EVIDENCE FROM PURULENT DISCHARGES.

439

addition to other cases reported, Geoghegan communicated to the author one which was the subject of a trial at the Liverpool Winter Assizes of 1862. A boy, aged seventeen, committed a rape on two children, one aged eight years, and the other ten years; he then attempted to commit a rape on a third girl, aged eleven years. These crimes were perpetrated in about half an hour, during which time he was alone with the children. He was convicted of felony for rape on the youngest child, and sentenced to four years' penal servitude.

With respect to marks of violence on the person, the exact form, position, and extent of these should be noticed; because a false accusation of rape may be sometimes detected by the violence being in a situation in which it was not probable that the ravisher would have produced it. When bruises are found, the presence or absence of the usual zones of colour may occasionally throw light upon the time at which the alleged assault was committed. As these marks of violence on the person are not likely to have been produced with the concurrence of the girl, they are considered to furnish some proof of the intercourse having been against her will. But the physical appearances of rape about the genital organs may be found, whether the connection has been voluntary or involuntary. Thus a recent rupture of the hymen, laceration or bruising of the vagina with effusion of coagula of blood, swelling and inflammation of the vulva, and stains of blood upon the person, dress, or furniture may be met with in both cases. The question of consent in these cases is of great importance. It is generally alleged as a defence, and a medical man will find himself compelled to answer this question :-Are the marks of violence found on the genital organs no more than you would expect to find in a girl who had really given consent? A man with a wooden leg (his left leg having been amputated at the thigh) was charged with rape on a girl, æt. 15. She was examined soon after the violence, and the labia were found very much swollen, bruised, and inflamed. In addition to these appearances on the genital organs, there were the marks of bruises over the right chest, breast, and shoulder. The man alleged that the girl gave her consent, whereupon the following question arose- -Could such appearances as you have described about the labia have been produced by connection with consent? A reply was given by the medical witness which left the matter in question doubtful. The condition of the genital organs and the marks of violence on the body in this case were adverse to the theory of consent; but in expressing an opinion under such circumstances it must be remembered that, from the difference in the size of the organs of an adult male and a girl of fifteen years of age, it is hardly probable that intercourse with consent could take place without causing subsequent swelling and inflammation of the labia and vagina. In making an examination, the greatest care should be taken by the practitioner to fix, at the time of examination, a probable date for the marks of injury to the genitals or other parts of the body, as it is by the aid of such observations that the truth or falsity of a charge may be sometimes clearly established.

Girls and unmarried young women are liable to muco-purulent discharges from the vagina, as a result of which the hymen may be destroyed. This kind of discharge arises from inflammation of the vagina (vaginitis, p. 433, ante), and it has been observed to follow an attack of scarlatina. When it exists, its real cause requires the closest scrutiny. (See 'Med. Gaz.' vol. 46, p. 65.) At a more advanced age, young women are frequently subject to leucorrhoea. These cases are not likely to be mistaken for gonorrhoea; as here the female has it in her power to give some account of the circumstances, from which a medical opinion may be easily formed. It is possible, however, that a woman labouring under leucorrhoea may charge a

man with the crime of rape, and affirm that this discharge had arisen from the act of the man. An inflamed and partially ulcerated (aphthous) state of the lining-membrane of the vulva may apparently give support to the accusation. The discharge in leucorrhoea is of a mucous nature (see illustration, page 436, fig. 175)—that of gonorrhoea is of a purulent character -see the same page, fig. 176 (1); but purulent discharges may take place from the vagina as the result of intense inflammation, and quite irrespective of impure intercourse. (Chelius's Surgery,' by South, vol. 1, p. 160.) It would be impossible to distinguish such discharges from those of gonorrhoea; while a leucorrhoeal discharge under great inflammatory action may resemble that of gonorrhoea. Such discharges commencing before, but continuing, and sometimes becoming aggravated, after marriage, have given rise to unfounded suspicions of infection from venereal disease imparted by the husband, and have thus led to suits of divorce. In a case reported by Legneau a young married woman suffered from a discharge which was pronounced by a medical man whom she consulted to be gonorrhoeal. This led to an application for a divorce. A further examination by other medical practitioners, with a complete history of the symptoms from which she had suffered, led to the conclusion that she was labouring under severe leucorrhoea when she was married, and that this was followed by granular vaginitis which accounted for the muco-purulent discharge. (Ann. d'Hyg.' 1870, 2, p. 192.)

The power of distinguishing gonorrhoeal or syphilitic discharges from ordinary purulent discharges has been much debated in reference to the examination of women under the Contagious Diseases Acts. Lee has especially called attention to this subject. In a case which occurred under his own observation a free purulent discharge from the vagina, with a reddened and inflamed mucous membrane, led him to believe that it was derived from gonorrhoeal infection; but a week afterwards the inflammation had disappeared, the mucous membrane was of its usual colour, and the discharge not more than natural. This caused him to reverse his opinion, and to congratulate himself that he had not unjustly accused the patient. (Lancet,' 1873, 1, p. 218.)

