ABSTRACT
Most studies on fracture morphology of fresh or dry bones, specifically skull bones, have a limited focus, and they are often based on observations rather than experimental tests. This study characterized pig cranial fractures sustained under known impact conditions. An impact machine (mobile carriage guided by columns) was used to perform a fracture on each skull. Impacts were performed at the same energy level on fresh and dry bones, with two types of impactor: a sharp striker (n = 50) and a blunt striker (n = 50). We found distinct features under different conditions, including osseous flakes on fresh bones, 90° fracture angles on dry bones, and more fractures with greater fragmentation on dry bones. These features highlighted the effects of time on perimortem fracture characteristics and the importance of bone storage conditions in the study of fracture genesis.
Subject(s)
Postmortem Changes , Skull Fractures/pathology , Animals , Desiccation , Forensic Pathology , Head Injuries, Closed/pathology , Head Injuries, Penetrating/pathology , Models, Animal , Specimen Handling , SwineSubject(s)
Hospitals, Psychiatric/history , Mentally Ill Persons/history , Adult , Cause of Death , France , History, 20th Century , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , World War II , Young AdultSubject(s)
Human Rights/history , Human Rights/legislation & jurisprudence , Legislation, Hospital/history , France , History, 18th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Hospitals, Psychiatric/history , Hospitals, Psychiatric/legislation & jurisprudence , Humans , Inpatients/history , Inpatients/legislation & jurisprudence , Safety/legislation & jurisprudenceABSTRACT
The psychiatric hospitals run by the French "Départements", which were created under the Law of 30 June 1838, in the past constituted places of exclusion, as the life of their inmates would often come to an end inside the institution itself. Therefore, the asylums often held their own "cemeteries of the lunatics", as a number of defuncts would not be claimed by their families. The present study describes the history of the Centre hospitalier de Cadillac-sur-Garonne (Département de la Gironde) and of its cemetery of the insane. Used from 1922 to 2000, this cemetery has today 895 visible tombs, containing 898 defuncts, 161 being anonymous and 737 being identified by nominative plates (638 men, 110 women). Most often they are burial places in open ground topped by a simple iron cross. The study of the Cadillac registers of deaths, communal as well as in the hospital, let us believe that, in fact, more than 2000 patients rest in this cemetery which is forgotten by the Authorities and has been seriously deteriorated. The end of the confinement into a mental hospital caused the cemetery falling into disuse. All that asks us a question about the way Society, in times past, treated the many patients deceased in the French psychiatric hospitals, especially during the Second World War.
Subject(s)
Cemeteries/history , Hospitals, Psychiatric/history , Female , History, 20th Century , Humans , Male , Mentally Ill Persons/historyABSTRACT
In his famous "Questions" Paul Zacchias (1584-1659) deals with the medico-legal problem of invalidation of sale of slaves or beasts of burden for concealed redhibitory defects. He analyzes the Roman right always used in his time but does not show any critical mind while he is only compiling and commenting the texts taken from the famous "Edit des Ediles curules". A listing of the redhibitory defects is opposed to the slight vices which do not justify the cancellation of the sale. What is unknown is whether the judge called for a medical appraisal about the reality of the defects, their physical or mental origins, their long-standing development.
Subject(s)
Commerce/history , Social Problems/history , Animals , Commerce/legislation & jurisprudence , Disease , History, 18th Century , Humans , Italy , Social Problems/legislation & jurisprudenceABSTRACT
After being condemned and imprisoned in Lisbon by the Portuguese Inquisition, Luis Mendes de Franca exiled himself in late 1683 to France, where his descendants adopted the family name Mendes France. In 1695, at the age of 55 years, Luis Mendes committed suicide in Bordeaux by a pistol shot that decapitated him. The inquest conducted at that time concluded that Luis Mendes was insane and thus not guilty of the crime of suicide. We hypothesize that he used a flint stone-type pistol loaded with an extraordinarily large quantity of black gunpowder. Using available information on historic firearms, ammunition, and powder, coupled with the preserved testimony of historic figures, we propose a reconstruction of this drama and a diagnostic approach to the psychiatric aspects of the suicide.
Subject(s)
Famous Persons , Suicide/history , Wounds, Gunshot/history , Forensic Ballistics/history , Forensic Pathology/history , France , History, 17th Century , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/history , Wounds, Gunshot/pathologyABSTRACT
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Renaissance was accompanied by a real cultural revolution in Europe and France. Montaigne, the Bordeaux humanist and writer, was highly involved in this movement, particularly by his thinking on medicine, physicians, and illness. The 2 forensic reports presented are the oldest known testimonies of forensic medical activity in Bordeaux in the 16th century. They concern a visit to prison in 1556 and the solemn transfer of the body of a man hanged in 1579. The authors also describe how necropsies were performed before 1573 in Bordeaux, the year in which medical studies were reformed. However, the first official teaching of forensic medicine in Bordeaux (Ecole Royale de Médecine) began only in 1814.
Subject(s)
Forensic Medicine/history , Education, Medical/history , France , Historiography , History, 16th Century , Humans , Prisons/history , Suicide/historyABSTRACT
The author first underlines that the international literature proves the following: 1) individuals who are ill or mentally handicapped present a higher risk of committing criminal acts than the general population; 2) mental disturbances are frequent in criminals. He emphasizes that the decrease in the number of beds in public psychiatric wards (units of ordinary hospitalization or for difficult patients) together with the increased penal responsibility of delinquents suffering from mental disturbances have led to a large increase in the number of the seriously mentally ill in prisons. It is therefore essential to reorganize the management of the dangerously mentally ill, both in psychiatric hospitals and in prisons. With regard to sexual offenders, the author expresses his regret that the French Law of 17 June 1998 provides for the mandatory treatment of offenders only once they have served their sentence and have left prison. He believes that the medical management of dangerous delinquents should begin as soon as they are arrested, if they have acknowledged their act and agree to receive medical care. Finally, the author concludes that the assessment of the foreseeable risk of dangerousness, violence and the relapse into crime should be subject to national standardized protocols and in-depth scientific research.
