II. 2
- Chorley v. Bolcot, 78
- Chumley ex parte, 298
- Clarke, Rex, v., 294
- Clinch, case of, III. [144]
- Cockayne ex parte, 298
- Codd and Pizzy, case of, III. [91]
- Coleman, case of, 440—III. [143]
- College of Physicians v. Huybert, 18
- College of Physicians, Butler v., 20—30—31
- College of Physicians, Bonham v., 23
- College of Physicians v. West, 24
- College of Physicians, Grenville v., 28
- College of Physicians v. Talbois, 28
- College of Physicians v. Salmon, 28
- College of Physicians v. Bush, 28—30
- College of Physicians v. Tenant, 29
- College of Physicians v. Needham, 30
- College of Physicians v. Bugg, 30
- College of Physicians v. Bourne, 30
- College of Physicians v. Harder, 30
- College of Physicians v. Merry, 30
- College of Physicians v. Stone, 30
- College of Physicians, Trigg v., 30
- College of Physicians v. Butler, 31
- College of Physicians v. Rose, 32
- Cowper, case of, II. 38—III. [39]
- Cooper v. Marshall, 340
- Copping, Dale, v., 79
- Cory and Cory, 293
- Coalson v. White, 340
- Cranmer, ex parte, 291
- Cuthbert v. Brown, 217
- Cutt’s case, 296
- D.
- Da Costa, Sylva, v., 296
- Dale v. Copping, 79
- Darwin, Rigeway, v., 291
- Dean, John, case of, III. [132]
- Deplock, Taylor, v., 391
- Dey, John, case of, III. [140]
- Dewal v. Saunders, 339
- Dickenson v. Blisset, 292
- Dickson, Margaret, case of, II. 91—III. [85]—[110]
- Dikes, ex parte, 298
- Donnall’s case, II. 157—246—250
- Donellan’s case, II. 130—161—402—467.—Appx. [243]
- Dormer’s case, 298
- Douglas cause, 220
- Doughty, Attorney General, v., 340—348
- Duchess of Chandos’ case, 295
- Duffin’s case, 435
- Dwyer and Edie, 382
- E.
- East, Giles, case of, III. [132]
- Edie, Anderson v., 382
- Edie, Dwyer, v., 382
- Edwards, Shephard, v., 78
- Ely, Rochfort, v., 297
- Essex, Countess of, v. Earl of, 177—211
- Evans and Munroe, the King, v., 351
- Eyre v. Wake, 295
- F.
- Fenning, Eliza, case of, II. 188—217—250
- Ferne, ex parte, 297
- Ferrand, the King v., II. 98
- Ferrers, Earl, case of, III. [140]
- Fish v. Palmer, 225
- Fitzgerald’s case, 295
- Fleming and Windham’s case, 439
- Fletcher, Tyrie v., 382
- Forbes’ case, 420
- Forse and Hembling’s case, 294
- Fothergill’s case, 50
- Fox, v. Bishop of Chester, 386
- Foxcroft’s case, 217
- Francis, case of, III. [51]
- Francis, Newling, v., 14
- Fuller, v. Prentice, 154
- G.
- Gardener, Laughton, v., 29
- Gardener, Atkins, v., 29
- Godfrey, Sir E. murder of, III. [31]
- Goodall, v. Boldero, 382
- Gore, case of Agnes, II. 129
- Gould, Regina, v., II. 110
- Green, Berry, and Hill, case of, III. [31]
- Gremaire, v. Le Clerk, 78
- Grenville, v. College of Physicians, 28
- Greenwood’s case, 302
- Grimstone, ex parte, 296
- Groenvelt, v. Burwell, 38
- H.
- Hadfield’s case, 299—III. [139]
- Hall and Warren, 293—299
- Hall, ex parte, 296
- Hamerton, Roebuck, v., 229
- Harder, College of Physicians, v., 30
- Harmwood’s case, 434
- Harris, King, v., 131
- Harrison, Rex, v., II. 94
- Hastings, ex parte, 298
- Hayes, case of Catharine, III. [73]
- Hayes, v. Jaques, 229
- Hembling, Forse &, 294
- Herbert, Taynham, v., 340
- Hill’s case, 434
- Hill, Beswick, v., 353
- Hill, Green, and Berry, case of, III. [31]
- Holmes, Lipscombe, v., 78
- Holt, Birch, v., 340
- Holyland’s, ex parte, 300
- Hope’s case, II. 472
- Huggins, Rex, v., II. 113
- Hughes, Middleton, v., 17
- Hume, v. Barton, 300
- J.
- James, Col. case of, 389
- Jaques, Hayes, v., 229
- Johnson, Bowles, v., 154
- Jones, v. Powell, 341
- Jones, Tenant, v., 351
- K.
- King, the, v. Amery and Monk, 14
- King, the, v. Bishop of Chester, 3
- King, the, v. Miller, 14
- King, the, v. Vice Chancellor of Cambridge, 14
- King, the, v. Askew, 42—44
- King, the, v. College of Surgeons, 57
- King, the, v. Pond, 72
- King, the, v. Taunton, 86
- King, the, v. Lynn, 100
- King, the, v. Harris, 131
- King, the, v. Munro and Evans, 351
- King, the, v. Ferrand, II. 98
- King, the, v. Phillips, III. [56]
- King, the, v. Bradden and Spake, III. [20]
- Kingston, Duchess of, 160
- Kinnaird, Avison, v., 386
- L.
- Lady Marr’s case, 295
- Lady Annadale’s case, 295
- Lady Cope’s case, 298
- Lambe’s case, 439
- Laughton, v. Gardener, 29
- Law, Sharp, v., 54
- Le Clerc, Lemaire, v., 78
- Letch’s case, 42
- Levet’s case, 28
- Lipscombe, v. Holmes, 78
- Littleton, ex parte, 294
- Lockyer, v. Offley, 386
- Lodie, v. Arnold, 340
- Lord Donegall’s case, 290
- Lord Wenman’s case, 296
- Lord Audley’s case, 439
- Ludlow, ex parte, 298
- Lund, ex parte, 296
- Lynn, the King, v., 100
- M.
- Mac Donald, Rex, v., 353
- Macley, case of, III. [144]
- Maclin’s case, III. [51]
- Mac Quirk, case of, III. [151]
- Mainwaring, Watson, v., 385
- March, Elizabeth, case of, III. [132]
- Marshall, Cooper, v., 340
- Mason and Mason, 391
- Merry, College of Physicians, v., 30
- Middleton, v. Hughes, 17
- Mildmay, ex parte, 298
- Mills, Mary, case of, 306
- Mordaunt, Welborn, v., 353
- Morley, v. Pragnal, 346
- Munroe and Evans, King, v., 351
- N.
- Nairne and Ogilvie’s case, II. 184—185
- Neal’s case, 298
- Neale, v. Pettigrew, 80
- Needham, College of Physicians, v., 30
- Newling, v. Francis, 14
- Nicholson, case of, III. [140]
- O.
- Offley, Lockyer, v., 386
- Ogilvie and Nairne’s case, II. 184—185
- Ogle, ex parte, 295
- Olive, Severn, v., 157—159
- P
- Palmer v. Poultney, 340
- Palmer, Fish, v., 225
- Parnther, Attorney-General, v., 299
- Perreaus, case of the, III. [144]
- Pettigrew, Neale, v., 81
- Phillips, the King, v., III. [86]
- Phrazier, Prodgers, &, 290
- Pitt’s case, 297
- Pizzy and Codd, case of, III. [91]
- Pond, the King, v., 72
- Poole, Willis, v., 384
- Poultney, Palmer, v., 340
- Powel, Jones, v., 341
- Powel’s case, 422
- Pragnal, Morley, v., 346
- Prentice, Fuller, v., 154
- Prentice, Seare, v., 81
- Prior, Rosewell, v., 340—354
- Prodgers and Phrazier, 290
- Q
- Quain’s case, II. 123
- R
- Radcliffe, case of, III. [145]
- Randall, Broughton, v., 390
- Ranket’s case, 344
- Redman, Joseph, case of, III. [143]
- Regina v. Wigg, 337
- Regina v. Gould, II. 110
- Rex v. Alberton, 217
- Rex v. Harrison, II. 94
- Rex v. E. Ridley, II. 110
- Rex v. Clarke, 294
- Rex v. Rosewell, 340
- Rex v. Travers, 422
- Rex v. Mac Donald, 353
- Rex v. White and Ward, 343—348
- Rex v. Roupel, 350
- Rex v. et Regina v. Wilcox, 339—341
- Ridley, E. Rex, v., II. 110
- Rigeway & Darwin, 291
- Ringe and Beddingfield, case of, III. [30]
- Roberts, ex parte, 296
- Roebuck v. Hamerton, 229
- Rochfort & Ely, 297
- Rosewell, Rex, v., 340
- Rosewell v. Prior, 340—354
- Rose, College of Physicians, v., 32
- Roupel, Rex, v., 350
- Russen’s case, 420—428
- S
- Salmon, College of Physicians, v., 28
- Saunder’s case, II. 129
- Saunders, Dewal, &, 339
- Scawen’s case, II. 468
- Schomberg’s case, 12
- Scorey’s case, II. 99
- Seare v. Prentice, 80
- Self’s case, II. 110
- Sergison v. Sergison, 221
- Severn v. Olive, 157—159
- Sharpe v. Law, 54
- Shelden v. Aland, 297
- Shepherd v. Edwards, 78
- Sheridan’s case, 434
- Slater v. Baker and Stapleton, 80
- Smithson’s case, 297
- Southcote, ex parte, 295
- Spake and Braddon, the King, v., III. [20]
- Stapleton, Slater, v., 80
- Stainsforth, Tarleton, v., 385
- Stansfield, case of, II. 38—III. [39]
- Stanwix, General, case of, 388
- Stone, College of Physicians, v., 30
- Stone’s case, 297
- Street v. Tugwell, 348
- Sylva v. Da Costa, 296
- T
- Talbois, College of Physicians, v., 28—30
- Tarleton v. Stainsforth, 385
- Taunton, the King, v., 86
- Taylor v. Deplock, 391
- Tenant, College of Physicians, v., 30
- Tenant, Jones, v., 351
- Teynham v. Herbert, 340
- Thornton, Abraham, case of, 417—421—436—III. [35]—[37]
- Tinckler, case of Margaret, III. 72
- Travers, Rex, v., 422
- Trigg v. College of Physicians, 30
- Tugwell, Street, v., 348
- Tyrie v. Fletcher, 382
- V
- Vaux’s case, II. 129—130—467
- W
- Wake, Eyre, v., 295
- Walborough, Alice de, case of, III. [132]
- Want v. Blunt, 385
- Ward, White &, Rex v., 343—348
- Ward, ex parte, 295—297
- Warren, Hall v., 293—299
- Warren, ex parte, 298
- Wilson v. Mainwaring, 385
- Weir, Thomas and Jane, case of, 421
- Westborn v. Mordaunt, 353
- Weston’s case, II. 130
- West, College of Physicians, v., 24
- West, Style v., 171
- White v. Wilson, 293—300
- White and Ward, Rex v., 343—348
- White, Coulson, v., 340
- Whiting’s case, II. 197
- Wigg, Regina, v., 337
- Willis v. Poole, 384
- Wilcox, Rex et Regina, v., 339
- Wilson, White v., 293—300
- Windham and Heming’s case, 439
- Wragg, ex parte, 297
- X
- Xaris Storeghtor’s case, 297
- Y
- York, William, case of, III. [133]
INDEX.
