The next circumstance which deserves notice under the consideration of the causes of death, by _omission_, is that of _neglecting to divide the navel-string, and to apply a ligature to the infantine portion of it_.—With regard to the value of the presumptive proof of criminal intention which such neglect may offer, there are several very weighty objections, and which have been enumerated by _Dr. Hutchinson_, in the following order. 1. The infant may perish during its birth from hemorrhage from the placenta, or rupture of the navel string, and the mother may, or may not, have divided the latter. 2. The child may have lived after its birth, and the mother may have torn or cut asunder the navel-string, and finding no hemorrhage ensue she has not been led to put a ligature on the infantine portion, and afterwards hemorrhage has taken place from it, from which the infant has died. 3. The mother may discover the hemorrhage in the last mentioned case, and may apply a ligature to the navel string, but too late to preserve the infant’s life. 4. The blood of the mother may be artfully placed about the child, and the navel string left untied; and the mother may wish to have it appear that the infant perished from hemorrhage occurring unknown to her, and that she was not aware of the necessity of tying the navel-string, even though it be found that she had _cut_ it, not _torn it asunder_ with her hands. In the first three cases we shall find, on dissection, evidence of extensive hemorrhage, as indicated by the emptiness of the heart and blood-vessels, paleness of the viscera, &c. In the last case, the proper fulness of the arterial and venous systems will betray the imposture. It is impossible, as _Dr. Hutchinson_ very candidly admits, to trace any rules of general application respecting the first three cases. The decision must be partially founded on various collateral moral circumstances, which come especially within the province of the jury.
_A new-born child may perish from exposure to cold._ This cause of death will be indicated by the character of the place and circumstances under which its body was found. The appearance of the corpse, upon such an occasion, will also assist our judgment; there will generally be a paleness of the skin, and a vacuity in the superficial vessels. _It may perish for want of nourishment._ But let it be remembered that new-born children are seldom, or never, famished to death, within a few days of their birth; for they require very little nourishment, and it was formerly the custom to keep them some days from the breast; such an omission, however, if suspected, may be ascertained by examining the stomach, and, at the same time, by deducing from the appearance of the umbilicus,[85] the probable period that has elapsed since its birth.