Volume 2

Principles of forensic medicine / William A. Guy.

  • William Augustus Guy
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Principles of forensic medicine / William A. Guy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/216 (page 191)
    with a single unmutilated male adult.* Wownds.—The distinction be- tween wounds self-inflicted and inflicted by others, or taking place acci- dentally, will be considered under the head of wounds. Bruises have been imitated by colouring materials, but not being true to nature they are easily detected by the experienced eye. Ulcers are among the most common of feigned diseases, and when they exist naturally they are often intentionally increased. The means, most commonly resorted to are corrosive acids and alkalies, caustics, corrosive subli- mate, arsenic and its sulphuret, acetate of copper, blistering plaster, quicklime, the flame of burning bodies, the ashes and chewed leaves of tobacco, the vegetable acids, especially the ranunculus acris and sceleratus, the mezereon or spurge-laurel, the euphorbium, the arum maculatum, and the juniper. Ulcers are also excited by mechanical means, as by pressure and friction. Pressure is often produced by ally in place of being produced or increased by the use of irritants, ulcers are merely feigned, as, by gluing a portion of a spleen or the skin of a frog on the part, the surface being kept moist by a sponge dipped in blood and water. The most common situation of these fictitious ulcers is the lower extremities. Ulcers artificially produced may often be detected by simple inspection of the surface and dress- ings; the sudden increase of the appearance of inflammation on and about the ulcer will naturally excite a suspicion of the use of irritants ; and the healthy appearance of the impostor will often be found at variance with the extent of ulceration. In hospitals, when there is ground for suspicion, that an ulcer is prevented from healing by the use of irritants, a wooden box completely enclosing the leg has been used with the best effect. istwla in Ano and in Perineo have been imitated by a punctured wound into which a tent covered with some irritating substance, or made of the root of the milk thistle, or of white hellebore, is introduced. A variety of cwta- neous diseases have been feigned, or intentionally produced, as lupus by the application of pounded garlic, and the juice of the euphor- bium; eryszpelas by a short application of blisters; urticaria, by eating shell-fish ; psoriasis and impetigo, by the use of strong ru- befacients ; pompholyx, by blistering plaster; scabies, by punc- tures, irritated with gunpowder; porrigo, by nitric acid dropped upon the hand, and by other irritants, as also by a paste composed of rancid butter, honey, sulphur, and a small quantity of the pow- der of cantharides; baldness has been effected by. the use of nitric acid. Variola in its eruptive stage has been imitated by punctures into which baysalt and gunpowder were afterwards rubbed. The discolouration of the skin in jaundice has been imitated by a variety of colouring materials. To this division belong certain affections of the eyes, which are ob- * Gavin, Op. cit. p. 344.