Practical instructions for performing it with success.—_Dissection of the Brain and its appendages._—Method of opening the head.—Appearance of the skull-cap, whether fractured or in a state of disease.—Whether any and what extravasated matter is visible on the dura mater.—State of the meningeal vessels in relation to sanguineous congestion.—Substance of the brain.—State of the ventricles.—Base of the cranium, whether fractured.—Cervical vertebræ, whether dislocated. _Dissection of the Thorax, Abdomen, and Uterus._—Manner of opening the chest.—Whether any fluid be found in that cavity.—Appearance of the lungs.—Condition of the bronchiæ.—Pericardium, whether it contains more than a usual proportion of fluid.—General appearance of the viscera.—Particular condition of the intestines.—The stomach, its appearance, and contents.—The duodenum, colon, rectum.—State of the liver.—Gall bladder, and ducts.—The spleen-kidneys.—Organs of generation.—Uterus.—Fallopian tubes.—Ovaria.—External parts of generation. A COMMENTARY UPON THE PRECEDING OBJECTS OF INQUIRY: _With a view to appreciate and explain the relative importance of each, in enabling the Medical Inquirer and Jurist, to arrive at just conclusions, in cases of complicated doubt and difficulty._ --------------------- CASE I. THE PATIENT IS LIVING, AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED. This is the least complicated case that can occur; the medical inquirer has not only the advantage of the patient’s testimony, but that also of his own observations upon the symptoms and circumstances of the case. We have already stated that the declaration of a person, made under an apprehended pending dissolution, is by the law of this realm considered tantamount to an oath, (_see vol. i. p. 165_), and we have also stated what it becomes our duty to repeat in this place, that in recording such testimony, we must be prepared to combat various errors and prejudices: we do not mean to deny that the awful situation in which the patient is placed will not, in general, secure us against any wilful misrepresentation, but we contend, that a person acting under the influence of bodily suffering is very apt to fall into numerous fallacies respecting the transactions in which he may have been previously engaged; especially in such cases as usually constitute the objects of medico-judicial inquiry, where the passions not unfrequently increase the natural disturbance of the mind, while the eagerness which is so justly felt for the detection of the author of the injury, will tend rather to heighten than to correct any hallucinations under which the sufferer may happen to labour; for on such occasions the imagination is always ready to supply the want of testimony, and to fill up the spaces which actual observation may have left vacant.