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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of On the Uncertainty of the Signs of Murder in the Case of Bastard Children, by William Hunter.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of On the uncertainty of the signs of murder
+in the case of bastard children, by William Hunter
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: On the uncertainty of the signs of murder in the case of bastard children
+
+Author: William Hunter
+
+Release Date: October 11, 2008 [EBook #26870]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MURDER--BASTARD CHILDREN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+<div class='transnote'><h3>Transcriber's Note</h3>
+
+<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text. For a
+complete list, please see <a href="#transnotes">the bottom of this document</a>.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><span class='smcap'>on</span></h3>
+
+<h2>THE UNCERTAINTY</h2>
+
+<h3><span class='smcap'>of</span></h3>
+
+<h2>THE SIGNS OF MURDER</h2>
+
+<h3><span class='smcap'>in the case of</span></h3>
+
+<h1>BASTARD CHILDREN.</h1>
+
+<h4><span class='smcap'>by the late</span></h4>
+
+<h2>WILLIAM HUNTER, M.D. F.R.S.</h2>
+
+<h3>PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO THE QUEEN,</h3>
+<h4><span class='smcap'>and member of the royal academy of sciences at paris.</span></h4>
+
+<p class='frontend'>London:<br />
+<span class='smcap'>printed for j. callow, crown court,<br />
+princes street, soho.</span></p>
+
+<h3>1818.</h3>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+<h3><span class='smcap'>to the</span></h3>
+
+<h2><i>Members of the Medical Society</i>.</h2>
+
+<h4>Read July 14, 1783.</h4>
+
+
+<p class='indent'><span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the present year, one of our friends, distinguished by
+rank, fortune, and science, came to me upon the following occasion: In
+the country, he said, a young woman was taken up, and committed to jail
+to take her trial, for the supposed murder of her bastard child.
+According to the information which he had received, he was inclined to
+believe, from the circumstances, that she was innocent; and yet,
+understanding that the minds of the people in that part of the country
+were much exasperated against her, by the popular cry of <i>a cruel and
+unnatural</i> murder, he feared, though innocent, she might fall a victim
+to prejudice and blind zeal. What he wished, he said, was to procure an
+unprejudiced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> enquiry. He had been informed that it was a subject which
+I had considered in my lectures, and made some remarks upon it, which
+were not perhaps sufficiently known, or enough attended to; and his
+visit to me was, to know what these remarks were. I told him what I had
+commonly said upon that question. He thought some of the observations so
+material, that he imagined they might sometimes be the means of saving
+an innocent life: and if they could upon the present occasion do so,
+which he thought very possible, he was sure I would willingly take the
+trouble of putting them upon paper. Next day I sent them to him in a
+letter, which I said he was at liberty to use as he might think proper.
+Some time afterwards he told me that he had great pleasure in thanking
+me for the letter, and telling me that the trial was over; that the
+unfortunate young woman was acquitted, and that he had reason to believe
+that my letter had been instrumental. This having been the subject of
+some conversation one evening at our medical meeting, you remember,
+Gentlemen, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>that you thought the subject interesting, and desired me to
+give you a paper upon it. I now obey your command.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In those unhappy cases of the death of bastard children, as in every
+action indeed that is either criminal or suspicious, reason and justice
+demand an enquiry into all the circumstances; and particularly to find
+out from what views and motives the act proceeded. For, as nothing can
+be so criminal but that circumstances might be added by the imagination
+to make it worse; so nothing can be conceived so wicked and offensive to
+the feelings of a good mind, as not to be somewhat softened or
+extenuated by circumstances and motives. In making up a just estimate of
+any human action, much will depend on the state of the agent's mind at
+the time; and therefore the laws of all countries make ample allowance
+for insanity. The insane are not held to be responsible for their
+actions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The world will give me credit, surely, for having had sufficient
+opportunities of knowing a good deal of female characters. I have seen
+the private as well as the public virtues, the private as well as the
+more public frailties of women in all ranks of life. I have been in
+their secrets, their counsellor and adviser in the moments of their
+greatest distress in body and mind. I have been a witness to their
+private conduct, when they were preparing themselves to meet danger, and
+have heard their last and most serious reflections, when they were
+certain they had but a few hours to live.</p>
+
+<p>That knowledge of women has enabled me to say, though no doubt there
+will be many exceptions to the general rule, that women who are pregnant
+without daring to avow their situation, are commonly objects of the
+greatest <i>compassion</i>; and generally are less criminal than the world
+imagine. In most of these cases the father of the child is really
+criminal, often cruelly so; the mother is weak, credulous, and deluded.