- ABATEMENT of nuisances, 333—339—340
- ABDOMEN, examination of the, III. [60]
- ABORTION, II. 379—III. [84]
- causes of, 269
- physiological illustrations of, III. [93]
- ABSORPTION of mineral poison, II. 187
- poison, acting by, II. 208
- of arsenic, II. 192—220
- ACCESS, when presumed, 217
- ACCIDENTAL homicide, II. 466
- ACETOMETER, 377
- ACIDS, concentrated, poisons, II. 202—207—301
- ACID, nitric, death by, II. 147—202—305
- sulphuric, II. 202—302
- muriatic, II. 202—313
- phosphoric, II. 202
- arsenious and arsenic, II. 211
- oxalic, II. 315
- prussic, II. 396
- manufactories, nuisances by, 337—343
- ACONITE, II. 138—159—203—207—379
- poisoning by, II. 380
- ACRID poisons, II. 202—207
- ACTIONS for nuisances, 340—353
- for unlicenced practice, 28
- by medical practitioners, 77
- for mala praxis, 80
- ADIPOCIRE, formation of, 96—III. [25]
- ADOLESCENCE, 185
- ADULTERATIONS of food, 374
- of bread, 375
- of beer, 377
- of milk, 378
- of medicines, 380
- AERIAL poisons, II. 456
- AFFIRMATION of Quakers, 167
- AFFUSION, cold, use of, II. 391
- warm, II. 393
- AGARICUS Muscarius, II. 427
- intoxication by, ib.
- AGES, 179
- AGE, of consent, 168—170
- AGUE, jumping, 362
- AIR, deprived of oxygen, effects of, II. 48
- consumption of, encreased by muscular action, II. 54
- hindering the circulation of, 348
- tainting, 330—350
- revival by fresh, II. 4
- its influence on contagion, 120—126
- ALBUMEN, an antidote to sublimate, II. 264
- ALCHEMISTS, 2
- ALCOHOL, poison by, II. 203—207—433—436
- physiological action of, II. 437
- ALIEN, cannot be a Fellow of the College of Physicians, 15
- ALKALIES, caustic, poisons, II. 202—207—218
- ALKALINE earths, poisons, II. 202—325
- ALMONDS, essential oil of, II. 207—396—402—405
- effect of oil and albumen on, II. 404
- analysis of, II. 405
- ALVINE concretions, supposed or feigned, 367
- AMENORRHŒA, 235
- AMENTIA acquisita, 310
- AMMONIA, II. 323
- a poison, II. 202
- use of, in detecting arsenic, II. 241—244
- effect of, on sublimate, II. 271
- on copper, II. 281—287—293
- test of, II. 324
- poisoning by, II. 324
- AMMONIURET of silver, a test for arsenic, II. 244
- of copper, II. 245
- ANAPHRODISIACS, 209
- ANATOMY, bodies for, 21
- ANDILUVIAN fever, 120
- ANIMAL putrefaction, effects of, 123—126—II. 443
- a source of nuisance, 332
- ANIMAL poisons, II. 440
- ANIMALS, experiments on, not always conclusive, II. 198
- see Appendix, [272]
- ANIMATION, suspended, II. 9
- ANTIDOTES for arsenic, —
- sublimate, II. 263
- antimony, II. 281
- nitrate of silver, II. 300
- sulphuric acid, II. 304
- oxalic acid, II. 316
- potass, II. 323
- baryta, II. 328
- hellebore, II. 374
- prussic acid, II. 406
- mushrooms, II. 433
- ANTIMONY, II. 141—201
- tartarized, effect on sublimate, II. 274
- generally, II. 277
- tartarized, II. 279
- poisoning by, II. 208
- antidotes of, II. 281
- physiological action of, II. 282
- dissection after, II. 283
- tests for, II. 284—285
- APHRODISIACS, 209
- APOPLEXY, death by, II. 22—24—43
- APOPLECTIC conformation, III. [22]
- APOTHECARY’S wares, search of, 18—20
- APOTHECARY, practice by, 32—37
- APOTHECARIES, Society of, 59
- their charter, 59
- their powers, 60
- actions against, 68
- malpractice by, 64
- court of examination of, 65
- who may practice as, 66
- or, as assistants, 66
- examiners in the country, 66
- practicing without certificate, 67
- AQUA FORTIS, death by, II. 147
- AQUA Tophana, II. 135—141
- ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury, licence of, 13—48
- ARMS, bearing, 73
- ARSENIC, sale of, should be regulated, 140
- generally, II. 141—148—207—210
- properties of, II. 211
- metallic, not poisonous, II. 212
- garlic smell of, II. 234
- whitens copper, II. 236
- imperfect tests of, II. 235—237
- poisoning by, confounded with cholera
- morbus, II. 156—160—219
- putrefaction after, II. 183—229
- case of Mitchel, II. 187
- morbus, II. 156—160—219
- absorption of, II. 192
- and its compounds, II. 201
- poisoning per vaginum by, II. 221
- case of accidental poisoning by, III. [9]
- See cases of Turner, Mitchel, Blandy, Overbury, Donnell, Ogilvie, & Nairne.
- ARSENIC acid and its salts, II. 256
- effect of tests on, II. 257
- sulphurets of, II. 257
- tests of, II. 258
- ARSENIATES, distinguished from Phosphates, II. 242—245—248
- ARSENIOUS acid, or white oxide, II. 212
- properties of, II. 213
- vapour of, inodorous, II. 213—235
- poisoning by, degrees of, II. 216
- poisoning by, symptoms of, II. 157—216
- poisoning by, lowest degree of, II. 216
- second degree of, II. 217
- third degree of, II. 218
- modes of poisoning by, II. 220—221
- death by external application of, II. 220
- experiments on external application of, II. 221
- internal use of, ib.
- physiological action of, II. 223
- dissection of bodies poisoned by, II. 225
- disease induced by, II. 229
- state of the blood produced by, ib.
- introduced post mortem, II. 230
- redness of the stomach not a certain proof of, II. 230
- chemical tests of, II. 232
- solid, how detected, II. 232
- how reduced to metal, II. 233
- different modes of detecting, II. 234—240
- metalized by charcoal, II. 238
- by lime, ib.
- effect of nitre on, II. 239
- nitrate of silver, II. 239—240
- muriates on, II. 242
- ammoniuret of silver, II. 244
- sulphate of copper, II. 245
- ammoniuret of copper, ib.
- sulphuretted hydrogen, II. 248
- lime water, II. 249
- tests of, errors respecting, II. 246—249
- adulterations of, II. 243—249
- does not blacken steel, II. 250
- does not prevent dough from rising, ib.
- examination of when mixed with food, II. 252
- when absorbed by the stomach, II. 254
- effect of iodine on, II. 272
- ARSENICAL vapour, effects of, 339
- ARSON (see Combustion), 402
- ASSISTANT, Surgeon liable for the mala praxis of his, 81
- ASTHMA, extraordinary treatment of, II. 200
- ASPHYXIA, II. 35
- of privies, II. 49
- treatment of, II. 75—84
- ASPHYXIA, idiopathica, II. 30
- ASTRINGENT poisons, II. 202
- ATROPIA, II. 411
- B
- BARYTA, II. 202—327
- poisoning by, ib.
- muriate of, ib.—207
- physiological action of, II. 328
- antidotes to, ib.
- tests of, II. 329
- BELLADONNA, II. 203—410
- poisoning by, II. 411
- physiological action of, II. 412
- detection of, II. 413
- BATEMAN, Mary, case of, II. 269
- BEER, adulterations of, II. 377
- BELLAND, or Derbyshire colic, II. 355
- BILE acrid, may poison, II. 158—196
- BILLS of health, 127
- of mortality, 143
- BIRTH, legal time of, 248
- in France, ib.
