CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 35 



in the alarm of the moment, to conceal her death and get rid of her 

 remains, in order to which he had divided them in the manner stated. 

 This ingenious fabrication v/as clearly refuted by the professional 

 witnesses, who proved that a wound in the eye, which had occasioned 

 the escape of the humours, and around which there was an ecchymo- 

 sis, must have been inflicted during life, and deprived the deceased of 

 sense for a time, and that it could not have been occasioned by a 

 blow at the back of the head ; also that, from the retracted state of 

 the muscles of the neck, and the emptied condition of the blood-ves- 

 sels, the throat must have been cut either before or immediately after 

 death. 



The length to which this paper has extended renders it necessary 

 to postpone the expression of some interesting reflections which spring 

 from the subject ; but we may remark in general, that the rule which 

 has been dilated upon is one of evident wisdom and utility, and that 

 the rigorous application of it is essential to well-founded confidence 

 in the truth and correctness of judicial determinations grounded upon 

 circumstantial evidence. 



SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



Gould's " Birds of Europe." 



Parts IX. and X. 



Part IX. — The first plate contains a very pretty and spirited 

 representation of the Common Scops, Scops Aldrovandi, — Scops 

 petit-due, Fr., — Kleine Ohreule, G* This species has a very wide 

 geographic range, being found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mr. 

 Gould has received specimens from China. It is common in the 

 south of Europe, but very rare in the north and in England. " In 



• As regards the French, German, and Italian names, we prefer taking 

 them from other authors, as we find them, to altering them according to our 

 own views. They require, however, much revision : we believe such a re- 

 form lias been effected in Mr. C. T. Wood's Ondlholot/kal Guide ; but wc 

 have not at present a copy of that work at hand Eds. 



