Aids To Forensic Medicine And Toxicology Part 7

x.x.xIV.--IMPOTENCE AND STERILITY

In the male, impotence may arise from physical or mental causes. The physical causes may be--too great or too tender an age; malformation of the genital organs; _crypsorchides_, defect or disease in the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es; const.i.tutional disease (diabetes, neurasthenia, etc.); or debility from acute disease, as mumps. Masturbation, and early and excessive s.e.xual indulgence, are also causes. The mental causes include--pa.s.sion, timidity, apprehension, aversion, and disgust. The case will be remembered of the man who was impotent unless the lady were attired in a black silk dress and high-heeled French kid boots.

If a man is impotent when he marries, the marriage may be set aside on the ground that it had never been consummated. The law requires that the impotency should have existed _ab initio_--that is, before marriage--and should be of a permanent or incurable nature; marriage, as far as the law goes, being regarded as a contract in which it is presupposed that both the contracting parties are capable of fulfilling all the objects of marriage. In the case of the Earl of Ess.e.x the defendant admitted the charge as regards the Countess, but pleaded that he was not impotent with others, as many of her waiting-maids could testify. When a man becomes impotent _after_ marriage, his wife must accept the situation, and has no redress. A man may be _sterile_ without being impotent, but the law will not take cognizance of that. The wife may be practically impotent, but the law will not a.s.sist the husband. He must continue to do his best under difficult circ.u.mstances. In former times in case of doubt a husband was permitted to demonstrate his competency in open court, but this custom is no longer regarded with favour by the judges.

The removal of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es does not of necessity render a man impotent, although it deprives him of his procreative power. Eunuchs are capable of affording illicit pleasure, whilst the male sopranos, or _castrati_, are often utilized for that purpose.

In the female, impotence may be caused by the narrowness of the v.a.g.i.n.a, adhesion of the v.u.l.v.a, absence of v.a.g.i.n.a, imperforate hymen, and tumours of the v.a.g.i.n.a.

Sterility in women may occur from the above-named causes of impotence, together with absence of the uterus and ovaries, or from great debility, syphilis, constant amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, or menorrhagia.

x.x.xV.--RAPE

Rape is the carnal knowledge of a woman by force and against her will.

The resistance of the woman _must be_ to the utmost of her power, but if she yield through fear or duress it is still rape. The woman is a competent witness, but her statements may be impugned on the ground of her previous bad character, and evidence may be called to substantiate the charge. The perpetrator must be above the age of fourteen years.

The definition of rape which we have given is not altogether satisfactory. Take, for example, the case of a woman who goes to bed expecting her husband to return at a certain hour. The lodger, let us say, takes advantage of this fact, and, getting into bed, has connection with her, she not resisting, a.s.suming all the while that it is her husband. This is rape, but it is not 'by force,' and it is not 'against her will,' but it is 'without her consent,' as she has not been fully informed as to all the circ.u.mstances of the case.

In all cases of rape in which there is no actual resistance or objection, consent may be a.s.sumed. It is not essential that the woman should state in so many words that she does not object. The force used may be moral and not physical--_e.g._, threats, fear, horror, syncope.

By 48 and 49 Vict., c. 49, the carnal knowledge of a girl under thirteen is technically rape. The consent of the girl makes no difference, since she is not of an age to become a consenting party.

An attempt at carnal knowledge of a girl under thirteen is a misdemeanour. Her consent makes no difference, and even the solicitation of the act on the part of the child will not exonerate the accused.

Intercourse with a girl between thirteen and sixteen, even with her consent, is a misdemeanour.

This Act is a favourite with the blackmailer. The child is sent out to solicit, dressed like a woman, but appears in the witness-box in a much more juvenile costume.

To const.i.tute rape there must be _penetration_, but this may be of the slightest. There may be a sufficient degree of penetration to const.i.tute rape without rupturing the hymen. Proof of actual emission is now unnecessary.

The subject of carnal knowledge (C.K.) or its attempt may be summed up as follows:

Under thirteen C.K. Felony.

Under thirteen Attempt Misdemeanour.

Consent no defence.

From thirteen to sixteen C.K. Misdemeanour.

From thirteen to sixteen Attempt Misdemeanour.

Consent and even solicitation no defence.

Reasonable cause to believe the girl over sixteen is a good defence.

Charge must be brought within three months.

Over sixteen C.K. with consent Nil.

Subject to civil action for loss of girl's services by father.

Idiot or imbecile C.K. with violence Rape.

Idiot or imbecile C.K. without violence Misdemeanour.

Personation of husband Rape.

Tacit consent no defence, for obtained by fraud.

