Page images
PDF
EPUB

tiguous organs must be specially looked for. These, particularly the punctures, are often multiple. He stabbed me three or four times,' is a common remark of the victim.”

§ 85. Signs on examination of the female after death.

It is usually not difficult to distinguish wounds made before from those made after death, because the former will have cicatrized surfaces or be coated with lymph, pus or blood. It is not always possible, but generally it is easy, to distinguish the results of violence from natural or spontaneous ruptures: Barnes' Obst. Oper. (2d ed.), §§ 320–375. Peritonitis, when resulting from violence, is generally more localized than when it is, so to speak, spontaneous in puerperal cases at term. Note should especially be taken in all cases of abortion whether there are signs of irritant poisoning in the stomach and intestines or any inflammation of the bladder and kidneys resulting from the administration of abortive drugs. Note further any general marks of violence, especially on the abdomen; also the general character of the viscera, i. e., whether they indicate loss of blood during life, such as commonly results from abortion

If a woman die during the menstrual period a thickened state of the uterus, a swollen condition of its mucous lining and a generally increased hyperæmic appearance are invariably found. And it is well to bear this in mind lest we mistake the appearance resulting from menstruation for that produced by abortion: Id.

§ 86. Examination of the foetus; strains, etc.

If the fœtus be found, a very careful examination should be instituted to determine, 1st, its age; 2d, whether it was born alive; and, 3d, if so, to what cause its death may probably be attributed. Further, the foetus must be most carefully examined for punctures or wounds, and every attempt made to form an opinion whether the injuries, if such be found, were caused during life or after death. This latter point is essential, not so much to prove that the wound was sufficient to cause death as to negative the certain contention on the part of the defense that the injury was caused after birth: Id.

§ 87. Infanticide; distinction between, and foeticide. Infanticide is the murder of a new-born infant; whereas miscarriage, abortion or foeticide

is the destruction of life of the foetus in utero. To constitute the offense of murder, the child whose life is destroyed must be wholly born. At common law the killing of an unborn child. or fœtus, though quick, was only manslaughter, and this is generally the case under statutes; but the crime of infanticide, or the killing of a child after it is fully born, is murder both at common law and under statutes. In criminal cases the question is sometimes presented whether the child was killed before or after birth, and whether there was any delivery, premature or otherwise.

The signs and symptoms, in such cases, we have already stated. But such a case would usually call for expert testimony, where the pregnancy of the woman, and delivery, premature and criminal, or otherwise, is proved or ad. mitted, and the question presented is, whether the child was killed before or after delivery.

This question is sometimes of great interest to both the legal and medical professions.

It may be observed that to constitute infanticide murder, the child must be born, and "must have been a reasonable being alive," and a child

is not born until the whole body be detached from that of the mother. R. v. Poulton, 5 C. & P. (Eng.) 329; R. v. Enoch, 5 C. & P. 539; R. v. Crutchley, 7 C. & P. 814.

If, on examination by an expert, it appears that the deceased child has breathed, this is not a decisive proof that it was born alive, as it may have breathed before the delivery was complete ; nor is it necessary that the child should have breathed to make the killing murder, as it is not an uncommon thing for a child to be wholly born and alive some time before breathing: 4 Field's Lawyers' Briefs, §§ 123, 124; R. v. Sellis, 7 C. & P. (Eng.) 850; R. v. Brain, 6 C. & P. 349; R. v. Trilloe, 1 C. & M. (Eng.) 650. And breathing may commence before circulation, as where it commences after birth, but before the umbilical cord is severed: Id.

§ 88. Evidence of life subsequent to birth of child.

In the absence of direct proof, evidence of the existence of life subsequent to birth may neces. sarily rest, as we have seen, upon the signs and symptoms furnished by the supposed mother, if living, or even dead, and upon expert testimony

based upon the examination of the identified child or foetus, and especially if it be found in a suitable state of preservation, to furnish evidence for an opinion on the subject.

In such a case the expert testimony must depend upon certain organic facts relating to the fœtus or child, and to the circulatory and respiratory systems. In respect to the circulatory system of the child it may be observed :

1. That the foetal blood usually differs from that of the fully born child in this, that the blood of the former is wholly dark like venous blood, destitute of fibrous matter, and forming coagula much less firm and solid than that which has been subjected to the process of respiration. So the coloring matter is darker, and contains no phosphoric acid, and its proportion of serum and red globules is comparatively small. The circulation of the blood anterior to birth is usually different from that subsequent to that event; the former being, by means of the foetal openings, the foramen ovale, the ductus arteriosus, and the ductus venosus, enabled to perform its circuit without sending the entire mass of the blood to the lungs for the purpose of oxidization. But

OND

« PreviousContinue »