The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by the late Alfred Swaine Taylor.

  • Alfred Swaine Taylor
Date:
1894
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by the late Alfred Swaine Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    f SCALDS. INJURIES PRODUCED BY CORROSIVE LIQUIDS. 741 Tiiore tenacious than tlie fatty tissue, had not yielded with it. This appear- ance alone was sufficient to negative the supposition of the infliction of Avounds by cutting instruments. The production of the fissures might have been aided by the child's struggles immediately after the occurrence ■ of the burn, but it did not appear that these were at all violent. This conclusion was justified by the facts; and the case is calculated to throw an important light on the accidental origin of fissures or wounds of the skin in cases of death from burns. The conclusions which we may draw from the foregoing statements, are :—1. That, as a general rule, when we discover marks of vesication, with effusion of serum, or a line of redness, or both, about a burnt part •of the body, we are justified in saying that the burn has occurred during life. 2. That when these appearances are not met with, it by no means follows that the burn has not been produced in the living body; the affirmative evidence derived from such appearances being much stronger than the negative. The subject of scalding scarcely requires a separate notice. A scald from boiling water would, when recent, be indicated by vesication and the sodden state of the skin. The living structures are not charred or ■ destroyed as by the application of a red-hot solid. A woman was convicted ■of throwing boiling water over her husband, with intent to maim him. '{Reg. V. King, Liverpool Sum. Ass., 1847.) In another case {Reg. v. Blewitt, Worcester Sum. Ass., 1847), the prisoner was convicted of the manslaughter •of his wife by pouring over her the contents of a kettle of boiling water. At the Stafford Winter Assizes, 1859 {Reg. v. Hill), a man was convicted of feloniously casting boiling water over the prosecutor, with intent to do ;him grievous bodily harm. The medical evidence was to the effect that the scalds were on the head, cheek, neck, and arm, and were of a dangerous character. A woman at Glasgow attempted to kill her husband by pouring boiling water over his genital organs while he was asleep in bed. He died ; but his death could not be clearly traced to the scalding. Burns by Corrosive Liquids. Among the cases in which medical evidence is sometimes required, are those of throwing mineral acids, alkalies, or other corrosive liquids on the person. This crime was at one time prevalent, and until the passing ••of 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 29, there was no adequate punishment for it. On one occasion, an assailant escaped a charge of felony, because it could not be considered, in law, that sulphuric acid was capable of .producing a woimd—the man having been indicted for woundino-. One surgeon considered that the injuiy produced was a wound, another thought that it was not. The judges decided that it was not a wound 7cQ^'? ™^^^§: t^ie Act. {Bex v. Mnrroio, Liverpool Aut. Ass., fi ] ■'-^^ statute above mentioned, while it punishes the offence omits ••all reference to a definition of the word wound. The nature of the liquid thrown IS merely defined, in general terms, to be 'any corrosive fluid or any destructive substance'—a point which will require medical evidence lor its elucidation. In common language, and according to the statute, the injury thus cro- 'whoHv d^-ff ™^7^^1.f oil of vitriol, is called a birn ; but it is Id aptl?^ 1 ^' ^^ progress. Great deformity Ts somet^lf -'^^^^V''^*'^/^ '^^ ^j'^^J^- ^ ^^edical man fh s mtrb? ''^T''/ *° d^^^^g-^^l^ t^ese injuries from burns and scalds ; this may be easily done, in the first instance, by the appearance of the part injured, as well as by the description of the first symptoms. The