- BISHOP of London, licences of, 12
- BITES of venomous animals, II. 440
- BITTER almonds (see almonds), —
- BLACK Assize at Oxford, 125
- BLANDY, Mr. case of, II. 218—227—249
- BLANE, Sir G. on fevers, 117
- BLEEDING, danger of, during pregnancy, III. [95]
- BLINDNESS, feigned, 358—371
- BLOOD, circulation of, discovered, 9
- quality of, to support life, II. 19
- black, its effects on the brain, II. 32—36—37
- state of, in bodies frozen, II. 62
- vomiting of, feigned, 365
- extraordinary marks of, III. [33]
- BLOWS, murder by, II. 116—122
- BODIES, combustion of human, 412—415
- BODY found in the water, examination of, III. [32]—[62]
- BONES, examination of, III. [73]
- of animals, mistakes of, III. [82]
- BOTANIC Garden, 69
- BOUGHTON, case of Sir Theodosius, II. 401
- BRAIN, examination of, in cases of insanity, 327
- injuries of, II. 23
- functions of the, II. 18—20
- action of opium on, II. 389
- dissection of the, III. [46]
- BREAD, adulterations of, 375
- kinds of, 375
- BREWERIES, when nuisances, 333—341
- BRINVILLIER, poisons of, II. 135
- BRISTOL Infirmary, 126
- BRITANICUS, death of, II. 134
- BROTHEL, death in a, II. 44
- BRUISES, II. 121
- BRYONY, II. 203—207
- BUILDING, excessive, 349
- BULAM Fever, 117
- BULLET, murder discovered by examination of, III. [39]
- BURIAL in cities, 92
- at Paris, 95
- not to be hindered, 100
- nor disturbed, 100
- premature, II. 5
- of suicides, II. 108
- BURNING, (see Combustion), 402
- BURNS, Margaret, case of, 254—II. 176
- BYE-LAWS, powers of making, &c., 22
- of College of Physicians, 47—50—51
- of College of Surgeons, 57
- C.
- CÆSARIAN operation, 226—274
- curious case of, 276
- CAIUS, Dr. John, 7
- CALCUTTA, black hole of, II. 50
- CALOMEL, sublimate converted into, II. 274
- CAMBRIDGE, degrees at, 3—17
- CAMBOGE, see Gamboge, II. 371
- CAMPHOR, II. 203—207
- CANDIDATES, Inceptor, 52
- CANTHARIDES, II. 142—202—207—330
- poisoning by, II. 331
- mode of detecting, II. 332
- CARBONIC acid gas, effects of, II. 49—III. [24]—[37]
- given out by plants, ib.
- CARBURETTED hydrogen gas, II. 464
- CARDAMOMS, tincture of, produces a red colour in the stomach, II. 23
- CARNAL knowledge (see Rape), 427—433
- CASTRATION, 200—433
- CATAMENIA, see Menses.
- CAUSTIC alkalies, II. 318
- alkaline earths, II. 325
- lunar, II. 299
- see Silver.
- CENSORS to be elected, 16
- their powers, 16—18—24—27—38
- their search, 20
- provincial proposed, 139
- CERTIFICATES of apothecaries, 66
- annual list of, 67
- CERTIORARI, writ of, 44
- CERUSSE, dangerous use of, II. 351—360
- CHAMBRE ardente, II. 136
- CHAMPIGNONS, II. 426
- CHANCELLOR, his jurisdiction over idiots and lunatics, 291
- though no commission found, 294
- CHARTERS of College of Physicians, 14—21
- abstract of, 15
- of College of Surgeons, 55—57
- of Society of Apothecaries, 59
- CHILD, signs that a woman has borne a, 256
- CHARCOAL, fumes of, III. [36]
- CHERRY laurel-water, II. 400
- dangerous use of, II. 402
- CHILD-BEARING, 172—256
- CHILDREN, legitimacy of, 216—246
- CHLORINE, II. 464
- proposed use of, II. 253—272
- CHOLERA, II. 155
- spontanea, II. 156
- accidentalis, II. 156—160
- treatment of, II. 160
- CHROMATE of potass, II. 243
- CHURCHES, burial in, 92
- CHURCH-YARDS overcharged, 93—96
- exhumations in, 95
- of Paris, 95
- Dublin, 93
- St. Margaret, 93
- Dunkirk, 95
- St. Denis, 97
- St. Benoit, 97
- CICUTA, II. 138
- CITIES, cleanliness in, 91
- CLASSIFICATION of poisons, II. 199
- table, II. 207
- CLEANLINESS in cities, 91—123
- CLERKS, parish, corporation of, 144
- CLIMACTERIC, grand, 182
- disease, 193
- CLITORIS, 207
- enlarged, 286—288
- CLOATHS, infected, should be burnt, 142
- COCULUS Indicus, II. 203—207—423
- effect of, on fish, II. 424
- COFFINS, iron, 99
- COLD, death by exposure to, II. 13—16—59
- cases of, II. 60
- effects of, II. 61
- on the blood, II. 62
- affusion, use of, II. 391
- death of, infant by, III. [128]
- COLIC of Poitou, or saturnine, II. 340—344—346—358
- Devonshire, ib.
- Derbyshire, II. 355
- miners, ib.
- painters, ib.
- COLLEGE of Physicians, see Physicians.
- of Surgeons, 54
- its charters, 55—57
- its powers, 56
- its by-laws, 57
- of Surgeons, 54
- COLOCYNTH, II. 207—377
- poisoning by, ib.
- COMBUSTION spontaneous, 402
- of hay, 404
- by friction, 403
- by fermentation, 403—404
- by chemical action, 403—406
- turf, flax, hemp, rags, oatmeal, 404
- bran, 405
- of animal matter, 405
- woollen stuffs, 406
- by fixed oils, 110—406
- cases of, 404—405—406—407
- of cere cloth, 409
- lamp black, 410
- by black wad, ib.
- mineral acids, 411
- pyrites, ib.
- quicklime, ib.
- spontaneous of human bodies, 412
- authorities on, ib.
- cases of, 413—415
- COMMISSIONERS of lunatics, 296
- COMMISSION of lunacy, 295
- misconduct of, 294—296
- supercedeas of, 299
- COMPOS or non-compos, 290
- CONCEPTION, see Impregnation.
- phenomena of, 230
- false, 254
- extra-uterine, 281
- CONSANGUINITY, a bar to marriage, 168
- physiological reason, ib.
- CONSENT, age of, 168—170
- not necessary to impregnation, 436
- CONSTABLE, physicians exempt from being, 18
- when medical practitioners are exempt, and when not, 72
- CONTAGION in factories, 90
- from dead bodies, 95
- questions on, 114
- CONTAGIOUS diseases, 105
- CONTUSIONS, II. 121
- COPPER, action of, on the stomach, II. 144
- and its compounds, II. 202
- whitened by arsenic, II. 236
- sulphate of, test for arsenic, II. 245
- ammoniuret of, II. ib.
- whitened by sublimate, II. 272
- generally, II. 285
- solubility of, II. 286
- culinary precautions on, II. 287—288
- oxide of, II. 287
- effect of ammonia on, II. 287—293
- oxidation and solution of, by oils, II. 287
- green carbonate of (verdigris), II. 288
- dangerous use of, II. 289
- vessels should be tinned, II. 290
- sulphate of, II. 291
- poisoning by salts of, II. 291
- dissection after, II. ib.
- tests of, II. 292
- effect of iron on, II. 293
- subcarbonate of potass, ib.
- arseniate of potass, ib.
- triple prusiate of potass, effect of on, II. 294
- mode of detecting, ib.
- works, when nuisances, 339—347
- importance of, 342
- CORONER’s inquest, II. 93—112
- how to be held, II. 94
- return of, II. 97
- must be on view, II. 98
- may be quashed, II. 98—101
- may be traversed, II. 107
- see Suicide.
- CORONER how to be elected, II. 93
- notice of sudden death to be given to, II. 97
- may be discharged or removed, II. 101
- CORPORA lutea, III. [70]
- CORROSIVE poisons, II. 154—200—201—207
- sublimate, II. 141
- see Sublimate.
- COSTS of experiments, disallowed, 157
- COUP de Soleil, II. 63
- COURTESEY, tenant to the, 223
- effect of cæsarian operation, 226
- CRIMINAL responsibility, III. [131]
- CRANIUM of infant, examination of, III. [121]
- CROTON tiglium, II. 203—207
- CULINARY poisons, III. [11]
- CUMMIN, supposed property of, 364
- CUTS, II. 119
- CYDER, danger of lead in, II. 340
- CYMBALARIA, II. 142
- D.
- DANGEROUS drugs, sale of, 140
- DATURA, questions on the herb, II. 138
- DEAD body, examination of, III. [18]
- DEAD, burial of the, 92
- disposal of by various nations, 92—94
- decomposition of the, 98
- DEATH, real and apparent, II. 3
- signs of real, II. 3—11—14
- apparent after parturition, II. 5
- cases of, II. 4—10
- causes and phenomena of, II. 16
- sudden, II. 16—97
- by arsenic, II. 16
- cold, II. 13—16
- lightning, II. 16—63
- apoplexy, II. 22
- grief, II. 26—29—30—110
- excessive joy, II. 28
- fear, II. 29—110
- suffocation, II. 32
- drowning, II. 35
- hanging, II. 42
- injury of the nerves, II. 44
- manual strangulation, II. 46
- smothering, II. 48
- noxious air, II. ib.
- cold, II. 59
- heat, II. 63
- starvation, II. 67—110
- wounds, II. 116
- blows, II. ib.
- intoxication, II. 437
- maggots, II. 453
- chlorine, II. 465
- mala praxis, II. 467
- sudden, appearance of the stomach after, II. 174
- DEAF and dumb, 171—292
- DEAFNESS, feigned, 370
- DECLARATIONS of dying men, 165—167—III. [6]
- DECOMPOSITION of dead bodies, 98
- DECREPITUDE, 195
- DEGENERATION by intermarriage, 168
- DEGREES at Oxford and Cambridge, 3
- Dublin, ib.
