Forensic medicine (Xi yuan ji lu)
Medicina forense (Xi yuan ji lu)
- Date
- 1247 · confidence high
- Place
- Changsha, Hunan, China
- Credited to
- Song Ci
- People
- 👤 Song Ci1186–1249
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A manual for judges on examining corpses: distinguishing drowning, strangulation, wounds inflicted before or after death, and signs of poisoning. It is the oldest surviving treatise on forensic medicine.
Translated into European languages in the 19th century; European forensic medicine was systematised with Fortunato Fedele (1602) and Paolo Zacchia (1621).
What it led to
- criminal investigation based on physical evidence
- official manual of Chinese courts until the 19th century