Recueil Periodique de la Societé de Medicine de Paris. T. LXI. p. 87_Medical Jurisprudence, Volume 2 (of 3)

Footnote 24:

Medico-Chirurg. Trans. vol. 1, p. 157. Analogous cases to those

related by _Mr. Chevalier_ will be found in _Bonetus_ Sepulchr. Anat.

vol. 1, p. 383; and _Morgagni_ Epist. 48, Art. 44; see also a

communication by _Dr. Ozanam_ in the Recueil Periodique de la Societé

de Medicine de Paris, tom. 61, p. 87.

Footnote 25:

A young animal may not so soon perish as an older one; and a strong

and healthy individual may survive during a longer period than a

creature that is in a state of debility. By filling the lungs with air

a person may also be enabled to dispense with the act of respiration

for a longer period; _Mr. Kite_ made a very deep inspiration of 300

cubic inches, and was thus enabled to retain this quantity for 72

seconds, without a fresh inspiration; and divers in the pearl

fisheries, inspire deeply before they descend. It has been, moreover,

established by numerous experiments that the demand for oxygen in the

lungs is materially influenced by the nature of the ingesta received

into the stomach; _Mr. Spalding_, the celebrated diver, observed, that

whenever he used a diet of animal food, or drank spirituous liquors,

he consumed in a much shorter time the oxygen of the atmospheric air

in his diving-bell; and therefore he had learned from experience to

confine himself to a vegetable diet, and water, when following his

avocation. And the priest, or conjurer (_Pillal Karras_, in the

Malabar language) who attends the divers in the pearl fisheries of the

east, enjoins, as a religious duty, an abstinence from all food,

before he plunges into the ocean.

Muscular exertions, as in the act of struggling, will without doubt

contribute to the expenditure of oxygen, and increase the demand for

it, and therefore in its absence such movement must accelerate death

by suffocation; this physiological fact will be hereafter more fully

elucidated.

Footnote 26:

We anticipate the objections that will be urged against the truth of

this assertion. It will be asked how it can be reconciled with the

accounts of persons who have recovered after an asphyxia of a much

longer duration? It may be inquired how the statement can be

reconciled with the ordinary histories of divers, who have become so

expert in the art which they profess, as to be capable of remaining

beneath the water for twenty minutes, or even for a longer period: we

are bound to consider such statements as no better than extravagant

fables; not more authentic, says _Mr. Brodie_ (Manuscript Notes), but

certainly less poetical and elegant, than those of the nymphs and

mermaids, whose ordinary residence is in grottos beneath the waves of

the sea; or than those Arabian fictions which have amused and

astonished our youthful imaginations with the description of the

Princes who govern the submarine nations, and pass their lives in

palaces of crystal at the bottom of the ocean—but of this we shall

speak more fully hereafter.

Footnote 27:

Although the term ASPHYXIA merely signifies the absence of the pulse,

yet the name is erroneously applied to every apparent loss of

vitality.

Footnote 28:

DE HAEN thought that death was produced in drowning by the water

flowing into the lungs, and thus stopping the passage of the blood in

the arteries. This belief gave origin to the very erroneous and

mischievous practice, which still continues amongst the more ignorant,

of suspending drowned persons by the heels, or of rolling them over

barrels.

Footnote 29:

_Mr. Coleman_ examined the lungs of a cat which had been drowned, by

placing a ligature on the trachea, removing the lungs from the thorax,

and then making an opening in the trachea under water, so as to

collect the air which issued from the orifice; the whole quantity of

air thus obtained, amounted only to half a drachm; yet the same lungs

when inflated, required as much as two ounces of air, by measure, for

their distention. Nor would the presence of water appear to be

immediately fatal, when introduced into the lungs; Dr. _Goodwyn_

poured two ounces of water into the lungs of a cat, through an opening

made between the cartilages of the trachea; the animal had an

immediate difficulty of breathing, and a feeble pulse, but lived

several hours afterwards without much apparent inconvenience; it was

at length strangled, and the water was found in the lungs. From which

it would appear, that the admission of a certain portion of water,

does not tend to hasten death. The author of this note was present at

an experiment made by Mr. _Brodie_, in which he drowned a guinea pig,

whose trachea had been previously perforated; so that in this case, no

spasm of the glottis could arrest the ingress of the water into the

pulmonary air cells; but this produced no modification of the usual

symptoms; nor did it prevent the resuscitation of the animal, which

was afterwards effected by the appropriate methods.

