title: [The art of improvising. The practice of medico-legal autopsies in the 19th century].
abstract: Murder is perpetrated, suicide is committed and lethal accidents happen everywhere, even in the heart of the French country. In the 19th century, law often appealed to the lights of experts. During criminal investigation, improvisation and men's adaptation were important, although forensic autopsy was official and necessary. Sometimes the magistrates appealed to young people, not used to that kind of reports, who could only remind some bits of the forensic courses they had followed when they were students. As for the specialists, the circumstances often led them to examine--as Baudelaire would say--the "decaying carcass," in a dark and suffocating ruined house, on the kitchen table, and with a simple scapel.
authors.affiliation: sandra.menenteau@gmail.com
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Menenteau
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000266:history*; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000266:history*; D005602:France; D049672:History, 19th Century