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Lorsqua ki documam aat trap grand pour Atra raprodult an un saul cllehd, ii aat film* i partir da I'angia aupMaur gaueha, da gaucha i droita, at da haut an baa, an pranant la nombra d'imagaa nAcaaaaira. Laa diagrammas suivants illuatrant la mithoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 . w 'i ON THE MEDICO-LEGAL APPLICATION OF ENTOMOLOGY. BT WYATT JOHNSTON, M.D, and GEO. VILLENEUVE, M.D. {JUprinted from the MontretU Medical Jourtwl, Auguit, 1897.) l ilt ir iir 11 1 ■ 1 1 1 I ' i i iiiiiiiiitiaaigijujjiimjjjjgy i^IL^ ON THE MEDICO-LEGAL APPLICATION OF ENTOMOLOGY.' BY Wtatt Johnston, M.D., and Geo. Villeneuvb, M.D., Montreal. The remarkable results of M^gnin's' studies on cadaveric fauna have made medico-legal entomology part of the regular stock-in- trade of the medical expert. One may now judge from the animal fauna met with in a dead body how long it has been exposed. The creation of this special department of legal evidence is an honour which belongs to M^gnin alone, although prior to him, Bergeret' had already made some practical applications based on the erroneous views current at the time. Through the publishing of his Faune des Cadavres, the popularisa- tion of the subject has been greatly furthered, though the subdivision of the stages in the process of destruction into 8 successive stages is perhaps less easy to comprehend than the simpler classification pre- viously adopted with 4 stages. The result of over 15 years experience at the Paris morgue, dur- ing which period M. Megnin had been entrusted with all the expertises requiring a knowledge of entomology, has been, according to Professor Brouardel*, entirely satisfactory. Often the conclusions which he had arrived at from the examination of a few debris and insects were borne out in the most striking manner by the subsequent course of the case. Sometimes the mystery was never cleared up. But in no single instance did the results of the inquiry go to show that M. M^gnin's deductions were erroneous. There is something almost uncanny in the way which M. Megnin could state for instance after examining a few bones and some dust that a murder had been committed during the latter part of February of the year before last — and then be absolutely justified by the dying confession of the sus- pected party. The chief danger to be feared from M^gnin's imitators 1 Bead before the Canadian Medical Association, Montreal, August, 1896. P. Megnin Faune des Cadavres, Paris, 1804, Gazette Hebdom. de Mdd. et de Chirurg., July 20, 1883 ; La Faune des Tombeaux, 1887. Annales d'Hygiene, 1855, Tome IV., p. 404. * La Mort Subite, 1894, p. 99 ; L'Infanticide, 1896, p. 141, is that they might tend to indulge in gueRses having no very solid basis and to apply rules to countries and climates where they were inapplicable. We considered that before any safe deductions can be made in the case of Canada a number of comparative observations must be made to show ^how far the data obtained from French fauna hold good here. It is very much to be regretted that in addition to giving the generalisations and medico-legal applications made by him, M. M^gnin has not also given us the assistance of his numerous observations which underlie these deductions, that we may know a,ccurately the degree of variation of dates actually met with under definite condi- tions of experiment. For convenience we have arranged in tabular form the dates which Megnin assigns for different fauna to attack the body, as far as these can be determined from the literature above mentioned, though, of course, considerable latitude must continually be allowed for varia- tions, and for this tabulation M. Megnin is not personably respon- sible. The principle is that the products formed at different epochs in the progress of decomposition attract certain forms 'and repel others. The typical course of events shown by the table may be summarised as follows : While the body is still fresh it attracts the diptera Musca, Curtonevra and Galliphora. After decomposition has set in, the flesh flies Lucilia and Sarcophaga are attracted. Later, when fatty acids are formed, the body is invaded by the beetle Dermeatea and by the moth Agloaaa (this latter we have never met with in our Cana- dian observations, but it is apparently very common in France). Later Pj/Ofhila of the diptera and Necrohia of the coleoptra appear, as the condition becomes caseous. After this comes a period of ammoniacal decomposition marked by liquefaction of the tissues into a blackish pulp, during which stage a group of coleoptera, Necrophoi^s, SUpha, Hister and Saprinua are met with, as well as the diptera Ophyra, Thyre) Pyophiln* Anthomyia. (C) Necrobia {Cornytea). (D) Thureophora. Ophira* Lonchea, Plioru. (C) Necropfiorua. Silplia* Ulster' Sapriniia* (A) Uropoda. Trachynotua. Tyroalyphua: Over 3 years. Olycipluigua. Serafor. (L) Agloaaa. Ttneola. (C) Attagentta Anthrenua. (C) Tenebt'io. Pthma. FAUNA OF BURIED BODIES. Before- Burial After Burial.. (D) Calliphora*, Cyrtoneura. (1>) Ophira*, Phora. (C) Pliilontea*, Rhizophagxia. (T) Aehorutea,'Tempietonif' . (The genera marked * in the table are those met with by ourselves.) MD) Diptera, . undulatus, C Necro- bia = Ematua ruficollia, C '/. coerideua,— violacena. O Necrophora (foasor), inter- ruptua, O N. humator, O {Silpha littoralia) — Asholus littoralia, C S. obacura, A [S. nuviboracenaia], C Hiater cadaverinua, A If. fuidnttm, C Sapt-inua rotiindafua, A [5. w fi T - eo - 70 — te _ 50 40 «-■ .1 30 JO *■■' 10 ^ '* - Fill Paris '. 