_Barnardin Ramazzini_, having been struck with the numerous accidents which had occurred to Nightmen, was induced to direct his attention to the causes and nature of the asphyxia by which they perished, and to extend his investigation to the maladies to which the artisans in every profession were more peculiarly subjected. He accordingly, in the year 1700, published at Padua, an excellent treatise on these affections, entitled “_De Morbis Artificum Diatriba_,” a work which has retained its credit as a standard production, and to which all subsequent works on the same subject have been very largely indebted. It was translated by _Fourcroy_, who also enriched it with many valuable notes in 1777. It has also been presented to the public in many other countries, at different periods, and under various forms; as by _M. Hecquet_, 1740; _Skragge_, in 1764; _Bertrand_, in 1804; _Gosse_ of Geneva, in 1516; and _Patissier_, in 1822. In 1749, Professor _Beccaria_, of Bononia, published his work entitled _Scriptura Medico-Legalis_, and _Bononi_ in his _Istruzioni Teorico pratiche di Chirurg_: entered with considerable minuteness into the subject of Forensic Surgery, especially in its relations to wounds. The later production however, of _Giuseppe Tortosa_[35], the disciple of _Caldani_, must be considered as the most elaborate and scientific of all the Italian works on Medical Jurisprudence. The reader will find that we have frequently referred to this author; and it is just to state, that during the progress of our labours we have derived from him no inconsiderable assistance, in ascertaining the sentiments of the Medical Jurists of the Italian school, upon various casuistical as well as physiological doctrines. The work is professed to have been written with the sanction of his master, _Caldani_, and under the auspices of _Franck_ of Pavia, and of _Plouquet_ of Turin. He includes in his plan such subjects only as relate to Forensic Medicine, excluding those which belong more correctly to the department of Medical Police. The work is divided into three parts, _viz._ 1. Comprehending all the principal objects of _Ecclesiastical_ jurisdiction. 2. Subjects relating to the _Civil_ courts. 3. Those which relate to the _Criminal_ courts. The subdivisions of each part are arranged in the following order. PART I.—Conjugal Impotence.—Conjugal Rites.—Monstrous Births.—Hermaphrodites.—Magic.—Of Persons possessed of Spirits.—Miracles.—Ecclesiastical Fasting. PART II. Age.—Pregnancy.—Birth.—Superfœtation.—Cæsarean Operation.—Simulated and Dissimulated Diseases. PART III. Of Deflowering.—Sodomy.—Torture.—Legal Examination of Wounds, and Dead Bodies.—Poisoning.—Infanticide.—Homicide by wounding.—Fœticide.—Accidental Death.