which most resembles this state of the vessels. Being asked whether the blows were the cause of the rupture, he said he conceived it very likely that a shock would rupture the vessel; and being then asked whether he conceived that this woman was more likely to have a vessel ruptured, from having being intoxicated—he was of opinion that intoxication, and the struggle, were likely to produce such a degree of activity of the circulation in the head, that a less violent blow might produce rupture, than what, in other circumstances, would have proved fatal." The prisoner was acquitted.—At the York assizes in the year 1820, a somewhat analogous question arose,—whether the deceased might not have been attacked with apoplexy during the struggle? The light of anatomical dissection will be required in such a case, and the remarks which Mr. Shaw has offered upon the subject, appear to us to be extremely judicious and valuable; if, says he, effusion of blood be found between the dura mater and scull, and if a bruise on the scalp corresponds to the part, we may conclude that it has been caused by the blow; but if blood is found between the dura mater and the brain, though we should discover the marks of blows, or even fracture of the scull, still the question may be entertained whether the patient might not have been attacked with apoplexy during the struggle.
How soon is the deceased supposed to have died, after the alleged cause of his dissolution.—This is a very important question, for by learning the length of the interval between the attack and the death, we shall at once be enabled to accept as probable, or reject as impossible, the accounts given by the friends and neighbours. Thus, poisons, in general, require
