386

WOUNDS FROM WADDING AND GUNPOWDER.

of the body. From these results we may form an opinion of the distance at which the piece was fired.

It is difficult to conceive that small-shot can, under any circumstances, produce a single entrance-wound having some appearance of circularity about it, without at the same time singeing or burning the skin or dress. The difficulty of laying down any general rules respecting the wounds produced by small-shot at their entrance and exit will be apparent from the following facts. A boy was shot in the neck by the accidental discharge of his gun, loaded with an ounce of No. 8 shot. He died instantly. He was leaning forwards on the muzzle, so that it was nearly in contact with the skin of the neck. A large round hole was produced, one inch and a half in diameter, the edges of which were slightly blackened with powder. The exit-aperture, which was at the back of the neck a little to the left of the third cervical vertebra, was a mere slit in the skin, scarcely an inch long, with the long diameter placed vertically. The smallness of this aperture may have been owing to the greater part of the charge being lodged in the body. The entrance-aperture, although rounded, was too large to be mistaken for a bullet-wound; it was evidently a near wound, from the blackening of the edges. On the other hand, Lowe found that a round aperture might be produced by a discharge of small-shot at a much greater distance from the object than that assigned by Lachèse. Admitting such exceptional instances, and assuming the general correctness of the inferences drawn by Lachèse from the results of his experiments in discharging small-shot at dead bodies placed at different distances, it does not seem probable that a wound from small-shot can, under any circumstances, be mistaken for one produced by a leaden bullet. A discharge of small-shot in contact with the skin or close to it will, however, produce, not a round opening, but a severe lacerated wound.

Small-shot is rarely observed to traverse the body entirely, unless discharged so near as to make a clean round opening; but a single pellet reaching the body may destroy life. There may be no exit-aperture, or it may be smaller than that of entrance. Such minute wounds might be easily overlooked in the examination of a dead body. Small-shot, even when wounding only the skin of the back superficially, has been known to cause death by tetanus.

Wounds from Wadding and Gunpowder.-It matters not with what the piece is charged, it is capable, when fired near, of producing a wound which may prove fatal. Thus a gun loaded with wadding, or even with gunpowder only, may cause death. In these cases, an impulsive force is given by the explosion, and the substance becomes a dangerous projectile. The lighter the projectile, the shorter the distance to which it is carried; but when discharged near to the body it may produce a fatal penetrating wound. A portion of the dress may be carried into the wound and lead to death from bleeding; or, if the wounded person recover from the first effects, he may subsequently sink under an attack of tetanus or erysipelas. It is unfortunate that so much ignorance prevails on this point; for fatal accidents frequently occur from persons discharging guns at others in sport-an act which they think they may perform without danger, because they are not loaded with ball or shot.

It has been observed that persons, in attempting to commit suicide, have occasionally forgotten to put a bullet into the pistol; nevertheless, the discharge of the weapon into the mouth has sufficed, from the effect of the wadding only, to produce a considerable destruction of parts, and to cause a serious loss of blood. Fatal accidents have frequently taken place from the discharge of wadding from cannon during reviews. It is not

WOUNDS FROM WADDING AND GUNPOWDER.

387 easy to say at what distance a weapon thus charged with wadding and powder would cease to produce mischief, since this must depend on the impulsive force given by the powder and on the size of the piece. Lachèse ascertained that a piece charged with gunpowder is capable of producing a penetrating wound somewhat resembling that caused by small-shot, when the piece is large, strongly charged, and fired within six inches of the surface of the body. (Ann. d'Hyg., 1836, p. 368.) This arises from a portion of the powder always escaping combustion at the time of discharge, and each grain then acts like a pellet of small-shot. Under any circumstances, a discharge of powder only, contuses the skin, producing ecchymosis, and often lacerating it if the piece be fired near. The dress is burnt and the skin scorched from the globe of flame formed by the combustion of the powder, and many particles of gunpowder may be actually driven into the true skin. All the substances here spoken of are considered to be projectiles; and the weapons are held in law to be loaded arms so long as they are capable of producing bodily injury at the distance from which the piece containing them is discharged. It may, therefore, become a question as to the distance at which these light projectiles cease to be harmless. The answer must be governed by circumstances; but it will in all cases materially depend on the strength of the charge. Swift performed some experiments with a pistol loaded with gunpowder and wadding, in order to determine the effect of a discharge at different distances. At twelve inches' distance from a dead body, he found that the clothes were lacerated and the skin abraded, but the wadding did not penetrate; at six inches, the clothes were lacerated, and the wadding penetrated to the depth of half an inch; at two inches, the wound produced, which was two inches deep, was ragged and blackened; at an inch and a half from the chest, the wadding passed into the cavity between the ribs, and in a second experiment it carried away a portion of a rib. (Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xl. p. 734.)

