_Does Lime hasten Putrefaction?_--It is a very general opinion that it does. Careful experiment has, however, proved that lime neither retards nor hastens putrefaction, but that it prevents the escape of the gases produced during the process by absorbing them; it is, therefore, a good and safe deodoriser, and in this property its true value lies. CHAPTER IV POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS AND EXHUMATIONS The following are some of the Instructions issued to Medical Inspectors by the Crown Office in Scotland, slightly modified: I. Part of General Directions 13. When any portions of the body, or any substances found in or near it, are to be preserved for further examination, they ought never to be put out of the custody of the inspectors, or of a special law officer. They must be locked up in the absence of the person who keeps them. When they are to be transmitted to a distance, they should be labelled, and the labels signed by the inspectors; and after being properly secured and sealed, they should be delivered by the inspectors themselves, or the special law officer whose duty it is to see them delivered into the hands of the parties for whom they are intended. II. Necessary Implements 14. Besides the ordinary instruments used in common dissections, the inspector should be provided with a foot-rule for measuring distances, and a glass measure graduated to drachms, for measuring the quantities of fluids, two or three stoneware jars of medium size, or when these cannot be had, a few clean bladders, for carrying away any parts of the body which it may be necessary to preserve for future examination, and in cases of possible poisoning, three or four bottles of eight, twelve, and sixteen ounces, with glass stoppers or clean corks, for preserving fluids to be analysed. The common square green glass pickle bottles are very suitable, and can generally be obtained. No bottle or jar should be used until it has been thoroughly washed under the supervision of one of the inspectors. In cases of infanticide a balance, having a flat scale-pan with a foot-rule painted on it, is of great use; on it the infant may be stretched, weighed, and measured at one operation. Paper, pens, ink, and sealing-wax should also be provided. 15. All distances, lengths, surfaces, and the like, whose extent may require to be described, ought to be accurately measured; and the same rule ought to be followed in ascertaining the volume of fluids. When large quantities of fluids are to be measured, any convenient vessel may be used, whose capacity is previously ascertained by the inspectors. Conjectural estimates and comparisons, however common, even in medico-legal inspections, are quite inadmissible. III. External Aspect, and Examination of the Body