ple, with regard to legatees and testators dying, been adopted, no question could have arisen. Notwithstanding the manifest fallacy of all reasoning tending to prove who was the survivor, from the relative physical faculties of the deceased, it seems to have been a frequent subject of speculation amongst the writers on medical jurisprudence; and a very considerable part of the second volume of Foderé's work is devoted to the consideration of the modes of ascertaining the probable survivor, in cases of death, by shipwreck, fire, cold, suffocation, &c.

The consideration and study of the different defects of the mind, form an important branch of the study of medical jurisprudence. Pinel has divided the diseases of the mind into four classes; mania, or general delirium; melancholia, or exclusive delirium; dementia, or obliteration of thought, and idiotism, or abolition of the intellectual faculties. But the diseases of the mind are so varied, that it is difficult with certainty to class symptoms, admitting of such infinite variety. However, questions, at once involving life and property, are frequently dependent on the judgment and the evidence of the practitioner. From insanity are to be distinguished hysterical affections, the effects of depraved instincts, jealousy, and inebriety, excesses arising from sudden accessions of peculiar passions of the mind, and temporary alienations of reason, arising from disease. In considering the faculties of man, many curious questions arise on the moral and physical powers of those who are born deaf and dumb, as to their capacity of performing the different functions of life, and how far they are amenable to punishment for the commission of crimes. In this country, these are questions on which a jury alone decide. Another question, in which the testimony of medical men is of considerable importance, is the consideration how far persons, affected by disease, executing a will, are to be considered in a situation to judge of the propriety of the act executed by them.

Of Marriage.-Few, if any, questions are now likely to arise in England, relating to the time and capacity of parties to marry. The subject of marriage involves that of impotence, which may be divided into absolute and perpetual, relative and accidental, or temporary, curable, and incurable.

Pregnancy. No one part of legal medicine involves so many important questions, as conception and childbirth; and none are more entangled with difficulties. These points, from their importance, call for the greatest care and circumspection. The signs of conception are divided into rational, particular, and sensible; and notwithstanding the advancement of science, the knowledge both of the one and the other of these signs, is sometimes involved in great difficulty, and frequent errors occur, in the judgment of the most experienced practitioners, even when women have no motive for concealment. The question of superfœtation has given rise to much learned discussion: M. Foderé sides with Buffon, Haller, and the other advocates for it-and thinks it is of rare occurrence,

but not impossible. A case of a woman who had twins, one white and the other black, is mentioned by Buffon.

The symptoms of delivery, and how far they are to be distinguished from all other uterine excretions, form another important topic; as also the period of time after delivery, the symptoms may be ascertained with certainty. The capacity of women in labour to render proper assistance to the fœtus, so as to preserve life. The determining whether the fœtus died before or after delivery-upon this point much difference of opinion exists, and it is deserving of considerable attention, in order to enable the practitioner to do tice, in giving his opinion.

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Utero-gestation. The next object of discussion is the period of utero-gestation. In all other animals, the period of utero-gestation is very constant. Haller states, that the time of going with young is very regular in animals, but that it is not so regular in women. He gives references, by which we read of a woman going ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and even fourteen months. Hippocrates says, that he can allow the possibility of a child being born at ten months, but not later.' The former system of France allowed ten months. By the code Napoleon, the legitimacy of a child, born three hundred days after the dissolution of the marriage, may be questioned.

Dr. Clarke, in his lectures, published under the title of London Practice of Midwifery, treats the possibility of the periods extending beyond the forty weeks with ridicule, though contrary to the opinion of many very distinguished practitioners; and indeed, as some have conceived, contrary to reason; for as the fœtus receives its nourishment from the mother, the probability is, that any very material alteration in her constitution may cause the retardation of the maturity of the infant. Besides, the fact of irregularity, in the time of utero-gestation, has been satisfactorily established, in the case of animals, when no motive for prejudice or concealment can arise. With regard to the legitimacy of children born in wedlock, only two reasons are allowed against the legitimacy of the child by the code Napoleon; viz. absence of the husband, or. his being affected by some disease, by which it is to be inferred it is impossible he should be the father of the child. Nonaccess is the only ground of disputing the legitimacy in England; but the rule of evidence, in this respect, has been of late very materially altered, by the opinions of the judges in the Banbury peerage, who have, it is conceived, introduced an anomalous division respecting the evidence of access, dividing it into access and generative access; so that if this distinction be hereafter recognized, much uncertainty may be introduced respecting the title and succession to property, and a new and difficult subject will demand the attention of the medical student.

