rally understood that the discovery of what may appear sufficient to account for death in one cavity, ought never to prevent our proceeding to the investigation of the rest.
Dissection of the brain and its membranes.—The body having been placed on its breast, and the chin raised and supported by a block of wood, the anatomist must proceed by making an incision over the top of the head, from the root of one ear to that of the other; and then by dissecting off the integuments, so as to invert one flap over the face, and the other over the occiput, he will be able to discover whether the scalp has sustained any injury, as indicated by the presence of abscesses, sinuses, contusions, and extravasations; he will, at the same time, ascertain whether any fissure or fracture exist, or any morbid change has occurred in the bone, such as sponginess, exostosis, caries, or exfoliation. In performing this part of his duty, we trust he will not mistake, as Hippocrates[1] confesses he once did, a fracture for a suture, and vice versa. It is not always easy, however, to determine whether a fracture discovered in the cranium, was produced during life. If it should have occurred immediately before the death of the person, there will be found coagulated blood upon the bone and in the fissures; if the individual has survived for some time, there will be marks of inflammation, and perhaps the formation of pus in contact with the skull; but if a fracture has been occasioned in making the dissection, an accident which may occur in the most careful hands, the blood in the fracture will not be coagulated, nor will there be any effusion around the portions. The skull-cap may
- ↑ De Morb. Vulg. lib. v, sect. vii, 27.
