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In case of doubtful poisoning, it is very important to mark these changes. As the process of decomposition advances, the color changes from a dirty-red to a grayish-black.

415. Intestinal canal. The intestinal canal follows next in order in the progress of decomposition. The peculiar color produced by bile, owing to the contract of a portion of the intestine with the gallbladder, cannot be mistaken. In the course of decomposition the intestines assume a dark-brown color, they burst open and discharge their contents, become greasy, and are finally reduced to a dark, shapeless, pulpy substance.

416. Spleen. The spleen, when not diseased, commonly continues sound longer than the intestines, but belongs to the class of organs which decompose at an early period. It grows softer and softer and is easily crushed, and afterwards assumes a bluish-green color, and becomes so soft that it may be rubbed down with the knife-handle.

417. Omentum and mesentery.-The omentum and mesentery, if free from fat, may remain sound several weeks after death; but if fatty, not so long. These organs assume a grayish-green color and dry up.

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418. Liver. The liver in grown persons may remain sound for some weeks after death. In infants it begins to decompose earlier. The first appearance is that of a changeable green color, seen first on the convex surface, afterwards spreading over the whole organ, and finally changing to a coal-black. The size of the liver is lessened in the same proportion as that of the other organs by evaporation of its fluid constituents; the parenchyma becomes pulpy. The texture of the gall-bladder, however, may be discerned at a later period.

419. Brain of adult.- The first trace of decomposition in the brain of grown persons is a light-green color, seen first at its base, which gradually spreads over the whole organ, from without inwards. In a medium temperature the brain softens within two or three weeks; but months may elapse before it changes into that reddish pulpy substance into which, at so early a period, the brains of infants are converted. Where the brain is exposed by a wound in the skull, decomposition may take place much earlier.19

All the above-mentioned organs belong to the class of those which decompose at an early period.

Motter has found the brain a still recognizable, grayish mass, lying within the skull after all the other soft tissues had disappeared, and the skeleton bad become completely disintegrated; in

one case, after eighteen years and two months. On the other hand, the spinal cord seems to disappear distinctly sooner than the brain. In one case he failed to find any vestige of it after three years

420. Heart. This organ is often found still sound, although collapsed and quite empty of blood, for weeks after death, and after the decomposition of the liver, intestines, etc., has reached an advanced stage. It becomes soft first in the columnæ carnes and then in the walls, and assumes a greenish, then a grayish-green, and, finally, a black color. The small quantity of pericardial fluid disappears as the process of decomposition advances, and the pericardium becomes quite dry. This stage of decomposition, however, is not commonly reached until some months after death.

421. Lungs. The lungs begin to exhibit marks of decomposition about the same time as the heart. They may be found in such a state of preservation that their structure may be readily discerned after the external portions of the body are far advanced in the process of decomposition. The first appearance upon these organs is that of little bladders, varying in size from a millet seed to a bean, which are occasioned by the formation of gas under the pleura. These bladders at first appear singly and on different parts of the lungs, but afterwards they increase to such an extent that they cover large portions of the organ, especially on its under surface. The color of the lungs remains for a while unchanged; but, as decomposition advances, they become of a dark, bottle-green color, and, finally, entirely black. They now become soft, collapse, and, at last, their characteristic structure is destroyed.

422. Kidneys. The kidneys continue sound longer than the heart and lungs, and will never be found to have reached the putrid state in such bodies as are only half decomposed. These organs become soft, and of a chocolate-brown color, but even at this stage their granular texture may be easily discerned. Afterwards, but long after death, they become greasy, of a blackish-green color, and are easily torn.

423. Urinary bladder.- The urinary bladder yields to decomposing influences still later than those organs which have been mentioned. 424. Esophagus.-The œsophagus will often be found tolerably firm, and only of a dirty grayish-green color some months after death, when the stomach and intestines no longer admit of close examination.

425. Pancreas. The pancreas resists decomposing influences so strongly that a body must be almost entirely putrid in order that the process be observed in this organ.

and fifteen months. See Journal New York Entomological Soc., 1898, Vol. VI., No. 4. p. 203. The note is found also in the Brit. Med. Journ., No. 22, Vol. IV.,

p. 987, that when the casket of Sir Thomas Brown (ob. 1682) was opened, in August, 1840, the bones, brain, and hair were still in good preservation.

426. Diaphragm.-Green spots appear upon this organ within the first week after death; but after four or six months its muscular and tendinous structure may be distinguished from each other.

427. Arteries and aorta.- The arteries decompose among the last of all the soft organs. Dévergie reports a case where the aorta was perfectly discernible fourteen months after death.

428. Uterus.- According to Dr. Casper, the uterus yields to decomposition last of all the internal organs. It is often found lying in its place, tolerably firm, though of a dirty-red color, and in such a state of preservation that it may be cut open and examined when this would not be possible with any other organ. This statement is applicable even to newly-born female infants.