False charges of rape may be easily set up by girls at the age of puberty. The falsehood of the charge may, however, be generally elicited by a careful examination of the prosecutrix, as in the following case. A schoolmaster was charged (Swansea Lent Ass. 1869) with having committed a rape on a girl of 13 years of age. The child was unusually precocious for her age, and swore very distinctly to a rape having been completed. She made no complaint, however, for a week or ten days. On examination there was no mark of violence about her either recent or remote. The girl's story was inconsistent, and not supported by evidence. On cross-examination she said the prisoner committed the rape while they were standing up. The girl was short, and the prisoner, who was sixty years of age, was tall. She was quite sure that she was never placed on the ground. She resisted all she could, but could not help herself. Her statements of the mode in which the act was perpetrated, involved so many inconsistencies and improbabilities that the jury rejected it, and acquitted the prisoner.

Defloration. Signs of virginity.-It will be necessary to say a few words respecting the signs of virginity-a subject upon which, in some medicolegal works, a great amount of poetical discussion appears to have been wasted. Independently of cases of rape, this question may occasionally assume a practical bearing in relation to the signs of defloration. In civil cases a medical witness may be asked whether a woman has ever had intercourse or not; and proof of the fact may be necessary in order to confirm

THE SIGNS OF VIRGINITY.

441

or rebut statements made by her in evidence. The question may be not whether a female has had a child, for this would resolve itself into a proof whether delivery had or had not taken place, but may be limited to the probability or possibility of intercourse on her part, at some antecedent period. Now, a medical jurist, when consulted in such a case, can only be guided by the presence or absence of the external signs of virginity. The hymen may be intact, but this does not prove non-intercourse, because females have been known to conceive with the hymen uninjured; and an operation for a division of this membrane has been frequently rendered necessary before delivery could take place. (Henke's 'Zeitschr. der S. A.' 1843, 2, p. 149.) Two cases of impregnation without rupture of the hymen. are reported. (New Orleans Med. Gaz.' June, 1858, pp. 217, 220.) The hymen in each case required to be divided to allow of the delivery of the child. Another case is reported. (Amer. Jour. Med. Sc.' April, 1859, p. 576.) These facts may be explained by the membrane being hard and resisting, and at the same time small in extent, i.e. only partially closing the vagina. Under opposite conditions, the persistence of this membrane might fairly lead to the inference that the female was chaste, and that there had been no intercourse; but the hymen may be destroyed by ulceration, as a result of inflammation of the genital organs. When the membrane has been thus destroyed by disease or other causes, or when it is congenitally absent, a medical opinion must be more or less conjectural; for one intercourse could hardly so affect the capacity of the vagina, as to render the fact evident through life, and there is no other datum upon which an opinion could be based. The presence of the hymen is of course incompatible with the assumption that the female has borne a child. A question of this kind incidentally arose in Frazer v. Bagley (Common Pleas, Feb. 1844). It was alleged by defendant that the plaintiff, a married man, had had adulterous intercourse with a young woman, and that at an antecedent period she had left her home for the purpose of giving birth to a child privately. Ashwell deposed that, in his opinion, the woman was a virgin, and had never had a child. In spite of this evidence, the jury returned a verdict for the defendant. It is possible, however, that abortion may take place at the early periods of pregnancy, without the necessary destruction of the hymen. (See Henke's Zeitschr.' 1844, 1, p. 259.)

The question may become of importance not only as it may affect the reputation of a female, but the credibility and character of the person who makes the imputation of a want of chastity. In 1845, a gentleman was brought to a Court-Martial on a charge of having deliberately and falsely asserted that on several occasions he had had connection with a native woman. This was denied by the woman, and evidence was adduced to show that she had still what is commonly regarded as the main sign of virginity, namely, an unruptured hymen. In consequence of this, the gentleman was found guilty, and cashiered. The woman was at the time about to be married, and this rendered the investigation all the more important to her. A surgeon, who examined the girl, deposed that he found the membrane of a semilunar form, and tensely drawn across the vagina; and his evidence was corroborated by that of a midwife. The inculpated person took up a double line of defence-1st, that the examination of the woman was incomplete; and 2nd, that the hymen, if present, would not justify the witness in saying that intercourse could not possibly have taken place. On the first point, it is unnecessary here to make a remark; but it appeared, from their own admissions, that the witnesses had never before examined women with this particular object. Assuming that there was no mistake, it became a question whether non-intercourse

could in such a case be inferred from the presence of the membrane. Fruitful intercourse, it is well known, may take place without rupture of the hymen. Some instances of this kind were referred to at the CourtMartial; but such cases are usually regarded as of an exceptional nature. The real question is, whether, unless the hymen be in an abnormal state, intercourse can possibly occur between young and active persons without a rupture of this membrane. Intercourse is not likely to be confined, under these circumstances, to a mere penetration of the vulva. The membrane in this woman is stated to have been tensely drawn across the canal, and it was not tough; it was therefore in a condition to render it most easy for rupture. In the case of an old man, or of one of weak virile power, vulval intercourse might be had without destroying the membrane; but such a case could only be decided by the special circumstances which accompanied it. The presence of the unruptured hymen affords a presumptive but not an absolute proof that the woman is a virgin; and if the membrane is of ordinary size and shape, and in the ordinary situation, it shows clearly that, although attempts at intercourse may have been made, there can have been no vaginal penetration. Admitting the statements of the examiners to be correct, it is improbable that this woman had had sexual intercourse several times, or even on one occasion.