+Having obtained gratification, he thinks no more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> of his promises; she
+finds herself abused, disappointed of his affection, attention, and
+support, and left to struggle as she can, with sickness, pains, poverty,
+infamy; in short, with compleat <i>ruin</i> for <i>life</i>!</p>
+
+<p>A worthless woman can never be reduced to that wretched situation,
+because she is insensible to infamy; but a woman who has that
+respectable virtue, a high sense of shame, and a strong desire of being
+respectable in her character, finding herself surrounded by such
+horrors, often has not strength of mind to meet them, and in despair
+puts an end to a life which is become insupportable. In that case, can
+any man, whose heart ever felt what pity is, be <i>angry</i> with the memory
+of such an unfortunate woman for what she did? She felt life to be so
+dreadful and oppressive, that she <i>could not</i> longer support it. With
+that view of her situation, every humane heart will forget the
+indiscretion or crime, and bleed for the sufferings which a woman must
+have gone through; who, but for having listened to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> perfidious
+protestations and vows of our sex, might have been an affectionate and
+faithful wife, a virtuous and honoured mother, through a long and happy
+life; and probably that very reflection raised the last pang of despair,
+which hurried her into eternity. To think seriously of what a
+fellow-creature must feel, at such an awful moment, must melt to pity
+every man whose heart is not steeled with habits of cruelty; and every
+woman who does not affect to be more severely virtuous and chaste than
+perhaps any good woman ever was.</p>
+
+<p>It may be said that such a woman's guilt is heightened, when we consider
+that at the same time that she puts an end to her own life, she murders
+her child. God forbid that killing should always be murder! It is only
+murder when it is executed with some degree of cool judgment, and wicked
+intention. When committed under a phrenzy from despair, can it be more
+offensive in the sight of God, than under a phrenzy from a fever, or in
+lunacy? It should therefore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> as it must raise our horror, raise our
+pity too.</p>
+
+<p>What is commonly understood to be the murder of a bastard child by the
+mother, if the real circumstances were fully known, would be allowed to
+be a very different crime in different circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>In some (it is to be hoped <i>rare</i>) instances, it is a crime of the very
+deepest dye: it is a premeditated contrivance for taking away the life
+of the most inoffensive and most helpless of all human creatures, in
+opposition not only to the most universal dictates of humanity, but of
+that powerful instinctive passion which, for a wise and important
+purpose, the Author of our nature has planted in the breast of every
+female creature, a wonderful eagerness about the preservation of its
+young. The most charitable construction that could be put upon so savage
+an action, and it is to be hoped the fairest often, would be to reckon
+it the work of phrenzy, or temporary insanity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But, as well as I can judge, the greatest number of what are called
+murders of bastard children, are of a very different kind. The mother
+has an unconquerable sense of shame, and pants after the preservation of
+character: so far she is virtuous and amiable. She has not the
+resolution to meet and avow infamy. In proportion as she loses the hope
+either of having been mistaken with regard to pregnancy, of being
+relieved from her terrors by a fortunate miscarriage, she every day sees
+her danger greater and nearer, and her mind more overwhelmed with terror
+and despair. In this situation many of these women, who are afterwards
+accused of murder, would destroy themselves, if they did not know that
+such an action would infallibly lead to an enquiry, which would proclaim
+what they are so anxious to conceal. In this perplexity, and meaning
+nothing less than the murder of the infant, they are meditating
+different schemes for concealing the birth of the child; but are
+wavering between difficulties on all sides, putting the evil hour off,
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> trusting too much to chance and fortune.&mdash;In that state often they
+are overtaken sooner than they expected; their schemes are frustrated;
+their distress of body and mind deprives them of all judgment, and
+rational conduct; they are delivered by themselves, wherever they
+happened to retire in their fright and confusion; sometimes dying in the
+agonies of childbirth, and sometimes, being quite exhausted, they faint
+away, and become insensible to what is passing; and when they recover a
+little strength, find that the child, whether still-born or not, is
+completely lifeless. In such a case, is it to be expected, when it could
+answer no purpose, that a woman should divulge the secret? Will not the
+best dispositions of mind urge her to preserve her character? She will
+therefore hide every appearance of what has happened as well as she can;
+though if the discovery be made, that conduct will be set down as a
+proof of her guilt.</p>
+
+<p>To be convinced, as I am, that such a case often happens, the reader
+would wish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> perhaps to have some examples and illustrations. I have
+generally observed, that in proportion as women more sincerely repent of
+such ruinous indiscretions, it is more difficult to prevail upon them to
+confess; and it is natural. Among other instances which might be
+mentioned, I opened the bodies of two unmarried women, both of them of
+irreproachable and unsuspected characters with all who knew them. Being
+consulted about their healths, both of them deceived me. One of them I
+suspected, and took pains to prevail with her to let me into the secret,
+if it was so; promising that I would do her the best offices in my power
+to help her out of the difficulties that might be hanging over her: but
+it was to no purpose. They both died of racking pains in their bowels,
+and of convulsions. Upon laying out of the dead bodies, in one of the
+cases a dead child, not come to its full time, was found laying between
+the unhappy mother's limbs; and in the other, a very large dead child
+was discovered, only half born. Such instances will sufficiently shew
+what a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> patient and fixed resolution the fear of shame will produce. A
+young unmarried woman, having concealed her pregnancy, was delivered
+during the night by herself. She was suspected; the room was searched,
+and the child was found in her box, wrapped up in wet clothes. She
+confessed that the child was hers, but denied the having murdered it, or
+having had an intention to do so. I opened the child with Mr. Pinkstan,
+of St. Alban's-street, and the lungs would not sink in water. Her
+account of herself was this: she was a faithful and favourite servant in
+a family, which she could not leave without a certainty of her situation
+being discovered; and such a discovery she imagined would be certain
+<i>ruin</i> to her for life. Under this anguish of mind she was irresolute,
+and wavering from day to day as to her plan of conduct. She made some
+clothes for the preservation of her child (a circumstance which was in
+her favour), and she hired a bed-room in an adjacent street, to be ready
+to receive a woman in labour at a moment's notice. Her scheme<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> was, when
+taken in labour, to have run out to that house, to be delivered by a
+midwife, who was to have been brought to her. She was to have gone home
+presently after, and to have made the best excuse she could for being
+out. She had heard of soldiers wives being delivered behind a hedge, and
+following the husband with the child in a short time after; and she
+hoped to be able to do as much herself. She was taken ill of a cholic,
+as she thought, in the night; put on some cloaths, both to keep her
+warm, and that she might be ready to run out, if her labour should come
+on. After waiting some time, she suddenly fell into such racking pain
+and terror, that she found she had neither strength nor courage to go
+down stairs, and through the street, in that condition, and in the
