_Caution._--Unhealthy children, and those recovering from some debilitating diseases--fever, &c.,--may suffer from purulent discharges from the vagina. Small ulcers may also be present, and may be mistaken for syphilitic ulceration Infantile leucorrhœa is not uncommon. (Percival‘s _Medical Ethics_.) (_c_) _Hæmorrhage or Dried Blood about the Genital Organs._--(1) Frequently absent in young children. (2) Always found in adults, virgins at the time the rape was committed, when the vessels of the hymen are ruptured. (_d_) _Destruction of the Hymen._--Most frequently, and especially in young girls, one or more _lacerations_ of the hymen may be seen. These lacerations must be looked for within five or six days of the alleged rape, as they soon heal up, and then no certain opinion can be given as to the date of their infliction. They may also be produced by any foreign body to substantiate a charge of rape. (_e_) _Dilatation of the Vagina._--This condition may be produced by the passage of hard bodies in order to substantiate a false charge of rape. Casper once examined a girl, only ten years of age, whose mother had gradually dilated her vagina with her fingers, in order to fit her for sexual intercourse with men. (_f_) _General Signs of Rape._--To the above are added certain general signs, as a _difficulty in walking_, attended with an involuntary separation of the thighs, common to both children and adults; _pain is also not infrequently present in passing water_, and when _the bowels are relieved_. In determining the truthfulness of the statements made as to an alleged rape, the character of the woman, and the obvious inconsistencies of her statements must be taken into consideration. Moreover, if, in addition to the injuries found on the external genitals, spermatozoa be detected in the vagina, a presumption in favour of the injuries being due to sexual intercourse will be clearly made out, but the presence of spermatozoa in the vagina of a woman is no evidence of rape. Care, however, must be taken not to confound with spermatozoa an animalcule--_Trichomonas vaginæ_--described by M. Donné as being sometimes found in the vaginal mucus. The head of the animalcule is larger than that of a spermatozoon, and is surrounded by a row of cilia. [Illustration: Fig. 19.--Hymen of child of four years--annular type. The illustration also shows the prominence of the urinary portion of the genitals. (Glaister.)]