1. 1 N.B .- «AM ft« MA« AW HAY 4Nt MlT AUC «!• Oct NOV ote 1 r eo TO / A "*" ^, ^.^ '>'■ »A ■!;,: H .50 / / t fS' 40 .r,. r -} i* ^^ > .% v ,*■■ J ^, «•». ^ 20 i— 10 bMUM ■ ^ r-- f^ .^ »■■■ f / H *''4 40 _a&AI / % , 1 iV> «- ■:»^ / V \ '*■• JO *••' / \ \, 10 f-^ X ^ ■ «*N »»» MA« *»« MAI iHl Aim 80 710 6o » • .^ .10 t 1 >*^ 40 « ,. ..«.. r--f- -V ;^ •»' x' 30 20 10 o bal 1 f Manl. Sol 4^ lOll.. — V\f(. 1. Montlily iiieiinH of iilr temperature at Montreal Paris and Greenwich N.B.— The fhartsare nut drawn tjuite accurately as to scale. FIk, 2. Monthly means of soil tenipc in. Paris 24 in. and G t\% M*« «*« MAY «Hl «uk,4m1. >••*•* »lh . _ lonthly means of Moil tenipemture at Montreal 40 iris 24 fn. and Greenwich 38 in A) r' .*■■ V ^ i|«*» > 20 i- 10 bMlCM }^»<4- S«li- — 1 FIr. 3. Monthly meann of Noil temperature at Montreal 1 in. Purls 2 in. and Greenwich 1 in a .'immmm •,.*,«waaBWBW-ir«v,:w 80th, a good index of soil heat, is 65 at Montreal and less than 5H at Paris. From the tracings it will be seen that the mean air tempera- ture at Montreal is slightly higher than that at Paris during the summer. The relative humidity in sumnier is 72 at Montreal and 71 at Paris. Our fauna were all obtained from the vicinity of Montreal. 1 i Air TEMPERATrHE °Fahr., Monthly Means. • Soil Temperature °Fahr. Monthly Means. Mon- treal. Paris. Green- wich. Mon- treal at 40 in. Paris [It 24 in. Green- wich, at 38 in. Mon- treal at 1 in. Paris &t2in. Green- wich at lin. January . . . 12 20 38 30 37 40 28 35 30 February . . 16 40 30 30 38 41 30 30 40 March 24 45 42 30 45 41 32 40 39 April 40 50 47 40 30 44 54 52 45 May 54 55 53 48 55 49 08 01 51 June 04 03 00 60 03 57 78 04 03 July 07 07 03 02 04 05 79 08 08 August ... . 00 05 02 02 04 04 74 fiO on September. 58 50 58 57 02 00 04 01 57 October 40 51 51 52 57 53 50 54 47 November . 33 43 43 45 50 47 38 40 42 December . 18 38 41 40 41 40 31 38 39 Annual Mean... 41-8 520 500 470 520 50-3 51-8 51-8 49 5 It was suggested to us that the relatively rapid growth and dovel • lopment of the Canadian flora might be associated with a correspond- ing rapid evolution of the fauna as compared with those of Europe . This we did not find to be the case with the individual insect forms studied. We did find, however, that the successions of insect forms occurred in a shorter time on exposed bodies than we had expected from Megnin's statements. On the other hand we found that the order of the successions fol- lowed the rules laid down by M^gnin. In our comparatively small number of observations, out of the 23 * The soil temperatures for Montreal are from observations by H. L. Callender and C. H. McLeod, Pro. Roy. Soc. Canada, 1895 and 1090. The soil temperatures for Paris are from ol)servation by E. and H. Bequercl, Comptes Reiidues, IK**}, Tome 90, ji. 11(H>. All temperatures were taken beneath turf. For simplicity they arc expressed by the nearest whole numlier of degrees Fahr. The variations from the monthly means average 1° to 4° Falir. genera indicated by him, as characteristic of exposures up to one year, we have met* with 11, and 5 of the 12 remaining arc rare on this continent. We have only encountered two which he does not men- tion. These were 'Irox and Omoeita, both rare in France, although necrophagous. The diptera characteristic < f the" first and second periods were found by us regularly on bodies exposed during the warm months, and were not found during the cold weather, unless the \yody had been pre- viously kept for some time indoors. An exception worth noting was met with in the case of a patient who escaped from an asylum on February 22, 1896, while the fields were covered with snow. The body was found on April 20, 1896, in a snowy spot in a field, and showed about the eyes and nostrils numerous small white larvre, which on hatching out, proved to be those of Calliphora Erythrocephala. It is true that the development and hatching of the pupse had not taken place. A knowledge of the period of the year at which breeding of the different insect forms takes place is of the utmost importance in determining the dates. A deduction not mentioned by M^gnin, which we have repeatedly found of practical use, is that if empty dipterous puparia are present, the date of exposure may be reckoned as not less than one month, while the absence of empty puparia indicates an exposure of not over one month in warm weather. Our observations conform with M^gnin's as to the order of the suc- cessions. Thus whenever acari were found, it was evirlent that Silpha and Hister had preceded th'jm. Pyophila was only seen w^hen saponifi- cation of the fat was well marked. Dermeatea was seen earlier in the saponification period, but never in the preliminary decomposition. GaUiphora and LucUia were the forms met with up to the end of the first month in cases where the dates were accurately established- Where the exposure lasted a few days only, Lucilia was absent. Our failure to find such forms as Attegenus, Anthrenua, Tenebrio and