+night. In despair she threw herself upon the bed, and by the terror and
+anguish which she suffered, she lost her senses, and fainted. When she
+came to a little recollection, she found herself in a deluge of
+discharges, and a dead child lying by her limbs. She first of all
+attended to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> the child, and found that it was certainly dead. She lay
+upon the bed some time, considering what she should do; and by the time
+that there was a little day-light she got up, put all the wet cloaths
+and the child into her box, put the room and bed into order, and went
+into it. The woman of whom she hired the room and who had received a
+small sum of money as earnest, though she did not know who she was,
+swore to her person, and confirmed that part of her story. Mr. Pinkstan
+and I declared that we thought her tale very credible, and reconciled it
+to the circumstance of the swimming of the lungs, to the satisfaction of
+the jury, as we shall hereafter do to the reader. She was acquitted; and
+I had the satisfaction of believing her to be innocent of murder.</p>
+
+<p>In most of these cases we are apt to take up an early prejudice; and
+when we evidently see an intention of concealing the birth, conclude
+that there was an intention of destroying the child: and we account for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+every circumstance upon that supposition, saying, why else did she do so
+and so? and why else did she not do so and so? Such questions would be
+fair, and draw forth solid conclusions, were the woman supposed at the
+time to be under the direction of a calm and unembarrassed mind; but the
+moment we reflect that her mind was violently agitated with a conflict
+of passions and terror, an irrational conduct may appear very natural.</p>
+
+<p>Allow me to illustrate this truth by a case. A lady, who, thank God! has
+now been perfectly recovered many years, in the last months of her
+pregnancy, on a fine summer's evening, stept out, attended by her
+footman, to take a little air on a fine new pavement at her own door, in
+one of our most even, broad, and quiet streets. Having walked gently to
+the end of the street, where there was a very smooth crossing place; she
+thought she would go over, for a little variety, and return towards her
+house by walking along the other side of the street.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> Being heavy and
+not unmindful of her situation, she was stepping very slowly and
+cautiously, for fear of meeting with any accident. When she had advanced
+a few steps in crossing the street, a man came up on a smart trot,
+riding on a cart, which made a great rattling noise. He was at a
+sufficient distance to let her get quite over, or to return back with
+great deliberation; and she would have been perfectly safe, if she had
+stood still. But she was struck with a panic, lost her judgment and
+senses, and the horror of confusion between going on, or returning back,
+both of which she attempted, she crossed the horse at the precise point
+of time to be caught and entangled in the wheel, was thrown down, so
+torn and mashed in her flesh and bones, that she was taken up perfectly
+senseless, and carried home without the least prospect of a recovery.
+This lady was in the prime of life, living in affluence, beloved by her
+family, and respected by all the world. No imagination could suggest an
+idea of her intending to destroy herself; but if her situation in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> life
+at that time could have favoured such a supposition, we see in fact that
+the most unquestionable proof that she could have saved herself, either
+by going on, or by turning back, or by standing still, would have
+signified nothing towards proving that she had intended to put an end to
+her own life and to that of her child. One shudders to think that
+innocent women may have suffered an ignominous death, from such
+equivocal proofs and inconclusive reasoning.</p>
+
+<p>Most of these reflections would naturally occur to any unprejudiced
+person, and therefore upon a trial in this country, where we are so
+happy as to be under the protection of judges, who, by their education,
+studies, and habits, are above the reach of vulgar prejudices, and make
+it a rule for their conduct to suppose the accused party innocent till
+guilt be proved; with such judges, I say, there will be little danger of
+an innocent woman being condemned by false reasoning. But danger, in the
+cases of which we are now treating, may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> arise from the evidence and
+opinions given by physical people, who are called in to settle questions
+in science, which judges and jurymen are supposed not to know with
+accuracy. In general I am afraid too much has been left to our decision.
+Many of our profession are not so conversant with science as the world
+may think: and some of us are a little disposed to grasp at authority in
+a public examination, by giving a quick and decided opinion, where it
+should have been guarded with doubt; a character which no man should be
+ambitious to acquire, who in his profession is presumed every day to be
+deciding nice questions upon which the life of a patient may depend.</p>
+
+<p>To form a solid judgment about the birth of a new-born child, from the
+examination of its body, a professional man should have seen many
+new-born children, both still-born, and such as had outlived their birth
+a short time only; and he should have dissected, or attended the
+dissections of a number of bodies in the different stages of advancing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+putrefaction. I have often seen various common and natural appearances,
+both internal and external, mistaken for marks of a violent death. I
+remember a child which was found in a compressed state and globular
+form, and, like hardened dough, had retained all the concave impressions
+which had been made where any part of the skin and flesh had been
+pressed inwards. The jury had got an opinion that this moulding of the
+flesh could not have happened, except the infant had been put into that
+compressed state while it was alive. My anatomical employments enabled
+me to remove all their doubts about the fact. I offered to make the
+experiment before them, if they pleased; the child should be laid in
+warm water, till its flesh should become soft and pliable, as in a body
+just dead; then it should be compressed, and remain so till cold, and
+then they would see the same effect produced. They were satisfied,
+without making the trial.</p>
+
+<p>In many cases, to judge of the death of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> child, it may be material to
+attend accurately to the force of cohesion between the skin and the
+scarf-skin: and still more, to be well acquainted with the various
+appearances of the blood settling upon the external parts of the body,
+and transuding through all the internal parts in proportion to the time
+that it has been dead, and to the degree of heat in which it has been
+kept.</p>
+
+<p>When a child's head or face looks swoln, and is very red, or black, the
+vulgar, because hanged people look so, are apt to conclude that it must
+have been strangled. But those who are in the practice of midwifery know
+that nothing is more common in natural births, and that the swelling and
+deep colour go gradually off, if the child lives but a few days. This
+appearance is particularly observable in those cases where the naval
+string happens to gird the child's neck, and where its head happens to
+be born some time before its body.</p>
+
+<p>There are many other circumstances to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> be learned by an extensive
+experience in anatomy and midwifery, which, for fear of making this
+paper prolix, and thence less useful, I shall pass over, and come to the
+material question, <i>viz.</i> in suspicious cases, how far may we conclude
+that the child was born alive, and probably murdered by its mother, if
+the lungs swim in water?</p>
+
+<p>First, We may be assured that they contain air. Then we are to find out
+if that air be generated by putrefaction.</p>
+
+<p>Secondly, To determine this question, we are to examine the other
+internal parts, to see if they be emphysematous, or contain air; and we
+must examine the appearance of the air-bubbles in the lungs with
