Medieval Forensics: 20 Key Observations by Song Ci - Medievalists.net (2024)

Forensic science, a field crucial to modern criminal investigations, has roots that trace back to the Middle Ages. The pioneering figure behind this was Song Ci (1186–1249 AD), a renowned physician and judge during the Song Dynasty in China. His seminal work, The Washing Away of Wrongs, serves as an essential guide for law enforcement on investigating and solving unusual deaths.

Song Ci emphasized the importance of meticulous body examinations to determine causes of death and identify injuries. His expertise enabled him to solve numerous homicide cases, showcasing his advanced forensic skills.

Explore 20 key observations Song Ci made in dealing with potential murders, revealing the depth of his forensic acumen.

1. The victim

The eyes and mouths of those who have died from murderous injuries will be open, and their hair will be in disarray. Their hands will be clenched. Where the mortal injury was inflicted, the injury will be relatively large, the skin and flesh much curled and protuberant. If the membranes of the abdomen were penetrated, the bowels will protrude.

2. Death from suffocation

When someone has blocked a person’s mouth and nose so that he cannot breathe and so suffocates, the eyes will be open and the eyeballs protruding. From the mouth and nose a clear bloody fluid will flow. All over the face there will be subcutaneous blood of a reddish-black color, the bowels will protrude, and the insides of the clothing will be soaked in urine.

3. A victim who is defending himself

When the victim saw the assailant coming with a sharp object to injure him, he will certainly have struggled, using his hands to ward off the assault, and so there will be cuts on the hands.

4. Being thrown into a well

The similarities between those who jump into wells, those who are thrown in, and those who lose their footing and fall in are very great. The differences are slight. In all these cases there will be marks on the head from the victim’s having struck the bricks or stones. There will be sand or mud in the hair and under the fingernails, and the belly will be swollen …

If the victim was thrown in or fell in accidentally, then the hands will be open and the eyes slightly open, and about his person he may have money or other valuables. But, if he was committing suicide, then his eyes will be shut and the hands clenched. There will be no valuables on the body.

Generally, when some deliberately jumps into a well they enter feet first. If a body is found to have gone in head first, it is probable that the victim was being chased or was thrown in by others. If he lost his footing and fell in, you must check the point where his feet slipped to see if the ground has been disturbed.

5. Being beaten to death

If a person has been beaten to death, the mouth and eyes of the corpse will be open, the hair disordered, the clothes in disarray, and the hands not curled up. Sometimes, the insides of the clothes will be soaked with urine.

6. Using a blunt instrument

If the assailant used a staff, bludgeon, or some such instrument to beat the victim, then the marks will mostly be on the non-fleshy parts of the body. The person suffering the injuries may die in as little as two to four hours, or after one or two days, three or five days, or even as many as seven, eight, or ten days. When hard objects classified as ‘other weapons’ were used in the beating and caused death, pay even more attention to the severity of the marks. If the two parties first scuffled, and he assailant seized the victim’s hair and after this struck him with hand or foot, then frequently the injuries will be on fleshy vital spots.

Sometimes a single blow from hand or foot is sufficient to cause death. If the death resulted from a kick to a vital spot, carefully investigate to determine whether the assailant was wearing shoes or not, to guard against questions arising at some later time.

7. How to tell if one was beheaded alive or dead

Again, when the head of a living victim is cut off, the muscles shrink back and stiffen. But if the head is cut off a corpse, the neck will be long. There will be no contraction.

8. Death by burning

When a living person is burned to death, there will be sooty ashes in the mouth and nose of the corpse and the hands and feet will be drawn up. Because the victim, while still alive, with the fire crowding in on him, will be gasping with an open mouth. Therefore, he will inhale sooty ashes which will be found in the mouth and nose. If the burning occured after death, although the hands and feet may be contracted, there will be no sooty ash in the mouth or nose. If the elbows and knees were not burnt, the hands and feet will not be drawn up.