This subject was investigated by Mackintosh, and he forwarded to the author the results of his experiments. As a summary he found, in reference to the wounds produced by wadding, that the amount of injury done is in proportion to the amount of powder in the gun, the hardness and compactness of the wadding or substance used in place of shot or bullet, and the distance of the object from the point of firing. A case occurred in his practice which was the subject of a trial for unlawful wounding. (Reg. v. Isgate, Norwich Aut. Ass., 1867.) The prisoner fired at a boy with a gun loaded with pieces of brown paper pressed together. He was then at a distance of two or three yards from the boy. There was a wound in the chest about the size of a shilling. The margin of the wound was jagged, had a bluish-black or mottled appearance, and the edges of one of the ribs were laid bare. The pellet took a course downwards as a result of its deflection by the rib. A quantity of brown paper was removed from the wound, and the boy ultimately recovered. The question which Mackintosh proposed to consider was whether paper-wadding could really produce such a wound as was here found when the gun was fired from a distance of two or three yards. Without going into details it may be stated that when the gun was charged with a small quantity of powder and brown-paper wadding, there was indentation, but no penetration at a distance of two yards. With one-third more powder and a closely-compressed brown-paper pellet there was penetration through the boy's jacket to an inch and a half beyond. These facts bear out the conclusion already given, and confirmed the boy's account of the distance from which the gun was fired at him by the prisoner. Swift had inferred from his experi

388

EXAMINATION OF FIREARMS.

ments that a penetrating wound from wadding was not produced unless the piece was discharged within a distance of six inches; but Mackintosh's results clearly show that this must depend on the quantity of powder used and the loose or condensed nature of the substance employed as a projectile.

Examination of Firearms.-An attempt has been made by French medical jurists to determine for how long a period a gun or a pistol found near a dead body may have been discharged; but it is out of our power to lay down any precise rules on such a subject. All that we can say is that a quantity of sulphide of potassium, mixed with charcoal, is left adhering to the barrel of the piece when recently discharged; and this is indicated by its forming a strongly alkaline solution with water, evolving an odor of sulphuretted hydrogen, and giving a deep-brown precipitate with a solution of acetate of lead. After some hours or days, according to the degree of exposure to air and moisture, the saline residue becomes converted into sulphate of potassium, forming a neutral solution with water, and giving a white precipitate with acetate of lead. If a considerable time has elapsed since the piece was discharged oxide of iron, with traces of sulphate, may be found. (See Ann. d'Hyg., 1834, p. 458; 1839, p. 197; 1842, p. 368.)

When called to a case of gunshot-wound, either accidental or criminal, it is always proper to examine the piece, if found. Has it or has it not been recently discharged, may be a material question. This is best determined by a gunsmith. A trial took place on the Western Circuit, March, 1873, in which the fact was of great importance. The prisoner asserted that his gun had not been used for a long time. On examination of the barrel, however, it was found to have been quite recently discharged. This at once connected him with the act of wounding of which he was accused. In an agrarian murder in Ireland, in 1876, there was found imbedded in the heart of the deceased the half of a common marble such as children use in play. A bag of marbles of the same size and kind was found in the house of one of the prisoners, and this discovery connected him with the act.

The examination of wadding or paper found in a gunshot-wound, or near a dead body, has in more than in one instance led to the detection of the person who had committed a crime. The handwriting has been traced on the paper used as wadding, or it has been found to have been part of a printed page, of which the remainder has been discovered in the possession of the accused. When a gun is discharged near to the body a portion of the wadding is generally carried into the large irregular wound which is produced. This was part of the evidence in the case of Reg. v. Blagg (Chester Sum. Ass., 1857). The peculiar character of the wadding found in the body connected the prisoner with the act. Whether the wadding is found in or near the body it should be equally preserved. In Reg. v. Richardson (Lincoln Ass., Dec. 1860), the accused was convicted of murdering a policeman under the following circumstances. He shot at the deceased, who was able before death to identify the prisoner; but as the deceased was weak from loss of blood, and failing in consciousness at the time, there was some difficulty in relying upon the dying declaration, especially as no other person witnessed the act. Some paper-wadding had been picked up on the spot where the deceased fell; and a gun, which had one barrel loaded and one empty from a recent discharge, was found in the prisoner's house within twenty-four hours of the murder. The wadding in the loaded barrel consisted of a fragment of the Times newspaper of March 27, 1854, and the charred and sulphurous pieces of wad

BURNS AND SCALDS.

389

ding picked up on the spot were proved by the publisher of that journal to have formed a portion of the same impression. The prisoner's counsel, in fact, could not deny that the act had been brought home to the instrument, if not to the agent, and, though the explanation of the crime remained obscure to the last, and the motive unassignable, the aggregate evidence proved sufficient to convince the jury. Any projectiles found in a gunshot-wound should always be preserved for evidence. In the case of Rush, who was tried and convicted of the murder of Mr. Jermy by a remarkable train of circumstantial evidence (Norwich Lent Ass., 1849), it was proved that the projectiles removed from the body of the deceased consisted of irregular pieces of lead (slugs). Similar masses were taken from the body of the son, who was killed at the same time. They were described by the medical witness as being angular, and quite unlike the shot used in killing game. This proved that the two acts of murder were committed by the same person, or by this person acting in concert with others.

