22 ESSAY ON THE KATIONALE OP 



accordance with tlie spirit of the times, has repealed the cruel rule 

 of presumption created in a barbarous age,* and made the endea- 

 vouring to conceal the birth of a child, by secret burying or other- 

 wise disposing of the body, a substantive offence, instead of treating 

 it as a conclusive presumption of murder.t 



In charges of poisoning, the object is to determine whether poison 

 has been administered, and whether it has been the cause of death ; 

 since it does not necessarily follow, even where poison has been ad- 

 ministered, that death has not resulted from natural causes.^ 



The principal grounds upon which the proof of poisoning gene- 

 rally rests, are 1. the symptoms during life ; 2. the post mortem ap- 

 pearances ; 3. chemical tests ; 4. the results of experiments upon 

 animals ; and 5. moral circumstances. 



The first and second of these heads of evidence involve questions 

 of a medical nature merely : but the diversity of opinion which pre- 

 vails amongst medical jurists respecting the sufficiency of such evi- 

 dence alone, and the consideration that the facts must ultimately be 

 submitted to a popular tribunal, acting upon the principles of com- 

 mon observation and experience, render it expedient to notice the 

 general result of those opinions as applicable to this numerous class 

 of cases of circumstantial evidence. 



There appears to be no difference of opinion, that the symptoms 

 and post mortem appearances which are usually relied upon as 

 indications of poisoning are such as may in general be produced by 

 other causes. Dr. Christison, while he admits, with every esteemed 

 author on medical jurisprudence, that the symptoms, however exqui- 

 sitely developed, can never justify an opinion in favour of more than 

 high probability,§ maintains that the doctrine applies only to the 

 general characteristics of the symptoms, and that in some cases of 

 ppriiciilar poisons, as, for instance, sulphuric, nitric, and oxalic acids, 

 arsenic, the compounds of mercury, || and some others, the symptoms 

 only may occasionally afford decisive evidence of poisoning.** 



• Stat. 21, Jac. I., c. 27, ante, p. 32. 



t Stat. 9, G. IV., 0.3.., s. 14. 



+ Mary Ann Alcorn's case, Syme's Justiciar;/ Reports, vol. i., p. 221 ; and 

 Charles Munn's case, Inverness Spring Circuit, 1824. Christison, On Poi- 

 sons, pp. 50, 82. 



§ Christison, On Poisons, p. 39, citing Orfila, Hencke, and Beck ; and see, 

 to the same effect. Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence, 

 by Dr. Traill, p. 42. 



H Christison, On Poisons, pp. 165, 207, 308, 402. 



*• See the case of Kichard Overfield, Shrewsbury Assizes, IMarch 19, 1824, 



