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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![vagina before death—they are then full of blood and vascular! After death a coldness and stiffness set in”* If they were full of blood, and torn daring life, how is it there was no blood in the peritoneal cavity, or about the ruptures ? The want of blood is got rid of in a very beautiful way. At the first trial, when the foetus and after-birth were said to have been removed on the Wednesday night, when the raptures were caused, it was then the opinion of the medical wit- nesses that water had been injected by means of a large quart enema syringe (which was not used) through the rupture in the fundus, and that it had flowed out through the rupture in the vagina, and brought away blood and everything ! ! There was another idea propounded, which would have been quite as worthy of our imaginative countrymen, that Mr. Beaney had drawn down the bowrels or removed them, and got Mrs. Cronin to wash and scrub them, and then replaced them. It was quite as feasible as the washing-out. One of. the medical witnesses examined before Dr. Tracy admitted—unfortunately for the washing-out theory with a syringe that was never used—that if blood did get among the bowels the peristaltic action would diffuse it all over them. The Doctor clung a little to the washing-out idea, for he told the Crown Prosecutor : “ From the large size of the vagina, water injected would have plenty of scope to flow back ; it would entirely depend on the force used whether it could get into the peritoneal cavity, and if a quantity were so injected some of it would not flow out.” [The syringe (which was never used) produced.^] “ If that syringe were used for five or six minutes, would it drive water so that it might drain out again ?” “ It ought to !” But he brings forward the most beautifullest new theory to account for the absence of blood in the peritoneal cavity, which rendered washing out unnecessary. * The doctor and Messrs. Rudall and Pugh seem to have been studying Caspar’s Forensic Medicinetranslated by Balfour. If they wanted the precise meaning on this question he wishes to convey, they should read it in German. There is some difference between healthy tissues and those which are softened from disease or decomposition. f To produce a syringe that was never used — isn’t it very like producing the sword that Balaam wished for when he felt inclined to cut off his ass’s head.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22341869_0041.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
