Advantage of affinity histochemistry combined with histology to investigate death causes: indications from sample cases

Mast cell histochemistry has been proposed in addition to classic histological methods to estimate the course of traumatic events before and after death. We have addressed the utility of this approach on nine victims of different types of trauma. Sections of wounded skin were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and with fluorescent avidin to tag mast cells. Mast cell numbers were evaluated by both direct and digitalized counts. Intact skin was used as control. The results on mast cells implemented the findings upon hematoxylin and eosin stain and helped to put the wounds and death in chronological sequence. Digitalized morphometry allowed to reduce intra- and inter-observer variation. We conclude that combined histological and histochemical analyses can be of practical use in forensic pathology, that a preliminary setting of the reference values is needed for each laboratory, and that image analysis can be of help for the quantification of the results.     

Reconsidering the southern Europe model: Dowry, women's work and marriage patterns in pre-industrial urban Italy (Turin, second half of the 18th century)

This paper aims to investigate and analyse the impact of the dowry and the endowment system on marriage and household patterns and on the labour market in 18th century Turin. At the same time it enquires into the reliability of the northern/southern Europe pattern for the study of this topic. Two points are developed. Firstly the paper shows that the dowry system coexists with a relatively high age at marriage because of the specific role played by the dowry in Turin society. Indeed, this was not a once-and-for-all established asset but was a negotiable and flexible resource that could be manipulated by the different actors concerned in the endowment. Moreover, the payment did not always take place immediately upon marriage, nor was the money quickly available. At the same time the paper examines the economic role of dowry in Ancien Régime households: by means of a juridical procedure couples could alienate this property, and use or invest it to ensure their well-being and/or their economic situation. Finally, the second part investigates the relationship between the dowry system and the participation of young girls and married women in the local labour market: their significant and crucial presence demonstrates that the dowry and its expectation was not a sufficient incentive to keep them out of the labour market.     

The standard of living of widows: Inventories as an indicator of the economic situation of widows

This article examines the standard of living of widows in two rural areas, South West Finland and Central Sweden, in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and among first generation migrants to Stockholm between 1680 and 1750. The principal sources used are the inventories of a person's possessions that were taken after their death, supplemented in the case of the rural populations by retirement contracts (which were not used by urban populations in the Nordic countries). Wealth is measured in three ways: examination of the type and value of the property listed in the inventory, calculating what goods might be purchased with a given inheritance, and a comparison of the inventories of widows with those of married women and with men. A range of factors, it was discovered, determined how much property a widow might own at her death. These factors included her age and whether there were children entitled to a share of the family's property but also the impact of inheritance law which awarded widows a larger share of marital property in towns than in the countryside and included the house which in rural areas was considered to belong to the family and not to any one individual. Analysis of this evidence suggests that the widows of farmers were likely to be economically secure due to the provisions in their retirement contracts which provided them with housing, food and care until their death. The situation of the widows of the landless was considerably more precarious. Some might even have nothing to inherit from their husbands.