a vacuity in the superficial vessels. It may perish for want of nourishment. But let it be remembered that new-born children are seldom, or never, famished to death, within a few days of their birth; for they require very little nourishment, and it was formerly the custom to keep them some days from the breast; such an omission, however, if suspected, may be ascertained by examining the stomach, and, at the same time, by deducing from the appearance of the umbilicus,[1] the probable period that has elapsed since its birth.
Death by commission.—We have already pointed out the various means by which the death of the newly-born infant is usually accomplished; such as by wounding, suffocating, strangling, poisoning, &c.; and in the course of our work we have so fully considered the phenomena of violent death, that it cannot be necessary, on the present occasion, to expend farther time on their discussion.
The last object of the inquiry, viz. the appearance and condition of the woman's person, has been also considered under the history of parturition, and the various questions to which it has given origin, vol. i, p. 249.
We have thus then presented to the reader the various avenues of information, which the sciences of anatomy and physiology are capable of disclosing; and it will, we trust, appear evident, that the forensic physician can rarely furnish more than presumptive evidence in the support of cases of imputed child-murder.
With the moral circumstances of the case the medical-jurist can have nothing to do; and yet it is impos-
- ↑ The umbilical cord generally separates from the navel on about the fifth day, and is almost always partially detached on the fourth; the ulcerated surface is commonly healed by the eighth or ninth day.