9. A murder disguised as a burning

If someone was killed with a sharp-edged weapon, and then a fire was made and the body burned in order to cause people to believe that the victim died of burns, have the coroner’s assistant pick up the bones and sweep the ashes and dust. On the cleaned spot where the corpse has been, sprinkle a thick decoction of rice cooked in vinegar and wine. If the victim was murdered there, the spot where blood soaked into the ground will be fresh red in color.

10. A test for poisoning

When investigating the swallowing of poison using the silver needle technique, scrub the needle using pods of the soap bean plant and water, and then insert it into the throat of the corpse, sealing the mouth with paper. Withdraw the needle after a considerable period of time. It will have turned a bluish-black color which cannot be scrubbed off using pods of soap bean and water. If the victim was not poisoned, the color will remain clear white.

If a person who died from poisoning ate food while still alive and kept it down so that the poison and food entered the bowels, then the needle test in the mouth will be without result. In such cases, use the test at the anus and the color will appear.

11. Deaths from Falls

When someone dies as a result of falling from a tree or house, examine the place where the branches hang down, the height of the house, the marks where the victim lost his footing, and the depth of the marks on the ground. The critical injuries should have the marks of wounds inflicted by bumping against things or being bumped by something. If internal injuries were the cause of death, then blood will flow from the mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. If the injuries are extremely severe, be even more careful in the examination, measuring the exact height of the place from which the victim fell.

12. Death from Being Crushed

When someone has been crushed to death, his eyes and tongue will protrude, his hands will be slightly clenched, and all over his body dead blood will have seeped out, showing as a purplish-black color. Blood or a watery fluid may flow from the nose. The injured parts, because of subcutaneous bleeding, will be red and swollen. When the skin is broken, it will be red and swollen on all sides. At times, the bones, muscles, and skin may be torn and broken.

13. Crushed to Death by Cart Wheels

When someone has been crushed to death by the wheels of a cart, the flesh of the corpse will be slightly yellowish, the mouth and eyes open, the two hands slightly clenched, and the hair in order.

14. Death from Lightning

When someone is struck by lightning and dies, the flesh of the corpse will be of a scorched yellow color. The whole body will be soft and blackish, the two hands open, the mouth open and the eyes protruding, the hairline behind the ears will be scorched yellow, and the hair on the head will be in disorder. At the burned places, the skin and flesh will be hard and shrivelled.

15. Death from Tiger Bites

The flesh of those who die from tiger bites will be yellowish, the mouth and eyes wide open, the two hands clenched, the hair in disorder, and feces will have been excreted. The wounds are often uneven, with marks from the tiger’s tongue and teeth.

16. Deaths from Overeating or Overdrinking

If on the body there are no signs of injury, use the hand to pat the skin of the stomach. If it is swelled and sounds like a drum, then death resulted from repletion. Because wine or food was taken to excess, the abdomen swelled up, affecting the cardiac and pulmonary systems of function and causing the death.

17. Drowning in a River

When someone has jumped into a river or been thrown in by others, if the water is relatively deep and broad, then the victim will bear no marks from having struck against objects when falling in, nor will there be mud or sand on the corpse. If the water is shallow or the place narrow, the corpse will resemble the body of someone who jumped or fell into a well. Generally, water with a depth of three or four feet is sufficient to drown people.

18. Death from Scalding

The skin and flesh of corpses scalded by water split open, the skin peels off and is white in color, and the flesh revealed is also white. The flesh often will be rotten and reddish. When people come into contact with scalding water or fire, frequently they have fallen down, so the injuries will be on their hands, feet, faces, and chests.

19. Deaths from Sexual Excess

When men die as a result of sexual excess, it is because their vital energies have been exhausted. When men die while having sexual relations with women, the facts of the case must be investigated. If it is really a case of death from this cause, the erection will not have subsided. If it is not, then it will have subsided.

20. How to revive someone who died from a Nightmare

In deaths from fright syndrome due to nightmare, do not bring a light or approach near and hastily call out, for this may lead to death. Just bite the victim’s heel or his big toe and spit in his face. He will then revive.

You can read Song Ci’s entire work inThe Washing Away of Wrongs: Forensic Medicine in Thirteenth-Century China, translated by Brian E. McKnight (Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1981)

Top Image: British Library MS Royal 20 A. II f.2v