There can be no doubt about the existence of these stages, but when we come to define the precise time at which one begins and the other ends, we find it impossible. For example. the first stage embraces a period which cannot be more closely defined than by stating that the person may have been dead from a few minutes to twenty hours a statement too vague to be upheld by a counsel who defends a prisoner.

The changes which take place in these periods and the average time they last have been given as follows by Devergie:

FIRST PERIOD. Few Minutes to Ticenty Hours.-Characterized by warmth of the body and general or partial relaxation of the voluntary muscles. To what portion of this period the special case belongs must be estimated according to the degree of heat in the trunk and extremities and the degree of rigidity in the muscles, the neck and the jaws commonly showing this condition first, the legs last. Warmth of the body rarely remains as long as twenty hours; in general it is sensibly cold in from ten to twelve hours. During this period the muscles are susceptible of contraction under the galvanic current, and in the early stage under the stimulus of blows.

SECOND PERIOD, Ten Hours to Three Days.-The body is perfectly cold throughout and rigidity is well marked. The muscles no longer respond to stimuli. The duration of this period seems long, yet in one instance the body will be found cold and rigid nine hours after death. Again, cooling and rigidity may not come on for three or four days.

THIRD PERIOD, Three to Eight Days.-The body is perfectly cold. The limbs and trunk pliant and free from cadaveric rigidity. The muscles are not capable of contracting. In summer this period is much shorter; often it will come on before three days.

Putrefaction commences when a body is kept under the most favorable conditions, in from six to twelve days, as a slight greenish discoloration of the abdomen which gradually spreads throughout the body. The time at which putrefaction shows itself and the rapidity with which it advances is dependent upon so many factors, many of which it is impossible often for the medical examiner to ascertain, that too much reliance must not be placed upon it. Casper estimates the following to be the average changes generally found in the periods of time given:

TWENTY-FOUR TO SEVENTY-TWO HOURS after death a slight green color is visible over the centre of the abdomen. The eyeballs are soft and yield to external pressure.

THREE TO FIVE DAYS after death the green color of the abdomen becomes intensified and general, spreading if the body be exposed to the air or buried in the ground in the following order: genitals, breast, face, neck, upper and lastly lower extremities.

EIGHT TO TEN DAYS after death the discoloration becomes more intense, the face and neck presenting a shade of reddishgreen. The ramifications of the superficial veins on the neck, breast, and limbs become very apparent. Finally the patches congregate. Gases begin to be developed and distend the abdomen and hollow organs and to form under the skin in the subcutaneous and intermuscular tissue. The cornea falls in and becomes concave. The sphincter ani relaxes.

FOURTEEN TO TWENTY-ONE DAYS after death the discoloration over the whole body becomes intensely green, with brownish-red or brownish-black patches. The body is bloated and appears greatly increased in size from the development of gases within the abdomen, thorax, and scrotum, and also in the cellular tissue of the body generally. The swollen condition of the eyelids, lips, nose, and cheeks is usually of such extent as to obliterate the features and to destroy the identity of the body. The epidermis peels off in patches, while in certain parts, more particularly the feet, it will be raised in blisters filled with red or greenish liquid, the cuticle underneath frequently appearing blanched. The color of the iris is lost. The nails easily separate and the hair becomes loosened.

FOURTH TO SIXTH MONTH after death the thorax and abdomen burst and the sutures of the skull give way from the development of gases within the head. The viscera appear pulpy, or perhaps disappear, leaving the bones exposed. The bones of the extremities separate at the joints. At an advanced stage the soft parts gradually disappear.

In giving an opinion as to how long a time has elapsed since death when a body has undergone marked putrefactive changes, we must consider carefully not only the conditions of the organs, but the mode of death and the "surroundings." By these I mean the quantity of clothing worn, the depth of the

grave in which the body has been interred, the season of the year, the heat and moisture of the atmosphere. The question sometimes presents itself to the medical examiner, Of two persons found dead, which died first? The importance of this point was well illustrated in the "Lizzie Borden case." By a careful consideration of all the conditions presented by each body in the ways I have indicated, the question will not ordinarily be a difficult one to decide.

DEATH

BY HEAT AND COLD,

INCLUDING

INSOLATION IN ITS MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECTS.

BY

ENOCH V. STODDARD, A.M., M.D.,

Emeritus Professor of Materia Medica and Hygiene in the University of Buffalo;
Member of the Medical Society of the State of New York and of the Central
New York Medical Association; Fellow of the New York Academy

of Medicine and of the American Academy of Medicine;

Late Surgeon 65th Regt. N. Y. Vols,; Late

Health Commissioner, Rochester,

N. Y.; etc., etc.