A History of Chinese LiteratureGiles, Herbert Allen
History
A History of Chinese Literature
Giles, Herbert Allen
Chinese literature -- History and criticism
(2.) “Wounds inflicted on the bone leave a red mark and a slight
appearance of saturation, and where the bone is broken there will be
at each end a halo-like trace of blood. Take a bone on which there
are marks of a wound, and hold it up to the light; if these are of a
fresh-looking red, the wound was inflicted before death and penetrated
to the bone; but if there is no trace of saturation from blood,
although there is a wound, it was inflicted after death.”
(3.) “The bones of parents may be identified by their children in the
following manner. Let the experimenter cut himself or herself with
a knife, and cause the blood to drip on to the bones; then if the
relationship is an actual fact, the blood will sink into the bone,
otherwise it will not. _N.B._--Should the bones have been washed with
salt water, even though the relationship exists, yet the blood will not
soak in. This is a trick to be guarded against beforehand.
“It is also said that if parent and child, or husband and wife, each
cut themselves and let the blood drip into a basin of water, the two
bloods will mix, whereas that of two people not thus related will not
mix.
“Where two brothers, who may have been separated since childhood, are
desirous of establishing their identity as such, but are unable to
do so by ordinary means, bid each one cut himself and let the blood
drip into a basin. If they are really brothers, the two bloods will
coagulate into one; otherwise not. But because fresh blood will always
coagulate with the aid of a little salt or vinegar, people often smear
the basin over with these to attain their own ends and deceive others;
therefore always wash out the basin you are going to use, or buy a new
one from a shop. Thus the trick will be defeated.”
(4.) “There are some atrocious villains who, when they have murdered
any one, burn the body and throw the ashes away, so that there are no
bones to examine. In such cases you must carefully find out at what
time the murder was committed, and where the body was burnt. Then,
when you know the place, all witnesses agreeing on this point, you
may proceed without further delay to examine the wounds. The mode of
procedure is this. Put up your shed near where the body was burnt, and
make the accused and witnesses point out themselves the exact spot.
Then cut down the grass and weeds growing on this spot, and burn large
quantities of fuel till the place is extremely hot, throwing on several
pecks of hemp-seed. By and by brush the place clean; then, if the body
was actually burnt on this spot, the oil from the seed will be found to
have sunk into the ground in the form of a human figure, and wherever
there were wounds on the dead man, there on this figure the oil will be
found to have collected together, large or small, square, round, long,
short, oblique, or straight, exactly as they were inflicted. The parts
where there were no wounds will be free from any such appearances.”
BOOK THE SIXTH
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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