Diagnosis of skull fractures according to postmortem interval: an experimental approach in a porcine model.

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.

[Fortune and misfortune of the cemetery of the lunatics of Cadillac].

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.

[A medico-legal problem of the past: invalidation of the sale of a slave in case of concealed disease. Zacchias' opinion].

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.

Forensic medicine in Bordeaux in the 16th century.

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.

[Critique to the medical-social management of dangerous mental patients and sexual aggressors in France].

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.