Footnote 30:

An animal also dies sooner by drowning, than by simple strangulation;

Mr. _Brodie_ considers that the abstraction of heat in the former case

is quite sufficient to account for this difference.

Footnote 31:

_Foderè_, 90.

Footnote 32:

_Walther_, de Morbis Peritonai, et Apoplexia. 3 _Foderè_, p. 106.

Footnote 33:

See the Reports of the Edinburgh colleges, in the case of Sir _James

Standsfield_, as printed in the Appendix, p. 225, also Extracts from

Medical Evidence in the case of _Spencer Cowper_, Esq. for the murder

of _Sarah Stout_, ibid. p. 230. 3 _Foderè_, p. 93. 100. 108. The case

of _Servin_, ib. 125. of _Paulet_, ib. 126.

Footnote 34:

Medicine Légale, vol. iii. p. 85.

Footnote 35:

During such a state of the body there would be but a feeble call for

oxygen; it is muscular action which so rapidly expends this important

principle.

Footnote 36:

In an experiment with a drowned cat, Mr. _Brodie_ found less than a

drachm of water in the bronchial vessels. Other physiologists have

ascertained the same fact by drowning animals in different coloured

fluids.

Footnote 37:

See a very curious paper upon this subject by Mr. _Robertson_, in the

Philosophical Transactions, 1757, vol. 1. p. 30; from which it appears

that the author made ten experiments, in which, with the exception of

one person, he found all the men _specifically lighter_ than water,

and hence he concludes that drowning might be avoided, if the person

who falls into the water were not deprived of his presence of mind.

Footnote 38:

_Franklin’s_ Art of Swimming.

Footnote 39:

Vide _Valent. Pand. Med. Leg._ 297. “De reperto sub aqua Cadavere,”

and 299 “De Submersorum morte sine pota aquæ.”

Footnote 40:

We say, “_generally_” because the comparative size of bone, on the one

hand, or the quantity of fat on the other, will make a very

considerable difference in the specific gravity of different parts of

the human body.

Footnote 41:

See _Southey’s_ Life of Nelson; and the New Monthly Magazine for

January, 1821.

Footnote 42:

This was the opinion of _Boerhaave_ and _Morgagni_. _M. Portal_ also

coincides with them, and observes that the examination of the bodies

of executed criminals formerly carried to him at the _Jardin des

Plantes_ for his lectures, has confirmed him in this idea.

Footnote 43:

See 3 _Foderè_, 130.

Footnote 44:

See several cases cited by _Foderè_, T. 3. p. 134.

Footnote 45:

Memoires de l’Academie Royale, &c. 1704.

Footnote 46:

State Trials, vol. xii.

Footnote 47:

In consequence of plants, in the absence of the sun, giving off

nitrogen and carbonic acid gases, the custom of sleeping with flowers

in the bed chamber is deleterious, and may even, under certain

circumstances prove fatal; a melancholy proof of this occurred in

October, 1814, at Leighton-Buzzard, in Bedfordshire. “_Mr. Sherbrook_

having frequently had his pinery robbed, the gardener determined to

sit up and watch. He accordingly posted himself with a loaded fowling

piece, in the green-house, where it is supposed he fell asleep, and in

the morning was found dead upon the ground, with all the appearance of

suffocation, evidently occasioned by the discharge of _Mephitic_ gas

from the plants during the night.” _Observer_ of 16th, and _Times_ of

17th October, 1814; see also _Currie’s_ “Observations on Apparent

Death,” &c. p. 181.

Footnote 48:

_Rozier_ and _Sir Humphrey Davy_ conclude from their experiments that

carbonic acid kills by exciting a spasmodic action, in which the

epiglottis is closed, and the entrance of this fluid into the lungs

altogether prevented. _Dr. Babington_ appears to entertain a different

opinion, (see “a case of exposure to the vapour of burning charcoal,”

Medico-Chirurg. Trans. vol. 1, p. 83,) and asks how we shall explain

the fact, that the loss of irritability in the muscles of animals

which have been destroyed by immersion in noxious airs, is

comparatively greater than in such as are hanged or drowned, unless we

suppose that the carbonic acid exerts a deleterious influence on the

nervous and muscular systems? The farther consideration of this

subject will be more properly entertained under the head of poisons.

