Outlines of medical jurisprudence for India / by J.D.B. Gribble and Patrick Hehir.

  • Gribble, J. D. B. (James Dunning Baker), -1906.
Date:
1898
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of medical jurisprudence for India / by J.D.B. Gribble and Patrick Hehir. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    215/576 (page 187)
    185 producing death, and the marks upon the forehead and nose (mentioned under STos. 4 and 5) were very probably made after death, and were at any rate of no importance whatever; but the results of the dissection also revealed the existence in the body of most of the appearances usually found in those drowned. Amongst these, medico-legal experience enables us to reckon the bluish coloration and wrinkled condition of the skin upon the hands and feet (7),—which of themselves, however, only prove that the body must have lain some time in the water -the so-called cutis a n serin it, which was quite distinct in certain parts of the body (8), the mud found in the fauces* (9) ; and along with those external appearances of the body, r he cor res pan ding internal ones, which, taken together, are extremely demonstrative, viz., the visible congestion of the cerebral membranes (13), and of all the cerebral sinuses '18), the congestion of the lungs (20), of the coronary vessels of the heart, and of the right side of the heart itself (22); the remarkable distension of the lungs (20), the congestion of the liver and kidneys (23 and 31), and the fluidity of the blood in the body generally (22 and 34), which, as well as the appearances found in the stomach, must be regarded as particularly important symptoms. The stomach was distended with a watery fluid, in which were distinctly visible isolated particles of mud (26), precisely similar to that which we found upon the tongue and in the fauces, from which it incontestably follows that the deceased must have swallowed after falling into this muddy fluid; must, therefore, have been alive, since water cannot flow into the stomach after death ; consequently, it cannot possibly be supposed that the deceased was already dead when he fell into the water; and this view is also supported by the other existing appearances symptomatic of death by drowning. The deceased has in fact died from apoplexy of the heart (asphyxia), like a great many of those that die in the water, has consequently been drowned. Had we been asked whether the deceased had committed suicide, or met with his death accidentally or by the fault of a third party, we must have stated, that the dissectiou revealed neither proof nor probability of there being any third party criminally concerned with the death (by violently throwing the man, while still alive, into the puddle) ; while contrariwise, it is a most probable supposition that H. met with his death in the water by suicide or accident, having been suddenly seized with an epileptic fit, for instance, while standing by the edge of the water, and so fallen in and been drowned. Should it really be found, which we know not, that the deceased has been found robbed, and close to the bank, this would in nowise militate against our view; for it is self-evident that nothing could be more likely i ban that a third party, seeing the body floating in the pool or lying near its bank, should drag it ashore and plunder it.f * The fauce* is the space surrounded by the palate, tonsils and uvula or little tongue. t It afterwards appeared that there was not the slightest trace of any crime committed on the drowned man. What might not, however, have been made of this case in the medico legal report, by means of a few judicious doubts and forced interpretations • (Note by Vr. Casper.) u