- DELIRIUM, 300
- DELIVERY, recent, proof of, 222—242—249
- see Parturition.
- pretended, cases of, 249
- instrumental, 274
- DELUSIONS, III. [7]
- DETECTION of opium, II. 394
- belladonna, II. 413
- DEODAND, II. 99
- D’EON, Chevalier, 228
- DIAMOND dust, II. 145
- DIGITALIS, II. 148
- DISEASES, feigned, 355
- contagious, 105—II. 113
- epidemic, 104—107
- pestilential, 104
- endemic, 106
- hereditary, 173—324
- DISEASED flesh, II. 444—447
- DISLOCATION of cervical vertebræ, III. [52]
- DISORDERS, see Disease.
- DISSECTION of criminals, 12
- necessary skill in, II. 163
- in cases of insanity, 327—II. 104
- of body poisoned by arsenic, II. 225
- sublimate, II. 226
- tartar emetic, II. 283
- copper, II. 291
- sulphate of zinc, II. 298
- sulphuric acid, II. 304
- nitric acid, II. 309
- potass, II. 323
- soda, II. ib.
- lime, II. 326
- cantharides, II. 332
- lead, II. 357
- nitre, II. 382
- opium, II. 393
- prussic acid, II. 407
- belladonna, II. 412
- mushrooms, II. 233
- danger of punctures during, II. 448
- of the stomach, by Mr. Burns, II. 168
- by Dr. Haviland, II. 169
- of Margaret Burns, II. 178
- of William Mitchell, II. 190
- anatomical, instructions for, III. [45]
- of the brain and its membranes, III. [46]
- of the thorax, III. [52]
- of the abdomen, III. [60]
- of the uterus, III. [67]
- of the vagina, III. [72]
- of infants, III. [107]
- DIVING, II. 33
- DIVORCE, 176
- propter impotentiam, 177
- DOGS meat, poison of, II. 446
- DONELLAN, case of, II. 401
- DORCHESTER, Marquis of, 10
- DOUGH, arsenic does not prevent its rising, II. 250
- corrosive sublimate does, II. 250—265
- DOWNING, Mrs. case of, II. 241
- DROPSY, feigned, 364
- DROWNING, II. 35—III. [21]—[39]
- death, how produced by, ib.
- signs of death by, II. 37—89
- resuscitation after, II. 38—76
- DROWNED bodies, buoyancy of, II. 40
- DRUGS, search of, 20—63—68—138
- poisonous, sale of, 139
- DRUNKENNESS, does not excuse, III. [138]
- DRY-GRINDERS, guard for, II. 457
- DUBLIN, Trinity College, degree at, 3
- DUEL, surgeon attending, 167
- DUMBNESS, feigned, 370
- DURESS, murder by, II. 112
- DYSENTERY, decline of, 88
- E
- EARTHS, caustic alkaline, II. 325
- EFFLUVIA, putrefactive, 95
- contagious, 106
- ELATIN, II. 376
- ELATERIUM, II. 207—375
- ELECTRICITY, death by, II. 63
- use of, II. 82
- ELECTIONS, how regulated, 41
- of Censors, 46
- EMBRYULCIA, 279
- EMETIC tartar, II. 207
- EMISSIO seminis, 203
- in cases of rape, 427—433
- how to be proved, 434
- ENAMEL powder, II. 334
- ENDEMIC, distinction of, 106
- fever, remarkable, 119
- EPIDEMIC, distinction of, 104—107
- EPILEPSY, 172—329—III. [21]
- feigned, 356—361
- ERGOT, or spurred rye, II. 204
- ESCAPE of persons committed by Censors, 20
- ESSEX, case of the Earl of, III. [20]—[32]
- EUNUCH, can commit a rape, 433
- EUPHORBIUM, II. 111—203—207—377
- EVIDENCE, medical, 153—399
- mode of giving, 163
- in cases of Rape, 421
- in cases of Poisoning, II. 153
- EXECUTION, pleas in bar of, III. [131]
- See witness.
- EXAMINATION of body found dead, III. [18]
- of the skeleton, III. [73]
- EXEMPTIONS of physicians, 16—72
- of surgeons, 72
- of apothecaries, 72
- EXPERIMENTS, cost of, disallowed, 157
- EXPULSION, power of, 41
- EXTRA-uterine conception, 281
- EYE, orbit of the, dangerous wounds of, III. [51]
- F
- FAINTING, II. 25
- See Syncope.
- FACTORIES, diseases in, 89
- FŒTUS, extra-uterine, 282
- extraordinary defects in, II. 20
- FALLOPIAN tubes, imperfect, 214
- FANATICISM, prevalent cause of insanity, 314—363
- FASTING pretended, 368
- FATIGUE, effects of, 126
- FEAR, no legal ground of nuisance, sed. qy., 351
- death by, II. 29
- FECUNDITY, premature, 257
- protracted, 258
- multeparous, 258—259
- FEES, physicians, cannot be recovered at law, 77
- FELLOW of College of Physicians must generally be a graduate of Oxford or Cambridge, 3
- who may be, 42
- who may not, 15
- who is, 46
- FERMENTATION, nuisances by, 330
- FEVER, yellow, 109—116—135
- generation of, 115
- Bulam, 117
- Sir G. Blane on, 117
- pestilential, 117
- sporadic 118
- malignant, 117
- epidemic, 119
- Andalusian or Gibraltar, 120
- in Cork, 124
- in Jails, 124
- in Dublin, 126
- feigned, 364
- FILTH, whether capable of producing contagion, 122—126
- FINES, grant of, to College of Physicians, 22
- how to be levied, 24
- FIRE, nuisances by action of, 331
- FISH, poisonous, II. 449
- FLAX, steeping, a nuisance, 332
- FLESH, diseased, II. 444—447
- FLEXIBILITY of body apparently dead, II. 14
- FLOGGING, military, III. [147]
- FLUX, black, chemical use of, II. 233
- FŒTUS, skeleton of the, III. [75]
- FOMITES, 106
- FOOD, adulterations of, 74
- FOOTSTEPS, importance of tracing, III. [37]
- FORAMINA, examination of, III. [79]
- natural, extraordinary case of, III. [80]
- FOXGLOVE, II. 203
- FRACTURE of the skull, examination of, III. [46]
- FROTH or foam, appearance of, III. [21]
- FUMIGATION should be enforced, 142
- FUNGI, poisonous, II. 425
- G
- GALVANISM, II. 82
- GAMBOGE, II. 203—207—371
- GAOL fever, II. 115
- See Jail.
- infectious diseases in, II. 113—115
- GAOLER, to receive persons committed by the College of Physicians, 20—26
- GAS, nuisances by, 331
- diminution of, 339
- GASES, noxious, II. 48
- GASTRIC juice, effects of, II. 164—168—171
- appearance of solutions by, II. 175
- perforations, II. 164—III. [64]
- GENITALS, examination of the, III. [72]
- GESTATION, usual period of, 218—230
- shortest period, 241
- longest period, 242
- authorities on, 247
- GLASS powdered, II. 146—334
- GODFREY, Sir Edmonsbury, II. 95
- GOULARD’S extract, II. 350
- GRAVES, depth of, 93—98
- GRAVEL, feigned, 366
- GRIEF, excessive, death by, II. 26—28—30—110
- GUNPOWDER, not to be kept in large quantities, 352
- GUNSHOT wounds, II. 124
- course of, ib.
- H
- HABEAS Corpus to bring up a lunatic, 294
- HÆMOPTHYSIS, feigned, 365
- HAIR, chopped, II. 334
- HANGING, death by, II. 42
- HARGRAVE, Francis, his note on the legitimate period of gestation, 218
- HARVEY, Dr. William, 8
- HEAD, injuries of, 326—II. 25
- policy of preserving, III. [73]
- HEALTH, preservation of the public, 85
- in Ireland, 85
- HEART, functions of the, II. 17
- HEAT, death by, II. 63
- application of, II. 81
- HELLEBORE, II. 203—207
- white, II. 372
- poisoning by, II. 373
- antidote to, II. 374
- black, II. 374
- fœtid, II. 375
- white, II. 372
- HEMLOCK, II. 148—203—207—420
- water, II. 421
- HENBANE, II. 207
- black, II. 395
- HEREDITARY madness, 325
- HERMAPHRODITES, 207—228—283
- non-existence of, 284—288
- supposed cases of, 285—288
- HERNIA feigned, 373
- HOMICIDE generally, II. 1
- by misadventure, II. 466
- HOMO diluvii testis, detected, III. [83]
- HORN manufactories, a source of nuisance, 338
- HOSPITALS, ventilation of, 126
- not nuisances, 351
- HUMANE Society, system of, II. 77
- HUNTERIAN Museum, 58
- HYDROGEN, sulphuretted, II. 49
- HYDRO-cyanic acid, II. 396
- see prussic acid.
- HYDROMETER, 377
- HYDROSTATIC test of infanticide, III. [109]
- HYDROPHOBIA, suggestion on, II. 446
- HYMEN, 203
- imperforate, 207
- as a proof of virginity, 428
- authorities on, 430
- HYPOCONDRIASIS, 320
- HYSSOP, hedge, II. 207
- HYSTERIA, feigned, 362
- I
- IDENTITY of children, 219
- IDIOT, cannot marry, 171
- IDIOTS, 289—290
- IDIOTCY, medically considered, 308
- congenital, 308
- general symptoms of, 309
- in criminal cases, III. [131]
- ILLUSION, mental, 301
- IMPOTENCE, 176—197
- mental, 177—210
- corporeal, 197
- absolute or relative, 197—215—217
- temporary or permanent, ib.
