old. On the trial of Captain Donnellan for poisoning Sir T. Boughton,
Mr. John Hunter mentioned that he had met with two instances of death
from apoplexy in young women; my colleague Dr. Alison has related to me
a similar case; Professor Bernt has described another of a young girl
who died apoplectic from extravasation of blood over the whole brain and
in the ventricles also;[1626] and Mr. Greenhow, a surgeon of London, has
even noticed a case of apoplexy from effusion of blood over the surface
of the brain in a child two years and a half old.[1627] On this subject
the treatise of Rochoux supplies excellent information: of his
sixty-three cases sixty-one were above thirty years of age, two less
than thirty, none younger than twenty.[1628] It is plain, therefore,
that apoplexy in young people is rare. On the other hand, a great
proportion of cases of poisoning with the narcotics when they have been
taken intentionally (and such cases are most likely to lead to
medico-legal questions), has occurred among the young, especially of the
female sex.