Footnote 49:

Comparative anatomy would furnish us with a variety of beautiful

arguments, if it were necessary, to support these views. The bird

whose muscular exertion is so great during its flight, is provided

with a more than ordinary extent of pulmonary apparatus; and amongst

insects we find that many of the _coleopterous_ species disclose

avenues of air, in the act of flying, which, in their quiet state, are

closed by the cases of their wings, thus procuring for themselves a

larger supply of oxygen, at a period when from their exertions they

most require it. Flat fish who, having no swimming bladder, remain at

the bottom, and possess but little velocity, have gills that are quite

concealed, while those who encounter a rude and boisterous stream, as

trout, perch, or salmon, have them widely expanded. For further

observations upon this subject, the author begs to refer to his paper

in the 10th vol. of the Linnean Transactions, entitled “On the

Physiology of the Egg,” by _J. A. Paris, M. D._ &c.

Footnote 50:

This was the _peine fort & dure_ of our ancient law, which was

inflicted on prisoners who stood mute out of malice, or who feigned

themselves mad, or challenged peremptorily more than the number of

Jurors allowed by law, thus refusing their legal trial. “The manner of

inflicting this punishment may be best found from the Books of Entries

and other law books, all of which generally agree, that the prisoner

shall be remanded to the place from whence he came, and put into some

low dark room, and there laid on his back without any manner of

covering, except for the privy parts, and that as many weights be laid

upon him as he can bear and more, and that he shall have no manner of

sustenance but the worst bread and water, and that he shall not eat

the same day in which he drinks, nor drink the same day on which he

eats, and that he shall so continue till he die.” Some authorities say

till he answers. See 2 _Hawk. P. C._ 330. _c._ 30. § 16. 4 _Bl. Com._

_p._ 319. _Jac._ Law Dict. tit. Mute. The memory of this barbarous

punishment remains “as a monument of the savage rapacity with which

the lordly tyrants of feudal antiquity hunted after escheats and

forfeitures,” for when the criminal died mute, the lord in some cases

lost his escheat; (see 4 _Bl. Com._ 323). But its execution is no

longer permitted by our laws. By Stat. 12 _Geo._ 3. c. 20, sentence

may be passed on those who stand mute as if they had been found or

pleaded guilty.

Footnote 51:

This, however, can but rarely occur; and it seems to have been wisely

ordained by Nature, that the stomach should lose the power of

rejecting its contents, whenever the brain loses its sensibility. See

_Paris’s_ Pharmacologia, edit. 5, vol. 1, p. 150.

Footnote 52:

Manuscript Notes.

Footnote 53:

_Dr. Badenoch_ has very satisfactorily shewn that the _Coup de Soleil_

kills by producing apoplexy.

Footnote 54:

This does not hold universally, for _Beccaria_ mentions the case of a

man whose body became exceedingly stiff, very shortly after having

been struck dead by lightning;—and in one of Mr. _Brodie’s_

experiments, the muscles of a Guinea pig killed by electricity became

stiff.

Footnote 55:

Manuscript Notes.

Footnote 56:

_Mayer_ directed his attention very particularly to the appearances

which were thus produced, and had drawings made of them. It would

appear that they most commonly passed in the direction of the spine.

In the First Volume of the Philosophical Transactions, there is an

account of the dissection of a man killed by lightning, but it

contains nothing remarkable.

Footnote 57:

See also an account of a thunder-storm, by Mr. _Brydone_, in the 77th

vol. of Phil. Trans.

Footnote 58:

_Morgagni_ de Sedibus et Causis Morb. Epist. 68. No. 6 and 7.

Footnote 59:

_Hippocrat._ Aphor. 13. Sect. 2.

Footnote 60:

Osservaz: intorno agli Anim. viventi, etc. No. 3 et 4.

Footnote 61:

This event occurred during the period of the author’s studies at

Cambridge; and he can therefore offer his testimony to the truth of

the statement; he visited the woman soon after her disinterment.

Footnote 62:

See Vol. i. p. 369.

Footnote 63:

Starving to death was a punishment inflicted by the people of Aragon,

some years ago; and it is reported by _Tavernier_, that the chief

ladies in the kingdom of Tonquin, are at this day starved to death for

adultery. The severity of the Roman law on an unchaste Vestal has

often exercised the pencil of the artist. An account of its execution

on _Rhea_, marked as it always was by circumstances of peculiar horror

and solemnity, is to be found in _Plutarch’s_ Life of _Numa_; the

offender, conducted by a mute procession across the Forum to the place

of her interment near the Colline gate, was made to descend a ladder

into the sepulchre, and left there with a lamp, a loaf of bread, and a

cruse of water, the opening being immediately closed with earth and

stones.

Footnote 64:

Corsican Gazette, and London Med. & Phys. Jour. March, 1822.