- organic, 197
- by phymosis, 204
- in females, 206
- by adhesion, ib.
- by irritability, 208
- functional, 208
- by epilepsy, 209
- IMPOSITIONS, 355
- IMPREGNATION, 203—III. [71]
- sine penetratione, 203
- per urethram, 204
- experiments on, 268
- consent not necessary to, 436
- IMPRISON, power of Censors to, 24
- IMPRISONMENT, murder by excessive, II. 112
- INCISED wounds, II. 119
- INDICTMENT for nuisances, 334—350
- INFANT, violation of, 419
- INFANCY, 188
- INFANTICIDE, 249—258—III. [84]
- physiological illustrations of, III. [98]
- INFECTION, distinction of, 105
- increasing danger of, a nuisance, 352
- INJUNCTION, against nuisances, 340
- INQUEST, Coroners, II. 93—112
- See Coroner.
- by Justices of the Peace, II. 98—107
- INQUISITION of lunacy, 295
- in England does not bind land in Ireland, 295
- INQUIRY, medical, synopsis of, III. [1]
- as to bodily health, III. [8]
- age and occupation, ib.
- present symptoms, ib.
- meals last taken, III. [9]
- stools and vomitings, III. [11]—[13]
- remedies used, III. [12]
- paroxysm of passion, III. [14]
- intoxication, III. [15]
- body found dead, III. [18]
- description of person, III. [22]
- formation of the neck, III. [22]
- period elapsed since death, III. [23]
- marks of wounds, III. [25]
- whether self inflicted, III. [32]
- smell of cloaths, III. [35]
- marks of rape, III. [35]
- surrounding objects, III. [36]
- marks of struggle, III. [37]
- thunder storms, III. [38]
- coup de soleil, III. [38]
- weapons, their nature and situation, III. [38]
- on body found in the water, III. [39]
- on body found hanging, III. [42]
- INSANITY, medically considered, 307
- symptoms of, 312—320—359
- sudden, 315
- exaggerated ideas of, 316—318
- necessity of medical evidence on, 315
- questions on, 317
- kinds of, 318
- excessive coection improper in, 322
- recovery from, 323
- causes of, 324
- hereditary, 324
- from injuries of the head, 326
- increase of, in France, 326
- wine and spirits, dangerous in, 327
- women more liable to, 327
- appearances on dissection, 327—II. 104
- feigned, 358
- puerperal, 327—III. [129]
- INSENSIBILITY, delivery during, 243
- INSURANCE on lives, 381
- foreign case on, 387
- INTOXICATION, suffocation during, II. 58
- effect of cold during, II. 60
- death by, II. 437
- treatment of, II. 439
- INTUS-susception, III. [65]
- IODINE, effect of, on arsenic and sublimate, II. 272
- IRISH Health Act, 85
- IRON, effect of, on copper, II. 293
- J
- JAIL fever, 124—II. 115
- at Cambridge, 124
- Oxford, 125—II. 115
- Exeter, 125
- Taunton, 125
- at Newgate, 125
- Dublin, II. 115
- at Cambridge, 124
- JATROPA, curcas, II. 203—207
- JAUNDICE, feigned, 365
- JOY, excessive, death by, II. 28
- JURIES, physicians exempt, 16
- JUVENTUS, 192
- K
- KALI (see Potass)
- KIDNEYS, rupture of the, III. [67]
- L
- LABOUR, premature, when to be excited, 271
- LACERATIONS, II. 123
- LACTOMETER, 377
- LAUREL water, II. 396
- LAZAR, or Leper, 86
- LAZARETTOES, 104—129
- LEAD, melted, death by, II. 202
- and its compounds, II. 202—336
- red, danger of, II. 277—352
- detection of, ib.
- melted, death by swallowing, II. 317
- action of water on, II. 338
- diseases induced by, ib.—356
- in wines and cider, II. 340—344
- combined with tin, is safe, II. 348
- sugar of, II. 349
- Goulard’s extract of, II. 350—359—360
- white, II. 350
- sub-carbonate of, ib.
- oxide of, II. 351
- red, II. 352
- symptoms of poisoning by, II. 353
- dissection after, II. 357
- physiological action of, II. 358
- tests of, II. 361
- LEADEN utensils, danger of, II. 338
- glaze of earthenware, II. 340
- LEGITIMACY, 216—246
- LEGITIMATION of children, 218
- LEPROSO amovendo, writ de, 86
- LETTUCE, II. 207
- LEUCORRHŒA, 418
- LIABILITIES, medical, 72
- LICENTIATES, litigations of, 41—46—50
- LICENCE, partial, 48
- LIGHTNING, death by, II. 63
- returning stroke of, II. 66
- precautions during, II. 66
- LIKENESS, dangers of trusting to, 221
- LILLY, Wm., the Astrologer, licenced, 13
- LIME kiln, when a nuisance, 351
- a poison, II. 202
- vapour of, III. [36]
- LIME water, effect of, on arsenic, II. 249
- effect of, on sublimate, II. 271
- tartar emetic, II. 284
- quick, II. 325
- poisoning by, ib.
- tests of, II. 326
- effect of, on sublimate, II. 271
- LINACRE, Dr. Thomas, 6
- LITHARGE, II. 351—359
- adulteration of wine by, II. 346
- LIVES, insurance on, 381
- LIVER, examination of the, III. [65]
- ruptured, ib.
- LOCAL circumstances, or habit, when important, III. [27]
- LOCHIA, 252
- LOCUSTA, poisons of, II. 133—139
- LONDON, City of, not to be prejudiced, 17
- practice in, 16
- extent of buildings in, 349
- LOURLULARY, or Lourgary, 350
- LUCID intervals, 299
- difficulty of ascertaining, 322
- LUNAR caustic, a test for arsenic, II. 240
- LUNACY in criminal cases, III. [131]
- LUNATIC may contract marriage, and how, 171
- LUNATICS, 289
- access to, 294
- commission, 295
- committee of the person, 297
- estate, 298
- comfort of, the first object, 298
- recovery of, 299—323
- mode of examining, 318
- suicide by, II. 105—107
- supposed legal remedy of, 294
- asylums, 304
- commissions for visiting, 304
- LUNGS, examination of the, III. [53]
- LUTEA, corpora, III. [70]
- LUTE, fire, composition of, II. 234
- M
- MACLEAN, Dr. C. on the Plague, 110
- MADNESS, 289
- see Insanity.
- MAGGOTS, death by, II. 453
- MALA praxis, punishment of, 38
- death by, II. 467
- MALTA, plague of 1813, 130
- MANHOOD, 193
- MANIA, 311
- See Insanity.
- hereditary, 173—186
- MANDAMUS, Dr. Letch’s, 42
- Dr. Fothergill’s, 50
- Dr. Archer’s, 50
- MANNERS, change of its influence on health, 88
- MANSLAUGHTER, II. 2
- MANUFACTORIES, diseases in, 89
- MARRIAGE, 168
- who may contract, ib.
- parties to, must be habiles ad matrimonium, 170
- must be habiles ad consensus, 171
- idiot cannot contract, 171
- deaf and dumb can, ib.
- lunatic may and how, ib.
- ancient laws of, 172
- nullity of, 176
- MECONIC acid, II. 385—387
- MEDICAL practitioners, exemptions and liabilities of, 72
- MEDICINES, patent, abuse of, 40
- dangerous, sale of, 140
- MELANCHOLIA, 312—320
- MELIUS inquirendum in lunacy, 296
- MEMBERS of the College of Physicians, who are, 41—45
- MENORRHAGIA, 255
- MENSES, 187—232
- peculiarity of the discharge, 187
- cessation of, 194
- MERCURY, poisoning by, II. 148
- and its compounds, II. 201
- metallic, II. 258—264
- oxymuriate or bichloride of, (see Sublimate).
- red oxide of, II. 275
- nitric oxide of, II. 276
- sulphuret of, II. 276
- volatility of, II. 459
- metallic, salivation by, II. 459
- MERCURIAL vapours, II. 458
- MIDWIFE, baptism by, 82
- oath of, 83
- licence of, by the College, 43
- by the Bishops, 83
- MIDWIFERY, 82
- MILITARY surgery, 355
- MILITIA, liability to serve in, 75
- MILK, secretion of, how far a proof of delivery, 253
- man having, 254
- adulterations of, 378
- assay of, ib.
- MILREEK, or miner’s colic, II. 355
- MINERAL poisons, II. 209
- readily detected, II. 186
- MINES, accidents in, II. 99
- MINIUM, II. 352
- MITCHELL and family, case of, II. 187—217
- MONKS practised physic, 2
- MONOMANIA, 318
- MONSTERS, 226—227
- not to be destroyed, 228
- MORPHIA, II. 385
- effect of, II. 387
- MORTALITY, bills of, 143
- Breslaw, ib.
- Northampton, ib.—147
- London, 143
- importance of, 145
- imperfections of, 145—146
- Chester, 147
- York, ib.
- MURDER, II. 2
- self, (see suicide), II. 104
- generally, II. 110
- of infants, (see Infanticide), II. 111
- by duress, II. 112
- by wounding, II. 116
- by blows, II. 116
- MURIATIC acid, II. 202—313
- poisoning by, II. 313
- tests of, II. 314
- MUSCLE (Mytilus Edulis), II. 449—453
- MUSHROOMS, poison of, II. 203
- poisonous, II. 425
- poisoning by, II. 428
- antidotes, II. 433
- N
- NARCOTIC poisons, II. 141—161—203—207—382
- NARROTICO-acrid poisons, II. 203—205—207—410
- NARCOTINE, II. 385
- NAVEL string, strangulation by, III. [123]
- NECK, dislocation of, II. 44
- NECROPOLIS, project of, 99
- NERVES, injuries of, II. 44
- NICOTIN, II. 416
- NIGHTSHADE, II. 207—410
- NITRATE of silver, a test for arsenic, II. 240
- objection to, considered, II. 241
- best mode of using, II. 241
- poisoning by, II. 300
- See silver.
