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AIDS
TO
FORENSIC MEDICINE AND TOXICOLOGY
BY
W.G. AITCHISON ROBERTSON
M.D., D.Sc., F.R.C.P.E.
LECTURER ON FORENSIC MEDICINE, SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, EDINBURGH; LATE
EXAMINER IN THE UNIVERSITIES OF EDINBURGH AND ST. ANDREWS; FOR THE
TRIPLE BOARD; DIPLOMA IN PUBLIC HEALTH, ETC.
NINTH EDITION
TWENTIETH THOUSAND
LONDON
BAILLIÈRE, TINDALL AND COX
8, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN
1922
PREFACE TO NINTH EDITION
I trust that, having thoroughly revised the "Aids to Forensic Medicine,"
it may prove as useful to students preparing for examination in the
future as it has been in the past.
W.G. AITCHISON ROBERTSON.
SURGEONS' HALL,
EDINBURGH,
_November_, 1921.
PREFACE TO EIGHTH EDITION
This work of the late Dr. William Murrell having met with such a large
measure of success, the publishers thought it would be well to bring out
a new edition, and invited me to revise the last impression.
This I have done, and while retaining Dr. Murrell's text closely, I have
made large additions, in order to bring the "Aids" up to present
requirements. I have also rearranged the matter with the object of
making the various sections more consecutive than they were previously.
W.G. AITCHISON ROBERTSON.
SURGEONS' HALL,
EDINBURGH,
_June_, 1914.
CONTENTS
PART I
FORENSIC MEDICINE
PAGE
I. Crimes 1
II. Medical Evidence 2
III. Personal Identity 10
IV. Examination of Persons found Dead 12
V. Modes of Sudden Death 13
VI. Signs of Death 16
VII. Death from Anæsthetics, etc. 19
VIII. Presumption of Death; Survivorship 20
IX. Assaults, Murder, Manslaughter, etc. 21
X. Wounds and Mechanical Injuries 21
XI. Contused Wounds, etc. 22
XII. Incised Wounds 23
XIII. Gunshot Wounds 24
XIV. Wounds of Various Parts of the Body 26
XV. Detection of Blood-Stains, etc. 30
XVI. Death by Suffocation 34
XVII. Death by Hanging 35
XVIII. Death by Strangulation 35
XIX. Death by Drowning 36
XX. Death from Starvation 38
XXI. Death from Lightning and Electricity 38
XXII. Death from Cold or Heat 39
XXIII. Pregnancy 40
XXIV. Delivery 41
XXV. Foeticide or Criminal Abortion 42
XXVI. Infanticide 44
XXVII. Evidences of Live-Birth 46
XXVIII. Cause of Death in the Foetus 50
XXIX. Duration of Pregnancy 50
XXX. Viability of Children 51
XXXI. Legitimacy 52
XXXII. Superfoetation 53
XXXIII. Inheritance 54
XXXIV. Impotence and Sterility 54
XXXV. Rape 55
XXXVI. Unnatural Offences 59
XXXVII. Blackmailing 60
XXXVIII. Marriage and Divorce 60
XXXIX. Feigned Diseases 63
XL. Mental Unsoundness 67
XLI. Idiocy, Imbecility, Cretinism 68
XLII. Dementia 70
XLIII. Mania, Lucid Intervals, Undue Influence, Responsibility,
etc. 71
XLIV. Examination of Persons of Unsound Mind 76
XLV. Inebriates Acts 78