Excerpt from Manual of Medical Jurisprudence This involves an inquiry into the signs of life or death of the child before or during delivery. During pregnancy life is inferred - 1. From the good health of the mother; 2. From the progressive increase of the abdomen in size; 3. From the motion of the f tus being experienced. The proofs of life during delivery are - 1. The limpidity of the waters; 2. The regularity of the pains and their progressive increase in strength; 3. The pulsation of the heart and umbilical cord of the f tus, or that of the anterior fontanelle; 4. The swelling, tension and elasticity of the presenting part. Signs of death during pregnancy, are - 1. A want of motion in the child: 2. The navel is less prominent; 3. The milk recedes and the breast becomes flaccid; 4. A sense of lassitude and coldness is experienced by the mother, with head-ache and nausea; 5. A suspension of the indications of progressive pregnancy. The signs, during delivery, of the death of the f tus, are - 1. The absence of motion; 2. The presence of blackish f tid discharges, arising from putrefaction; 3. The dematous feel of the presenting part; 4. The cuticle coming away from the head in large flakes; 5. The bones of the cranium being detached from each other and floating in the brain; 6. The umbilical cord being cold, brown, flaccid and destitute of pulsation. In reference to the estate by the curtesy, it is necessary to determine whether the child was born alive or dead. This estate is where a man marries a wife seised of an estate of inheritance, and has by her issue born alive, which was capable of inheriting her estate. The fact of life must be collected from all the indications furnished, such as crying, motion of the limbs, respiration, beating of the heart and red color and warmth of the skin. The caesarian operation destroys the tenancy by the curtesy. An infant prior to birth is, for all beneficial purposes, considered as born. It is generally supposed that an infant is not born viable, or capable of living, short of seven months after conception. Infanticide means the criminal destruction of the f tus in utero, or of the child after it is born. The first is generally called abortion, the last infanticide. In questions concerning infanticide, the two great points are - 1. Whether a foetus in utero has been actually destroyed; 2. Whether this has been effected by intentional means. Physiologically considered, there is no period of gestation at which the f tus is not to be considered alive. Within the two first months of pregnancy, no examination of the mother can satisfy as to the fact of abortion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."