Examination of the Medicinal Stocks of Bunneeas, Recognition of Vegetable Poisons, ... ... ... ... Torture of Children by their Parents, School Masters, &c., ... ERRATA ET CORRIGENDA. Page 14.-Line 12 from foot, for "of sending," read “for sending." 23.-First line of foot note, for "regard," read "reject. 44.-First line of foot note, for "name a declaration," read 280.-Note, 3rd line from foot, for " prescribed instrument," read 295.-Line 11 from foot, for "save life in an instant," read 322.-Note, line 9 from foot, for "hypertrophid," read “hyper- 424.-Line 2, omit the word "she." 511.-Line 7 from foot, omit the semi-colon. MANUAL OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE FOR Bengal and the N. W. Provinces. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. IN performing the duties of a Civil Surgeon, I have frequently been struck with the remarkable singularity and intricacy of the medico-legal questions upon which my opinion has been required by the Magistrates and Judges of the districts; and I have long felt that our Indian Medical Literature stands greatly in want of a treatise on Medical Jurisprudence, embodying clear and practical expositions of the various and peculiar modes by which the natives of this country are wont to effect crimes against the person, and to attempt their concealment; as well as full illustrations of the many difficult questions regarding Unsoundness of Mind, Identity, Suicide, Torture, &c., which frequently occur here, under circumstances entirely dissimilar to those which call for the like investigations in Europe. Dr. Mouat lately informed me that, while occupying the chair of Forensic Medicine in our College, he became so strongly convinced of the necessity of illustrating the leading A principles of his subject by examples occurring in India, that he was subsequently led to apply to the Court of Nizamut Adawlut for copies of all depositions, made by Surgeons in the Zillah Courts within their jurisdiction, forwarded to the Judges since 1840, in which year the several Magistrates of Bengal were directed to take the depositions of Medical Officers in cases of murder or wounding. Full copies of nine years' reports were furnished by the Court. These, Dr. Mouat kindly made over to me, previous to his departure on furlough, for analysis in the Indian Annals of Medical Science. I have attentively gone over the whole of these interesting documents. The principal facts which they contain are embodied in the following pages. I have also carefully gone through and cited Macnaghten's Reports of Cases determined in the Court of Nizamut Adawlut, between the years 1805 and 1826, and the Reports of the Nizamut Courts of Calcutta and the North-West Provinces from 1851 up to the end of the year 1854. I have also perused and made use of the records of the office of the Chemical Examiner to Government, which (together with a published report by Dr. O'Shaughnessy,) comprise details of all the Chemical Examinations made in cases of poisoning, &c., by Dr. O'Shaughnessy, Dr. Mouat, Mr. Siddons and Dr. Macnamara, from 1840 to 1814, from January 1849 to January 1851, and from May 1852 up to June 1854. Although the formation of a judicial opinion upon the general merits of cases in which his medico-legal evidence may be required is, of course, altogether beyond the province of the Medical Jurist, it is generally necessary-First, that he should possess an intimate acquaintance with the dispositions, customs, prejudices and crimes of the people among whom his investigations are to be pursued; and, Secondly, |