The principles of forensic medicine, systematically arranged and applied to British practice / By John Gordon Smith.

  • Smith, John Gordon, 1792-1833.
Date:
1821
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles of forensic medicine, systematically arranged and applied to British practice / By John Gordon Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/544 (page 10)
    practitioner being liable to a subpoena, should make it his business to know the relations of physiological and pathological principles to the facts upon which he is likely to be interrogated, and likewise the principal judiciary bearings of the case. ‘The for- mer of these are to be found in works on Forensic Medicine ; the latter in those on Jurisprudence, a perusal of some of which cannot be too strongly recommended; though itis the duty of the Medico- legal writer to enumerate the chief points that — ought to be borne in mind. He should know the nature of the process in question. Ifit be an imputation of crime, although it is not his business to establish the charge of criminality, he may, and in certain charges of homi- cide, must afford the means of ascertaining the validity of the grounds for such charges, by fixing the death of the individual upon the real cause, whether violence, or disease, as will be shortly exemplified. If it be a civil process, such as a question of physical capacity for certain situations, or of the existence of some disqualification, depend- ing on the state of the physical system, he should not be the less qualified, or the less anxious to ex- plain every possible bearing, because the result may not compromise the life, or even the reputation of the individual; and in the detection of imposture, while due regard to the claims of humanity should never escape from his view, the interests of justice