Footnote 65:

The siege of Jerusalem by the Romans will at once occur to the reader;

and of which _Josephus_ has left us so tragic a history: amongst other

atrocities, an unhappy woman, reduced to the last extremity by

pinching hunger, sacrifices the feelings of a mother to the voracious

calls of appetite, butchers her child, and feeds upon the body!

Footnote 66:

See “Naufrage de la Frégate la Méduse, faisant partie de l’Expedition

du Sénégal en 1816,” par _F. B. Savigny_, ex Chirurgien de la Marine,

et _Alexandre Corréard_, Ingénieur-Geographe. Paris, 1817.—A very

interesting account of this narrative may be found in the Quarterly

Review, for October, 1817.

Footnote 67:

That which we call duration is in fact a feeling of succession, and is

computed by the number of ideas that pass through the mind; whenever

an event occurs which powerfully excites the attention of an observer,

he watches the most minute change, whence he believes that the time

which elapses before the whole event is completed, appears to be

unusually prolonged. When the infidel sultan of Egypt refused to

believe that Mahomet could have ascended into the seven heavens, and

have held some thousand conferences with the Almighty in the space of

a few minutes, the learned mussulman, who was consulted on the

occasion, endeavoured to turn his Majesty to a more strict faith, by

demonstrating to him that a short period of time became converted into

a long one, when a great multitude of important events were crouded

into it.

Footnote 68:

In a tract entitled “Observations on Animal Life and Apparent Death,

by _John Franks_, surgeon, 8vo. London, 1790,” the author says that

“when the late _Mr. Justamond_ (Surgeon to the Middlesex hospital)

lived on the terrace, Palace yard, Westminster, a boy who had been

drowned in the Thames was brought to him; he made an opening into the

wind-pipe, in order to inflate the lungs; but the discharge of blood

which ensued was such as gave him no chance of succeeding in the

recovery; for he could not prevent the blood from pouring down into

the lungs.” Although, says _Dr. Currie_, nothing is said in this case

about the pulse, yet from the blood flowing so copiously, there is

reason to believe that the heart had begun to act; and therefore to

conclude, that life was in fact _destroyed_ by this operation, which

_might_ have been saved without it. See “Observations on Apparent

Death from Drowning, Hanging, Suffocation by noxious vapours, &c.” by

_James Currie_, M.D. London, 1815.

Footnote 69:

The first body galvanised in this country was that of the malefactor

_George Foster_, who was executed in January 1803, before Newgate, for

the murder of his wife and infant daughter, by drowning them in the

Paddington Canal; the experiment was conducted under the direction of

_Aldini_, the nephew of _Galvani_.

Footnote 70:

_Medico-Chirurg. Trans._ vol. 1, p. 26.

Footnote 71:

Elements of Juridical or Forensic Medicine.

Footnote 72:

Newgate Calendar.

Footnote 73:

See _Maclaurin’s Crim. Ca._ _p. 71._ where this circumstance is

alluded to.

Footnote 74:

By the Scottish law, in part founded on that of the Romans, a person

against whom the judgment of the Court has been executed, can suffer

no more in future, but is thenceforward totally exculpated; and it is

likewise held, that the marriage is dissolved by the execution of the

convicted party. _Margaret Dickson_ then, having been convicted and

executed, as above mentioned, the king’s advocate could prosecute her

no farther, but he filed a bill in the high court of Judiciary against

the sheriff, for omitting to fulfil the law. The husband of this

revived convict, however, married her publicly a few days after her

resuscitation; and she strenuously denied the crime for which she had

suffered.

Footnote 75:

The Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench is the principal Coroner in

the kingdom, and may, if he pleases, exercise the jurisdiction of a

coroner in any part of the Realm. 4 _Rep._ 57.

Footnote 76:

Except in case of persons dying in jail, the Coroner must not hold

unnecessary inquests on the bodies of those who have died in the

ordinary course of nature. “And the Court of King’s Bench, on two

several occasions within my own memory, blamed the Coroners of Norfolk

and Anglesea, for holding repeated and unnecessary inquests, for the

sake of enhancing their fees, on bodies and parts of bodies which were

cast up by the sea shore, without the smallest probability or

suspicion of the deaths happening in any other manner than by the

unfortunate perils of the sea.” 1 _East. P.C._ 382. See _ib._ the case

of _Rex v. Harrison_, for extorting money for _not_ holding an

inquest.

Footnote 77:

For this purpose the Coroner issues a precept to the constable of such

townships to return a competent number of jurors, viz. not less than

twelve. 2 _Hale, P.C._ 59. 62. 1 _East. P.C._ 380.