In the case of Delafosse v. Fortescue (Exeter Lent Ass. 1853), which involved an action for defamation of character, the plaintiff, a married man, æt. 64, had been charged with committing adultery with a certain woman. Several witnesses for the defendant positively swore that they had seen these persons in carnal intercourse. This was denied by the plaintiff; and, as an answer to the case, medical evidence was tendered to the effect that the woman with whom the adulterous intercourse was alleged to have taken place had been examined, and the hymen was found intact. In cross-examination, however, this was admitted not to be a conclusive criterion of virginity, and a verdict was returned for the defendant. The form and situation of the hymen in this case were not described; but it is to be presumed that these were not such as to constitute a physical bar to intercourse, or this would have been stated by the medical witness. Hence the existence of the membrane was not considered to disprove the allegations of eye-witnesses. In Scotland this kind of medical evidence is not admissible. A wife sued the husband for divorce, on the ground, inter alia, that he had committed adultery with C. In defence the defendant denied the adultery, and adduced C. as a witness, who swore that such connection had never taken place. She also swore that she had submitted to an inspectio corporis by Simpson. The defendant then proposed to examine Simpson, that he might speak to the result of his examination. He argued that this was the best evidence that he could adduce in support of his innocence, as if the girl was still a virgin the adultery alleged could not have been committed. The Court refused to admit the evidence, on the ground that the evidence proposed was merely that of an opinion from the professor; that other medical men might differ from him in opinion, even from the same observations; and that, as the Court could not compel C. to submit to another examination, the proposed evidence must be considered ex parte and inadmissible. (Sessions Cases, Edin. Feb. 11, 1860.) In Hunt v. Hunt a verdict was obtained at common-law against the alleged paramour in a case of adultery, and the damages were assessed at 501. It was subsequently proved that the lady was virgo intacta. So long as there are facts which show that women have actually conceived with the hymen still in its normal state, it is inconsistent to apply the term 'virgo intacta' to women merely because this membrane is found entire. A woman may assuredly have an unruptured hymen, and yet not be a virgo intacta. This

can only be decided by the special circumstances proved in each case. Such virgines intacte have frequently required the assistance of accoucheurs, and in due time have been delivered of children. (Amer. Jour Med. Sc.' Ap. 1873, p. 560.) A similar question arose in Reg. v. Harmer (C. C. C. June, 1872). The prisoner was indicted for perjury. He was a waiter at a tavern, and being called as a witness in a divorce suit, swore that he had seen one of the parties in adulterous intercourse on more than one occasion. The lady with whom the adultery was alleged to have been committed, denied this on oath, and Lee and another medical expert gave evidence that they had examined this lady, and found her to be a virgo intacta. The Recorder, in summing up, told the jury that this evidence was of the highest importance, and it was for them to consider whether it was sufficient to satisfy them of the guilt of the prisoner. He was found guilty.

CHAPTER 87.

RAPE ON ADULTS-ON MARRIED WOMEN-CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH IT MAY BE PERPETRATED ON ADULT WOMEN-LOSS OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE-PREGNANCY FOLLOWING RAPE-MICROSCOPICAL EVIDENCE-EVIDENCE OF VIOLATION IN THE DEAD BODY.

RAPE ON ADULTS.

THE remarks already made apply generally to married women, with this difference, that when a woman has already been in habits of sexual intercourse, there is commonly much less injury done to the genital organs. The hymen will, in these cases, be found destroyed and the vulva dilated. Still, as the intercourse is presumed to be against the consent of the woman, it is most likely that when there has been a proper resistance, some injury will be apparent on the pudendum; and there will be also, probably, extensive marks of violence on the body and limbs. These cases are generally determined without medical evidence by the deposition of the woman, corroborated, as it should always be, by circumstances. This statement regarding the presence of marks of violence on the pudendum of a married woman, on whom a rape is alleged to have been committed, requires some qualification. In two cases of rape on married women, in which the crime was completed in spite of the resistance of the women, there were no marks of violence on the genital organs in either case. In one (Reg. v. Owen and others, Oxford Cir. 1839), it appears that while an accomplice held the head of the woman with her face downwards between his thighs, the prisoner had forcible intercourse with her from behind,-her thighs having been first widely separated. In the second case an accomplice held the woman down on a bed by her neck, while the prisoner separated her thighs, and thus had intercourse with her. She was examined nine hours afterwards by an experienced surgeon, and he found no mark or trace of violence on or anywhere near her pudendum. There were bruises on her arms, neck, and legs, where she had been forcibly held down. In each of these cases, it will be seen that the woman had not to struggle with a single assailant; and there can be no doubt that if a married woman is rendered powerless by many persons being combined against her, or if she is rendered insensible by intoxicating drinks or narcotic vapours, a rape may be perpetrated, without any injury whatever to the genital organs. A separation of the thighs in a married woman will cause such a dilatation