+particular attention. If the air which is in them be that of
+respiration, the air-bubbles will hardly be visible to the naked eye;
+but if the air-bubbles be large, or if they run in lines along the
+fissures between the component <i>lobuli</i> of the lungs, the air is
+certainly emphysematous, and not air which had been taken in by
+breathing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Thirdly, If the air in the lungs be found to be contained in the natural
+air-vesicles, and to have the appearance of air received into them by
+breathing, let us next find out if that air was not perhaps blown into
+the lungs after the death of the infant. It is so generally known 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.</p>
+
+<p>But the most dangerous and the most common error into which we are apt
+to fall, is this, <i>viz.</i> supposing the experiment to have been fairly
+made, and that we have guarded against every deception above mentioned,
+we may rashly conclude that the child was born alive, and therefore must
+probably have been murdered; especially in a case where the mother had
+taken pains, by secreting the child, to conceal the birth. As this last
+circumstance has generally great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> weight with a jury, I will only
+observe, that in fair equity, it cannot amount to more than a ground of
+suspicion, and therefore should not determine a question, otherwise
+doubtful between an acquittal, or an ignominous death.</p>
+
+<p>Here let us suppose a case which every body will allow to be very
+possible. An unmarried woman, becoming pregnant, is striving to conceal
+her shame, and laying the best scheme that she can devise, for saving
+her own life, and that of the child, and at the same time concealing the
+secret&mdash;but her plan is at once disconcerted, by her being unexpectedly
+and suddenly taken ill by herself, and delivered of a dead child. If the
+law punishes such a woman with death for not publishing her shame, does
+it not require more from human nature than weak human nature can bear?
+In a case so circumstanced, surely the only crime is the having been
+pregnant, which the law does not mean to punish with death; and the
+attempt to conceal it by fair means should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> not be punishable by death,
+as that attempt seems to arise from a principle of virtuous shame.</p>
+
+<p>Having shewn that the secreting of the child amounts at most to
+suspicion only, let us return to the most important question of all,
+<i>viz.</i> If in case of a concealed birth, it be clearly made out that the
+child had breathed, may we infer that it was murdered? Certainly not. It
+is certainly a circumstance like the last, which amounts only to
+suspicion. To prove this important truth to the satisfaction of the
+reader, it may be thought fit to assert the following facts, which I
+know from experience to be true, and which will be confirmed by every
+person who has been much employed in midwifery.</p>
+
+<p>1. If a child makes but one gasp, and instantly dies, the lungs will
+swim in water as readily as if it breathed longer, and had then been
+strangled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>2. A child will very commonly breathe as soon as its mouth is born, or
+protruded from the mother, and in that case may lose its life before its
+body be born; especially when there happens to be a considerable
+interval of time between what we may call the birth of the child's head,
+and the protrusion of its body. And if this may happen where the best
+assistance is at hand, it is still more likely to happen when there is
+none; that is, where the woman is delivered by herself.</p>
+
+<p>3. We frequently see children born, who from circumstances in their
+constitution, or in the nature of the labour, are but barely alive; and
+after breathing a minute or two, or an hour or two, die in spite of all
+our attention. And why may not that misfortune happen to a woman who is
+brought to bed by herself?</p>
+
+<p>4. Sometimes a child is born so weak, that if it be left to itself,
+after breathing or sobbing, it might probably die, yet may be roused to
+life by blowing into its lungs applying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>warmth and volatiles, rubbing
+it, &amp;c. &amp;c. But in the cases which we have been considering such means
+of saving life are not to be expected.</p>
+
+<p>5. When a woman is delivered by herself, a strong child may be born
+perfectly alive, and die in a very few minutes for want of breath;
+either by being upon its face in a pool made by the natural discharges,
+or upon wet cloaths; or by the wet things over it collapsing and
+excluding air, or drawn close to its mouth and nose by the suction of
+breathing. An unhappy woman delivered by herself, distracted in her
+mind, and exhausted in her body, will not have strength or recollection
+enough to fly instantly to the relief of the child. To illustrate this
+important truth, I shall give a short case.</p>
+
+<p>A lady, at a pretty distant quarter of the town, was taken with labour
+pains in the night-time. Her nurse, who slept in the house, and her
+servants, were called up, and I was sent for. Her labour proved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> hasty,
+and the child was born before my arrival. The child cried instantly, and
+she felt it moving strongly. Expecting every moment to see me come into
+her bedchamber, and being afraid that the child might be someway
+injured, if an unskilful person should take upon her the office of a
+midwife upon the occasion, she would not permit the nurse to touch the
+child, but kept herself in a very fatiguing posture, that the child
+might not be pressed upon, or smothered. I found it lying on its face,
+in a pool which was made by the discharges; and so completely dead, that
+all my endeavours to rouze it to life proved vain.</p>
+
+<p>These facts deserve a serious consideration from the public: and as I am
+under a conviction of mind, that, when generally known, they may be the
+means of saving some unhappy and innocent women, I regard the
+publication of them as an indispensable duty.</p>
+
+
+<p class='end'><i>Printed by G. Hayden, Brydges Street, Covent Garden.</i></p>
+
+
+<div class='transnote'><a name="transnotes" id="transnotes"></a><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_7">7</a>: Comma added after "abused".</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_9">9</a>: "premediated" amended to "premeditated"</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_13">13</a> "her's" amended to "hers"</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_14">14</a>: Comma after "her labour should come on" replaced
+with a full stop.  "Sudenly" amended to "suddenly"; "pain
+und terror" amended to "pain and terror".</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_17">17</a>: "senselesss" amended to "senseless"</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_18">18</a>: "ignominous" <i>sic</i></p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_24">24</a>: "ignominous" <i>sic</i></p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_26">26</a>: "brobably" amended to "probably"</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_28">28</a>: "indispensible" amended to "indispensable"</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of On the uncertainty of the signs of
+murder in the case of bastard children, by William Hunter
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of On the uncertainty of the signs of murder
+in the case of bastard children, by William Hunter
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: On the uncertainty of the signs of murder in the case of bastard children
+
+Author: William Hunter
+
+Release Date: October 11, 2008 [EBook #26870]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MURDER--BASTARD CHILDREN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  +------------------------------------------------------------+
+  | Transcriber's Note:                                        |
+  |                                                            |
+  | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in        |
+  | this text. For a complete list, please see the bottom of   |
+  | this document.                                             |
+  +------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+ON
+
+THE UNCERTAINTY
+
+OF
+
+THE SIGNS OF MURDER
+
+IN THE CASE OF
+
+BASTARD CHILDREN.
