A dissertation on infanticide, in its relations to physiology and jurisprudence / [William Hutchinson].

  • Hutchinson, William, M.D., active 1821.
Date:
1821
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dissertation on infanticide, in its relations to physiology and jurisprudence / [William Hutchinson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    94/112 (page 86)
    SG Necessary suc¬ cours for new¬ born children. ON INFANTICIDE. [SEC. XVIII. made on the former case are equally applicable to the latter. No general rules can be adduced respecting the second proposition ; every intelligent person must be able to form a correct decision on facts respecting the want of the measures relative to it. The third mean of death from neglect,—that from want of food, is not likely to occur, except with exposure of the body; as the cries of the child from hunger would disclose the practice to the neighbours of the delinquents, were it re¬ sorted to in the midst of society. It should be borne in mind, that, unless seven months of fetal life have been exceeded, the pro¬ bable inference is, that, although respiration may be established after birth, the subject will soon cease to live, notwithstanding every proper care. The cases in which infants have been preserved alive for a considerable time, that had not arrived beyond the term of six months and two weeks of fetal life, are very rare. This fact, too, should never be lost sight of,—that a great proportion of infants die soon after their birth, in spite of all the attentions that natural instinct and medical precepts inculcate as best calculated to preserve their life. The proposition respecting the division of the navel-string, and the application of a ligature to