The law in both countries appears to differ more in terms than in practice. In England, if an injured party live for one year and a day, and then die, death is not attributed to the injury; but in Scotland, although no definite time is fixed, yet no case would I believe be entertained at any lengthened period after the commission of a homicidal act. The longest interval, according to Taylor, at which conviction has taken place from indirectly fatal consequences was _nine months_. In the United States, as a rule, the crime of murder admits of two degrees: in the _first_, where the act is intentional or is the result of an attempt at burglary, rape, arson, or by poison; otherwise the crime falls under the _second_ degree. WOUNDS =Legal Definition.=--According to the statute (24 and 25 Vict. c. 100, sec. 18), the word “wound” includes incised, punctured, lacerated, contused, and gunshot wounds. But to constitute a wound within the meaning of the statute, the _whole skin_, not the mere _cuticle_, or upper skin, must be divided (R. _v._ M‘Laughlin, 8 C. & P. 635). But a division of the _internal_ skin, _e.g._ within the cheek or lip, is sufficient to constitute a wound within the statute (R. _v._ Warman, 1 Den. C.C. 183). If the skin be broken, the nature of the instrument with which the injury is inflicted is immaterial, for the present statute extends to wounding, &c., “_by any means whatsoever_.” A wound from a kick with a boot is within the statute (R. _v._ Briggs, 1 Mood C.C. 318). Injuries, burns, and scalds--which, in accordance with the above definition of a wound, are not wounds--are provided for under the clause, “or cause any grievous bodily harm to any person.” Casper defines “an injury” to be “every alteration of the structure or function of any part of the body produced by any external cause.” Taylor proposed the following as the best definition which can be given to the word “wound,” whether in a medical or legal sense, viz. that it is “a breach of continuity in the structures of the body, whether external or internal, suddenly occasioned by mechanical violence.” This would include dislocations, fractures, either simple or compound, injury to the skin or mucous membrane, and to internal organs. Burns and injuries due to the action of corrosives are excluded from the category of wounds.