+
+BY THE LATE
+
+WILLIAM HUNTER, M.D. F.R.S.
+
+PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO THE QUEEN,
+
+AND MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT PARIS.
+
+London:
+PRINTED FOR J. CALLOW, CROWN COURT,
+PRINCES STREET, SOHO.
+
+1818.
+
+
+
+
+TO THE
+
+_Members of the Medical Society_.
+
+Read July 14, 1783.
+
+
+GENTLEMEN,
+
+In the course of the present year, one of our friends, distinguished by
+rank, fortune, and science, came to me upon the following occasion: In
+the country, he said, a young woman was taken up, and committed to jail
+to take her trial, for the supposed murder of her bastard child.
+According to the information which he had received, he was inclined to
+believe, from the circumstances, that she was innocent; and yet,
+understanding that the minds of the people in that part of the country
+were much exasperated against her, by the popular cry of _a cruel and
+unnatural_ murder, he feared, though innocent, she might fall a victim
+to prejudice and blind zeal. What he wished, he said, was to procure an
+unprejudiced enquiry. He had been informed that it was a subject which
+I had considered in my lectures, and made some remarks upon it, which
+were not perhaps sufficiently known, or enough attended to; and his
+visit to me was, to know what these remarks were. I told him what I had
+commonly said upon that question. He thought some of the observations so
+material, that he imagined they might sometimes be the means of saving
+an innocent life: and if they could upon the present occasion do so,
+which he thought very possible, he was sure I would willingly take the
+trouble of putting them upon paper. Next day I sent them to him in a
+letter, which I said he was at liberty to use as he might think proper.
+Some time afterwards he told me that he had great pleasure in thanking
+me for the letter, and telling me that the trial was over; that the
+unfortunate young woman was acquitted, and that he had reason to believe
+that my letter had been instrumental. This having been the subject of
+some conversation one evening at our medical meeting, you remember,
+Gentlemen, that you thought the subject interesting, and desired me to
+give you a paper upon it. I now obey your command.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In those unhappy cases of the death of bastard children, as in every
+action indeed that is either criminal or suspicious, reason and justice
+demand an enquiry into all the circumstances; and particularly to find
+out from what views and motives the act proceeded. For, as nothing can
+be so criminal but that circumstances might be added by the imagination
+to make it worse; so nothing can be conceived so wicked and offensive to
+the feelings of a good mind, as not to be somewhat softened or
+extenuated by circumstances and motives. In making up a just estimate of
+any human action, much will depend on the state of the agent's mind at
+the time; and therefore the laws of all countries make ample allowance
+for insanity. The insane are not held to be responsible for their
+actions.
+
+The world will give me credit, surely, for having had sufficient
+opportunities of knowing a good deal of female characters. I have seen
+the private as well as the public virtues, the private as well as the
+more public frailties of women in all ranks of life. I have been in
+their secrets, their counsellor and adviser in the moments of their
+greatest distress in body and mind. I have been a witness to their
+private conduct, when they were preparing themselves to meet danger, and
+have heard their last and most serious reflections, when they were
+certain they had but a few hours to live.
+
+That knowledge of women has enabled me to say, though no doubt there
+will be many exceptions to the general rule, that women who are pregnant
+without daring to avow their situation, are commonly objects of the
+greatest _compassion_; and generally are less criminal than the world
+imagine. In most of these cases the father of the child is really
+criminal, often cruelly so; the mother is weak, credulous, and deluded.
+Having obtained gratification, he thinks no more of his promises; she
+finds herself abused, disappointed of his affection, attention, and
+support, and left to struggle as she can, with sickness, pains, poverty,
+infamy; in short, with compleat _ruin_ for _life_!
+
+A worthless woman can never be reduced to that wretched situation,
+because she is insensible to infamy; but a woman who has that
+respectable virtue, a high sense of shame, and a strong desire of being
+respectable in her character, finding herself surrounded by such
+horrors, often has not strength of mind to meet them, and in despair
+puts an end to a life which is become insupportable. In that case, can
+any man, whose heart ever felt what pity is, be _angry_ with the memory
+of such an unfortunate woman for what she did? She felt life to be so
+dreadful and oppressive, that she _could not_ longer support it. With
+that view of her situation, every humane heart will forget the
+indiscretion or crime, and bleed for the sufferings which a woman must
+have gone through; who, but for having listened to the perfidious
+protestations and vows of our sex, might have been an affectionate and
+faithful wife, a virtuous and honoured mother, through a long and happy
+life; and probably that very reflection raised the last pang of despair,
+which hurried her into eternity. To think seriously of what a
+fellow-creature must feel, at such an awful moment, must melt to pity
+every man whose heart is not steeled with habits of cruelty; and every
+woman who does not affect to be more severely virtuous and chaste than
+perhaps any good woman ever was.