- NITRE, poisoning by, II. 381
- test of, II. 382
- NITRIC acid, II. 305
- death by, II. 147—202
- poisoning by, II. 306
- tests of, II. 312
- NITRIC oxide of mercury, II. 276
- NOISES, excessive, nuisances by, 331—348—351
- NON-COMPOS, (see insanity and lunacy), 290
- NOYAU, creme de, danger of, II. 404
- NUISANCES, 330
- various kinds of, 330
- by putrefaction or fermentation, 330
- by tainting the air, 330
- the waters, 331—350—351
- by noises, 331—348—351
- indictment of, 334
- actions for, 340
- injunctions against, 340
- when allowed, 341
- evidence on, 347
- by probable danger, 352
- whether a new comer can have his action for, 353
- continuance of, 353
- NUX vomica, II. 203—421
- uncertain effects of, II. 422
- O
- OATH of Censor, 18
- allegiance and supremacy, 18
- OBSTRUCTIONS, death or disease by, II. 144—145
- ŒSOPHAGUS ruptured, II. 63
- OFFALS, animal poison in, II. 446
- OILS, fixed, dangers of, (see combustion), 406
- ONIONS, decoction of, error respecting, II. 246
- OPERATION, cæsarian, 226—274
- sigaultian, 274—280
- OPIUM, sale of, should be regulated, 140—II. 383
- poisoning by, II. 142—207
- excessive dose of, II. 151
- Turkey, II, 384
- East Indian, II. 383
- eaters, II. 388
- symptoms of poisoning by, II. 389
- action on the brain, II. 389—390
- physiological action of, II. 390
- treatment in cases of poisoning by, II. 391
- mechanical removal of from the stomach, II. 392
- detection of, 394
- OPHTHALMIA, feigned, 372
- OPTICAL deceptions, II. 247
- ORGANIC lesions, and effects of poison, II. 162
- ORPIMENT, II. 257
- OSSIFICATION, III. [75]
- OVARIA, absence of, 192—213
- essential to puberty, 192
- diseased, 213
- should be examined, II. 181
- examination of the, III. [70]
- OVERBURY, Sir T. murder of, II. 130—137—222—331
- OXALIC acid, II. 315
- fatal mistakes of, 141—II. 315
- poisoning by, II. 316
- tests of, ib.
- antidotes to, ib.
- OXYGEN, requisite for respiration, II. 34
- consumption of, increased by action, II. 34—39
- death, by air deprived of, II. 42
- OXYGENIZED blood, necessary to life, II. 20
- OXFORD, University of, degrees in, 3—17
- OXYMURIATIC acid gas, II. 464
- P
- PAINTER’S colic, II. 355
- PALSY, feigned, 362
- PAPIST, recusant cannot practice, 15
- PARIS, cemeteries of, 95
- PARISH Offices, physicians exempt, 18
- PARR, old, 172
- PARTURITION, 241
- questions on, 241
- during insensibility, 243
- recent, signs of, 251
- difficulty of determining, 258
- diseases resembling, 254
- PASSIONS violent, their effect, II. 26
- PASSION, effects of, III. [14]
- PEEL, Sir Robert, cotton factories, 89
- PEINE fort et dure, II. 56
- PELVIS, distorted, 272—274
- PENETRATION, in rape, 427
- PENIS, malformation of, 203
- excessive, 204
- diminutive, 201
- mutilated, 205
- paralysis of, 205
- PERFORATIONS, gastric, II. 164—III. [62]
- in the stomach, II. 164
- appearance of, II. 175
- not always a sign of poison, II. 175
- in the stomach, II. 164
- PERICARDIUM, examination of, III. [56]
- PERSONAL identity, III [8]—[131]—[142]
- PHANTOMS of insanity, 321
- PHARMACOPŒIA, 52
- PHOSPHATES distinguished from arsenic, II. 241
- PHOSPHORUS, II. 202—333
- poisoning by, II. 333
- PHYSICIAN, profession of, 1
- College of, founded, 6
- powers of, 23
- charter confirmed, 13
- College of how to sue, 28
- classes of, 52
- College of, founded, 6
- PICROTOXINE, II. 425
- PLAGUE, regulations in time of, 86
- contagion of, 95
- definition of, 108
- authorities on, 108—111—112
- contagious, 109
- Dr. Maclean on, 110
- at Marseilles, ib.
- Messina, ib.
- ancient authorities on, 111
- report of the College on, 113—Appx. [185]
- in London, 121
- source of the, 127
- at Malta, 1813, 130
- police, 104
- PLOMB or asphyxia of privies, 101
- PLOUQUET’S test of infanticide, III. [117]
- POISON, definition of, II. 142
- POISONS generally, II. 131
- classification of, 199—207
- slow, II. 132—143—149—355
- vegetable, II. 138—182—366
- narcotic, II. 141—154—161—200—203—381
- consecutive, II. 147—149
- accumulative, II. 148—149—260—355
- absolute, II. 150
- relative, II. ib.
- corrosive, II. 154—200—201
- astringent, II. 200—202—336
- animal, II. 440
- septic, II. 200—204—ib.
- aerial, II. 204—456
- acrid, II. 200—202—371
- mineral, II. 209
- mechanical, II. 334
- narcotico-acrid, II. 200—203—205
- absorption of, II. 208
- external application of, II. ib.
- effect of on animals, II. 193
- of the toad, II. 139
- of the lepus marinus, II. 141
- of acrid bile, II. 158
- of fishes, II. 204
- of vipers, II. 442
- POISONING, murder by, II. 128
- antiquity of, II. 132—138
- fables of, II. 136
- evidence of, II. 153
- questions on, II. 154
- by arsenic, II. 216
- sublimate, II. 259
- antimony, II. 270
- copper, II. 291
- muriate of tin, II. 295
- sulphate of zinc, II. 297
- nitrate of silver, II. —
- concentrated acids, II. 301
- sulphuric acid, II. 303
- oxalic acid, II. 316
- potass, II. 202—320—322
- soda, II. 323
- ammonia, II. 324
- lime, II. 325
- baryta, II. 327
- phosphorus, II. 333
- lead, II. 353
- white hellebore, II. 373
- black hellebore, II. 374
- fœtid hellebore, II. 375
- elaterium, II. 376
- colocynth, II. 377
- euphorbium, II. 378
- savine, II. 378
- aconite, II. 380
- nitre, II. 381
- opium, II. 388
- henbane, II. 395
- prussic acid, II. 398
- nightshade, II. 411
- stramonium, II. 414
- tobacco, II. 418
- hemlock, II. 421
- nux vomica, II. 422
- mushrooms, II. 428
- alcohol, II. 436
- fish, II. 451
- POISONOUS drugs, sale of, II. 139
- proposed regulation, II. 141
- fish, II. 449
- POITOU, colic of, II. 340—344—346—350
- POLICE plague, 104
- medical, 138
- POPPIES red, mistake arising from, II. 231
- POTASS, II. 319
- a poison, II. 202—320
- carbonate and subcarbonate, effect on sublimate, II. 271
- effect on copper, II. 293
- arseniate of, effect on copper, II. 293
- triple prussiate of, effect on copper, II. 294
- subcarbonate of, II. 322
- poisoning by, ib.
- antidotes to, II. 323
- POTASSÆ, liquor, II. 320
- tests of, ib.
- POTASSA fusa, II. 321
- POTASSA cum calce, II. 321
- PRACTICE within London and seven miles, confined to College of Physicians and their Licentiates, 16—41
- unlicenced, punishment of, 23—26
- action for, 28
- what is, 30—35
- in the country, 41
- unlicenced, punishment of, 23—26
- PRATIQUE, 128
- PREGNANCY, 230
- PRESCRIPTIONS, 64
- PRIAPISM, 205
- PRINCE Charles Edward, 223
- PRINCES, births of, disputed, ib.
- precautions at, ib.
- PRISON discipline, 89—II. 113
- PRISONERS, death of, II. 111—112
- PRIVIES, cleansing, 100
- asphixia of, 101
- explosion in, ib.
- regulation of, 102
- in Paris, ib.
- gas of, II. 463
- infants found in, III. [124]
- PRECOCITY of talent, 184
- PROLAPSUS uteri, 287
- feigned, 373
- PROTESTANTS, French, charter to, 30
- PRUSSIAN blue, nuisance of manufactory, 337
- PRUSSIC acid, II. 207—396
- spontaneous generation of, II. 162
- properties of, II. 397
- poisoning by, II. 398
- suicide by, II. 399—401
- accidents by, II. 399—401—402
- physiological action of, II. 404
- antidotes, II. 406
- test of, II. 408
- PTYALISM, extraordinary case of, II. 461
- PUBERTY, age of, 170—185
- signs of in males, 185
- in females, 187
- premature, 188
- singular case of, 189
- how to ascertain, 190
- signs of in males, 185
- PUERPERAL insanity, III. [129]
- PUERITIA, 184
- PULMONIC test of Infanticide, III. [109]
- PULVIS successionis, II. 142
- PUNCTURES, II. 120
- PUNISHMENTS, III. [147]
- PUTREFACTION, whether capable of generating contagion, 122
- nuisances by, 330
- as a test of death, II. 3
- in cases of poisoning, II. 155—182
- signs of in the stomach, II. 181
- should not prevent dissection, II. 185
- PUTRESCENT animal matter, II. 443
- Q
- QUARANTINE, 104—127
- origin of, 127
- laws, 131
- vexatious application of, 131
- necessity of, 136
- QUICKSILVER, see Mercury.