Ptinus, taken in connection with the fact that none of the obser- vations reached the time limit at which they were found by M^gnin, is also confirmatory of his statements. In one case where the date of exposure Wfis definitely fixed at five weeks, these forms were absent, although the bones of the skull were laid bare and the cervical vertebrae were stripped of their flesh and disarticulated. The in- ecjuality of the destruction in different parts of the body was striking in this case, for the state of the abdominal organs was so entirely free from decomposition that an analysis for arsenic was made, with nega- tive results. ^^ MM. Whenever possible we br i^he larvae in order to determine the time necessary for the cour; :e cycle. This was not found in any case to be lower than that given by Megnin. It was found to be extremely difficult to obtain more than two generations. Unfortu- nately the pamphlet of instructions for practical entomological work, published by the Washington Bureau of Entomology was not obtained in time to adopt its valuable suggestions in our earlier observations. In a case in which one of us (V.) was summoned as an expert, the nature of the fauna present afforded much valuable information. Early in May, 1895, the body of an unknown man was found dead in a lonely spot, with a bullet hole in the skull. There existed an ad- vanced state of adipocere transformation, and in places the bones were partly bare. The body and clothes were swarming with small white larvae which, from their characteristic skipping action, were thought to be those of Pyophila casei, and which on being hatched out subsequently proved to be so. In addition, the body and the clothing were literary covered with large dipterous larvae and empty pupa cases. These we were not able to identify satisfactorily. No acari or coleoptera were found. The assumption of the police that the man had been murdered during the tvinter in a house near by was disproved by the evidence of abundant diptera, placing the date of exposure back to some time during the warm weather of the pre- ceding summer or autumn. Following this clue, information was obtained which resulted in the body being identified as that of an individual who had been seen in the vicinity during the harvest season of the previous year and who was known to have a revolver in his possession. The subsequent finding of a revolver near where the body lay strengthened the original opinion of the medical examiner that the case was one of suicide. In another case the body of a new-born male infant, found under some loose planks in the floor of a bath-room and directly over the kitchen ceiling in April, 1895, was sent to one of us (3) for examina- tion with the statement that if the testimony of the witnesses was correct it must have been placed there on a certain night, 5 weeks previous. The supposed mother, a servant in the family had been noticed by strangers to have a suspicious degree of abdominal enlarge- ment, though her mistress stated that she had not noticed this. After the night in question this enlargement suddenly vanished and the girl was noticed to be out of sorts for a few days. Her fellow servant who occupied the same room said that the accused had gone to the bath-room in the night " to change her socks " and had come back covered with blood. Marks of a copious bloody discharge were found I i [HI on her bedding and on her under-garments when seized by the police a month later. Unfortunately a proper vaginal examination was not consented to at the time of the inquest, though we learned subse- quently that she allowed herself at the request of Coroner McMahon to be examined by a midwife, who claimed to have found a condition indi- cating recent parturition. There appeared to be no moral doubt that she had been pregnant and confined in reality at the time alleged, the only question being as to the identity of the child. The l)ody when received for examination was in an advanced state of decomposition and was swarming with Dermestes lardarius in both adult and larval stages, as well as large numbers of Calliphora erylhrocephala larvae and puparia of which a number were empty and some of the adult flies were found inside the coffin on opening it after it had contained the body for a few hours. The body was found on examination to be in an advanced state of decomposition. It exhaled a strong odour like that of old cheese, and the surface showed extensive pitting from the attacks of the insects. No microscopic or other evidence of acari could be found. The advanced state of decom- position made any decided opinion as to the cause of death impossible. The decomposition of the lungs was relatively far advanced, pointing to the probability of live-birth, but too far to let the question be decided positively. No marks of violence of the severer forms, alone recognis- able under the circumstances, existed. The infant was between the 8th month and full term. There were no signs of its having been cared for. Here we had the anomaly of very positive evidence of witnesses pointing to less than 5 weeks as the time elapsed since death, while on the other hand the state of the body, which according io M^gnin, the only authority on the subject, would require at least 3 months under favourable