Married woman C.K. with consent Adultery.

Mother, sister, daughter, C.K. consent immaterial; Incest.

grand-daughter born in wedlock or not Females Indecent a.s.saults Misdemeanour.

It is a misdemeanour to give to a woman any drug so as to stupefy her, and so enable any person to have unlawful connection with her.

False charges of rape are very often made. The motive may be to extort blackmail, revenge, or mere delusion. On examining such cases bruises are seldom found, but scratches which the woman has made on the front of her body may be discovered, and the local injuries to the generative organs are slight, if present at all.

_Physical Signs._--In the adult the hymen may be ruptured, the fourchette lacerated, and blood found on the parts, together with scratches and other marks and signs of a struggle. In the child there may be no haemorrhage, but there will be indications of bruising on the external organs, with probably considerable laceration of the hymen, the laceration in some cases extending into the r.e.c.t.u.m. Severe haemorrhage, and even death, may follow the rape of a young child. The patient will have difficulty in walking, and in pa.s.sing water and faeces. After some hours the parts are very tender and swollen, and a sticky greenish-yellow discharge is present. These signs last longer in children than in adults; but as a rule--in the adult, at least--all signs of rape disappear in three or four days. Young and delicate children may suffer from a v.a.g.i.n.al discharge, with swelling of the external genitals, simulating an attempt at rape. Infantile leucorrhoea is common, and many innocent people have been exposed to danger from false charges of rape on children, inst.i.tuted as a means of levying blackmail. A knowledge of these facts suggests the necessity of giving a guarded opinion when children are brought for examination in suspected cases. Pregnancy may follow rape.

_Seminal stains_ render the clothing stiff and greyish-yellow in colour, with translucent edges. On being moistened they give the characteristic seminal odour.

s.e.m.e.n may be found on the linen of the woman and man, and will be recognized under the microscope by the presence in it of spermatozoa, minute filamentary bodies with a pear-shaped head; but it must not be forgotten that the non-detection of spermatozoa is no proof of absence of s.e.xual intercourse, for these bodies are not always present in the s.e.m.e.n of even healthy adult young men. Spermatozoa must not be mistaken for the _Trich.o.m.onas v.a.g.i.n.ae_ found in the v.a.g.i.n.ae of some women. The latter have cilia surrounding the head, which is globular.

_Florence's Micro-Chemical Test for Spermatic Fluid._--If a drop of the fluid obtained by wetting a supposed spermatic stain be mixed with a drop of the following solution (KI, parts 1.65; pure iodine, 2.54; distilled water, 30) in a watch-gla.s.s, brownish-red pointed crystals resembling haemin crystals are obtained.

_Barberio's Test._--Mix a drop of the spermatic stain with a drop of a saturated solution of picric acid, when needle-shaped yellow rhombic crystals are formed.

_Gonorrhoeal Stains._--A cover-gla.s.s preparation stained with methylene blue reveals the gonococci lying in pairs within the leucocytes.

x.x.xVI.--UNNATURAL OFFENCES

Trials for =sodomy= and =b.e.s.t.i.a.lity= are common at the a.s.sizes, but, as they are rarely reported, they fail to attract attention. Sodomy is a crime both in the active and pa.s.sive agent, unless the latter is a non-consenting party. The evidence of either a.s.sociated may be received as against his colleague. If the crime is committed on a boy under fourteen, it is a felony in the active agent only. As in cases of rape, emission is not essential, and penetration, however slight, answers all practical purposes.

There can be no doubt that in the majority of these cases there exists a congenitally abnormal condition of the s.e.xual instinct, these individuals from their childhood manifesting a perverted s.e.xual instinct. The man is physically a man, but psychically a woman, and _vice versa_. The tendency nowadays is not to charge these people with the more serious offence, but to deal with them under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885 (48 and 49 Vict., c. 69). This section, which is sufficiently comprehensive, runs as follows: 'Any male person who in public or private commits or is a party to the commission, or attempts to procure the commission by any male person, of any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.' The penalty is imprisonment for two years, with or without hard labour. It is provided by Section 4 of the same Act that a boy under sixteen may be whipped.

=Incest.=--This crime is dealt with under the Punishment of Incest Act, 1908 (8 Edward VII., c. 45). Carnal knowledge with mother, sister, daughter, or grand-daughter, is a misdemeanour, provided the relationship is known. It also applies to the half-brother and half-sister. It is equally an offence whether the relationship can or cannot be traced through lawful wedlock. Consent is no defence. A woman may be charged under the Act if she, being above the age of sixteen, with consent permits her grandfather, father, brother, or son, to have carnal knowledge of her.