2. _Distance at which the Charge was fired._--In the case of wounds inflicted by a small shot, the scattering of the shot must be our guide. Dupuytren has related a case in which a fowling-piece charged with powder alone and fired at a distance of two or three feet from the abdomen made a round hole in it and killed the man. If the weapon be fired a short distance, _e.g._ a few inches from the body, the skin will be scorched, smoke-blackened, and tatooed with powder, the flame may singe the hair or clothing. If discharged quite hard up to the body, the edges of the wound are freely lacerated, ecchymosed, and burnt. Smokeless powder will not cause blackening of the skin. The absence of scorching, or marks made round the wound by the half-burnt powder, allows of the assumption that the shot must have come from some distance--rather more than four feet. The absence of any of the above, however, is not an absolute proof that the shot has come from a distance. There is no means of deciding, from an examination of a pistol or gun, when the weapon was last used. In all cases, medical men, unless sportsmen and familiar with firearms, should hand over the weapon to a gamekeeper or gunsmith, and not attempt to give an opinion on matters about which they know nothing. The following may be of use to students for examination purposes, but for nothing else: Among the products formed when gunpowder is exploded is the sulphide of potassium, but if exposed to the air some portion of this substance is converted into the sulphate of potash. If, then, the gun-barrel be washed out with distilled water, and the washings filtered, and, on the addition of a solution of acetate of lead, a black precipitate of sulphide of lead be formed, this is supposed to point to recent use; if, on the other hand, a white precipitate of sulphate of lead forms, to the use of the weapon at some more distant date than the period alleged. CHAPTER VI BLOOD-STAINS It is important in medico-legal investigations to determine the nature of stains found on clothes, weapons, articles of furniture, &c. In the case of blood-stains note should be made of their incidence upon the body or in its vicinity. Blood-stains may vary in their character, incidence, and magnitude, as sprays, spirts, or jets, smears of various forms, or pools of blood. Notes should be made of the relation of the direction of a spray of blood to the position of a wounded body when found. A plan with the position of the stains should be sketched upon the spot, and measurements taken carefully. In the examination of blood-stains the purpose of the medico-jurist is not to demonstrate all the properties of blood, but to identify it. There is not much difficulty in ascertaining whether stains are due to blood or not; but when the question arises as to whether the blood be human or that of some other animal, the identification is more difficult and less certain.