690 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



CHmESE COKONEPvS' IN"QUESTS. 



THE method of conducting coroners' inquests in China seems 

 admirably adapted to facilitate the escape of criminals. The 

 feeling of the country is abhorrent to dissections, and magistrates, con- 

 sequently, find the prosecution of their inquiries attended with great 

 embarrassments, unless the case is of the plainest character. The law- 

 makers, however, have always, from the earliest times, recognized the 

 importance of human life by directing that an inquest be made in 

 every case of sudden death. A number of books have been prepared, 

 containing the instructions needed by the magistrate in the perform- 

 ance of this part of his duties. The best known of these collections 

 was published in the thirteenth century, by the direction of the officers 

 of the Bureau of Penalties, and is a kind of official manual for the in- 

 quiring magistrate. It is called the " Se Yen Luh," or treatise on the 

 redress of wrongs. In it is expounded the whole system of legal medicine 

 in use among the Chinese. A few extracts from it will be of interest. 



The first advice given in the " Se Yen Luh " is that the magistrate 

 must be sure he has a dead body before he issues bis order for the 

 inquest. The reason given to make this advice seem pertinent is 

 hardly less curious than the advice itself. "It sometimes happens," 

 says the manual, " that unscrupulous sharpers demand an inquest on an 

 imaginary deceased for the sole purpose of extorting money from the 

 person they will denounce as the author of the death ; and the latter, 

 in fear of falling into the claws of the law, readily pays all that is 

 required of him, in order to arrest the process." The officer then, 

 having assured himself that there is a real case, goes to the spot, tak- 

 ing with him a good provision of onions, red pepper, white plums, and 

 vinegar, articles that he will almost certainly have use for. If death 

 has taken place recent!}^, the first step is to examine the top of the 

 head, behind the ears, the throat, and other vital parts, for marks of a 

 sharp instrument. If this examination does not reveal the cause of 

 death, the friends and neighbors of the deceased are questioned. An 

 attentive examination is then made of the wounds. 



" A sure means of fixing the date of a wound may be found by 

 noticing the color of the bone that has been attacked. If the wound 

 is recent and slight, the bone will be red ; if old and severe, the color 

 will be dark blue. It is, however, necessary to be assured that the 

 color is real, and has not been applied so as to square with the deposi- 

 tion of the relatives. A red color may be given to a bone by staining 

 it with a composition of saffron, pine-wood, black plums, alum, and 

 boiling vinegar ; and green alum or gall-nuts mixed with vinegar will 

 give a dark -blue or black tint ; but the counterfeit is generally be- 

 trayed by the absence of luster. A false wound may also be made on 

 a body with bamboo-coals, but such wounds ai*e always of little depth 



