PA RT III.

H A L F - Y E A R L Y R E P O R T S .

R E P O R T ON M E D I C A L J U R I S P R U D E N C E .

By STEWART WOODHOVSE, M.A., M.D.; Lecturer on Institutes of Medicine, Carmichael School of Medicine.

POST MORTEI~I I M B I B I T I O N OF POISONS,

DR. REESE, Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the University of Pennsylvania, has published a series of experiments originating in a medico-legal question of a peculiar kind. A case of alleged poisoning by arsenic occurred in one of the Western States ot America, in which the suspicions were exceedingly strong that the poison had been designedly introduced into the body after death for sinister purposes. The deceased was an aged man who had been treated in his last illness for phthisis, his physician subse- quently testifying to his having died of this disease, and to his having presented none of the symptoms of arsenical poisoning before his death. The body had been buried some three or four years, during all of which long interval of time no suspicion of foul play appears to have been entertained. In the meanwhile the widow married again, after which, for reasons dependent on ques- tions of inheritance of the property belonging to the deceased, the suspicion of poisoning was bruited about, the woman was accused of the crime, and the body was exhumed for judicial examination. The autopsy revealed a remarkable state of preservation of the body--a circumstance of itself well calculated to sustain the sus- picion of arsenical poisoning--and as if to remove all shadow of a doubt, this poison was actually detected in the stomach and liver by an analytical chemist. The defence urged that the poison had been designedly introduced into the body not very long before its disinterment, with the vie~v of fastening the guilt upon the woman, and thus diverting the estate of the deceased into another channel. There was a strong motive for so doing, and also a good oppor- tunity, as the body had been buried in a vault. In the judgment of most of those conversant with the parties, this actually had been

144 Report on Medical Jurisprudence.

done, and the prosecution felt so little sure of its ground that the trial was abandoned. Impressed with the importance of the sub- ject, Dr. l~eese made a series of experiments on the bodies of dogs, injecting strong solutions of arsenic, tartar emetic, and corrosive sublimate into the stomachs of the dead animals, then burying them' beneath the ground, and disinterring them at different periods of time, so as to note the difference of' result as dependent on the length of time of burial. After twenty-one days' burial in the ease of all the" three poisonous solutions, on opening the abdomen of the animals the characteristic coloured spots of the respective sulphides were observed on the spleen, the under-surf`ace of the liver, and the portion of the peritoneum posterior to the stomach--yellow in the case of arsenic, orange in that of antimony, and black in that of mer- cury. Each of these metals was likewise discovered, by chemical analysis, in the liver, spleen, and left kidney, but none in the right kidney. After forty-four days' burial the deposit of the different sulphides was found to be much more decided in all three cases, being noticed on the upper as well as the lower surface of' the liver, together with the spleen; also, over the intestines, the omentum, and the kidneys. By chemical analysis, also, the poisons were detected in liver, spleen, and both kidneys. After fifty-nine days' burial the results were found to be very similar to those last detailed, only more decided. Of the three solutions, the arsenical seemed to penetrate morn completely than the other two. In reply to the question whether it is possible to distinguish between poison really absorbed during life, and that which has been merely imbibed after death, the investigator thinks that if, on a careful analysis of the interior of an organ--the liver, for example--with the exterior of the same organ--especially if the examination were made not long after death--the poison were discovered in the in- terior as well as on the external parts of the organ, the poison must have been absorbed during life, and introduced through the circu- lation, whereas leakage from the stomach or rectum after death would be discoverable chiefly on the surface of the contiguous viscera. Some recent experiments of" M. Scolosuboff, of Moscow, go to show that in dogs and rabbits poisoned by arsenic, this sub- stance is deposited in the brain and spinal marrow in far larger quantities than in other organs. Comparative analyses of equal weights of nmsele, liver, brain, and spinal marrow, taken from a dog that had been taking arsenic for five weeks, demonstrated that the brain and spinal marrow contained thirty-six and thirty-seven

Report on Medical Jurisprudence. 145

times the amount found in the muscles, and nearly four times that discovered in the liver. Although there is no record that these experiments have yet been verified in man, there seems good reason to believe that the statement will hold good in the human subject. Should this prove to be the fact, we shall be in possession of a positive and unequivocal chemical method of distinguishing between ante mortem and post mortem poisoning by the detection of the poison in the brain and cord, since it is scarcely conceivable that a poison introduced into a body after death could penetrate by imbi- bition within the cavity of the cranium or spinal column.

