Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/815

Rh to 1635 a work entitled Qusestiones Medico-Legales, which marks a new era in the history of the science, &amp;gt;a work which displays an immense amount of learning and sagacity in an age when chemistry was in its infancy, and physiology very imperfectly understood. The discover} of the circulation of the blood by Harvey soon followed, and gave a new impetus to the study of those branches of forensic medicine having direct relations to physiology; and to Harvey we owe the idea how to apply Galen s observations on the differences between the foetal and the adult lungs to the elucidation of cases of supposed infanticide. About this time, too, Sebiz pub lished two treatises, on the signs of virginity and on the examina tion of wounds respectively. In the former he contended that the hymen was the real mark of virginity; but this was denied by Augenio and Gassendi. In 1663 Bartholin, a Danish physician, in vestigated the period of human uterine gestation, a subject which had engaged the attention of Aristotle. He also proposed the &quot; hydrostatic test&quot; for the determination of live-birth a test still in use, and applied by observing whether the lungs of an infant float or sink in water. Swammerdam explained the rationale of the process in 1677; but it was not till 1682 that it was first practically applied by Jan Schreyer. Germany, ever the leader in questions of forensic medicine, introduced the first public lectures on medical jurisprudence. Michaelis gave the first course about the middle of the 17th cen tury in the university of Leipsic; and these were followed by the lectures of Bohn, who also published De Renunciatione Vulnerum; cui accesserunt Dissertationes binse de partu enecato, et an quis vivus mortuusve aquis submersus, strangulatus, out vulneratus fiicrit, and De Officiis Medici Dupllcis, Clinici et Forensis. Welsch and Amman wrote on the fatality of wounds, and Licetus. on monsters. From the time of Ambrose Pare the mode of conducting investi gations in forensic medicine had attracted attention in France; and in 1603 Henry IV. authorized his physician to appoint persons skilled in medicine and surgery to make medico-legal inspections and reports in all cities and royal jurisdictions; in 1692, diffi culties having arisen, Louis XIV. created hereditary royal physicians and surgeons for the performance of like duties. _ These, having become a corrupt and venal body, were suppressed in 1790. The only works on forensic medicine which appeared in France during the 17th century, however, were Gendry s Sur les Moyens de bien rapporter il Justice, and Blegny s Doctrine dcs Rapports en Chirurgie. At the beginning of the 18th century the latter was superseded as a text-book by Devaux s L art de faire dcs rapports en Chirurgie. Valentin! followed with two works, which were finally incorporated in his Corpus Juris Medico-Legale which appeared in 1722. This work is a vast storehouse of medico-legal information, and a summary of the knowledge of the time. Professorships for teaching the subject were founded in the Ger man universities early in the 18th century, and numerous treatises on forensic medicine were published. Teichmeyer s Institutiones Medicines, Legalis long formed the text-book of the subject; and Alberti, professor of legal medicine at Halle, in his Systema gave to the world a most complete and laborious treatise on the science. His industrious collection of facts renders his works a precious mine of information. Indeed towards the close of last century the Germans were almost the only cultivators of legal medicine. But in France the celebrated case of Villeblanche attracted attention to the subject, and called forth Louis, who in a memoir on utero-gestation attacked with powerful arguments the pretended instances of protracted pregnancy, and paved the way for the adoption in the Code Napoleon of three hundred days as the limit of utero-gestation, a period in precise accordance with the ancient Roman law of the Twelve Tables. Louis also wrote on death from hanging, and pointed out the mode by which we may distinguish murder from suicide under such circumstances. It is he who is credited with having been the first in France to publicly teach the just application of medical knowledge to jurisprudence. Fodere s celebrated Traite de Medecine Legate appeared in 1798, and marks a new era in the annals of legal medicine. No British author wrote systematically on forensic medicine till 1788, when Dr Samuel Farr published a short treatise on _the Elements of Medical Jurisprudence; but this was merely an abridg ment of an earlier work of Fazelius. Previous writers, as Mead, Munro, Denman, Percival, and the two Hunters, had, however, dealt with fragments of the subject; nevertheless the science as a whole was little appreciated or recognized in this country during the last century. In the present century France took the lead; and the institution of three