CSI - 1894 style

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:10 pm

These 2 items are from "A System Of Legal Medicine" by Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton, first published in 1894 and re-issued in 1900. Reference is made to the Borden case. This book can be downloaded in PDF is filled with forensic knowledge of the time and has many pages devoted to poisons. It is well over 600 pages. It can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/2gcsb5

kfactor · Post by **kfactor** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 8:32 pm

Thanks Harry!! Looks like a good read!!

doug65oh · Post by **doug65oh** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:28 pm

Hey Harry, if Dr. Frank Draper's middle name was "Winthrop" (and this is indeed our Dr. Frank W. Draper) he also authored a rather hefty tome titled A Text-Book of Legal Medicine. Although it was written several years after the trial - the date is 1905 - it too might be an interesting read. To find it, just do an isolated search on the google books page there for the phrase "Legal Medicine" (quotes intact). Doc Draper's book should be #2 in the list that comes up.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:15 am

Yes, Doug, Dr. Draper's middle name was Winthrop. I'll take a look at that book.

doug65oh · Post by **doug65oh** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:02 am

Draper's book is utterly fascinating - particularly because near the end of the book (the last chapter, actually) he discusses a medicolegal postmortem exam as against an ordinary postmortem. Granted, Draper wrote this book some twelve years after testifying at New Bedford, but it's stunning to think that medicolegal science might have advanced so farin the thirteen years elapsed elapsed between the Borden murders and the publication of Doctor Draper's book.

The methods are by today's standards probably a bit primitive, but the discussion generally has an extremely modern feel to it. (It's not horribly technical either, which is a plus too!)