An essay on medical jurisprudence / by James Webster.

  • Webster, James, 1803-1854.
Date:
1824
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on medical jurisprudence / by James Webster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    § 2. FETICIDE. By this term we understand the destruction of the embryo, by producing abortion during the early months of pregnancy. Women are very subject to miscarriage, and in many instances the greatest care and attention are required, in order to prevent an occurrence, which not unfrequentlv jeopardizes the life of the mother, and renders her exceedingly liable to it in succeeding pregnancies. It is, however, to the subject of criminal abortion that our remarks will chiefly refer. The circumstances which have urged females to the commission of such a crime, are various, but in by far the greatest majority of cases, it has been for the purpose of avoiding the disgraceful consequences of illicit intercourse, and consequently, it is generally in these cases, that the physi- cian is called upon to give his testimony. His first object must be to ascertain if the woman has had an abortion, and, except it be in the early months, (when it will be difficult and perhaps impossible to ascertain) nearly the same appearances will be pre- sented as at the termination of pregnancy : of course, they will not be so distinct as those caused by the delivery of a mature child. Should several days have elapsed, the probability is that the parts will be so restored to their natural appearance, that our examination will lead us to no satisfactory conclusion. It may be, as is not unfrequently the case where violent mea- sures have been resorted to, that the death of the woman is the consequence, and as there may be persons charged with having aided in procuring it by improper means, an examination after death must decide. If the pregnancy be several months ad- vanced, and our examination be made immediately after the death of the woman, in connexion with the other circumstances of the case, the appearances presented on dissection might be important. The uterus is enlarged and thickened, its capacity greatly increased, its blood-veSsels are enlarged; the part from whence the placenta was detached is rough; the cervix uteri is relaxed ; the vagina is dilated ; the ligamenta rotunda are relax- ed ; the ligamenta lata are nearly effaced,* and if the examina- tion is made immediately after death it is probable that the venous sinuses may still remain considerably enlarged.! Some of these appearances may be produced by various other causes; * Dr. J. B. Beck's Dissertation on Infanticide, p. 37 ; and Male's Forensic Medicine, p. 162. ■\ Hutchinson on Feticide, London Medical and PhysicalJournal, No. 251, p. 13.