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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26870-h.zip b/26870-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec42cc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/26870-h.zip diff --git a/26870-h/26870-h.htm b/26870-h/26870-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4608958 --- /dev/null +++ b/26870-h/26870-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,957 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of On the Uncertainty of the Signs of Murder in the Case of Bastard Children, by William Hunter. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ + +<!-- + + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .transnote {margin: 2em 5% 1em 5%; font-size: 90%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em; + border: solid 1px silver; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + .frontend {text-align: center; font-size: 90%} + .indent {text-indent: 1.5em;} + .end {text-align: center; font-size: 85%;} + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: 70%; + text-align: right;} + + // --> + + /* XML end ]]>*/ + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<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.—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—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, &c. &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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MURDER--BASTARD CHILDREN *** + +***** This file should be named 26870-h.htm or 26870-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/8/7/26870/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MURDER--BASTARD CHILDREN *** + +***** This file should be named 26870.txt or 26870.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/8/7/26870/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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