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ON

THE UNCERTAINTY

OF

THE SIGNS OF MURDER

IN THE CASE OF

BASTARD CHILDREN.

BY THE LATE

WILLIAM HUNTER, M.D. F.R.S.

PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO THE QUEEN,

AND MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT PARIS.

London:
PRINTED FOR J. CALLOW, CROWN COURT,
PRINCES STREET, SOHO.

1818.




TO THE

_Members of the Medical Society_.

Read July 14, 1783.


GENTLEMEN,

In the course of the present year, one of our friends, distinguished by
rank, fortune, and science, came to me upon the following occasion: In
the country, he said, a young woman was taken up, and committed to jail
to take her trial, for the supposed murder of her bastard child.
According to the information which he had received, he was inclined to
believe, from the circumstances, that she was innocent; and yet,
understanding that the minds of the people in that part of the country
were much exasperated against her, by the popular cry of _a cruel and
unnatural_ murder, he feared, though innocent, she might fall a victim
to prejudice and blind zeal. What he wished, he said, was to procure an
unprejudiced enquiry. He had been informed that it was a