On the uncertainty of the signs of murder in the case of bastard children / by William Hunter.

Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the uncertainty of the signs of murder in the case of bastard children / by William Hunter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    perhaps to have some examples and illus- trations* I have generally observed, that in proportion as women more sincerely repent of such ruinous indiscretions, it is more difficult to prevail upon them to confess ; and it is natural. Among other instances which might be mentioned, I opened the bodies of two unmarried women, both of them of irreproachable and unsuspected characters with all who knew them. Being consulted about their healths, both of them deceived me. One of them I suspected, and took pains to prevail with her to let me into the secret, if it was so; promising that I would do her the best offices in my power to help her out of the difficulties that might be hanging over her : but it was to no pur- pose. They both died of racking pains in their bowels, and of convulsions. Upon laying out of the dead bodies, in one of the cases a dead child, not come to its full time, was found laying between the unhappy mo- iher's limbs ; and in the other, a very large dead child was discovered, only half born. Such instances will sufiicicntly shew what a