In discussing the time when the fœtus may be supposed to be perfect, the faculty of Leipsic, with great complaisance, determined that a child, born five months and eight days after the return of the husband, might be considered as legitimate, and that children

at five months were often perfect and healthy. Valentini, who reports this decision, is also gallant enough to concur in it.

By the English laws, an husband is entitled to a life interest in the estate of his wife, if he have a child born alive; and the expression of the old law is, if the child should be heard to cry. Some cases, where children have been born alive, but have not uttered any cry, though they have breathed for a continued period, have caused much learned discussion; and a case in 1806, in the Exchequer (where the lips of an infant had moved after birth, but no cry was heard), gave rise to much curious evidence, particularly by Dr. Denman, who was of opinion, that the motion of the lips, immediately after birth, was not a decisive proof of the presence of the vital principle, and distinguished between uterine and exterior life, the latter being called into action by the operation of the air on the lungs. Each case of this nature, in England, is determined by a jury, on its particular circumstances: according to the civil code, idem est non nasci, et non posse vivere.

Till the relaxation of the severity of the laws in this country, relating to infanticide, many unfortunate mothers suffered death for crimes they never committed. Prejudice on the part of the juries, and ignorance on that of the practitioners seem to have conspired to destroy the wretched mother. Dr. William Hunter, in his able paper on infanticide, was one of the first who had the credit of turning the public attention to this subject. No one has written more eloquently in favour of the female character; and from the opportunities of observation, which his extensive practice afforded him, there is no one whose opinion is entitled to higher respect. Even, now, however, it may be doubted, whether there are not some who suffer unjustly, when the incapacity of the mother to assist her infant in a concealed delivery, the probable accidents arising from position, fainting, and delirium, are considered; the horror excited by the idea of a mother's murdering her offspring, may still prevent mankind from judging of the case of the infanticide with impartiality; added to this, the natural appearances have not unfrequently been attributed to violence; and a case has been noticed as having occurred a few years ago, where the sutures and fontenelle were mistaken by an ignorant practitioner, for fractures of the skull. That to form an opinion, which is to decide the fate of a fellow being, or a subject so difficult, and presenting so extensive a field for observation, requires the narrowest scrutiny and attention, need not be noticed; and the probable improvements in our skill respecting these matters, may be easily imagined, when it is considered, how short time since, the lungs, swimming in water, was considered as decisive evidence, that the fœtus had inspired air, and which is now admitted to afford, at best, but a very uncertain criterion of the existence of extra-uterine vitality.

The cases of monstrous-births have seldom given rise to legal discussion in this country, though the works of foreign writers abound with descriptions of them.

The next class of cases which occur, are, the appearances of death in bodies, and whether the death was natural or violent, as in the case of strangulation, suffocation, drowning, &c. from blows and wounds, &c. and the determining whether particular wounds are to be considered as mortal; after these, come rape, and feigned diseases, the most frequent of which are, epilepsy, insanity, ulcers, and blindness, &c.

Poisons. We now come to that part which relates to poisons, which have been treated of by M. Orfila, in the work before noticed, and which is one of the most material and extensive subjects of Medical Jurisprudence. The first part of this work contains the particular history of the different poisonous substances considered under their relations with chemistry, physiology, pathology, and Medical Jurisprudence. The history of each poison, is comprised in different paragraphs: comprehending the explanation of its chemical properties, and external characters; its physiological action, determining the effects of poisonous substances, when administered in doses capable of producing accident, with the results of experiments; the general symptoms; the lesion of texture produced, comprehending the nature of the alterations produced by the poison, the application of the facts in the preceding parts to Medical Jurisprudence; with the different courses to be pursued by the practitioner in cases of poison; lastly, the treatment of poisoning, and the consideration as to whether any thing exists in each case possessing the properties of an antidote.