The chemical analysis of a projectile may be occasionally necessary. A common bullet is formed entirely of lead. Cast bullets are commonly found to have a void space in the interior, when cut through the centre, owing to the exterior cooling more rapidly than the interior, and to the greater bulk of the metal when in a liquid state. In large bullets this cavity is frequently of the size of a barleycorn. Bullets obtained by compression have no such space, and are of greater specific gravity. Small shot is composed of lead, with a minute portion of arsenic (1-200th part). If the arsenic is in large proportion, the shot is lenticular; if absent, or in small proportion, pyriform (Ure). In the case of Rush, type-metal was found in the house. This consists of lead, with one-fourth part of antimony. The slugs were found to consist chiefly of lead, and to contain no antimony. Type-metal was thus excluded.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

DEATH FROM BURNS

AND

SCALDS.-SYMPTOMS.-STUPOR.-CAUSE OF DEATH.-POSTMORTEM APPEARANCES.-BURNS ON THE DEAD BODY.-ACCIDENT, HOMICIDE, OR SUICIDE. WOUNDS CAUSED BY FIRE.-SCALDING.-BURNS BY CORROSIVE LIQUIDS.

Burns and Scalds.—A burn is an injury produced by the application of a heavy solid, or a flame, to the surface of the body; while a scald results from the application of a liquid at a high temperature under the same circumstances. There seems to be no real distinction between a burn and a scald in reference to the effects produced on the body; the injury resulting from boiling mercury or melted lead might take either appellation. Nevertheless, as a matter of medical evidence, it may be important to state whether the injury found on a body was caused by such a liquid as boiling water or by a heated solid. If the former, the injury might be ascribed to accident; if the latter, to criminal design. A scald produced by boiling water would be indicated by a sodden state of the skin and flesh, but there would be no destruction of substance. In a burn by a heated solid, the parts may be more or less destroyed, or even charred; the cuticle may be found blackened, dry, almost of a horny consistency, and presenting a shrivelled appearance. This distinction, however would

only apply to scalds from water. A scald from melted lead (633° F.) could not be distinguished from a burn produced by a solid heated to the same temperature. Some of the oils boil at 500° F., and they produce, by contact with the skin, burns as severe as those caused by melted metal. Burns from flame, such as that of gas, are indicated by extensive scorching of the skin, while burns from gunpowder are known not only by the scorching, but by the small particles of unburnt carbon which are imbedded in the skin.

Neither a burn nor a scald appears to be considered as a wound in law; but in the statute of wounding they are included among bodily injuries dangerous to life. Burns and scalds may be regarded as dangerous in proportion to the extent of surface of skin which they cover, as well as the depth to which they extend. The extent of skin involved in a superficial burn, as a result of exposure to flame, is of greater importance than the entire destruction of a small part of the body through an intensely heated solid. When the burn is extensive, death may ensue either from the severity of the pain produced, or from a sympathetic shock to the nervous system. Death takes place rapidly from burns in children and nervous females; but in adults and old persons there is a better chance of recovery. In some instances, especially in children, stupor and insensibility supervene; and these symptoms have been soon followed by coma and death. If, under these circumstances, opium has been given to the patient as a sedative, the stupor resulting from a burn may be attributed to the narcotic effects of the drug; and, should the person die, the praetitioner may find himself involved in a charge of malapraxis or manslaughter. It may be alleged, as in the following case, that the person was poisoned with opium. A medical man was charged with the manslaughter of a child, by giving to it an overdose of opium while it was laboring under the effects of a severe scald. Abernethy stated in his evidence, which was given in favor of the practitioner, that he thought the use of opium was very proper; that the quantity given-eight drops of tincture of opium immediately after the accident, and ten drops two hours afterwards was not an overdose for a child (the age is not stated). The circumstance of the child continuing to sleep until it died, after taking the opium, was, in his judgment, no proof that it had been poisoned. The sleep was nothing more than the torpor into which it had been plunged by the accident. The surgeon was acquitted. Notwithstanding the very favorable opinion expressed by Abernethy of this plan of treatment, it would be advisable to avoid the use of opium on these occasions in treating infants and children. [Dr. C. Meymott Tidy dissents from Dr. Taylor's views regarding giving opium to burnt children. He says in addition, "It must not be forgotten that extreme pain may be and often is fatal: " Tidy's Legal Med., vol. i. p. 465, Phil. edition.] Life is readily destroyed in young subjects by the smallest doses of this drug; and there are no satisfactory means of distinguishing the comatose symptoms produced by a burn or a scald from those produced by an overdose of opium (p. 186).

Cause of Death.-In some instances, especially in children, stupor and insensibility have rapidly supervened; and these symptoms have been followed by coma and death. Of the cause of death in persons exposed to fire, little need be said. In large conflagrations persons are frequently simply suffocated from the want of a proper amount of air or from breathing the products of combustion-carbonic acid or carbonic oxide. The former darkens the blood and muscles; the latter renders them lighter in color. In other cases, where a large volume of flame suddenly strikes the