Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951)

Legal Medicine
Source: Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951), Vol. 25, No. 1 (May - Jun.,
1934), pp. 169-170
Published by: Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1135715
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POLICE SCIENCE 169
cisms and suggestions. Typical of lice personnel have been adopted.

these is the criticism of the one- Until positive action concerning
year residence rule as a hindrance them is taken, the results of police
to the improvement in the recruit operations will continue to be heav-
personnel; of the delay in making ily discounted at the source."
appointments as a discouragement
to the best qualified applicants; of
the present so-called "mental" ex- Legal Medicine.--Although legal
amination, for which the author medicine has long been recognized
would substitute aptitude or intelli-
in Europe as an important branch
gence tests. Even the excessive of medicine, the publication of pa-
weight in policemen comes in for pers on this subject has been spread
its share of criticism. The author throughout the entire field of Amer-
finds that the permitted range icanofmedical journals. In Europe
weight for any given height is andtoo
in South America, several pe-
generous, and suggests that the riodicals
rule restrict their field to legal
as to the height-weight ratio should
medicine alone. No so in North
provide a narrower range of weight America. It is a refreshing sign,
for any given height in order that therefore, to note that one of our
the natural increase of weight, foremost journals of pathology, the
which often accompanies the per- American Journal of Clinical Path-
formance of police duty, may notology, has devoted its entire first
carry recruits far beyond any rea-issue of the year (January, 1934)
sonable limits within a few years to a consideration of problems of
after they have joined the force. legal medicine, particularly so far
In the concluding chapter of this as these pertain to conditions in the
report the author makes the fol- United States.
lowing remarks as to what has been The main point under discussion
done toward the improvement of was the technique of the medico-
the police force and what remains legal necropsy and was the subject
to be done: of three of the seven papers.
"Roughly expressed in arithmet-
Whereas in the ordinary necropsy
ical terms, we can say that over
conducted in a hospital the purpose
85 per cent of the police recommen-
is to satisfy the intellectual curi-
dations contained in our original
osity of the attending physicians as
report have been adopted, either
to in
the cause of death, in the medico-
the form in which we then offered legal necropsy, the investigation
them, or with minor variations to must be so complete and so thor-
meet changed conditions. It is per- ough as to clearly demonstrate not
haps unnecessary to add that the only the exact cause or causes of
police department does not thereby death beyond all shadow of a doubt,
approach a state of perfection. Some but also to show that other possible
of the surviving patterns which we causes did not contribute to death.
recommended for change, and to The actual technique of making
which we have referred at the ap-these investigations was elucidated
propriate points in this report, reach by Dr. Charles Norris, Medical Ex-
to the very heart of police adminis- aminer of New.York City, and Dr.
tration. Moreover, only a relatively A. V. St. George.
small part of our proposals con- A paper by Dr. Oscar Schultz
cerning civil service control of po-
discussed the medico-legal systems
170 POLICE SCIENCE
in the United States,

of the best to be found anywhere
reference to
in the the
literature comp
of legal medicine
coroner system with that of the and his case reports make very in-
medical examiner system. He also teresting and even exciting reading.
discussed legal points pertaining to C. W. M.
necropsies. Careless conducting of
necropsies frequently leads to suits
for damage in which the physician Individual Characteristics of Hu-
or coroner may find himself in a man Blood.- Until quite recently,
position where heavy penalties may chemical and biological tests for
be assessed for carelessness or blood were able to differentiate only
thoughtlessness. between human blood and the blood
The pathological anatomy of of other animals. There were no
death by drowning was elucidated satisfactory or certain methods for
in a paper by Dr. Miloslavich, for- finer classification of human blood
merly of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in into individual groups. Immunolo-
which it was pointed out that con- gists have recently succeeded in di-
trary to the popular idea, lungs in viding human blood into four main
drowning cases need not necessarily groups (classified as A, B, AB, 0),
contain excessive amounts of water. which are useful in selecting blood
The swollen condition of the lungsdonors where transfusions are
is an excellent index as to whether needed in the treatment of certain
or not the deceased was drowned. diseases. One of these four groups
If the drowning occurred in turbid
(A) has been further subdivided
into two divisions and three addi-
or muddy water, the finding of dirt
and debris in the small lung pass-tional individual factors classified
ages is confirmatory evidence as of(M, N, and P) have been iso-
drowning. lated. The placing of this type of
Dr. A. O. Gettler, Toxicologist experimentation on a sufficiently
of the Medical Examiner's Office positive foundation to permit its use
in New York City, discussed the
in legal medicine has been the work
chemical analysis of vital organsofre-
numerous investigators, including
moved at the necropsy and theDr. in-
Landsteiner and his co-workers
terpretation of the chemical find-
in New York, and Prof. L. Lattes.
ings in demonstrating the cause Theofutility of these methods for the
death. classification of blood in blood
The general discussion of the stains and also to some extent in
medical examiner's findings in cases the individual classification of other
of death from shooting, stabbing,bodily fluids such as saliva, urine
strangling or choking was the sub- and seminal fluid, is reported in the
ject of a paper by Dr. H. S. Mart- April, 1934, issue of Annales de
land, Medical Examiner of Essex Medecine Legale, de Criminologie et
County, New Jersey. Dr. Mart- de Police Scientifique. The utility
land's paper of nearly 100 pages of the technique in tracing heredity,
was profusely illustrated with ex- with particular reference to non-
periences from his investigations paternity, is indicated.
during recent years and also nu- With the continuation of such ex-
merous photographs illustrating the perimentation, the classification of
various points to be observed. Hishuman blood into individual groups
discussion of bullet wounds is one will undoubtedly become as common

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Legal Medicine

Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,

cisms and suggestions. Typical of lice personnel have been adopted.

in the United States,

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