- QUO warranto against the President and Censors of the College of Physicians, 46
- QUICK or not, question of, III. [142]
- R
- RANUNCULI, II. 207
- RAPE, 416
- accusation of, should be immediate, 416
- appeal of abolished, 417
- in Scotland, 417
- immediate medical examination necessary, 417—424
- signs of, 417
- accuser and accused to be medically examined, 417
- false accusation of, 418—426
- general observations, 419—424
- on the person of an infant, 419
- cases of, 420
- evidence of infant, 421
- male infant under 14 deemed incapable of—sed q., 422
- penetration, whether necessary, 427—433
- emissio seminis, 427—433
- whether Eunuchs can commit, 433
- evidence on, 434—439
- REALGAR, II. 259
- RECOVERY of drowned persons, II. 78
- RECTUM, poison inserted into, II. 222—230
- examination of the, III. [64]
- RESEMBLANCE, personal, 220
- animal, 221
- RESPIRATION, II. 18
- artificial, II. 21—78
- cessation of, II. 33
- utmost suspension of, II. 33
- of infants, III. [113]
- in utero, 224
- RESPONSIBILITY, criminal, III. [131]
- RHEUMATISM, feigned, 358
- RICINUS, II. 203
- ROYAL Letters, 3
- RYE, spurred, poison of, II. 204
- S
- SAFETY lamp, II. 100
- SAFFRON, meadow, II. 207
- SALIVATION by sublimate, II. 261
- SALT, spirit of, see muriatic acid.
- SALT Tax, impolicy of, 90
- SANDARACH, mistake of, II. 210
- SATURNINE medicines, danger of, II. 359
- SAUSAGES, danger of, II. 445
- SAVINE, II. 207—378
- SCAMMONY, II. 203
- SCHOOLS, diseases in, 90
- SCROFULA, hereditary, 173
- SEARCHERS, duty of, 144
- inadequacy of, 144
- SENECTUS, 194
- SEPTIC poisons, II. 204—440
- SEX, mistaken, 285—286—288
- SEXES, equal births of both, 259
- SHEEP skins, steeping, a nuisance, 351
- SICKNESS, the sweating, 124
- SIGAULTIAN operation, 274—280
- SIGHT, defective, feigned, 372
- SILVER and its compounds, II. 202
- nitrate of, II. 207—299
- poisoning by, II. 300
- tests of, II. 300
- SKELETON, examination of the, III. [73]
- sex of, III. [76]
- SKULL, examination of, III. [36]
- SLAUGHTERING in cities, 92
- SLAUGHTER houses, nuisance of, 344
- SLOW poisoning, II. 145
- SMALL pox, exposure of persons with, 86
- contagion of, 98
- effect of fresh air on, II. 5
- SMELTING houses, when nuisances, 338—341
- importance of, 342
- evidence on, 348
- SMOKE, nuisances by, 331—333
- modes of diminishing, 335
- SMOTHERING, death by, II. 48
- SNUFF, dangerous abuse of, II. 419
- SOAP boilers, a nuisance, 338
- SODA, poisoning by, II. 202—323
- tests of, II. 321
- SOLEIL, coup de, III. [24]—[38]
- SOMNOLENCY, feigned, 359
- SPINE, fracture of, III. [44]
- SPINAL marrow, functions of, II. 20—24
- SPIRITS, effects of, II. 434
- SPLEEN, ruptured, II. 123—III. [66]
- SPONTANEOUS combustion (see combustion), 402
- SPORADIC fever, 117
- SPURRED rye, II. 204
- SQUILL, II. 203—207
- STABBING, statute of, II. 2
- STARCH, manufactories, 332
- STARVATION, death by, II. 67—110
- cases of, II. 68
- voluntary, II. 69
- STATUTES, 51. Hen. 3., 375
- 17. Edw. 2. c. 9., 291
- 12. Rich. 2. c. 13., 350
- 9. Hen. 5., 12
- 3. Hen. 8., 3
- 5. Hen. 8., 54
- 14 & 15. Hen. 8., 12—72
- 21. Hen. 8. c. 1., 402
- 22. Hen. 8., II. 128
- 22. Hen. 8. c. 1., 402
- 23. Hen. 8., II. 468
- 32. Hen. 8. c. 38., 18—54—72—169—II. 466
- 34. & 35. Hen. 8., 19—30
- 37. Hen. 8. c. 26., 402
- 1. Mary. c. 9., 18—20—26—31
- 1. & 2. Ph. & Ma. c. 8., 169
- 4. & 5. Ph. & Ma. c. 4., 402
- 1. Edw. 6. c. 12., 402—II. 128
- 2. Edw. 6. c. 8., 297
- 2. & 3. Edw. 6. c. 23., 169
- 5. & 6. Edw. 6. c. 12., 171
- 1. Eliz. c. 1., 169
- 5. Eliz. c. 10., 154
- 43. Eliz. c. 13., 402
- 1. Ja. 1. c. 31., 86
- 1. Ja. 1. c. 8., II. 2
- 9. Ja. 1. c. 5., 15
- 21. Ja. 1. c. 21., III. [85]
- 21. Ja. 1. c. 27., III. ib.
- 22. & 23. Car. 2. c. 7., 402
- 2. Wm. & Ma. sess. 2. c. 8., 336
- 7. & 8. Wm. 3. c. 35., 171
- 8. Ann. c. 18., 375
- 10. Ann. c. 19., 171
- 1. Geo. 1. c. 48., 402
- 9. Geo. 1. c. 22., 402
- 10. Geo. 1., 21—40
- 12. Geo. 1. c. 61., 352
- 13. Geo. 1., 21
- 4. Geo. 2. c. 10., 290
- 18. Geo. 2. c. 15., 54
- 10. Geo. 2. c. 32., 402
- 15. Geo. 2. c. 30., 171
- 22. Geo. 2. c. 2., 155
- 28. Geo. 2. c. 19., 402
- 31. Geo. 2. c. 29., 375
- 31. Geo. 2. c. 42., 402
- 9. Geo. 3. c. 29., 402
- 14. Geo. 3. c. 48., 381
- 14. Geo. 3. c. 49., 304—305
- 18. Geo. 3. c. 19., 156
- 26. Geo, 3. c. 60., 131
- 40. Geo. 3. c. 79., 136
- 43. Geo. 3. c. 58., III. [58]
- 44. Geo. 3. c. 98., 135
- 45. Geo. 3. c. 10., 131
- 45. Geo. 3. c. 92., 156
- 48. Geo. 3. c. 96., 306
- 55. Geo. 3., 62
- 56. Geo. 3. c. 69., 306
- 57. Geo. 3. c. 22., 345
- 57. Geo. 3. c. 106., 306
- 58. Geo. 3. c. 28., 379
- 58. Geo. 3. c. 56., 379
- 58. Geo. 3. c. 65., 379
- 59. Geo. 3. c. 41., 85
- 59. Geo. 3. c. 127., 306
- 1. Geo. 4. c. 98., 306
- 1. & 2. Geo. 4. c. 33., 306
- STEAM engines, number of, 334
- STEEL not blackened by arsenic, II. 250
- blackened by corrosive sublimate, II. 250—270
- STENCH, noxious, nuisances by, 346
- need not be unwholesome, 348
- death by, II. 111
- STERILITY, 197—212
- organic, 212
- functional, 214
- sympathetic, 215—217
- STIFFNESS, cadaverous, II. 13—III. [23]
- STOMACH, injuries of, by poison, II. 163
- changes in, after death, II. 164
- solution or digestion of, II. 166—171
- vascular appearance of, II. 173
- red colour, not always to be attributed to poison, II. 230
- suspected to contain arsenic, examination of, II. 254
- examination of, for sublimate, II. 274
- copper, II. 295
- lead, II. 357—365
- of infants, examination of, III. [120]
- examination of the, III. [61]
- ruptured, III. [63]
- appearance of, in cases of sudden death, II. 393
- STONE, feigned, 366
- STRAMONIUM, II. 203—413
- poisoning by, II. 414
- STRANGULATION, II. 21—24—26—42
- death by, II. 46
- STRYCHNIA, II. 422
- SUBLIMATE, corrosive, II. 141—207
- Suleyman, the taker of, II. 151
- absorption of, II. 187
- effect of on dough, II. 250
- blackens steel, II. 250—270
- properties of, II. 259
- smell of vapour, ib.
- poisoning by, ib.
- symptoms of a large dose, II. 260
- symptoms of small doses, II. 260
- salivation by, II. 261
- physiological action of, II. 262
- antidotes and treatment of, II. 263
- action of albumen on, II. 264
- gluten on, II. 265
- tests for, II. 267
- galvanic test, Sylvester’s, II. 268
- Archdeacon Wollaston’s, ib.
- test by precipitation, II. 269
- carbonate of potass, II. 271
- subcarbonate of potass, ib.
- ammonia, ib.
- lime water, ib.
