Introductory lecture to a course on forensic medicine, delivered in the Anatomical Theatre of St. Bartholomew's Hospital / [Sir George Burrows].

  • Burrows, George, Sir, 1801-1887
Date:
[1831]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory lecture to a course on forensic medicine, delivered in the Anatomical Theatre of St. Bartholomew's Hospital / [Sir George Burrows]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    rical sketch of its commencement and progress from the earliest times: hut when we reflect on the subjects of which it treats, viz. the administration of justice between man and man, and the preservation of the health of the community, it must be acknowledged, that although it may not have been cultivated as a separate branch of study, still it must have ever been highly interesting and valuable, even in the rudest states of societv. «/ The due administration of justice, and the preservation of the public health, are inestimable blessings, in which all men are ecpially interested; and they w^ould naturally en¬ courage those means by which they may be attained and preserved. It may be readily conceived, that, in any pri¬ mitive state of society, points of dispute must have been of the simplest nature, and that common sense, aided by in¬ tegrity, was alone sufficient to administer justice. In the progress of civilization, however, new wants and complicated arts and sciences rendered disputed ques¬ tions more diflicult of solution. The evil passions of man¬ kind, also, soon availed themselves of the subtlety of so¬ phistry to obscure the truth. In such an advanced state of society, an ordinary indi¬ vidual, unassisted, would no longer be able to administer impartial justice. Hence we find, from the earliest records of civilized nations, that men of science were called upon to assist in judicial trials of difliculty. History informs us that, more than two thousand years ago, a king of Syracuse suspected his goldsmith of having alloyed the gold of his royal crown ; but he was unable to detect the fraud. He applied to the great Archimedes to assist in bringing the offender to justice ; and this profound mathematician, by the application of a simple hydrostatical principle, soon de¬ tected the imposition. In the high state of civilization in which we now live, numerous and complicated are the points of inquiry which come before our judicial tribunals; and these cannot be decided without the assistance of men of science. Ques-