Footnote 78:

But this power should be used with discretion. On a late occasion, the

Judge severely reprobated the conduct of a magistrate, who had

committed a poor lad to await the assizes, in company of notorious

thieves and other desperate characters, because he had been the

innocent witness of a felony, and was too poor to find recognizance.

Footnote 79:

Thus in the case of Sir _Edmondsbury Godfrey_, much blood might have

been spared, and much political controversy avoided, if it had been

possible to determine whether the murder had taken place in the field

where the body was found, or at Somerset House, as charged by

witnesses who afterwards confessed their perjury.

Footnote 80:

“It is true that the statute does in terms only require the coroner to

put in writing _the effect_ of the evidence. But this must not be

taken to give him a latitude, such as hath been but too often taken by

persons of this description to the great perversion of truth and

justice, of putting down, not the words of the witnesses, but his own

conception of their tendency. It is doubtless the meaning of the act,

that the examination of the witnesses should be taken down with the

greatest possible accuracy as to all material points of the inquiry:

otherwise one great benefit of the act, which is to enable the Court

to compare the examination with the evidence, must be defeated. _The

effect_ mentioned therein, means the true and genuine sense of the

evidence, as delivered in detail, not indeed in letters, syllables, or

even words; though these should not be needlessly departed from; but

the fair and obvious meaning of the words spoken, and not the final

result of the evidence. Complaints have in my own memory been made by

judges on the circuits of the culpable neglect of coroners in this

respect, and threats of exemplary punishment holden out to them, to

prevent a repetition of the same abuse in future.” 1 _East. P.C._ 384.

Footnote 81:

It must be on the actual view of the body, the coroner and his party

seeing it together. 2 _Hale_ 60. 1 _East._ 380. _King v. Ferrand._ 2

_Barn. & Ald._ 260.

It was evidently the original intention of the Legislature, that the

coroner should view the body on the spot where it was found; that he

and his jury might judge as well by inspection of the body, as by an

examination of surrounding objects, whether the deceased had died by

violence. And Sir _William Blackstone_ says, “He must also sit at the

_very_ place where the death happened,” 1 _Com._ 348. and this should

certainly be done in all possible cases, for the state of surrounding

objects most frequently will testify more strongly than any other

evidence. Modern fastidiousness has introduced the custom of removing

the body to some public-house, even where the death had happened in an

ordinary dwelling; this if not illegal, is at least improper.

Footnote 82:

See also the proceedings on the Oldham inquest, and the subsequent

judgment in the Court of King’s Bench. _A.D._ 1818, 1819. The _King

against Ferrand_, 2 _Barn & Ald._ 260.

Footnote 83:

This was publicly disputed on a late occasion; it is well to question

all extra-judicial dicta, which may be delivered during the heat of

political controversy.

Footnote 84:

The evidence must be on oath; _vide ante_ _p._ 167.

Footnote 85:

In _Scorey’s_ case, _Leach C. L._ 50. the coroner refused to take the

evidence of a man who had accompanied the accused in search of

deer-stealers, and only admitted the man who was with the deceased.

The coroner, on the testimony of this man, told the jury, that the

crime was murder, but they refused to find any other verdict than

_Accidental death_; which verdict the coroner recorded, and then by

his warrant sent _Scorey_ to the county goal for murder.

_Scorey_ being now brought up by Habeas Corpus—The Court, on full

affidavit of the fact, admitted him to bail, and granted a rule

against the coroner to shew cause why an information should not be

filed against him.

Footnote 86:

There are many cases in which there is no substance which can be made

the subject of deodand; as in death by poison or by explosions in

mines, either from inflammable gas, or the powder used in blasting.

The first of these cases calls for immediate remedy; as the instances

of fatal substitution of poison for medicine occur continually,

notwithstanding the repeated warnings published on the subject. Nor

are accidents in mines less worthy of attention; ordinary precaution

might have prevented many which have lately taken place. The Safety

lamp of Sir _H. Davy_ is so firmly established in reputation, that no

doubts can be entertained of its efficacy; some late inventions also

have secured the miner from the numerous disasters to which he is

liable in the dangerous operation of blasting. When the conductors of

mines neglect these ordinary and well-known precautions, they become

morally responsible for any mischief which may consequently occur; we

have only to lament that they are not legally answerable for their

criminal neglect.

Footnote 87:

With respect to a second inquest, the law is thus laid down (3 _Barn.

