to be lost in subjecting it to those means[1] which are best calculated to excite it to vigorous life, such as external warmth, frictions, inflation of the lungs, &c.
Having satisfied ourselves that the child is dead, we are to proceed to such inquiries, as may enable us to furnish the best possible evidence on the case, in a court of judicature, viz.
1. To ascertain whether the Child was born alive?
In the absence of all direct testimony, our investigation is to be conducted upon principles very similar to those which we have already recommended in those obscure cases of death in which "the person is found dead, and the history of his dissolution is unknown." See vol. iii, p. 2. The appearances of the corpse—the character of the spot in which it was found—the report of competent witnesses—and the phenomena displayed on dissection, are, in both cases, the circumstances from which we are to elicit data for the solution of our difficult problem.
A. The inspection of the body of the infant. By this we are first to learn, whether it had arrived at that degree of maturity which is essential for enabling it to sustain an independent existence—"etoit il viable?"[2] If it can be fairly shewn that the child had not reached the end of the seventh month of uterine gestation, the charge of infanticide ought to be with-*
- ↑ See our chapter on the methods of treating Asphyxia, vol. ii, p. 75.
- ↑ We have no word in the English language so expressive as viable. That adopted by Dr. Gordon Smith, rearable, is a very clumsy substitute. The subject has been very fully discussed by Professor Capuron, to whose most excellent work, entitled "La Medecine Legale, relative a l'Art des Accouchemens," we must refer the reader.
