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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    I putrefaction. I have often seen various common and natural appearances, both in- ternal and external, mistaken for marks ot a violent death. I remember a child which was found in a compressed state and glo- bular form, and, like hardened dough, had , retained all the concave impressions which had been made where any part of the skin i and flesh had been pressed inwards. The jury had got an opinion that this moulding of the flesh could not have happened, ex- cept the infant had been put into that com- | pressed state while it was alive. My anato- | mical employments enabled me to remore j all their doubts about the fact. I oftered i to make the experiment before them, if they ; pleased ; the child should be laid in warm water, till its flesh should become soft and pliable, as in a body just dead ; then it should be compressed, and remain so till cold, and then they would see the same effect produced. They were satisfied, with- out making the trial. In many cases, to judge of the death of a
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