conditions for its production. The abundance of Calliphora did not correspond either with what is met with in early spring and in no other cases of one month's exposure have we ever pei'sonally met with the conditions found in this case. On the other hand the position of the body between the floors and over the kitchen was one likely to favour the drying which is so favourable to the Dei'mestes. Some experiments we made with the bodies of new-born infants showed that for the first month the Dermestes could not be induced to attack a body, but at the end of the second month they would do so. This latter period was the minimum and was only obtained in a dry atmosphere. The presence of the fatty acids in the vernix caseosa was thought of as a possible factor tending to hasten matters, but under experimental conditions it did not appear to make much difference. :r^7f&;ts^ns. tm mm ^mmS'.:' The contradiction between the medical evidence and the theory of the prosecution was pointed '^ut at the preliminary examination, but the case came to trial with the result that the prisoner was acquitted. In this case the circumstances were apparently contradictory of Megnin's views but the material facts were not established so as to exclude doubt In another case where the body of an old woman was found lying in a field in August, 1895, there was extensive decomposition and the fatty tissues showed the adipocere change. The integument, where exposed, was parchmented and the bones of the upper extremity were exposed in places. As far as could be ascertained the body had been exposed since the middle of April making an interval of a little over four months. The insects present in this case were the diptera Galli- phora erythrocephala, Lurilia ccesar and Pyophila casei ; with the coleoptera S'dpha noviboracensis, Omosita colon, Hister fcedatus, Trux unistriatus and Saprinus assimilis. In addition there were in parts ot the body large numbers of acari not fully determined by the experts to whom they were referred but which belonged to the genus Tyroglyphus. The finding in this case is decidedly what one might expect accord- ' ing to Megnin as regards the forms present, though they appeared as already stated at an earlier date than he would assign. The presence of two forms not mentioned by him, Trox and Omosita is not evi- dence against the correctness of his statements as these forms are said to be rare in Europe. Megnin's method of computing the time interval by the number of individuals found and the proportion of males and females, though one of the earliest means employed by him appears to have a less solid foundation, as the number of individuals first having access cannot be positively known. In the case of buried bodies our examinations have been confired to a few examinations for medico-legal purposes and are not numer- ous enough to be of any statistical value. We found that in these cases Philonthus politus was invariably present. Rhizophagua was not met wii/h. Other forms were extremely scanty except in the cases - where the bodies had been kept for a few days in the warm weathei- before burial and as might be expected showed abundance of diptera, mostly Galliphora. Some very interesting observations made by Dr. Murray Motter on buried bodies in Washington, D.C.,which will be published shortly, have been in part privately communicated to us. They show the fauna of buried bodies at Washington to be much more varied and numer« i I 10 ous than would be anticipated from M^gnin's statements as to France. The importance of comparing the results in different localities is of course very great, and we venture to think that the soil temperature may prove a better index of what may be anticipated than can be had from the atmospheric conditions of climate and temperature, both as to exposed and buried bodies. Conclusions. — It appears certain that ol»servations and experiments upon exposed human bodies should be made in the particular locality before the present entomological data can be directly applied to legal medicine, In the vicinity of Montreal it seems probable that the deviations will be in degree rather than in kind, and concern species rather than genera. As a whole, the statements as to the fact of suc- cessions occurring and as to the general order of these successions are likely to be strengthened by further observations. Experiments with animal bodies, other than human, are apt to misleading, and adverse results under such circumstances have not very much signi- ficance. The time limits, however, apparently require modifications for the particular locality. We know very little at present as to the difference in habit of different species of the same genera. We have to thank Messrs. Sclj^wartz, Coquilette and Banks, of the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, as well siA Professor Fletcher, of Ottawa, for having kindly determined species of diptera and coleoptera for us, Mr. A. F. Winn, of Montreal, for information as to the occur- rence of North American species and Prof. C. H. McLeod, for inform - tion as to meteorology. Especially we have to thank Dr. M. G. Motter, of Washington, for very valuable assistance, as well as for information as to his personal results with the fauna of buried bodies. i "1