Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-05-05

1
| leATE MEDICAL QUEsros-wAs THE BABE BORN
| ALIVE
| Specia 10 he Commercial.
| Dover, Del, May 1.
To-day, III the Superior Court for this county
the suit of Wilson L. Cannon, guardian, agsins
Rev. Henry Il. Hail. was taken up. 1t is not &c
entitled on the legal dockets, the formula ol
John Doe, lessee Us. Richard Roe, tenant in pos
session, &c, being employed to represent the
relations of parties.
This is the history of the case Henry Stout a
| member of the Kent county bar, and promi
| nent citizen, died about ten years ago, leaving
| three children, two of them SONS, in whose be-
half w. l.. Cannon their guardian, brings thif
suit, and daughter, with considerable real
| estate to be divided equally amongst them. The
daughter, about five years ago, married Rev. IL
| X. Hall, OF Lewes, and having lived about q
wear after marriage died in giving birth to hei
first child. Now the simple question is "Was
| the clnld born alive p II it was, her husband
| Rev. Mr.. Hall, Who ID the real defendant in the
suit, will hold her real estate and ell
Joy its profits, as tenant by courtesy
not delivered alive, lie has no rights it's heir,
and Mrs. Halls share of her fathers property
goes to her two brothers, the boys who are
plaintiffs in the suit. 1t consists of handsome
mansion on g Dover Green, and a farm about
three miles east of the town, the rental value oi
both being some $500
From the above statementii lit would seem that
the case In q plain one But am informed thai
the evidence will show that it involves recently
raised nicely of medical Jurisprudence namely
merous array OF counsel appeared = fol
the plaintiff, Hon. JOS p. Comegys
and Hon. Eli Salisbury for the de
fendant, Hon. N. B. Smithers, Hon. @. g.
| Layton, aud Edw. Ridgely, ESQ. For the de-
fence there quite a number OF medical wit.
| messea including the two physicians who atten-
ded Mrs. Hall in her confinement, several eml
| nent members Of the profession, summoned as
'experts" from Philadelphia. and several others
of our own practitioners.
A Jury being obtained, Mr.. Gomegys opened
for the plaintiff, and admitted that the only
question was whether Mrs. Hall gave birth to
| child, during coverture, capable OF inheriting
and transmitting property. DIR. George Good.
ell, of Burlington county, n j., who attended
Mrs. Hall previous to and during her confne-
ment, cher husband then residing in New Jer
sey, about miles from witness,) testified thai
she was confnad April 25th and died May 1st
1871. She had been i'll, and about two weeks
before confinement, fell from some kind of con
vulsion. The child WAS born at IL o'clock, +
NJ. | discovered no sign of respiration OF
motion /; / do not say it did not breathe, but tha
did not observe it breathe it was large and
fully matrlred child III saying saw no mo
ton" mean muscular or external motion.
Hon. John A. Nicholson WAS the only othel
witness for the plaintiff After objection and
argument he was permitted to testify that the
reputation amongst the family of Mrs. Hall was
that her child was still. born. Mrs. Hall was his
wife's cousin. He also testified that the body
of the child was brought by express, to Dover
and buried in the Presbyterian burying ground
No came with it.
Mr. Ridgely opened for the defendant, an,
said they would prove that Angelica Stout gave
birrh to living child /, by the attendant phys
ician 2, they felt its heart beat 3, they felt the
temporal artery pnlsate; 4, also the umbilica
! ~. A. .rnl.
| Z, that i'll the judgment OF distinguished
experts, the facts related by the attendin!
| physieians proved it was born alive. Tho tirsl
witness was DIR. Goodell already examined OF
| the other side, who WAS no" called by the DC
| fendant. II testified at length and WAS CROSS
examined by MIR. Comegys with minute eabora
tion, continuing the stand up to the recess o
| the court for dinner, and after. The importan
| part of his evidence that the childs hear
beat with force ana continued to do 30 for severa
| minutes after the umbilcal cord was severed
and then the temporal artery failed. the color II
| the lipa faded and though he and DIR. Page uset
| all means for restoration, dashiug cold water il
ts face, initiating its lungs by breathing into them
NC, it finally died in the warm bath, in which the
had lastly put it. 1t had a separate, independsn
| life, after the severance of the umbilicils, ant
| the witness never thought anything else hi
| would not have used the means to preserve iti
life. if he had considered it dead when born
| But though the presumed result OF dashinB wa
| ter in the childs face il to produce respiration
lie saw no respiration when that wa,
done, nor did the breathing into its
mouth produce any-and resperaton IL
essential to life. He also placed the child OIL
| its side and gave it rotatory notion 40 as t
suck in air. The Doctors evidence was largel
professional and carried out to extreme minute
| ness uf detail He said circulation was indepen
dent of respiration, aud the latter might be sew
oral minutes postponed and yet the child live.
| Dr. Pages testimony eorroborated dc
| (iooaell'a. He considered tie beat ng of tn
heart the evidence of life, and his efforts wef
to continue the life they had. He gave
physicians certificate for "still' born" child
meaning simply that it died shortly after birth
Everything but respiration Indicated liyin
| child.
DIR. Penrose. Professor OF Midwifery in th
University OF Pennsylvania, testified that upo
the testimony of Goodell and DIR. Page, he ha
no doubt the child had separate, independer
life Pusation of the heart is the chief ssl
As soon as the placenta is separated, all physo
logical connection ceases, and ther
il no dependence on the mother, whether til
umbiciis be severed or not In the Cases O
long ng-continued hfe without apparent respira
ton, think there must have been entrance q
air though not perceptible
The trial will continue on to. morrow.