DEATH BY LIGHTNING.

Death is not always immediate. Sometimes the clothes have been torn off the body with scarcely any personal injury. Steel articles worn about the person may become magnetic. Wounds on the body sometimes appear in the form of punctured wounds, at others as lacerated wounds. Not infrequently, those killed by lightning are found in the same position that they occupied during life. The question may be raised as to whether the deceased died by lightning or by violence. The presence of a storm at the time when the death is stated to have occurred, and other attendant circumstances, will in most cases point to the true cause of death.

SUICIDE.

In medico-legal inquiries, it not infrequently becomes a question of the greatest importance to decide whether the death of a person found under peculiar circumstances was brought about by accident, suicide, or by the hand of a third party. Unfortunately, there are no infallible rules to be laid down on this subject; and Casper sagaciously remarks, that the exercise of a sound judgment, which is of far more value in medico-legal matters than all the subtleties of the ancient medicina forensis,' must be our guide. But in order to attract the attention to some important subjects in the inquiry, a few points worthy of notice will be placed in a tabular form :

1. Has the deceased made any oral statement, or left any written declaration of his intention to commit suicide?

2. Has there been any marked peculiarity in the conduct and manner of the deceased to point to any mental derangement?

3. Conditions under which the dead body was found. a. If in a room, was the door locked on the inside?

b.

Position of the hand with regard to the weapon alleged to have been used.

c. If weapon is found firmly grasped in hand, probability is in favour of suicide, as weapons placed in the hand after death to simulate suicide can be removed with ease, even when the rigor mortis is present. 4. Nature and character of the wounds found on the body.

Ön suicides incised and punctured wounds are generally found, seldom lacerated wounds, unless a jump from a height has been the means adopted to cause death.

5. Evidence to be derived from a medico-legal examination of the body.

a. Do the wounds correspond with the weapon alleged to have been used?

b. Examination of stomach for poison.

Why? Persons may have been poisoned first, and then cut about the body after death.

c. Direction and course of wound.

d. Were the wounds inflicted during life?

Too much care cannot be taken in answering this question, as its solution is involved in considerable difficulty, and the medical jurist must not be discouraged if in many cases he is unable to give a decided opinion one way or the other. If death has followed instantaneously on the receipt of a wound, as in the case of injury to a large artery, none of the signs of vital reaction will be present, and the wound cannot be distinguished from another made by its side after death. Only in those cases where some time has elapsed between the receipt of the injury and death, will any of the signs of vital reaction be

present; and even these may be more or less modified, so as to render the diagnosis, if not impossible, at least doubtful.

With regard to the legal relations of suicide, an attempt to commit suicide is not, within the meaning of sec. 15 of 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, an attempt to commit murder, but it still remains a common law misdemeanour, triable at quarter sessions (R. v. Burgess). If two persons mutually agree to commit suicide by poison or other means, and one survives, the survivor is guilty of murder (R. v. May, 1872). Also, if any one, in attempting to commit suicide, cause the death of another, he himself recovering, he shall be guilty of manslaughter (R. v. Gathercole). In most of the English insurance offices suicide is held to invalidate a policy, but in most cases where insanity is proved the amount of the policy is paid, as in the case of Schwabe v. Clift. Suicides are deprived of the rites of Christian burial (4 Geo. IV. c. 52, s. 1).

OFFENCES AGAINST CHASTITY.

RAPE.

Rape is defined as 'the carnal knowledge of a woman against her will.' To constitute the offence of rape, there must be penetration, but proof of the actual emission of seed is not necessary. The slightest penetration of the male organ within the vulva will be sufficient, and the hymen need not be ruptured (R. v. Russen). If, however, the woman yields through fear or duresse, it is still rape; but of course much will depend upon the previous character of the woman, and her conduct subsequent to the alleged outrage. A rape may be committed on a common strumpet.

Carnal knowledge of a woman by fraud, which induces her to suppose it is her husband, does not amount to a rape (R. v. Jackson, R. and R. 487), but the party may be indicted for an assault.

Carnally abusing children under ten years of age constitutes a felony; above ten and under twelve, a misdemeanour. Under the age of ten years the evidence is the same as in rape, with the exception, however, that it is immaterial whether the act was done with or without the consent of the female. Between the ages of ten and twelve it will be no defence to say that the girl consented. Above twelve years of age, consent does away with any legal offence. A boy under the age of fourteen is presumed by law incapable of committing a rape.

The crime of rape appears to be most frequently perpetrated against children. The following table from Casper gives the result of his examination of one hundred and thirty-six cases of rape :—

In the examination of a case of alleged rape, several points of interest will have to be considered, which, for the sake of convenience, will be placed in a tabular form.

1. An Examination of the Parts of Generation.

a. Inflammatory redness and abrasion of the parts.

b. A muco-purulent secretion.

c. Hæmorrhage or dried blood about the genital organs.

d. Destruction of the hymen.
e. Dilatation of the vagina.
f. General signs of rape.

2. An Examination of the Body and Limbs of the Female.

3. Examination of the Linen worn by the Female for— a. Marks of semen.

b. Marks of blood.

c. Marks of other discharges, gonorrhoea, etc.

1. An Examination of the Parts of Generation. a. More or less inflammatory redness and abrasion of the mucous membrane lining the parts, which is never absent in children, and may last for some weeks. 'In adults, virgins up to the time of the commission of the crime, this appearance is either not found at all, or only faint traces of it. In those previously deflowered it is never observed.'

Caution. Inflammatory irritation due to catarrh may occur, and be apt to mislead.

b. A muco-purulent secretion, from the mucous membrane lining the vagina, of a greenish-yellow colour, more or less viscid, and soiling the linen of the girl. This secretion in colour and consistence cannot be distinguished from that the result of gonorrhoea.

Caution.-Unhealthy children, and those recovering from some debilitating diseases,-fever, etc.,-may suffer from purulent discharges from the vagina. Small ulcers may also be present. Infantile leucorrhoea is not uncommon.

c. Hæmorrhage or Dried Blood about the Genital Organs.

1. Frequently absent in young children.

2. Always found in adults, virgins at the time the rape was committed, when the vessels of the hymen are ruptured.