The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-26 00:00:00

1.-SEX AND STATURE OP DEOEASED.

It is unnecessary to deal with a question sometimes
raised on these occasions, whether the remains or any
of them are those of an animal. Beyond all doubt they
are parts of a human body, and there are no duplicate
portions such as are commonly found when bodies have
been used for the lawful purposes of dissection. The
parts found belong to one and the same body. The sex
is also placed beyond all doubt. The length and mae-
siveness of the bones of the upper and lower limbs, the
marked characters of the ridges and processes, the
form of the pelvis, the dimensions of the part
called the inlet, the narrowness of the space
in the arch of the pubis, clearly indicate that the deceased
was of the male sex. This is confirmed by the remains
of a portion of the anatomical structure of the male stilt
adhering to the arch of the pubis on the right side. An
attempt has obviously been made to destroy all traces
of the sex, and this, so far as the soft parts are
concerned, has been efficted on one side of the arch
of the pubis, but not on the other. These sexual
parts have not been dissected, but rudely mutilated,
and irregularly cut on the two sides after death.
The firmness, 0(1414, size, and weight of the bones,
the complete ossification of the ends of the long bones
and the thickness of the (shafts of tho thigh bones,
cerepared with the space occupied by the medullary cat i-
Caen are in a condition a hich show that the deceased had
reached a full adult age, which I would assign presump-
tively, jedgiog from the appearance of the shnetoe,
at from 30 to 40 year.
IL-PILYSIvLOGIOAL AND PATHOLOGICAL IDENTITY.
The bones presented in no part marks of maltermation,
dieenee, united fractures, or mechanical irjury, excep•-
ing that which had been produced after desert by sawing.
Some of the joints were fixed with tho sawn per-
tione of the bones in an unusual direction.
Tee head of the right thigu bone Hawaii-Ail on the hip
kink was placed or bent on the trunk at an an: le of
45 deg.; the knee was also firmly placed on this side at
an angle with the thigh. The left arm (humerus) was
fixed in such a direction as to be widely separated from
the left side of the body instead of lying parallel
to it, and on this side the fore-arm was firmly bent on
the arm at the elbow-joint, at an angle of 45 deg. Oe
the right side, viewing the direction of the bones, as
fixed by the portions left in the joints, the fore-arm was
bent on the upper arm at an angle of 80 deg. On
examining the Joints, it was found there was no
oesification or other disease to account for this firmly
fixed condition of the upper o; lower limbs on the right
side, and the upper limb on the left side. *o I inter
from We examination that the limbs had not been
relexid since they had undergone the rigidity of
death, that the body had been cut and sawn while in
this rigid state, and that the mode In which it was sub-
seqa -ntly treated, to which I shall presently refer,
tended to preserve the fixed condition of the joints as a
result of cavaderic rigidity in a constrained posture.
Tee email portions of skin remaining on the wrists and
on the right knee are rather thickly covered with hair.
111.-3fARKS 07 VIOLENCE.—THE OIIISE Or DEATH.
The cutting and sawing of these remains took place
after c4eatb. The cutting has been effected roughly
with a knife, while the sawing has beer, performed in the
shafts of the long bones with a fine saw. In one portion
of the left side of the chest, comprising the second,
third, and fourth ribs, with one-halt of the chest-
bone attached, there is an aperture in the flesh
presenting the appearance of a stab. It is situ-
ated in front, between the third and fourth
ribs, near their junction with the chest-bone. It hat
penetrated the cavity of the cheat, and presents, as seen
from the inside, an opening of about 6 10ths oil an inch
in its longest axis, which is obliquely placed, but in
clined to a vertical direction. Assuming that this wound
had been inflicted during life, it would have penetrated
the heart, and have produced rapid if not immediate
death. The muscles of the chest through which this stab
had passed were for some space around of a dark red
• lour, evidently l produced by blood which had been
as a re
tie Ir,uliskeed
produced
of this wound. This appearance is
n which
ci`reutaitmend, by a cut or stab in a ceid dead body
, and
fact, to
The view; of the wound
oafretehveemrten,:ch.
With
hiloo4
together with the infiltration
which even the soaking in
liquid for a week had not
lead me to the con-
wenlas"ineddic•ed. on the deceased
elusion that this wound
mthienntes of death— i. e.,
either during life or within anfay
blood was liqaid,
while the body was warm
There is ne other mark of violence
utr::!icgtel ac'ecaannsye
other appearance in the remains vshicalect
brzindied from a
of death. The deceased may have
fracture of the skull, and injury to the
stab in the abdomen affecting some large 1:1,:43,fr01a a
As the organs of the chest and abdomen are notv=
o)min any opinion on the cause of death must be a
matter of speculation. The ribs and muscles of the
right side of the chest (which are complete in 3 pieces),
when placed together and examined, pre ant no mark,:
of steiabiog or fracture—any mortal wound on the chest,
therefore, must have been on the left side. The first,
fifth, and sixth ribs, with their attached muscles,
are wanting on this side. There way have beer.
stabs in the spaces
would gave •
b tween then,' missing lihe
e involved the large Eieol-vessele of the chest
or the heertitself.
4,
Gonneeee CONDITION
ta. t
OF THE REMAINS.
The portions of
pieces of the body. preeen
the
no appearance of haen3
undergone dissection for t.
purposes of anatomy. A.
were not injected), and the n muscles' blood veg. , seis (welch-
reference
to
aerrvels had been cut through
without any
re pective courier of the vessertateivee
torn out of position?, or :he.
MAITOW had been violently
eTvheortsepbioraalt

