weeds, straw, &c. In our examination we should always keep in mind the possibility of the child having been destroyed by drowning, strangulation, poisoning, and the infliction of wounds, subjects which we have already so fully discussed in the second volume of our work, that we do not consider it necessary to dwell upon them in this place.
The cranial cavity.—For the examination of this part Dr. Hutchinson has given us some very minute and valuable instructions, of which we shall avail ourselves. The cranial cavity, he observes, should be exposed, by making, in the first instance, an incision through the integuments of the skull, penetrating to the bone, from the root of the nose to the spinous process of the second or third cervical vertebra; another incision of the same kind should extend from one ear to the other, passing transversely over the summit of the head. Each of the four triangular portions of integuments thus formed, should then be detached from the cranium, beginning at their apex and terminating at their base. The temporal and occipital muscles should then be separated in a similar manner. After examining the state of the cranium, the bones may be removed by dividing the membranous connection between the parietal, frontal, temporal, and occipital bones, with scissars. This, however, should be done without lesion of the vessels of the brain, or of the venous sinuses; in order to avoid the lateral sinus which always contains fluid blood, and which is situated very near the mastoidean angle of the parietal bone, Dr. Hutchinson directs the anatomist, when the point just indicated is approached, to deviate a little from the membrane, and to cut the parietal bone itself near its margin. In the first
