suggested that there was a remarkable similarity in the symptoms that were said to have preceded this death, to those that usually precede death from accidental entrance of air into the circulation during surgical operations. Moreover, all the post-mortem appearances that had then been brought to light were entirely consistent with, and indeed seemed to point to some kind of sudden asphyxia.

Besides, there appeared to be the unconscious confession of the guilty man at the very moment of the fatal catastrophe, that he had done the very act that caused immediate death, viz., "It did not seem to hurt her until just as I was about to withdraw it, when I blew in it, and immediately she threw up her hands, struck at me, screamed out, and fainted."

Accordingly, upon the order of the prosecuting attorney, the body was disinterred and a second post-mortem examination was held, four days after the first examination, and five days after the death of Mrs. La F.

There were present, at this examination, Drs. Mottram and Lee, Wm. B. Southard, J. Sill (Homoeopathist), and H. O. Hitchcock. The following are the memoranda, as assented to by all and written by Dr. Lee.

MARCH 20th, 1863.

"Appearance of the body five days after death: Face and shoulders bright purple hue mottled with white; same true of posterior surface of body, but darker. Evidences of fibro-plastic exudation on under surface of transverse colon, and on upper small intestines --glued together slightly; spleen much congested, twice and a half its normal size--engorged with blood. Stomach greatly congested, upper and under side--most posteriorly. A small opening on upper surface made at previous examination--not very much blood in ascending vena cava below the diaphragm. Liver normal, slightly congested. Left lung a good deal congested and engorged; a ligature placed about all the vessels of its root and its bronchus -all divided outside of the ligature. Immediately on division air or gas rushed out, part of which entered into the pericardium, raising it up from the heart. The ligature was found to have slipped off. None of the gentlemen present could be sure from which of the vessels this air or gas came. But immediately after, when pressure was made upon the heart by the hand, bubbles of air were seen to come out of the pulmonary artery.

"Right lung also greatly engorged-both healthy in every other

respect. Pericardium healthy; heart of normal size, nearly empty.

Sixteen ounces of blood drained
Fully as much blood present as

Valves all healthy and sufficient. out of vessels in thoracic cavity. is usual in the system after death. "Kidneys healthy, but deeply congested. Brain externally healthy -of usual size; perhaps less congested than usual; otherwise healthy. Corpus callosum healthy; cavities empty of blood, with usual amount of serum. Plexus not congested as usual. Substance of brain perfectly healthy throughout-unusually free from blood."

By an inadvertence these memoranda were not signed, but, as will be seen, they were fully endorsed in the main facts by each one of the gentlemen mentioned, at the examination of the accused.

Dr. Lee testified, "The heart was in a healthy condition. I think there was a little blood in the right side of the heart. The lungs were very much congested, but healthy. Spleen, stomach, liver, and kidneys much congested. Brain healthy, but considerably exsanguinated, giving it a pale appearance. We found the usual amount of blood in the system."

Dr. Mottram also testified to the "congestion and otherwise healthy condition of the lungs, spleen, stomach, liver, and kidneys. Heart healthy, but contained a small clot in the right side, but no blood in the left. Brain healthy, but free of blood."

My own testimony confirmed the above, and I added, concerning the sound of air escaping when the root of the left lung was cut: "I believe the air or gas came from the heart through the left pulmonary artery."

My reasons for this belief were:

1st. The air could hardly be believed to have come from the divided bronchus; for if it had been contained in the left lung and been forced out by the pressure of the hand in raising the lung, it would naturally have been forced out of the natural passages, and that, too, before the cut was made. It seems impossible that it should have come from the right lung, for there was no more pressure upon that lung than there had been for some minutes-simply the atmospheric pressure. Besides, both lungs were so filled with blood that there could have been but little air in either of them.

2d. The air or gas did enter an opening into the pericardium accidentally made at the moment of dividing the root of the lung. This opening was made just where the pericardium leaves the pulmonary artery, within an eighth of an inch of the divided edge of the artery, and nearly an inch from the bronchus. Air coming VOL. XV.-7

forcibly out of the artery would naturally enter the opening, while air coming out of the bronchus would be carried away from the opening.

3d. I immediately pressed with my hand upon the heart, the divided artery being brought into view, when numerous bubbles of air or gas were seen to come from the heart through the blood in the pulmonary artery.

"The lungs were very much engorged-healthy aside from their engorgement. The usual amount of blood in the system. I heard the sound of air as the pulmonary vessels were divided. I suppose it came from the heart. I suppose so from its current."

The placenta, uterus, and foetus, were put into my hands, and I carried them to my office.

I found two or three small clots of blood still attached to the maternal side of the placenta. These I measured--the largest being a little more than three-fourths of an inch in diameter, the second about one-half inch in diameter-both irregular in shape and about one line in thickness.

