had produced such an engorgement of blood in the lungs, as to counterbalance the influence which the small quantity of air they contained could have exerted on their specific gravity. A piece somewhat more than a cubic inch in volume was the greatest portion that in this case floated in water.
2. The lungs may have been artificially inflated.—It is so generally known, observes Dr. Hunter, that a child born apparently dead may be brought to life by inflating its lungs, that the mother herself, or some other person, might have tried the experiment. It might even have been done with a most diabolical intention of bringing about the condemnation of the mother. There exists not a doubt but that such an operation would impart buoyancy to the lungs, although the fact has been doubted. Camper, Jager, Schmitt, and Buttner decided the question by numerous experiments.
3. The lungs may float, in consequence of putrefaction.—We have stated on a former occasion that the buoyancy of the human body is materially influenced by the putrefactive process, (vol. ii, p. 40.) Haller procured the lungs of a child that died before its birth. They were of a dark red colour, and both when entire, and when cut in pieces, sank in water. A portion being left to putrefy in water, the colour became brighter, it was covered with air bubbles, ascended gradually as the process of putrefaction advanced, and at length reached the surface, where it continued to float. But in answer to the objection which such a fact would seem to oppose to the validity of the hydrostatic test, let it be remembered that the lungs are particularly unsusceptible of the putrefactive process, and resist it longer than any of the soft parts. So that the body must be very far ad-
