Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1875-05-13
StOul vs., killeN.
CONTINUATION OF THE CASE AT DOVER yEsrfH.
DAYS NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. TESTIMONY.
Special TO the Commercial

DAYS NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. TESTIMONY.
Special to the Comn'erciSL ,I
DovEn, Del, May, S.
The case OF Stout us. Killen was continued in
tho Superior Court, to-day. .a4u g..,.
DR.. John d. Reess, who occupies chair in
one OF tho Philadelphia colleges, and who is =
physician Of thirty years practice, gave it AZ his
| opinion that the child was born alive, and also
that it was positively alive after ii WAS excluded
from ts mother and after the umbical cord was
severed and that it had not the slightest defend
ence upon its mother. The beating Of the heart
he said was the best sign--it cannot beat from
any other cause than its own inherent vitality.
Breathing il not necessary for the existence OF
life, although 1t is so for it's continuance. Chill
dren have lived and died without breathing.
From close examination am OF the opinion
that this child did breathe imperceptibly. The
Dr. then wont on to describe tho operations Of
the lungs and heart, and also stated the general
ordinary functions Of life, and said that when
child is born into the world even before the
cord is cut virtually all connection with the
mother 10 at an end. When the cord is cut it is
absolute and final. EG# 2
Being cross.examined by Mr. Comegys the
DR.. said that life cannot be prolonged more than
Two minutes without Aeration Of the blood, but
with the placenta adhering to the mother IL
| might live short time. Tho circulation before
the formation Of the placenta is different from
that after birth. After the formation Of the
placenta it is called the foetal circulation, which
| continues until respiration sets In. II ia the
aeration OF the blood that produces the red or
arterial blood, and keeps up life. Without much
| tiSnre the child in the womb may be said to
breathe through its mothers lungs, ss they
aerate the blood and this blood goes to the child
through the pacentR. I.t ....
| DR.. Edwin B. q. Shoemaker, Of Dover, being
| sworn, said that he could not see how there
could be eviderces Of vitality and then be death.
He stated it as his opinion that the child was
born alive, and had distinct independent life !;
that it would not have lived 40 long without i'm
perceptible respiration. 0i- p. f'.i"
| DR.. Isaac Jump deposed that from the testi-
inony of Drs. Goodall and Page there could not
be any doubt, in his opinion that tho child was
born alive or that it lived by its inherent vtali-
ty. He says he always considered child alive
until its heart ceases to beat. He also said he
had had similal cases, and had revived some rn-
der similar circumstances, while others have
died. ,|rEsr1 j. Ut.
DR.. Thomas Cahall, sworn 1t IL my opinion
that the pulsations were from the connection Of
| the plaoenta with the mother consider them
the result Of the remainder Of foetal life after
| the cutting OF the cord there will still be
stimulus from the original cause as soon as
respiration takes place a new circulation is es-
| taflished before this the lungs are hepatyzed,
or compressed after respiration the blood is
lighter in color in the arteries in the foetus the
color Of the blood is dark ; decided change
takes place after respiration I have attended the
delivery Of several hundred children; when can
not establish respiration, call it stil-born, but
| II can excite the muscles do not call it such;
no change takes place in the child until pulmonic
circulation takes place. foeta circulation, after
| the cutting the umbilicai cord might continue
some minutes before the child's death; from
what was stated think the child lived from the
foetal circulation from the mother; had it respir
| ed think it would have been observable; child
that dies in the womb does not less die than one
| after birth. .N
Court here took recess and on the reassem-
| bling Dr. Pages certificate that the child was
still born Was presented.
| DR.. Ezekiel W. Cooper sworn II by Drs.
| Goodell and Pages testimony you mean the
child had vitality it was living child, if you
mean it had the full complex organization in
ton it WAS dead !; / consider foetal life to begin
with the blood, and continue 80 long ~ nourish-
ment il derived from the mother it ceases
when respiration begins l do not think that the
cutting the cord will necessarily destroy foetal
life it may continue some time after after the
severance Of the umbcsl cord there could he
no aertcation Of the blood except by reepra-
ton il the child never breathed. it could not
have its blood oxydized except through
the placenta +; if the heart had been in &C.
tive beating and the cord cut without q ligature,
there would have been danger to the child from
bleeding II only two or Three drops of blood
were thrown out. would suppose the heart to
be very feeble I do not think a child alive, as
an organization, unless it breathed.
| Being cross examined he said that before the
severance of the nmbilica cord it is foetal cir
culaton think I have had cases as long as
this case have had many well-developed chill
dren to die from exhaustion l believe the
child was born alive;js child may be born alive,
have circulation, and die without respiration.
DR.. W. II. Cooper sworn after the severance
of the cord the evidence of life may have been
the lingering fiickeripg life it had from its
mother the placenta aerifes tho blood before
respiration the only change was a dminution
Of the vital powers it might breathe and
still die of NAL formation, and 80 II it did not
breathe / would say it died OF ssphyxia;
l do not call it living unless in the
full exercise of all its functions.
| This closed the testimony in the case, and at
45 Mr.. Salisbury began his address to the
jury. reviewing the testimony in the case, and
citing numerous authorities in support OF the
Plaintiffs claim. He said that it WAS evident
from the fact that tho father had sent the
child by express. in the night time, un-
| attended by any one, that he did not regard it
| as having lived life OF humanity, while the GER
tifcate OF the physician that the child was still
born proves that such was the case.
Dover, DEL. May 7.
| Mr. Comegys concluded lie argument for the
plaintiff, in the case Stout rs KlleD, yesterday,
and was followed by Mr.. Smthers for the de-
fendant He said the question is a single ques-
ton of fact ''Wss this child born alive And
this, in the phase in which it is presented, is
resolved chiefly into question Of law-"What
|
ing husband to rights by 'courtesyY" He
denied the plaintiffs theory that the child,
to have been "alive," must have breathed.
and argued to the Court that the physiological
life is the legel life.
Judge Layton then made his argument after
which, at Mr.. Comegys' desire, the Court ad-
journed to . o'clock, this morning.
DOVER, DEL, MAY Sth.
Mr.. Comegys began tile closing argument in
the suit of Stout ps Ken. yesterday morning
and finished at 1l.30 Judge Gilpin then
charged the jury, reviewing in the course Of his
charge, the evidence of DIR. Goodell. and the
medical eperts. He emphasized the fact that the
child was never observed to breathe, notwith-
standing the efforts to induce respiration.
Whether the child had a separate, independent
existence, by force OF its own vitality, after
birth, is for tile jury to determine.
Alta quarter past l2, the Jury went ont, re-
turning In half an hour, with verdict for tue
defendant. This settles it the circulation
of blood, &C., in the child, observed by the
physicians, WAS % life sufficient to give it an
Independent existence, aud by which its father,
Rev. Mr.. Hall, is entitled to the enjoyment Of his
wife's estate, for life.