429. Saponification. In cases where the body is exposed to the continued action of water, whether by lying in water itself, or in a very damp soil, the process of putrefaction begins but is succeeded by saponification. In this process the fat of the body is combined with the alkaline and the alkaline earth bases to form soaps. Not merely do the tissues which, during life, are represented by fats, become changed into soaps, but also the other tissues undergo a fatty degeneration and become saponified. In fact, the muscles are the first to undergo this change, and then all the other tissues are involved, even the bones, so that bones and all may eventually be cut through with a knife. The product of this process is a homogeneous white, or yellowish-white, fatty substance, which melts in a flame at a temperature of about 126 degrees Fahrenheit, burns, and has a smell somewhat like moldy cheese, but which is by no means very disagreeable. It occupies a greater volume than the tissues during life, giving the body body a bloated appearance. This substance is called adipocere. It is difficult to say exactly how soon this process begins, but it usually begins about the end of the second month. It rarely involves the entire body, but is more often limited to a single limb or part of the body. Dévergie thinks that it requires a year to transform an entire body lying in the water, and about three years to convert one lying in the earth. The process cannot reach any great extent in an adult in less than a half year when the body remains in the water, or in less than a year where it lies in moist earth. Casper relates the case20 of a newborn infant buried in a cellar but a few weeks, which, when exhumed, was found to have undergone a partial conversion into adipocere. He speaks also of the body of another infant that had been buried thirteen months,

Casper, Forensic Medicine, New

Sydenham Soc. ed., Vol. I., p. 41.

where a third of the body had been so converted. How long a body will remain in this condition is also uncertain. Motter says that it may persist under the ordinary conditions of interment for ten or twelve years; remaining longest about the pelvis and lower part of the abdomen. He finds the surface form of the body preserved in adipocere from the skin and superficial tissues of the body after the deeper soft tissues of the body have been destroyed and the bones cleaned. Glaister says22 that he has seen bodies exhumed in the condition of adipocere thirty years after burial.

430. Mummification.- In cases where the action of the putrefactive germs is inhibited, and the body becomes desiccated, the process of putrefaction gives place to mummification. In this the tissues become dry, hard, shriveled, of a rusty brown or black color, with no odor. The finest anatomical details are preserved. This mummification occurs when the body is exposed to a current of dry air. It takes place where the body is exposed in a vault to a drying wind, and in other places where the atmosphere is more or less excluded. It takes place often in the case of bodies buried beneath the burning sands of the desert, and in porous dry soils. At what time the natural process of mummification begins is not settled, but it probably appears soon after death. The leathery appearance of abrasions post mortem shows the same condition in a limited area. Brouardel cites the case of a man who rented a room in a small hotel, and asphyxiated himself in the dark closet. The proprietor was not surprised that the man did not appear again, and made no more than a careless surveillance of the room. A couple of months later he rented the room again, and that night the new lessee found the body of the previous occupant in the closet. It had been something over two months since the death of the first occupant, but there had been no putrefaction, only a beginning mummification. How long bodies can remain in this desiccated condition is shown by the preservation of the Egyptian mummies. The oldest of these is Menekara, third king of Dynasty IV., approximately assigned to the year 4,000 B. C. But in these cases, though it must be admitted that the body was eviscerated and treated with many preservative processes, we find only an analogous condition to natural mummification.

IV. TIME SINCE DEATH.

431. General evidence.- The time that has elapsed since the death

Motter, Journ, N. Y. Entomological Soc., 1898, Vol. VI., No. 4, p. 203.

"Glaister, Med. Jur., p. 113.

of a person, to be ascertained by examination of the body, cannot be determined with much precision. Vibert23 gives the following suggestions as, in the main, holding true:—

If the body is warm and supple, less than twenty-four hours have elapsed since death.

If the temperature of the cadaver is the same as that of the surrounding air, and there is no cadaveric rigidity, the period is less than thirty-six hours.

If the post-mortem rigidity is well developed, and there have developed also a few hypostatic areas, the period is between twelve and forty-eight hours.

If the rigidity has dissappeared completely or in part, and the signs of hypostatic congestion are marked, there have probably elapsed four or five days.

If putrefaction has begun, and there is a green area on the abdomen, and the superficial veins are livid, and gas has begun to develop, the period is between three and six days.

After greater lengths of time have elapsed only approximate estimates of time may be attempted, and those with great reserve.

432. Entomological evidence. The study of the development of insects in the cadaver has been investigated very extensively by Mégnin, who claims to have been able to determine with remarkable accuracy the period that has elapsed since death,24 and the conditions, roughly, under which death took place. But later investigations have shown that the development of these different groups of parasites depends not merely upon the time which has elapsed, but also upon the conditions modifying the rate of putrefaction; for these various insects follow the process of putrefaction rather than the period of time. Therefore, all estimates of the time that has elapsed after the beginning of putrefaction must be considered as of but very little value.

Motter undertook25 to determine, if possible, the value of Mégnin's work, and made determinations on one hundred and fifty cadavers, exhumed after periods varying from one year and eleven months to seventy-one years. His work was entirely upon bodies that had been interred in the usual manner. He concludes: "I am thoroughly convinced that we cannot as yet make any broad, universally applicable generalizations on this subject. The field is far too broad, the important and modifying factors are far too numerous and conflicting, the conditions vary too widely, to be thus comprehended in any con

Vibert, Précis de Méd. Lég., p. 65. "Mégnin, La Fauna des Cadavres.

25 Motter, Journ. N. Y. Entomological Soc., 1898, Vol. VI., No. 4, p. 228.

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