will betray the imposture. It is impossible, as _Dr. Hutchinson_ very candidly admits, to trace any rules of general application respecting the first three cases. The decision must be partially founded on various collateral moral circumstances, which come especially within the province of the jury. _A new-born child may perish from exposure to cold._ This cause of death will be indicated by the character of the place and circumstances under which its body was found. The appearance of the corpse, upon such an occasion, will also assist our judgment; there will generally be a paleness of the skin, and a vacuity in the superficial vessels. _It may perish for want of nourishment._ But let it be remembered that new-born children are seldom, or never, famished to death, within a few days of their birth; for they require very little nourishment, and it was formerly the custom to keep them some days from the breast; such an omission, however, if suspected, may be ascertained by examining the stomach, and, at the same time, by deducing from the appearance of the umbilicus,[85] the probable period that has elapsed since its birth. _Death by commission._—We have already pointed out the various means by which the death of the newly-born infant is usually accomplished; such as by wounding, suffocating, strangling, poisoning, &c.; and in the course of our work we have so fully considered the phenomena of violent death, that it cannot be necessary, on the present occasion, to expend farther time on their discussion. The last object of the inquiry, viz. _the appearance and condition of the woman’s person_, has been also considered under the history of _parturition_, and the various questions to which it has given origin, _vol._ i, _p._ 249. We have thus then presented to the reader the various avenues of information, which the sciences of anatomy and physiology are capable of disclosing; and it will, we trust, appear evident, that the forensic physician can rarely furnish more than presumptive evidence in the support of cases of imputed child-murder.