professorships of forensic medicine at the end of the 18th century produced excellent fruits. In 1814 Orfila, a Spaniard by birth, &quot;but naturalized in France, published his Toxicologie, a work which revolutionized this branch of medical jurisprudence, cand first placed the knowledge of poisons upon a scientific basis. Since the time of Orfila, France has never ceased to have one or more living medical jurists, among the most recent of whom we must enumerate Tard.ieu, whose treatises on abortion, on poisons, on wounds, 783 &c., are justly celebrated. Germany too has industriously pursued the subject, and Casper s great work on forensic medicine will ever remain a classic in the science. In Eussia Dragendorlf has greatly contributed to our knowledge of poisons. Though forensic medicine may be said to have been entirely neglected in England till the beginning of the present century, its progress has since been by no means slow or unimportant; and the subject now forms a recognized and obligatory portion of medical study. The first lectures delivered in Great Britain were given in the university of Edinburgh in 1801 by the elder Dr Duncan; and the first professorship was held by his son in 1803. Dr Alfred Swaine Taylor gave the first course of lectures delivered in England, at Guy s Hospital in 1831; and in 1863 the university of London made forensic medicine a separate subject for examination and honours for medical graduates. In 1822 there was not in the English language any treatise of authority either on medical juris prudence or on any important division of the subject; for it was not till the following year that the useful compendium of Paris and Fonblanque was published; and even half a century ago medical jurisprudence may be said to have been almost in its infancy as compared with what it is now. Since 1829 Great Britain has pro duced an abundant crop of literature on forensic medicine. Sir llobert Christison s admirable treatise on Toxicology, Dr A. S. Taylor s Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence, the same author s Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, Dr Guy s Forensic Medicine, and Ogston s Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence are well-known and widely circulated works. The separate memoirs of Taylor, Christison, Guy, and others are also storehouses of facts and deductions in the science. America, too, has not been behind hand in the race. Wharton and Stille s M-anual and Wormley s Toxicology are the best-known works of American authors. (T. S.*) MEDICI. This family is renowned in Italian history for the extraordinary number of statesmen to whom it gave birth, and for its magnificent patronage of letters and art. It emerged from private life and rose to power by means of a very subtle policy that was persistently pursued from generation to generation. The origin of the family- is buried in obscurity. Some court historians indeed declare it to have been founded by Perseus, and assert that Benvenuto Cellini s bronze Perseus holding on high the head of Medusa was executed and placed in the Loggia dei Lanzi to symbolize the victory of the Medici over the republic. But this only proves that the real origin of the family is unknown, and equally unknown is the precise signification of the Mcdicean arms six red balls on a field of gold. The name appears in Florentine chronicles as early as the Early close of the 12th century, although only casually mentioned bearers of in connexion with various offices of the republic. The the name, first of the family to be a distinct figure in history was Salvestro dei Medici, who, in the year 1378, took an active Salvestro. part in the revolt of the Ciompi so-called because it was led by a wool-carder (ciompo), one Michele di Lando, and because the chief share in it was taken by the populace, who held the reins of government for some time, and sought to obtain extended political rights. But, although Michele di Lando was the nominal chief of the revolt, Salvestro dei Medici was its real leader. The latter, although a member of the greater guilds, had joined the lesser and sought to be at their head, in order to lay the foundation of his own power and that of his kindred by attacking the Albizzi, who were the leading men of the greater guilds. The victory of the Ciompi, however, was brief, for the excesses of the lower classes brought about a reaction, in which they were crushed, and Michele di Lando sent into banishment. Nevertheless the lesser guilds had gained some ground by this riot, and Salvestro dei Medici the great popularity at which he had aimed. His policy during that period had traced the sole possible road to power in liberty-loving Florence. And this was the road henceforth pursued by the Medici. On Salvestro s death in 1388 the Albizzi repossessed themselves of the government, and conducted the wars of the republic. Vieri dei Medici, who seems to have been the next head of the family, understanding the temper of