_Lacerated wounds_ as a rule bleed less freely than those which are
incised. Symptoms of concussion would favour the theory of the injury
having been inflicted by a heavy instrument. Again, it is often
difficult to decide whether the injury which caused death was the result
of a blow or a fall. A heavy blow with a stick may at once cause fatal
effusion of blood, but this might equally result from fracture of the
skull resulting from a fall. The wound should be carefully examined for
foreign bodies, such as grit, dirt, or sand. The distinction between
incised wounds inflicted during life and after death is found in the
fact that a wound inflicted during life presents the appearances already
described, whereas in a post-mortem incised wound only a small quantity
of liquid venous blood is effused; the edges are close, yielding,
inelastic; the blood is not effused into the cellular tissue, and there
are no signs of vital reaction. The presence of inflammatory reaction or
pus shows that the wound must have been inflicted some time before
death, probably two or three days.
_Self-inflicted wounds_ are made by the person himself in order to
divert suspicion, or in order to bring accusation against another.
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