- nitrate of tin, II. 272
- iodine, II. 272
- sublimation, II. 273
- mode of detecting, when mixed, II. 273
- converted into calomel, II. 273
- examination of the stomach for, II. 273
- effect of tartarized antimony, II. 274
- SUBPŒNA ad testificandum, 154
- SUCCESSION, Poudres de, II. 355
- SUFFOCATION, II. 32—III. [21]—[24]—[36]
- death by, how produced, II. 32
- cases of, II. 49—50—55
- by compression, II. 55
- by obstruction, II. 57
- voluntary, fable of, II. 56
- during intoxication, II. 58
- SUICIDE, II. 1—104
- SUGILLATIONS to be distinguished from ecchymoses, III. [104]
- SULEYMAN Yeyen, II. 151
- SULPHURIC acid, II. 202—302
- poisoning by, II. 303
- antidotes to, II. 304
- tests of, II. 305
- SULPHUROUS acid gas, II. 465
- SULPHURETTED hydrogen gas, II. 462
- SULPHATE of copper, effect on arsenic, II. 245—291
- SULPHURETS of arsenic, II. 257
- tests of, II. 258
- of mercury, II. 276
- SUPERFŒTATION, 247—260
- cases of, 261
- modern case of, 262
- in animals, 266
- questions on, 268
- circumstances essential to, 269
- SUPPOSITITIOUS children, 219
- SURGEONS of London, 3
- College of, 54
- their Charters, 55—57
- military and naval, 56
- actions against for mala praxis, 88
- SURVIVORSHIP, 388
- according to the Code Napoleon, 392
- case of, chemically determined, III. [25]
- SUSPENDED animation (see animation), II. 9
- SWINE keeping in London a nuisance, 336
- SYMPATHY, extraordinary effects of, 363
- SYNCOPE, II. 25
- from hemorrhage, II. 26
- feigned, II. 360
- SYNOPSIS of objects of enquiry in cases of sudden death, III. [1]
- T
- TALLOW MELTERS, nuisance of, 944—346
- TAN YARDS, when nuisances, 332
- TANNIN effect of on arsenic tests, II. 248
- TARTAR emetic, II. 204—207—274—279—280
- TENANT by the courtesy, 225
- TESTICLES necessary to puberty, 192
- use of, 197
- want of, 198
- concealed, ib.
- defective, 201—202
- wasting of, 202
- TESTS, chemical, of arsenic, II. 232
- sublimate, II. 267
- lead, II. 361
- copper, II. 292
- nitre, II. 382
- THORAX, dissection of, III. 52
- TIN and its compounds, II. 202
- muriate and oxide of, II. 207
- nitrate of, effect on sublimate, II. 272
- important use of, II. 290—348
- muriate of, poisonous, II. 295
- TIPPLE, case of Thomas, II. 117
- TOAD, poison of the, II. 139
- TOBACCO, II. 414
- essential oil of, II. 416
- prejudices against, II. 415—416
- poisoning by, II. 418
- injection of, dangerous, II. ib.
- physiological action of, II. 419
- difference between the essential oil and infusion of, II. 420
- abuse of, II. 88
- poison, II. 203—207
- TOPHANA, poisons of, II. 134—141
- TOXICOLOGY, see Poisons, II. 131
- TRADES dangerous, II. 457—III. [8]
- TRANCES or apparent death, II. 4—6—25
- TRAVERSE, right of, in lunacy, 296
- by idiot in person, 297
- by lunatic, by attorney, ib.
- TREAD MILL, III. [147]
- TREATMENT of persons poisoned by opium, II. 390
- TRIUMPH, H. M. S., case on board, II. 460
- TURNER and family, case of, II. 216—250—III. [94]
- TWINS, united, 227
- TYPHUS, generation of, 98
- causes of, 123
- danger of in populous places, 352
- U
- UMBILICAL cord, see Navel string.
- ULCERS, feigned, 372
- UNIVERSITIES, 3—5—13—23—24—28—68
- UPAS Antiar, II. 207
- URINE, vomiting, feigned, 365
- bloody, feigned, ib.
- incontinence of, feigned, 366
- UTERUS examination of the, III. [67]
- absence of, 192—212
- imperforate, 212
- polypus in, 213
- during gestation, 231
- gravid, examination of, 237
- double, 265
- prolapsus of, 287
- necessity of inspecting in doubtful cases of sudden death, II. 181
- UTERINUS vagitus, 224
- V
- VAGINA, adhesions in, 206
- imperforate, ib.
- obstructed, ib.
- malformation of, 207
- double, 265—266
- state of in virgins, 431
- poison introduced into, II. 221
- examination of the, III. [72]
- VAGITUS Uterinus, 224
- VAPOUR, noxious, nuisances by, 331
- VAPOURS, mercurial, II. 458
- noxious, III. [36]
- VARNISH manufactories, nuisances, 338
- VEGETABLE fermentation, a source of nuisance, 332—345
- poisons, II. 138—182—366
- VENEREAL disease, 88
- VENOMOUS animals, II. 440
- VENTILATION in jails, importance of, 125
- VERATRIA, II. 374
- VERDEGRIS, II. 207—288—290
- VERMILION, detection of, II. 277
- VESALIUS, a Spanish physician, case of, II. 6
- VESPA, II. 443
- VIABILITE, 243
- VIABILITY of infant, III. [100]—[108]
- VILLOUS coat of the stomach, separation of, II. 163
- VINEGAR, action of on opium, II. 392
- on prussic acid, II. 406
- VIPERS, II. 440
- bite of, II. 441
- VIRGINITY, signs of, 424
- VIRGINS, corpora lutea in, III. [71]
- VITERBI case of, II. 69
- VITRIOL, white, see Sulphate of Zinc.
- oil of, see Sulphuric Acid.
- VOMITING blood, feigned, 365
- urine feigned, ib.
- difficult to excite in cases of poisoning by opium, II. 389—393
- W
- WADDING, murder detected by the examination of, III. [39]
- WATCH and WARD, physicians exempt, 18—72
- surgeons and apothecaries exempt, 54
- WATER, in the stomach or lungs of bodies supposed to have been drowned, II. 38
- boiling, death by, II. 202—316
- stagnant, 91
- tainting, 330—350—351
- WHITING, case of Michael, II. 265
- WHITEWASHING infected chambers should be enforced, 142
- WILL, incapacity of making a, 293
- WINE, action of, II. 434
- WINES adulterated with lead, II. 344—345
- test of, II. 363
- WITNESSES, medical, 153
- expenses of, 154
- examination of, 158
- not privileged, 160
- observations on, 161
- WOMB and its appendages, III. [69]
- WOUNDS, classification of, II. 116
- WOUNDING, murder by, II. 116
- Y
- YELLOW fever, 109—116—135
- Z
- ZINC and its compounds, II. 202
- sulphate of, II. 207
- poisoning by, II. 297
- tests of, II. 299
- sulphate of, II. 207
Printed by William Phillips,
George-yard, Lombard-street, London.
APPENDIX
TO
PART I.
STATUTES AND CHARTERS.
STATUTE.
9 Hen. 5.
[Cited by Sir Wm. Browne in his Vindication of the College of Physicians. Quarto, London 1753.]
Ex Bundello petitionum de ano. 9o. H. 5. in Parliamento.
Hey and most mighty prince noble and worthy lords spirituelx and temporelx and worshipfull comunes, for so moche as a man hath thre things to governe, that is to say soule, body, and worldly goods, the which ought and shulde ben principaly reweled by thre sciences, that ben divinitie, fisyk, and lawe, the soule by divinitie, the body by fisyk, worldly goods by lawe, and those conynges should be used and practised principally by the most connyng men in the same sciences, and most approved in cases necessaries to encrese of virtue, long life, and gouds of fortune, to the worship of God and comyn profit.
But worthi soveraines hit is known to your hey discretion, meny uncunning and unaproved in the aforesaide science practiseth, and specialy in fysyk, so that in this realme is every man be he never so lewed taking upon him practice y suffered to use it to grete harm and slaughtre of many men, where if no man practiced therein but al only connynge men and approved sufficiently y learned in art, filosofye, and fysyk, as it is kept in other londes and roialmes ther shuld many man that dyeth for defaute of helpe lyve, and no man perish by unconning.
Wherefore pleseth to your excellents wysdomes that ought after your soule have no entendance to youre body for the causes abovesaid, to ordaine and make in statute perpetually to be straitly y used and kept. That no man of no manner, estate, degre, or condition, practice in fysyk fro this time forward, bot he have long time y used the scoles of fysyk, having letters testimonialx sufficianty of on of those degrees in the universite in which he took his degree in, under payne of long imprisonement and paying XL lb to the king, and that no woman use the practice of fysyk under the same payne, and that the sherreffs of every shire make inquisition in their tournes if there be any that forfaiteth agens this statuit under a payne reasonable, and thenne that they put this statute in execution without any favoure under the same payne; also lest that they the which ben able to practise in fisyk ben excluded fro practise, the which be not graduated. Pleseth to your hey prudency to send writtes to all the sherriffs of England, that every practysour in fisyk not graduated in the same science, that wole practise forth be wythin on of the universities of this lond by a certain day, that thay that ben able mowe aftre true and strayt examination be received to their degree, and that they that be not able to cese fro the practise into the time they ben able and approved, or for to never more entermete thereof, and that herto also be y set a peyne convenient.
Dorso.
Responsio hujus petitionis patet in rotulo parliamento dat. 2. dic maij anno regni regis Henr. 5ti. post conquestum nono.
Rot. Parl. 9. H. 5. p. 1. No. 11.
Lordinance encontre les entremettours de fysyk et de Surgerie.
Item pur ouster meschieves et perils qe longement ont continuez dedains le roialme entre les gentz par my ceux quont usez larts et le practik de fisik et surgerye pretendantz foi’ bien et sufficeaument apris de mesmes les arts on de verite non pas estes a grand deceite a le people. Si est ordeinez et assentuz en ceste parlement qe les seigneurs du counseil du roy pur le temps esteantz aient poair per anctoritie de mesme le parlement de faire et mettre tielle ordinaunce et punissement envers ceux persones qe desore evanant vorrant entremetter et user le practik des dits arts et ne sont my hables ne approves en ycelles come app’ent as mesmes les arts cesstasavoir ceux de fisyk en les universities et les surgeons entre les mestres de cell arte et ceo come semblera as ditz seigneurs les plus convenables et necessarie en le cas selonc lour bon advis et discretions pur le surete de le people.