Practical forensic medicine : a police-surgeon's emergency guide / by C. Graham Grant ; with which is a chapter on fees by Herbert Austin.

  • Grant, Charles Graham.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Practical forensic medicine : a police-surgeon's emergency guide / by C. Graham Grant ; with which is a chapter on fees by Herbert Austin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    DRUNK OR SOBER? You will find that to arrive at a satisfactory answer to this question is the most unpleasant work you will have to do, and that, further, the means at your disposal are often anything but convincing. It must in this connection be clearly borne in mind that you are not called to decide if the person is drunk, but if he %vas drunk at the time of his arrest.* + And this is of importance, because intoxicated persons can pull them- selves together in quite a surprising way, which may lead you hastily to bring censure on some young constable who has acted properly. A London magistrate once remarked : ' I see people getting drunk as they stand before me,' which, of course, simply means that, while they can pull themselves to- gether for a time, the nervous tension cannot be main- tained for long, and it is this fact that should be taken advantage of in all cases of alleged intoxication. The author remembers refusing to certify a prisoner, who was then told to leave the station. He fell down the steps, was unable to get up, and had to be brought in and charged. On another occasion a man similarly allowed to go was arrested by a different constable within a few minutes, and brought in on the same charge. Anxious care must, of course, be exercised, and if you * This statement has been adversely criticized, t Note by Dr. F. J. Smith: ' Th» statement has my distinct approval.'