+
+It may be said that such a woman's guilt is heightened, when we consider
+that at the same time that she puts an end to her own life, she murders
+her child. God forbid that killing should always be murder! It is only
+murder when it is executed with some degree of cool judgment, and wicked
+intention. When committed under a phrenzy from despair, can it be more
+offensive in the sight of God, than under a phrenzy from a fever, or in
+lunacy? It should therefore, as it must raise our horror, raise our
+pity too.
+
+What is commonly understood to be the murder of a bastard child by the
+mother, if the real circumstances were fully known, would be allowed to
+be a very different crime in different circumstances.
+
+In some (it is to be hoped _rare_) instances, it is a crime of the very
+deepest dye: it is a premeditated contrivance for taking away the life
+of the most inoffensive and most helpless of all human creatures, in
+opposition not only to the most universal dictates of humanity, but of
+that powerful instinctive passion which, for a wise and important
+purpose, the Author of our nature has planted in the breast of every
+female creature, a wonderful eagerness about the preservation of its
+young. The most charitable construction that could be put upon so savage
+an action, and it is to be hoped the fairest often, would be to reckon
+it the work of phrenzy, or temporary insanity.
+
+But, as well as I can judge, the greatest number of what are called
+murders of bastard children, are of a very different kind. The mother
+has an unconquerable sense of shame, and pants after the preservation of
+character: so far she is virtuous and amiable. She has not the
+resolution to meet and avow infamy. In proportion as she loses the hope
+either of having been mistaken with regard to pregnancy, of being
+relieved from her terrors by a fortunate miscarriage, she every day sees
+her danger greater and nearer, and her mind more overwhelmed with terror
+and despair. In this situation many of these women, who are afterwards
+accused of murder, would destroy themselves, if they did not know that
+such an action would infallibly lead to an enquiry, which would proclaim
+what they are so anxious to conceal. In this perplexity, and meaning
+nothing less than the murder of the infant, they are meditating
+different schemes for concealing the birth of the child; but are
+wavering between difficulties on all sides, putting the evil hour off,
+and trusting too much to chance and fortune.--In that state often they
+are overtaken sooner than they expected; their schemes are frustrated;
+their distress of body and mind deprives them of all judgment, and
+rational conduct; they are delivered by themselves, wherever they
+happened to retire in their fright and confusion; sometimes dying in the
+agonies of childbirth, and sometimes, being quite exhausted, they faint
+away, and become insensible to what is passing; and when they recover a
+little strength, find that the child, whether still-born or not, is
+completely lifeless. In such a case, is it to be expected, when it could
+answer no purpose, that a woman should divulge the secret? Will not the
+best dispositions of mind urge her to preserve her character? She will
+therefore hide every appearance of what has happened as well as she can;
+though if the discovery be made, that conduct will be set down as a
+proof of her guilt.
+
+To be convinced, as I am, that such a case often happens, the reader
+would wish perhaps to have some examples and illustrations. I have
+generally observed, that in proportion as women more sincerely repent of
+such ruinous indiscretions, it is more difficult to prevail upon them to
+confess; and it is natural. Among other instances which might be
+mentioned, I opened the bodies of two unmarried women, both of them of
+irreproachable and unsuspected characters with all who knew them. Being
+consulted about their healths, both of them deceived me. One of them I
+suspected, and took pains to prevail with her to let me into the secret,
+if it was so; promising that I would do her the best offices in my power
+to help her out of the difficulties that might be hanging over her: but
+it was to no purpose. They both died of racking pains in their bowels,
+and of convulsions. Upon laying out of the dead bodies, in one of the
+cases a dead child, not come to its full time, was found laying between
+the unhappy mother's limbs; and in the other, a very large dead child
+was discovered, only half born. Such instances will sufficiently shew
+what a patient and fixed resolution the fear of shame will produce. A
+young unmarried woman, having concealed her pregnancy, was delivered
+during the night by herself. She was suspected; the room was searched,
+and the child was found in her box, wrapped up in wet clothes. She
+confessed that the child was hers, but denied the having murdered it, or
+having had an intention to do so. I opened the child with Mr. Pinkstan,
+of St. Alban's-street, and the lungs would not sink in water. Her
+account of herself was this: she was a faithful and favourite servant in
+a family, which she could not leave without a certainty of her situation
+being discovered; and such a discovery she imagined would be certain
+_ruin_ to her for life. Under this anguish of mind she was irresolute,
+and wavering from day to day as to her plan of conduct. She made some
+clothes for the preservation of her child (a circumstance which was in
+her favour), and she hired a bed-room in an adjacent street, to be ready
+to receive a woman in labour at a moment's notice. Her scheme was, when
+taken in labour, to have run out to that house, to be delivered by a
+midwife, who was to have been brought to her. She was to have gone home
+presently after, and to have made the best excuse she could for being
+out. She had heard of soldiers wives being delivered behind a hedge, and
+following the husband with the child in a short time after; and she
+hoped to be able to do as much herself. She was taken ill of a cholic,
+as she thought, in the night; put on some cloaths, both to keep her
+warm, and that she might be ready to run out, if her labour should come
+on. After waiting some time, she suddenly fell into such racking pain
+and terror, that she found she had neither strength nor courage to go
+down stairs, and through the street, in that condition, and in the
+night. In despair she threw herself upon the bed, and by the terror and
+anguish which she suffered, she lost her senses, and fainted. When she
+came to a little recollection, she found herself in a deluge of
+discharges, and a dead child lying by her limbs. She first of all
+attended to the child, and found that it was certainly dead. She lay
+upon the bed some time, considering what she should do; and by the time
+that there was a little day-light she got up, put all the wet cloaths
+and the child into her box, put the room and bed into order, and went
+into it. The woman of whom she hired the room and who had received a
+small sum of money as earnest, though she did not know who she was,
+swore to her person, and confirmed that part of her story. Mr. Pinkstan
+and I declared that we thought her tale very credible, and reconciled it
+to the circumstance of the swimming of the lungs, to the satisfaction of
+the jury, as we shall hereafter do to the reader. She was acquitted; and
+I had the satisfaction of believing her to be innocent of murder.
