A medico-legal essay on infanticide : translated from the author's Latin inaugural dissertation, composed on that subject, and submitted to the Faculty of Medicine in Edinburgh, preparatory to receiving the degree of M.D. in the present year / by Robert Arrowsmith.

  • Arrowsmith, Robert.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A medico-legal essay on infanticide : translated from the author's Latin inaugural dissertation, composed on that subject, and submitted to the Faculty of Medicine in Edinburgh, preparatory to receiving the degree of M.D. in the present year / by Robert Arrowsmith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    to prevent it. The case mentioned by Dr W. Hun- ter shows how readily death may occur ; and as il- lustrative of the facility with which a helpless in- dividual may be sulfocated, I may mention a case alluded to by Professor Christison in his Lectures, of a man who was said to have been suffocated when in a state of intoxication, by the water con- tained in a horse’s foot-mark. Death from want of suitable warmth, which is almost always conjoined with public exposure, is proved by the evidence of respiration and circula- tion ; by the sanguineous congestion of the large vessels, and by the comparative absence of blood in the superficial ones; by the position of the body; and, perhaps, best of all, by the sugillations which may be expected to be met with, more or less, in the depending parts of the body. Neglect of nourishment is generally combined with exposure, in which case death must be at- tributed to the combined causes. From neglect Qf nourishment alone, death could with difficulty be distinguished, because to establish that, it would be necessary to prove how long the child had lived. From the results of Professor Bernt’s inquiry, it does not appear that there are any means of de- termining this with the requisite accuracy. The neglect of the ligature of the umbilical cord may be accidental or intentional. Its ab- sence is unfavourable to the accused, and the