Text-book of forensic medicine and toxicologyBuchanan, R. J. M. (Robert James McLean)
Science
Text-book of forensic medicine and toxicology
Buchanan, R. J. M. (Robert James McLean)
Medical jurisprudence; Poisons
2. _Marks on the breasts_, similar to those appearing on the abdomen.
These, in conjunction with the above, are important.
3. _Peculiar jagged condition of the os uteri_, felt by the finger. The
condition may be the result of disease.
4. _Marks of rupture of the fourchette or perinæum._
5. _Dark colour of the areola round the nipple._
6. _Negative evidence_, from absence of any of the above.
=Can a Woman be delivered unconsciously?=--This question may arise in
cases of infanticide. Setting aside cases of epilepsy (in a fit of
which disease Husband once attended a woman who was confined during
the fit without being aware that she had been delivered), cases of
apoplexy, coma, and narcosis from chloroform, opium, &c., it may be
stated that delivery is possible during profound sleep. Husband once
attended a woman who informed him that “she always had her pains during
her sleep,” and only woke up just as the head came into the world. When
it is borne in mind how easily some women pass through labour, it is
quite possible that, after a busy day, sleep may be so profound as not
to be disturbed by the pains of labour. In primiparæ the occurrence
is more problematical. Women have often declared that they have been
unconsciously delivered whilst at stool. This is also possible, but the
circumstances of the case must be severely sifted.
CHAPTER XIII
FŒTICIDE, OR CRIMINAL ABORTION
[“_Every woman, being with child, who, with
intent to procure her own miscarriage, shall unlawfully
administer to herself any poison or other noxious
thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument, or other
means whatsoever, with the like intent: and whosoever,
with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman,
whether she be or be not with child, shall unlawfully
administer to her, or cause to be taken by her, any
poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully
use any instrument, or other means whatsoever, with
the like intent, shall be guilty of felony, and being
convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion
of the Court, to be kept in penal servitude for life,
or for any term not less than five years, or to be
imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with
or without hard labour, and with or without solitary
confinement._”--Statute 24 and 25 Vict. c. 100,
sec. 58.]
The 59th section of the same Statute also takes into consideration
the unlawfully supplying or procuring any poison, or other noxious
thing, or instrument, or thing whatsoever for a woman, for the purpose
of inducing abortion. The person so doing shall be guilty of a
misdemeanour, and be kept in penal servitude for a term of five years,
or be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without
hard labour.
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