Pliny also relates in chapter 71 of his Natural History, lib. xi: “It is claimed that the heart of those who die of _morbus cardiacus_ (organic heart disease) cannot be destroyed by fire, and the same is said to be true of the heart of poisoned persons.” An oration of Vitellus is extant in which he accuses Piso, the physician, of having poisoned Germanicus, since the heart of the latter would not burn. Piso defended himself by describing the disease of which the emperor had died. Dr. J. O. Marble, who has written of this subject, affirms: “It must be admitted that cases of criminal poisoning, such as would be detected by an exhumation and examination of a buried body, are very rare, for in our day Lucrezia Borgias and Brinvilliers are few and easily detected. In a community like ours cases of this kind are extremely rare. In a vast majority of cases the cause of death is perfectly evident to any intelligent physician. No doubt obscures the case. The list of causes of death, perfectly evident even to the friends and non-medical persons, embraces probably at least nine-tenths of the whole mortality. Doubtful cases have generally been visited by more than one skilful physician. The fraction in which crime of any sort might have been perpetrated becomes thus very small. Moreover, in the present state of chemical analysis and expert medical testimony, the advantages of the posthumous examination of a body with a view to the detection of crime accrue less to justice than to the lawyer for the defense.” The medico-legal objection, as it is called, does not apply in every case, since every day individuals die of easily determined causes, such as small-pox, consumption, hemorrhage from the lungs or stomach, drowning, or other accidents, and suicide; in short, in such a way as to place the cause of death beyond cavil and dispute. It is true that a regular proportion of bodies are dug up every year on suspicion of foul play; but, aside from the fact that that proportion is very small, how many of these cases justify the exhumation? So uncertain and inaccurate is the post-mortem evidence of criminal poisoning, that no bodies have been exhumed for forensic purposes in Vienna, Austria’s capital, since 1805.