"There's a way!" Meng Tianchu coughed twice, and then continued: "Before the fetus was born, it mainly relied on the mother's * placenta to provide the nutrients it needed, and after birth, the umbilical cord was cut, and the placental circulation stopped, if the fetus is alive, it will normally begin to breathe spontaneously, and the main organ of respiration is the human lungs, and the lungs that have been breathed will have important and obvious changes, the lung volume will increase, the weight will increase, and the morphological observation will show that the front edge of the two lungs will cover part of the heart, the edges are blunt and round, the color is lighter, and the surface looks similar to marble patterns. Elastic and twisty to the touch......"

This series of medical terms made Xia Hong dizzy, he couldn't understand what he said, and it was difficult to interrupt him.

Meng Tianchu looked at himself and continued: "If it is a stillborn birth, the lungs have not breathed spontaneously, the lung capacity will be very small, atrophied, the edges are sharp and thin, the surface is smooth, it looks a bit like the liver, there is no elasticity, there is no twisting sensation, it is dark purple-red......"

Xia Hong finally couldn't help but interrupt him: "Wait, virtuous son-in-law, what you just said is too complicated, for the father...... Is there an easier way for a father to understand ...... he doesn't understand? ”

Meng Tianchu also reacted, he was in the Ming Dynasty, not in the modern forensic evidence laboratory to explain to the interns, there was no need to explain why, just tell them what to do, and said with a smile: "To distinguish between live birth and stillbirth, the easiest way is to conduct a lung levation test." ”

"Lung...... What do lungs come from? ”

"Lung buoyancy test!" Meng Tianchu said word by word, "If the lungs have not been breathed, there will be no air in the lungs, so they are solid, and the specific gravity will be greater than one, and the lungs that have been breathed contain air, and the volume will increase, and the specific gravity will be less than one, and the lung buoyancy test is carried out according to this principle." ”

"Than ...... Specific gravity? Xia Hong stammered and asked.

Meng Tianchu patted his head, it seems that he still has to think about it when he speaks in the future, in modern society, these are middle school physics knowledge, but in ancient times, they became ghost drawings, and they couldn't understand or understand it.

Meng Tianchu thought for a while, and then said: "In a word, you ask Di Tuiguan to cut open the chest of the fetus and take out the lungs, remember to tie the trachea with a thread first, and then cut the trachea." Put the lobes of the lungs in clean water and observe, if they sink, it means that it is stillborn, if it floats on water, it means that it is a live birth! ”

Xia Hong was skeptical: "It's that simple? ”

Of course it's not that simple, Meng Tianchu thought to himself, if it is really a stable woman to death, just the test of mechanical suffocation death, you can't understand it even if your head is confused, not to mention that there are many special circumstances of live birth and stillbirth, the complete test method is still very complicated, but he can't understand or remember it, he can only talk about this most important step, but fortunately, it can already be judged the general situation of live birth or stillbirth. Therefore, Meng Tianchu smiled and nodded.

(Note: If the historical truth is strictly followed, then this method will not work in ancient times, because in ancient China, only the examination of the body surface of the corpse was allowed, and the autopsy was strictly prohibited.) The legal codes of the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties imposed heavy penalties on unauthorized autopsies, which was also an important reason why China's ancient forensic medicine developed slowly and lagged far behind the West after Song Ci's "Record of Clearing Grievances".

In the TV series "Young Bao Qingtian", in order to develop the story, there is a plot of craniotomy and autopsy. This book takes this as a lesson, for the needs of the story, but also deliberately ignores the real situation of history, in the later stories, the protagonist Meng Tianchu will perform autopsies many times to find out the truth of the case. In particular, please do not need to delve into it. ）

Xia Hong said: "Okay, for my father, immediately go to Shuntian Mansion to find Di Tuiguan, and use your method to conduct a test." With that, he left in a hurry.

Nearly two hours later, Xia Hong came back with a red face, Meng Tianchu was continuing to study "Da Ming Law" hard in the house, and when he saw Xia Hong's expression, he knew that the matter should be done.

Sure enough, Xia Hong smiled and said, "Virtuous son-in-law, I can't see it, you still have this hand!" Amazing, your method really works, after I pondered with Di Tuiguan, we first sent people all over the capital to search for the fetus that died after giving birth, and I was lucky to find one, this fetus was also born last night, and it died today, they are preparing to bury it, we gave them some silver, and the corpse was taken to the test, and after getting the body of the baby that survived for a day, we took the rich businessman's family and Wen Po to the lobby, and tested it on the spot according to your method. ”

Meng Tianchu thought to himself, Xia Hong and Di Tuiguan are not stupid, and they also know how to use the comparative method to enhance their persuasiveness, and the comparative test method is often used in ancient forensic examinations, such as the famous "Zhang Ju Roasted Pig", which is to throw two pigs into the fire and burn them, and then check whether the pig's throat is ash, so as to determine the signs of being burned by fire before death and cremation after death, and finally determine that the body being examined belongs to the postmortem cremation, which is very convincing.

Xia Hong continued: "We asked the Yamen to cut open the chest of the rich merchant's fetus on the spot, take out the lung lobes, and put them in the water for observation, and sure enough, they immediately sank to the bottom of the water. Then, he took out the lungs of the baby's corpse, which had lived for a day, and put them into the water to observe, that they were floating on the water. This validates your argument that stillborn lungs sink to the bottom. ”

Speaking of this, Xia Hong laughed happily and continued: "Seeing this situation, the rich merchant's concubine was so panicked that it was like seeing a ghost, we immediately guessed that this concubine had a ghost in her heart, and immediately interrogated the two old mothers who gave false testimony separately, and the two also saw the testing process, and confessed without waiting for the execution." It turned out that the two of them were bribed by the rich businessman's concubine with money, made false testimonies, and framed Wen Po for covering the newly born young master, so that they could be corrected as wives. ”

Meng Tianchu was also very happy when he heard that the case had been successfully resolved, and now his criminal master was hopeful.

Unexpectedly, Xia Hong smiled, but said: "Virtuous nephew, although you have found out this case, what the criminal master has to deal with is not only the investigation of the case, but also the trial of the criminal cases that have been solved, the sentence according to the law, and the handling of various civil disputes, do you know how to deal with these?" ”

Of course Meng Tianchu didn't know, let alone ancient times, even in modern times, although when he was studying in the Forensic Medicine Department of the Criminal Police Academy, he also formally studied the basic criminal and civil department law, but if he really wanted to try a case, how many years should be sentenced under what circumstances, who should be sentenced to this thing, and whether he should be held responsible for this infringement, he really can't say what he should say.