The foetus measured nine and a half inches in length.

On the examination of the accused, the following were the opinions of the several physicians as to the manner and immediate cause of the death of Mrs. La Fargue.

DR. E. E. LEE. "Syncope. I consider it possible that the shock of the operation or the introduction of the instrument, might have produced a fainting fit from which the patient might not have recovered. I can see no other probable cause of death. An injury that would have produced the shock might not have left any visible marks."

DR. HITCHCOCK. "I account for her death by the forced entrance of air into the circulation through the uterine sinuses, producing a peculiar asphyxia."

DR. MOTTRAM. "I should attribute Mrs. La Fargue's death to clonic spasm, closing up the heart's action instantly, and suspending it sufficiently long to produce death."

DR. SOUTHARD. "I should say she died of asphyxia or apnoea. There are only two ways which now occur to me in which death could have been thus produced, viz., by the introduction of air into the circulation and spasmodic action of the heart and lungs and muscles involved in respiration. The spasm may have been pro

duced by a shock of the nervous system. That shock might have been given by the operation."

DR. WM. JOHNSON. "I should ascribe the death of Mrs. La Fargue to apnoea, resulting from a shock to the nervous system. I think the shock was due to the inflamed state of the organs as shown on the first post-mortem examination, conjoined to strong mental apprehension of danger. Judging from the evidence, I should say, an examination by the speculum or the finger introduced into the vagina might have produced such a result. The inflamed state of the organs was not sufficient to have produced death."

Upon the second trial, some of these opinions were a little modified, and others were added.

DR. MOTTRAM's was modified to "syncope succeeding tonic spasm of the heart." He adds, "The exciting cause of the death I have come to feel, to say, I cannot tell.”

Question.--"What tendency would the mental excitement of the preparation for the operation have to produce this spasm, if any?"

Answer. "The tendency would be to syncope-depression of the vital energies. Mental and nervous excitement could become so great as to cause this spasm and so produce this death.

"The post-mortem examinations did not disclose any disease of the vital organs that would account for this death.

"We found no recent wounds or injuries about that female that would have been likely to produce spasms."

DR. SOUTHARD. "Syncope was the mode of Mrs. La Fargue's death. Tonic spasm fixing the organs and muscles of respiration, and arresting the circulation in the radicles of the pulmonary veins; thereby shutting off the arterial circulation to the brain."

DR. E. H. VAN DEUSEN. "Assuming the statements of the husband to be true, from the facts developed at the two post-mortem examinations, and the entire absence of any other cause of death, I could account for this death in no other way than by the introduction of air into the circulation through the uterine sinuses. Air might have been introduced without hemorrhage to any extent."

DR. SILL (Homoeopathist). "I suppose her death was dependent upon a general spasm. I should expect to find such a state of extreme congestion of the lungs if death occurred from a general spasm. My impression would be there was a condition of the uterus and its surrounding organs that strongly predisposed her to

such a spasm; so that any action or mental excitement which would not ordinarily affect her might cause the spasm."

Cross-examined.--"I discover no act on the part of the respondent which would necessarily produce death in ordinary cases."

DR. BROWNING. "Syncope from spasm of muscles of chest and heart."

Defence.--DR. MOTTRAM. "The condition, as I understand it, necessary to force air into the circulation, requires positively the rupture of the placenta or its separation from the walls of the uterus."

Question.--"If placenta was entire and its attachments entire, could air be forced into the uterine sinuses?"

Answer. "Under those circumstances, air, in my opinion could not be forced into the circulation. In the condition I found that uterus, a condition of integrity, with no traces of any separation of the placenta from the inner wall of the uterus, I should say air could not have been forced into the uterine sinuses with the force employed, as appears by the testimony."

DR. LYON-(note, Dr. Lyon was not present at either of the postmortem examinations). "I think the air or gas, the escape of which was heard just at the division of the root of the left lung, came out of the pericardium and was gas formed within it by decomposition."

When asked to describe the appearance of a person who had died from entrance of air into the circulation, he described with great exactness the appearance of this woman, as follows: "Extreme paleness of the extremities, and nearly the whole of the body. Abdominal organs might or might not be unusually congested. The lungs would be extremely congested. The left side of the heart would be found empty of blood. The right side would be found stuffed full of bloody froth. The brain would probably be found with less than its usual quantity of blood.

"In this case the condition of the heart did not answer such a

cause.

"I do not believe that air can be forced into the circulation without lacerating the placenta or detaching it from the walls of the uterus, and if it had been detached or broken, I believe hemorrhage would have followed."

These views were also supported by Drs. Sill and Bagley (Homœopathists) and Drs. Johnson, Browning, Brown, and South

ard.

From the foregoing facts, it would seem almost superfluous to