Medical Jurisprudence And Toxicology

210

MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE

______to the drying and hardening of the underlying skin abrasions

produced lifter death are dark-brown and parchment-like in appearance, and
look like abrasions caused during life, but they are distinguished by com-
plete absence of bleeding and injection of vessels in the underlying tissues.
It must be remembered that ants sometimes attack a dead body lying on the
ground, and produce marks which simulate ante-mortem abrasions. The
marks caused by their bites have, however, irregular margins, and are
usually seen on the eyes, nostrils, angles of the mouth, ears, armpits, groins,
scrotum and anus.

JEQHHDS--

A wound is defined as the forcible solution of continuity of the soft
tissues^oJ the body including the skin or mucous membrane. Medico-
legally, wounds may be classified as— ——-

1. Incised wounds.

2. Punctured wounds.

3. Lacerated wounds,

4. Gunshot wounds.

1. Incised Wounds.;—An incised wound is produced by a sharp cutting
instrument, such as a'TSiife, razor, sword, gandasa (chopper), axe, hatchet,
scythe, JcooJcri, or any object which has a sharp, cutting edge.

Character of an Incised Wound.—A^ incised wound is always broader
than the edge of the weapon causing" itTowing to the retraction of the divided
tissues. ,,It.~ is somewhat
spindle-shaped and gaping,
its superficial extent being
greater than its depth. This
gaping is greater in deep
wounds when the muscle
fibres have been cut trans-
versely or obliquely. Its
edges are smooth, even,
clean-cut, well-defined and
usually everted. The edges
may be inverted, if a thin
layer of muscular fibres is
closely united to the skin,
as in the scrotum. They
may be irregular in cases
where the skin is loose or
the cutting edge of the
weapon is blunt, as the skin
will be puckered in front
of the weapon before it is
divided.

TJ^ edges of a wound
made by a heavy cutting
weapon, 'such as an axe,
hatchet or shovel, may not
be as smooth as those of a
wound caused by a light

cutting weapon, such as a Fiff Us^bdsed wound inflicted with a knife,
knife, razor, etc., and may ^

show signs of contusion. Such, a wound is, as a rule, associated with exten-
sive injuries to deep underlying structures or organs.