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The school of St Margaret's Hospital was fortunate in its lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence, or Forensic Medicine, as it is sometimes described At some schools the lecturer on this subject is appointed apparently for the reason that he lacks the qualifications to lecture on any other But with us it was very different: John Thorndyke was not only an enthusiast, a reat reputation, but he was an exceptional teacher, lively and fascinating in style and of endless resources Every remarkable case that had ever been recorded he appeared to have at his fingers' ends; every fact--cheical, or even historical--that could in any way be twisted into a nificance, was pressed into his service; and his own varied and curious experiences seemed as inexhaustible as the 's cruse One of his favourite devices for giving life and interest to a rather dry subject was that of analysing and co upon contemporary cases as reported in the papers (always, of course, with a due regard to the legal and social proprieties); and it was in this way that I first beca series of events that was destined to exercise so great an influence on my own life
The lecture which had just been concluded had dealt with the rather unsatisfactory subject of survivorship Most of the students had left the theatre, and the reathered round the lecturer's table to listen to the informal comments that Dr Thorndyke ont to deliver on these occasions in an easy, conversational e of the table and apparently addressing his reers
"The proble, in reply to a question put by one of the students, "ordinarily occurs in cases where the bodies of the parties are producible, or where, at any rate, the occurrence of death and its approxious difficulty may arise in a case where the body of one of the parties is not forthco, and the fact of death may have to be assumed on collateral evidence
"Here, of course, the vital question to be settled is, what is the latest instant at which it is certain that this person was alive? And the settlement of that question nificant kind There is a case in this entleman has disappeared rather mysteriously He was last seen by the servant of a relative at whose house he had called Now, if this gentleman should never reappear, dead or alive, the question as to as the latest moment at which he was certainly alive will turn upon the further question: 'Was he or was he not wearing a particular article of jewellery when he called at that relative's house?'"