canal, and left hanging by its sheath to the vetebree.
The joints had been sawn through, evidently with great
trouble, at points where a ocapal in the bands of even a
young anatomiet would have speedily effected the sepa-
ration of the limbs. The acromean process of
the right scapula or bladebone had been
sawn through in order to remove the shoulder.
The right clavicle was left attached to the upper rib on
that s de—the sternum or chest bone was sawn in a right
line through its centre, while the cartilages of the re-
, maim:l3g ribs, which are always cut for the convenient
examination of the chest, were uncut. The left scapula
or blade bone had been roughly sawn through, so as
to leave the cavity of the shoulder joint (glenvid
cavity) with the neck of the blade bone still attached,
to the bead of the humerus, or long bone of the arm ;
and the ribs and processses of the vertebrae of the spine
were sawn and cut without reference to their anatomi-
bearings. The pelvis was sawn into two pieces through
the centre of the sacrum. In short, the clearest exa-
mination, coupled with the knowledge derived from an
experience of seven years spent in the study of ana-
tomy by dissections, leads me to the conclusion
that these remains have not been employed for any
anatomical purpose whatever. On the contrary, I be-
lieve that, from the period at which the rigidity of death
took place, they have been rendered utterly useless for
any such purpose. The flesh left upon the bones was
brittle, and of a brownish colour. A portion of
thin, as removed from the bones soon after
their discovery, was delivered to me by
Mr. Paynter, and I made a chemical
examination of it in his presence. It had not undergone
putrefaction, and had the smell of salted muscle. It
was submitted to analysis for the detection of those sub-
stances which are used for the preservation of animal
matter.—namely, arsenic, corrosive sublimate, common
salt, nitre, alumina, and clhoride of zinc, with the result
that the only substance present was common salt. This
ea, separated 'rem the muscular fibre, and obtained in a
crystalline state. The thicker portions of the flesh re-
icaining on the bones of the pelvis, when cut into, was
of a slightly reddish tint. This red tint was probably
partly owing to the effects of salting. The superficial
portion of flesh in the remains presented a brownish co-
lour and softened and corrugated appearance, produced
by exposure to boiling water. The ligaments, tendons,
the exposed portions of cartilage of the joints, and the
skin on the wrists and eight knee presented such ap-
pearances as exposure to boiling water for a short period
would aloce account for or explain. The cuticle of the
skin which was not in a state of putrifaction could be
peeled off. The bare skin itself was swollen, gelatinous-
looking and curved inwards at the margin where the
feet had been removed from the ctlluly membrane
beneath. Such would be the effect prodneed by boil-
ing water. An examination of the swollen
sriafts of the long bones clearly shows that
the marrow has been melted out and removed
by boiling water from the medullary cavities at each ex-
posed extremity. The boiling has not been continued
for a length of time, since the deep-seated portions of
muscles do not show the changes which would have
otherwise been produced in them, and the marrow is
not removed from the centre of the long bones. The
divided ends of the arteries, and the divided portion of
the spinal marrow with its sheath, also show such effects
as boiling water would produce. The cut portions of
the arteries are opaque, hardened, and averted.
To this exposure to the action of boiling water, while
the separate portions of the body were in a state of
cadaveric regidity, I attribute the peculiar fixation d
the thigh, knee, and arms in a flexed or bent condition.
The ligaments appear to leave contracted as a result of
the action of hot water and thereby to have
retained the same portions of bens, re-
maining on the joints in the position which they
had acquired as the result of rigidity. The appearances
are sucu as are produced by boiling water on dead
animal matter. There is nothing to show that boiling
water has acted on any living structure, while it is ob-
vious, from the effects produced on the sawn bones,
ligaments, and arteries, that the body must have been cut
up before the parts were exposed to boiling temperature.
It is my opinion that the remains were exposed to boil-
ing water before they were salted. In reference to the
portion of flash which I examined, the salt was in such
quantity that it was easily dissolved from the outside
by cold distilled water ; and I am confirmed by Mi.
Painter that, when first examined by him, parts of flesh
presented solid gritty particles like salt. Taese facts lead
to the inference that the salting took place after the partial
boiling of the remains. The object of these two opera-
, tons being probably the same ; namely, to prevent
putrefaction, and the probable discovery of the remains
by the escape of putrescent effluvia, The piece of flesh
which I examined, as taken from the- remains by Dr.
Painter, had no offensive smell whatever, although he
had kept it for a period of eight days.