The second part comprehends all that relates to poisoning generally considered, with the symptoms which distinguish acute poisoning, from diseases, such as cholera morbus, &c. explaining the variations of symptoms, the mode of ascertaining the nature of the poison, the history of slow poisons, with the diagnosis, the examinations of dead bodies of persons poisoned, and the researches proper for establishing a distinction between sudden deaths produced by a natural cause, and those which are the result of the agency of poisons, and a comparison of the lesions of texture exhibited by the dead bodies, under these two circumstances, which are altogether different; and the work concludes with directions for the preparation of tests noticed in the preceding parts. To compose a work containing such extensive and important subjects, it was necessary to institute a numerous series of experiments and researches, many extremely difficult; and we think this has been done with considerable success by the author. The physical characters and chemical properties of each poison, with the appearance it presents when exposed to the action of the different tests; and the difference which the poison, when mixed with different alimentary substances, presents with the same tests, are distinctly shown; together with the modification produced by the admixture of the saliva, gastric juice, &c.

M. Orfila treats of the different poisons according to the classification of M. Foderé, as the most rational and conformable to the ideas of physiology.

Class 1. Corrosive poisons. So called because they irritate and corrode the texture of the parts with which they come in contact. Their action is in general more formidable than other poisons. All the acids, alkalies, and most of the metallic preparations come under this class. There are fifteen species, noticed by M. Orfila, viz. preparations of mercury, arsenic, antimony, copper, tin, zinc, silver, gold, bismuth, the concentrated acids, caustic alkalies, the caustic alkaline earths, muriate and carbonate of barytes, glass, and enamel in powder and cantharides.

Whenever the smallest quantity of any of these bodies is ad-› ministered internally, various changes occur either momentary or durable; exciting the brain or heart; or acting as sedatives; increasing or diminishing the customary secretions. Given in largerdoses, the poison is absorbed, carrying in some instances its fatal action to the brain and other organs. In certain cases it corrodes the membranes of the stomach, which acts by sympathy on other organs, without absorption taking place. The general symptoms produced by these corrosive substances depend upon the lesions of the alimentary and nervous system, and of the organs of circulation. The corrosive poisons frequently leave behind traces of their passage over our organs. Inflammation of the first passages, contractions of the intestinal canal, gangrene, sphacelus, and perforation of the parts constitute the first character of these lesions, and the mucous coat easily detaches itself from the muscular, and the action is frequently extended to the other visera, although these characters are sometimes wanting, and the dead body exhibits no alterations. Various modes have been adopted at different times to counteract the effect of poison, and many serious errors have arisen from practitioners mistaking the results of chemical operations: and the substances administered for the purpose of decomposing the poisons, have exerted no action whatever upon them in the stomach; and even when the decomposition has been effected, the new compound has been endued with active poisonous qualities. The evacuant, antiphlogistic, and antispasmodic method, appears to us,' observes M. Orfila, to merit the preference, for, without exposing the patient to the danger which a chemical decomposition might subject him, it offers the double › advantage of getting rid of the poison by simple means, and re-establishing the faculties at the same time.'

In this class of poisons, cases arising from the ingestion of corrosive sublimate, verdigris, arsenious acid, nitric, and sulphuric acid, are most frequent. In France, where the sale of poison is restrained by law, the most common poisons taken for the purpose of committing suicide, are, the nitric acid of commerce, and a mixture of concentrated sulphuric acid and indigo, used in dyeing.

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* The frequent occurrences noticed in the papers, of fatal mistakes, from neglect and ignorance of the apprentices of the retailers of drugs, point out the necessity of some legislative directions, as to the sale of dangerous substances, accompanied by severe penalties, in cases of neglect or ignorance.