+
+In most of these cases we are apt to take up an early prejudice; and
+when we evidently see an intention of concealing the birth, conclude
+that there was an intention of destroying the child: and we account for
+every circumstance upon that supposition, saying, why else did she do so
+and so? and why else did she not do so and so? Such questions would be
+fair, and draw forth solid conclusions, were the woman supposed at the
+time to be under the direction of a calm and unembarrassed mind; but the
+moment we reflect that her mind was violently agitated with a conflict
+of passions and terror, an irrational conduct may appear very natural.
+
+Allow me to illustrate this truth by a case. A lady, who, thank God! has
+now been perfectly recovered many years, in the last months of her
+pregnancy, on a fine summer's evening, stept out, attended by her
+footman, to take a little air on a fine new pavement at her own door, in
+one of our most even, broad, and quiet streets. Having walked gently to
+the end of the street, where there was a very smooth crossing place; she
+thought she would go over, for a little variety, and return towards her
+house by walking along the other side of the street. Being heavy and
+not unmindful of her situation, she was stepping very slowly and
+cautiously, for fear of meeting with any accident. When she had advanced
+a few steps in crossing the street, a man came up on a smart trot,
+riding on a cart, which made a great rattling noise. He was at a
+sufficient distance to let her get quite over, or to return back with
+great deliberation; and she would have been perfectly safe, if she had
+stood still. But she was struck with a panic, lost her judgment and
+senses, and the horror of confusion between going on, or returning back,
+both of which she attempted, she crossed the horse at the precise point
+of time to be caught and entangled in the wheel, was thrown down, so
+torn and mashed in her flesh and bones, that she was taken up perfectly
+senseless, and carried home without the least prospect of a recovery.
+This lady was in the prime of life, living in affluence, beloved by her
+family, and respected by all the world. No imagination could suggest an
+idea of her intending to destroy herself; but if her situation in life
+at that time could have favoured such a supposition, we see in fact that
+the most unquestionable proof that she could have saved herself, either
+by going on, or by turning back, or by standing still, would have
+signified nothing towards proving that she had intended to put an end to
+her own life and to that of her child. One shudders to think that
+innocent women may have suffered an ignominous death, from such
+equivocal proofs and inconclusive reasoning.
+
+Most of these reflections would naturally occur to any unprejudiced
+person, and therefore upon a trial in this country, where we are so
+happy as to be under the protection of judges, who, by their education,
+studies, and habits, are above the reach of vulgar prejudices, and make
+it a rule for their conduct to suppose the accused party innocent till
+guilt be proved; with such judges, I say, there will be little danger of
+an innocent woman being condemned by false reasoning. But danger, in the
+cases of which we are now treating, may arise from the evidence and
+opinions given by physical people, who are called in to settle questions
+in science, which judges and jurymen are supposed not to know with
+accuracy. In general I am afraid too much has been left to our decision.
+Many of our profession are not so conversant with science as the world
+may think: and some of us are a little disposed to grasp at authority in
+a public examination, by giving a quick and decided opinion, where it
+should have been guarded with doubt; a character which no man should be
+ambitious to acquire, who in his profession is presumed every day to be
+deciding nice questions upon which the life of a patient may depend.
+
+To form a solid judgment about the birth of a new-born child, from the
+examination of its body, a professional man should have seen many
+new-born children, both still-born, and such as had outlived their birth
+a short time only; and he should have dissected, or attended the
+dissections of a number of bodies in the different stages of advancing
+putrefaction. I have often seen various common and natural appearances,
+both internal and external, mistaken for marks of a violent death. I
+remember a child which was found in a compressed state and globular
+form, and, like hardened dough, had retained all the concave impressions
+which had been made where any part of the skin and flesh had been
+pressed inwards. The jury had got an opinion that this moulding of the
+flesh could not have happened, except the infant had been put into that
+compressed state while it was alive. My anatomical employments enabled
+me to remove all their doubts about the fact. I offered to make the
+experiment before them, if they pleased; the child should be laid in
+warm water, till its flesh should become soft and pliable, as in a body
+just dead; then it should be compressed, and remain so till cold, and
+then they would see the same effect produced. They were satisfied,
+without making the trial.
+
+In many cases, to judge of the death of a child, it may be material to
+attend accurately to the force of cohesion between the skin and the
+scarf-skin: and still more, to be well acquainted with the various
+appearances of the blood settling upon the external parts of the body,
+and transuding through all the internal parts in proportion to the time
+that it has been dead, and to the degree of heat in which it has been
+kept.
+
+When a child's head or face looks swoln, and is very red, or black, the
+vulgar, because hanged people look so, are apt to conclude that it must
+have been strangled. But those who are in the practice of midwifery know
+that nothing is more common in natural births, and that the swelling and
+deep colour go gradually off, if the child lives but a few days. This
+appearance is particularly observable in those cases where the naval
+string happens to gird the child's neck, and where its head happens to
+be born some time before its body.
+
+There are many other circumstances to be learned by an extensive
+experience in anatomy and midwifery, which, for fear of making this
+paper prolix, and thence less useful, I shall pass over, and come to the
+material question, _viz._ in suspicious cases, how far may we conclude
+that the child was born alive, and probably murdered by its mother, if
+the lungs swim in water?
+
+First, We may be assured that they contain air. Then we are to find out
+if that air be generated by putrefaction.
