The Queen v. Beaney : extraordinary charge of murder against a medical man, in consequence of a diseased womb being ruptured after death : with medical notes and observations / by C.E. Reeves.
- Reeves, C. E. (Charles Evans), 1828-1880
- Date:
- 1866
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Queen v. Beaney : extraordinary charge of murder against a medical man, in consequence of a diseased womb being ruptured after death : with medical notes and observations / by C.E. Reeves. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![Q.—I suppose that in a case like this it would be desirable to take out the vagina, uterus, and ovaries—there would have been no diffi- culty in so taking them, and putting them in some place for inspection] A.—None whatever. Q.—Is that what you would do ] A.—Yes; the object would be to remove all the organ of generation. Q.—The object would be to remove the ovaries, uteru§, vagina, and all, and keep them as much as possible together—that would be desirable ] A.—Yes. Q.—It would afford any observer a better opportunity of judging than if they were taken out in fragments ] A.—Certainly. Q.— When you are told again that this rupture may have occurred after death, and that the edges were neither inverted nor everted, is that suggestive of the rupture having taken place after death—would, that be the state of things if it had occurred while the powers of life remained ? A.—I would no! expect them necessarily to remain so at all; I would not expect, from the structure of the womb, that its edges would be turned, if done during life. I would expect them to be neither one nor the other. Q.—What, after death ? A.—I don't think it would make any difference ; I don't think it would be evidence either way. Q.—Then, everted or inverted, it might be the one thing or the other, before or after death ? A.—It might or might not have been. Q.—If the hand were pushed right through ] A.—I think they would be more likely to remain everted if pushed through after death; the action of the womb, if done during life, would allow them to come together again. Q. — With regard to this prolapsus of the uterus, is that possible in a case of pregnancy—is it not the fact that a, large body would pre- vent the possibility of the womb coming down? A.—Prolapsus occurs in the early months of pregnancy, but not after the fourth month. Q.—If a woman complain of prolapsus uteri, could you say she was pregnant ? A.—I would not believe it until I had examined her. I would not take her statement. Q.—If a woman were suffering from prolapsus uteri,’would you not be in a position to say whether she was pregnant at the fifth month ? A.—It protrudes externally ; I have seen it remain until the sixth month low down in the vagina. One woman I saw I would not have believed it unless I had seen her. After the fourth month the womb ascends into the abdomen.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22341869_0222.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
