results, the patient being kept under its influence, carefully watching its effects. He strongly advises its early administration. Potassium bromide, hydrate of chloral, nitrate of amyl and atropine, are recommended. Paraldehyde, uretham and luti. dine, have been given as antidotes. Reese deems tobacco, tincture of iron, tincture of iodine and aconite of no value. Stewart says chloroform is the direct antidote to strychnine, and he considers that most cases could be saved if, on the approach of the convulsions, the patients could be put vigourously under the action of chloroform. He also thinks tannin may be useful as an adjunct, as it precipitates strychnia as well as most other alkaloids. Aconite, Aconitine (the active alkaloid principle of aconite).-There is no chemical antidote. The stomach should be emptied by the stomach pump or an active emetic. Animal charcoal, tannin or astringent infusions, are recommended, and slight galvanic shocks passed through the heart, and artificial respiration. The inhalation of oxygen might be of some advantage. Strychnine being antagonistic to aconitine, might be used with caution. Prof. Reese states that the cases reported warrant the use of digitalis as an antidote. Belladonna, atropine (the active principle of belladonna).—There is no chemical antidote. Evacuate the stomach. The physiological antidote is morphine, which should be carefully and repeatedly administered. The subcutaneous injection of pilocarpine has been found effectual. Datura stramonium.-The treatment should be the same as for belladonna. Conium maculatum. (spotted hemlock).-Emetics or stomach pump, followed by castor oil and stimulants. "3.-CHARACTERS OF A WOUND MADE AFTER DEATH 162 "4.-PRACTICAL REMARKS 163 SEC. 1.-EXAMINATION OF WOUNDS. The wounds on a dead body should be examined as to their situation, form, extent, length, breadth, depth and direction. And the presence or absence of effused blood, either liquid or coagulated, and of ecchymosis in the skin, should be noticed. The surrounding parts and edges of wounds should also be carefully examined, care being taken not to destroy the external appearances more than can possibly be helped, as these often afford valuable evidence in identifying the weapons used.' The dissection, too, should not be 1 Taylor, Vol. I. p. 485. confined to the injured part, particularly when the death would not apparently be caused by the wounds found on the body. All the organs and cavities should be carefully inspected, to see if any natural cause of death existed.1 Deaths appar ently caused by violence have sometimes been really caused by poison. This was the case in an instance mentioned by Dr. Taylor. A girl died apparently from a severe chastisement inflicted by her father for stealing, but the death being rather more sudden than would be expected from the nature of the injuries, the surgeon examined the stomach, in which he found arsenic. The girl, to avoid her father's anger, had poisoned herself." Such cases shew the necessity of examining the stomach, no matter how unconnected with that cavity the apparent cause of death may be. By an examination of the stomach important evidence relating to the time of death is sometimes discovered from the absence or presence of food therein, and when present, from its nature and degree of digestion. A medical witness who has examined the body should not only be able to prove he found wounds or injuries sufficient to account for death, but he should be able to go further, and prove that no other cause of death could be found. To do this he must examine all the organs and cavities. In cases of exhumation, injuries or fractures by pick or shovel of the grave-digger, may sometimes be mistaken for violence inflicted during life." 1 Taylor, Vol. I. p. 485. 3 Tidy, Vol. I. p. 85. The effects of vermin on a body may resemble, and should not be mistaken for wounds.1 SEC. 2.-CHARACTERS OF A WOUND INFLICTED DURING LIFE. Dr. Taylor says the principal characters of a wound inflicted during life are:-1. Eversion of the edges, owing to vital elasticity of the skin. 2. Abundant hemorrhage, often of an arterial character, with general sanguineous infiltration of the surrounding parts. 3. The presence of coagula. There may be no appearance of bleeding but the edges will be everted and the muscles and skin retracted.2 It seems wounds which prove immediately fatal do not always present any characters by which to distinguish them from wounds made upon the dead body. Wounds which prove fatal within ten or twelve hours present throughout much the same characters.3 The presence of gangrene, the effusion of adhesive or purulent matter, or swollen and enlarged edges, and the commencement of cicatrization, prove the wound was made sometime before death. A burn which has occurred during life will, in general, leave marks of vesication with serous effusion, or a line of redness, or both, about the burnt part.5 1 Tidy, Vol. I. p. 92. A bruise produced during life, may not be apparent in a dead body when first recovered after some days submersion in water, but after a very few hours exposure to air it will probably show itself with even exaggerated severity.1 SEC. 3.-CHARACTERS OF A WOUND MADE AFTER DEATH. The following are the chief characters of a wound made after death, as given by Dr. Taylor: -1. Absence of copious hemorrhage. 2. If there be hemorrhage, it is exclusively venous. 3. The edges of the wound are close, not everted. There is no sanguineous infiltration in the cellular tissue. 5. There is an absence of coagula. 4. When wounds are inflicted soon after death, it becomes more difficult to distinguish them from those made during life, according to the length of time that has elapsed since the breath left the body. The characters of a wound upon the dead body, made twelve or fourteen hours after death, are distinctly marked, but if inflicted before twelve or fourteen hours have elapsed, they become less and less distinct, until medical testimony can prove no more than that the wound was made during life, or very shortly after death. Cuts and stabs, if made during life, bleed profusely, but much less, if at all, when made after death, so that the quantity of blood lost is something to judge from in these cases. Lacerated and 1 Tidy, Vol. I. p. 81. 2 Taylor, Vol. I. p. 487. |