+
+Secondly, To determine this question, we are to examine the other
+internal parts, to see if they be emphysematous, or contain air; and we
+must examine the appearance of the air-bubbles in the lungs with
+particular attention. If the air which is in them be that of
+respiration, the air-bubbles will hardly be visible to the naked eye;
+but if the air-bubbles be large, or if they run in lines along the
+fissures between the component _lobuli_ of the lungs, the air is
+certainly emphysematous, and not air which had been taken in by
+breathing.
+
+Thirdly, If the air in the lungs be found to be contained in the natural
+air-vesicles, and to have the appearance of air received into them by
+breathing, let us next find out if that air was not perhaps blown into
+the lungs after the death of the infant. It is so generally known 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.
+
+But the most dangerous and the most common error into which we are apt
+to fall, is this, _viz._ supposing the experiment to have been fairly
+made, and that we have guarded against every deception above mentioned,
+we may rashly conclude that the child was born alive, and therefore must
+probably have been murdered; especially in a case where the mother had
+taken pains, by secreting the child, to conceal the birth. As this last
+circumstance has generally great weight with a jury, I will only
+observe, that in fair equity, it cannot amount to more than a ground of
+suspicion, and therefore should not determine a question, otherwise
+doubtful between an acquittal, or an ignominous death.
+
+Here let us suppose a case which every body will allow to be very
+possible. An unmarried woman, becoming pregnant, is striving to conceal
+her shame, and laying the best scheme that she can devise, for saving
+her own life, and that of the child, and at the same time concealing the
+secret--but her plan is at once disconcerted, by her being unexpectedly
+and suddenly taken ill by herself, and delivered of a dead child. If the
+law punishes such a woman with death for not publishing her shame, does
+it not require more from human nature than weak human nature can bear?
+In a case so circumstanced, surely the only crime is the having been
+pregnant, which the law does not mean to punish with death; and the
+attempt to conceal it by fair means should not be punishable by death,
+as that attempt seems to arise from a principle of virtuous shame.
+
+Having shewn that the secreting of the child amounts at most to
+suspicion only, let us return to the most important question of all,
+_viz._ If in case of a concealed birth, it be clearly made out that the
+child had breathed, may we infer that it was murdered? Certainly not. It
+is certainly a circumstance like the last, which amounts only to
+suspicion. To prove this important truth to the satisfaction of the
+reader, it may be thought fit to assert the following facts, which I
+know from experience to be true, and which will be confirmed by every
+person who has been much employed in midwifery.
+
+1. If a child makes but one gasp, and instantly dies, the lungs will
+swim in water as readily as if it breathed longer, and had then been
+strangled.
+
+2. A child will very commonly breathe as soon as its mouth is born, or
+protruded from the mother, and in that case may lose its life before its
+body be born; especially when there happens to be a considerable
+interval of time between what we may call the birth of the child's head,
+and the protrusion of its body. And if this may happen where the best
+assistance is at hand, it is still more likely to happen when there is
+none; that is, where the woman is delivered by herself.
+
+3. We frequently see children born, who from circumstances in their
+constitution, or in the nature of the labour, are but barely alive; and
+after breathing a minute or two, or an hour or two, die in spite of all
+our attention. And why may not that misfortune happen to a woman who is
+brought to bed by herself?
+
+4. Sometimes a child is born so weak, that if it be left to itself,
+after breathing or sobbing, it might probably die, yet may be roused to
+life by blowing into its lungs applying warmth and volatiles, rubbing
+it, &c. &c. But in the cases which we have been considering such means
+of saving life are not to be expected.
+
+5. When a woman is delivered by herself, a strong child may be born
+perfectly alive, and die in a very few minutes for want of breath;
+either by being upon its face in a pool made by the natural discharges,
+or upon wet cloaths; or by the wet things over it collapsing and
+excluding air, or drawn close to its mouth and nose by the suction of
+breathing. An unhappy woman delivered by herself, distracted in her
+mind, and exhausted in her body, will not have strength or recollection
+enough to fly instantly to the relief of the child. To illustrate this
+important truth, I shall give a short case.
+
+A lady, at a pretty distant quarter of the town, was taken with labour
+pains in the night-time. Her nurse, who slept in the house, and her
+servants, were called up, and I was sent for. Her labour proved hasty,
+and the child was born before my arrival. The child cried instantly, and
+she felt it moving strongly. Expecting every moment to see me come into
+her bedchamber, and being afraid that the child might be someway
+injured, if an unskilful person should take upon her the office of a
+midwife upon the occasion, she would not permit the nurse to touch the
+child, but kept herself in a very fatiguing posture, that the child
+might not be pressed upon, or smothered. I found it lying on its face,
+in a pool which was made by the discharges; and so completely dead, that
+all my endeavours to rouze it to life proved vain.
+
+These facts deserve a serious consideration from the public: and as I am
+under a conviction of mind, that, when generally known, they may be the
+means of saving some unhappy and innocent women, I regard the
+publication of them as an indispensable duty.
+
+
+_Printed by G. Hayden, Brydges Street, Covent Garden._
+
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+  | Transcriber's Notes:                                         |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 7: Comma added after "abused".                          |
+  | Page 9: "premediated" amended to "premeditated"              |
+  | Page 13 "her's" amended to "hers"                            |
+  | Page 14: Comma after "her labour should come on" replaced    |
+  | with a full stop.  "Sudenly" amended to "suddenly"; "pain    |
+  | und terror" amended to "pain and terror".                    |
+  | Page 17: "senselesss" amended to "senseless"                 |
+  | Page 18: "ignominous" _sic_                                  |
+  | Page 24: "ignominous" _sic_                                  |
+  | Page 26: "brobably" amended to "probably"                    |
+  | Page 28: "indispensible" amended to "indispensable"          |
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of On the uncertainty of the signs of
+murder in the case of bastard children, by William Hunter
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:33:06 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:33:06 -0700
commit	60196d5d1880ec33b8792f2d31619c6e3cdb67f9 (patch)
tree	3af89f6f561b7e3537a16e30601f296af9703d14