& Ald._ 266.) So also he (the coroner) may dig up the body, if the

first Inquisition be quashed. _Str._ 533. But it must be by order of

the Court of King’s Bench, on motion, _Str._ 167. And the judges will

exercise their discretion, according to the _time_ and circumstances,

whether he shall or shall not do it. _Salk._ 377. _Str._ 22. 533. 2

_Mod._ 16.

Footnote 88:

It is not for us in this place to argue the question whether excessive

severity of punishment does or does not defeat its punishment; as more

injury is done by inducing that illegal mercy which is here complained

of, than benefit is derived by terror of the unexecuted sentence of

the law: the subject is in abler hands; we shall, therefore, content

ourselves with suggesting, that coroners should be far more strict in

their examination of the bodies of persons supposed to be _felo de

se_; nay, that anatomical inspection of the great cavities should be

absolutely required in all cases. We will not maintain with a French

author on Medical Jurisprudence, that the signs of insanity can often

be discovered on dissection; though we can imagine some cases, as

where there has been an excessive determination of blood to the brain,

in which this inspection may be satisfactory; (See vol. 1, p. 327).

_Fourcroy_ and _Durande_ have also found, on dissecting persons who

had committed suicide, hardness of the liver, and gall stones; and

_Foderé_ observes that, in failure of other evidence, such appearances

deserve to carry some weight. But benefit would still result from the

practice; first from the general horror in which dissection is held,

for if the dread of an ignominious burial, however remote the chance

of its infliction, can be supposed to discourage this offence, under

the existing law, the certainty of personal mutilation would operate

in the proposed alteration. It is related, that when suicide had

become so frequent among the Roman ladies, as to threaten ill effects

to the commonwealth, the Senate decreed that the bodies of all who

died by their own hands should be exposed naked in the public ways.

The effect of the decree was an immediate cessation of the crime;

possibly the same result might be produced by the dread of dissection.

Footnote 89:

Al sessions al Newgate post natalem dom. 1604, 2 _Jac._ Le case fuit

que en home et se feme ayant longe temps vive incontinent ensemble, le

homme ayant consume son substance et cressant en necessity, dit al

feme que il fuit weary de son vie, et qu’il voiloit luy m occider, a

que la feme dit que donques el voiloit auci moryer ove luy: per que le

home praya la feme que el voiluit vaar et acheter ratisbane, et ils

voilont ceo beber ensemble, le quel el fist, et el ceo mist en le

drink, et ils bibe ceo, mes la feme apres prist sallet oyle, per que

el vomit et fuit recover, mes le home morust: et le question fuit si

ceo fuit murther en la feme. _Montague_ recorder cause l’especial

matter d’estre trove: _quære_ le resolucion. _F. Moore_, 754.

Footnote 90:

Vide ante, tit. Coroner’s Inquest.

Footnote 91:

Decency and public policy require that burials should not be delayed,

and it may not be amiss here to observe that the old notion of

arresting a body for debt, is now utterly exploded, as contrary not

only to the civil and canon law, (see _Wood’s Civ. Law_, 148; 2

_Domat_ 628: _Lindw._ 278,) but to reason and the law of the land.

Vide ante, Vol. 1. p. 100.

Footnote 92:

It is said that to act upon the mind by terror, continual griefs or

vexations, though with the intent to kill, is not murder, unless there

be some personal violence, 1 _East. P. C._, _p._ 225: but query this,

the proof of the crime may be difficult, but its perpetration is far

from impossible. To act on the mind of a pregnant woman by extreme

terrors, and so produce abortion and death of malice prepense, would

certainly be murder in its most atrocious form; it might require some

ingenuity in framing the indictment; but our law is fertile in

fictions on less worthy occasions, and ought not to allow its just

vengeance to be avoided. In cases of murder by starvation there may be

no actual violence, yet the law reaches this offence; sometimes indeed

imprisonment forms a part of the crime, but this may not always be the

case; for if the deceased were confined to his bed by disease, so that

he could not seek his own food, and those who were bound to supply him

maliciously neglected their duty, it would be murder by omission

without any personal violence committed. _See_ _Self’s_ case, 1 _East.

P. C._ 226: 1 _Leach, C.C._ 163, and authorities there. So in an

indictment for starving a servant, _Lawrence_, J. intimated, that he

thought the indictment insufficient, in not alleging _that Elizabeth

Williams was a girl of tender years, and under the dominion and

controul of the defendant_. _Rex v. Eliz. Ridley_, 2 _Camp. R._ 650.