206 ORGANISED FLUIDS. 



An examination of this kind was assigned by the magis- 

 trates in France some years ago to two physicians, on the 

 occasion of an assassination in an hotel. A traveller 

 having been killed by a young man whom he had received 

 into his chamber during the night, justice was interested to 

 know whether semen would be found in the rectum or not. * 



It is known that in death by hanging, an emission of the 

 semen usually occurs, and this, in the absence of other 

 proofs, has been adduced as a sign of death by suspension. 

 It would appear, however, that such an indication is not 

 without its sources of fallacy. 



It is thus apparent that in the cases here referred to, the 

 microscope is capable of affording positive evidence of a most 

 important and conclusive kind ; on the other hand, the nega- 

 tive testimony deducible from its application in these cases 

 is not without its value. 



* See Annales oT Hygiene Publique et de Medecine Legale, Paris, 1839, 

 L xxi. pp. 168. and 466. 



