this presumption, the evidence of Dr., now Sir George, Gibbs, of Bath, was required, as he had lately been engaged in experiments[1] upon this subject. He stated on the trial, that he had procured a small quantity of this fatty substance by immersing the muscular parts of animals in water for a month, but that it required five or six weeks to produce it in any quantity. Upon this evidence the jury were of opinion that the deceased was not alive at the time the commission was taken out, and the bankruptcy was accordingly superseded.
Whether any, and what marks, punctures, contusions, echymoses, dislocations, or other injuries, are to be observed about the face, neck, chest, or any other parts of the body; and how far their appearance and character demonstrate the nature of the operation, or instrument by which they were inflicted?—Upon the discovery of a dead body, it becomes one of the first objects to ascertain the nature, extent, and direction of any wounds, or marks of violence, that may be observed. Whether they be merely superficial, or extend beyond the local injury and penetrate the cavities, will be a matter of subsequent investigation by dissection. The examination of deep wounds, in the first instance, is comparatively unimportant, for they are not liable to obliteration by incipient putrefaction; whereas marks and bruises, unless they be carefully inspected before the body undergoes this change, will not be easily distinguished from spontaneous discolouration. This precaution is highly important in those cases in which we suspect the person to have been strangled; when we shall generally discover a circular mark about the neck produced by ex-*
- ↑ See experiments by Dr. Gibbs, on Adipocire, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1794, part ii, and for 1795.