TIIE MIDDLE EAR OF NEONATI IN ITS MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECT.

The following are Dr. Gell~'s resumJ and general conclusions :-- 1. In the foetus the middle ear is thll of a gelatinous smegma,

and contains no air. 2. At the moment of birth this smegm~ begins to disappear, and

in its place air enters the cavity of the tympanum. 3. This is due to the act of respiration and the derivation of"

blood to the vascular territory opened up by the circulation; the thick reddish smegma grows pale, and is absorbed; it was a body; there now remains but a coating.

4. The auricular cavity is, little by little, filled with air from without. The cries and sucking efforts favour, in their turn, respi- ration and the a~ration of the tympanic cavity.

5. The time necessary to complete this condition depends upon the activity of respiration.

6. When all proceeds well, the transformation takes place in a few moments; rarely it occupies some hours--twelve at most.

On the other hand, if respiration is feeble, if asphyxia, rapid or slow, takes place, the a&ation of the tympanic cavity is incomplete-- exists only on one side, or not at all. In these cases the contents of the cavity are mixed, ~he foetal condition being still pretty clearly shown, spite of the ascer~tained presence of air; it is the combination analogous to that observed in asphyxiated lungs.

Thus, when the examination of the lungs is impossible, or gives uncertain results, the medical expert will be able to find, in the examination of the ear, signs confirmatory or negator)" of the child having respired. As possible sources of error, however, it is to be remembered--firstly, that death by h~emorrhage can induce, through anaemia, the artificial production of the cavity of the ear; and, secondly, that aural catarrh often exists at the time of birth, and

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146 Report on Medical Jurisprudence.

that this would not only of itself prove a serious obstacle to the a~ration of the tympanic cavity, but that the hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the lining mucous membrane which it would induce, would also oppose the entrance of air. The state of the middle ear proves a most valuable criterion when an examination is made long after the burial, as the smegma will resist decomposition an almost indefinite time.

SIGN OF EARLY PREGNANCY.

In the American Practitioner Dr. Eugene C. Gehrung describes a new sign of early pregnancy. I t consists in the sensation com- municated to the hand through the sound when it touches the ovum :-

"If the sound or probe be introduced into a healthy womb in the

direction of its axis previously defined by the usual methods, tile sensa- tion communicated to the hand through the sound when touching the fundus is that of touching a moderately solid object, much resembling that produced in touching the roof of the mouth with the same instru- ment. If an ovum of any size be present, circumstances are changed. The sound will proceed with equal ease through the internal os, but as soon as the ovum is touched the sensation communicated to the hand is like that felt in pushing the sound against a bladder filled with fluid-- that is~ a gradually increasing resistance--in addition to which, according to the size of the ovum or the amount of pressure exercised, the sound will be driven back, when loosely held, with a greater or lesser amount of force communicated to it by the tendency of the ovum to resume its former globular shape. In other words~ the sound meets with an ex- ceedingly elastic body beyond the os internum instead of the solid uterine walls. This symptom~ when present alone, is not positive evi- dence that pregnancy exists, nor~ when absent, negative ;~ because there are a number of other conditions which give a similar result. On the other hand~ it is a well-known fact that the ovum, in the earlier periods of pregnancy, is only attached to a greater or lesser part of the interior of the womb, and consequently the sound may slip by it without pro- ducing that particular effect; yet when found it should caution the operator, and make him reconsider the case carefully before proceeding further."

I t is hardly necessary to call attention to the obvious danger of applying such a means of diagnosis save under exceptional circumstances; in improper hands it would manifestly lead to and facilitate criminal practices.