OIRCUMSTANTIAIi EVIDENCE. 31 



poison, for the performance of the acts of volition implied in 

 the supposition of suicide, was given rather too unreservedly ; and he 

 mentions a lately published case of suicide, in which an apothecary's 

 assistant was found dead in bed, with an empty two-ounce phial on 

 each side of the bed, the mattress, which is used in Germany instead 

 of blankets, pulled up as high as the breast, the right arm extended 

 straight down beneath the mattress, and the left arm bent at the 

 elbow.* 



On the trial of Charles Angus, at Lancaster, in 1808, for the mur- 

 der of Miss Burns, there was abundant evidence of suspicious con- 

 duct to fix the prisoner as the criminal, had there been clear proof of 

 the COITUS delicti. The cause of death was an aperture in the sto- 

 mach, alleged to have been caused by the action of poison ; but it 

 was considered possible that it might have been a case of spontaneous 

 perforation after death, from natural causes, and there was no evidence 

 that poison had been administered. One of the medical witnesses 

 caused great offence by his testimony in favour of the accused, which 

 gave rise to much angry controversy ; but the appearances have since 

 been declared, by the high authority of Professor Christison, to be 

 incompatible with the effects of a strong corrosive poison, unless 

 tieath had occurred very soon after it was swallowed, which was out 

 of the question.f 



It of necessity happens that circumstances of suspicion in the con- 

 duct of the accused are frequently blended with the scientific testi- 

 inony ; but it is apprehended that conviction cannot be considered 

 satisfactory, unless the crime be established by adequate evidence, in- 

 dependently of the moral circumstances. The peculiar office of evi- 

 dence of moral circumstances appears to be, the discrimination of the 

 guilty individual, rather than to supply deficiency of substantive and 

 independent evidence as to the existence of the corpus delicti. Dr. 

 Christison urges that " there may be sufficient evidence in the symp- 

 toms and morbid appearances without any chemical facts to render 

 poisoning so highly probable, that, in conjunction with strong moral 

 circumstances, no sensible man can entertain any doubt on the sub- 

 ject." Mr. Justice Abbot, in his charge to the jury upon Donnall's 

 case, in reference to this question, said, " if the evidence as to the 

 opinions of these learned persons who have been examined on both 



• Rex t). Freeman — Christison, On Poisons, p. 705; London Medical and 

 Snigii al Journal, vol. viii., pp. 527, 750 ; and Beck's Medical Jurisprudincc, 

 p. 888. 



f Christison, On Poisons, p. 133 ; and the printed report of the trial. 



