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in the case of bastard children, by William Hunter
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Title: On the uncertainty of the signs of murder in the case of bastard children
Author: William Hunter
Release Date: October 11, 2008 [EBook #26870]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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ON
THE UNCERTAINTY
OF
THE SIGNS OF MURDER
IN THE CASE OF
BASTARD CHILDREN.
BY THE LATE
WILLIAM HUNTER, M.D. F.R.S.
PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO THE QUEEN,
AND MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT PARIS.
London:
PRINTED FOR J. CALLOW, CROWN COURT,
PRINCES STREET, SOHO.
1818.
TO THE
_Members of the Medical Society_.
Read July 14, 1783.
GENTLEMEN,
In the course of the present year, one of our friends, distinguished by
rank, fortune, and science, came to me upon the following occasion: In
the country, he said, a young woman was taken up, and committed to jail
to take her trial, for the supposed murder of her bastard child.
According to the information which he had received, he was inclined to
believe, from the circumstances, that she was innocent; and yet,
understanding that the minds of the people in that part of the country
were much exasperated against her, by the popular cry of _a cruel and
unnatural_ murder, he feared, though innocent, she might fall a victim
to prejudice and blind zeal. What he wished, he said, was to procure an
unprejudiced enquiry. He had bee
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