Outlines of medical jurisprudence : intended to promote the studies of the medical and law students who attend his lectures / by Henry Howard.

  • Howard, Henry, 1792-1874.
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of medical jurisprudence : intended to promote the studies of the medical and law students who attend his lectures / by Henry Howard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Ijy which it makes its exit, but if at a distance, so that the ball is nearly spent, then the reverse will be observed. The canal in the former case will be conical. The hole made by a ball in clothes is always smaller than that in the skin. Professor Laches?, in ihe Annalis d'Hygiene, vol. 15, p. 389, says: In order that a discharge of powder shall pene- trate into the cavities, anil make an external wound, like that produced by shot, making but one hole, the gun must be of great calibre, be heavily charged, and there must be less than six inches distance between its muzzle and the body wound- ed. And to produce with a gun loaded with shot, a single round aperture, the gun must be fired at ten or twelve inches distance at most. And in either the case of powder or shot, if the body is covered with clothing the distance must be less It is stated by John Hunter, and confirmed by other Sur- geons, that a ball striking a bone at an angle sufficient to ena- ble it to perforate it, will not have its fojrtn altered. This is contradicted by the case of Dr. Post, already cited : the ball was found, after passing through the parietal bone, lying in the dura mater considerably flattened, and its diameter so much increased that it would have been impossible to have removed it by the same opening through which it had en- tered. In wounds by fire arms collateral circumstances will throw some light. The wadding has sometimes led to detection, be- ing torn from something in the possession of the inflictor. Also, if the fire aims and ball can be found, the size of the latter should be compared with the calibre of the former. Detection of spots of blood. In cases of murder, it i9 sometimes important to distinguish stains of blood on the clothes, or on a deadly weapon, from those produced by some vegetable dye, or by rust. If the garment has directly re- ceived the blood, we shall find on the cloth remains of fibrine, as well as the cerum and coloring matter of the blood. The best method of examining such is— a. Take an oblong slip of the stained article, and suspend it vertically for some hours in a narrow jar of distilled water. The water will separate (lie albuminous part and coloring mat- ter of the blood, which will subside to the bottom of the fluid. The fibrine will remain on the cloth, as a gelatinous body, and may be scraped off for examination. Dry the fibrine, and heat a portion of it in a tube, when it will give out the odour of burning animal matter, and ammonia will be disengaged, which becomes sensible to the sense of smell, or will affect test-paper introduced into the tipper part of the lube.