It was formerly believed that _Asphyxia_[27] from _drowning_, always
depended upon the lungs and intestinal canal being filled with
water;[28] whereas it is hardly necessary to observe that it alone
depends upon the blood, in consequence of the suspension of breathing,
ceasing to possess the qualities which are essential to the preservation
of life. _M. Gauteron_ immersed a dog for more than a quarter of an
hour, without inflicting the least injury, having previously inserted a
long tube in the trachea, which was kept elevated during the experiment
above the surface of the water.
If a small animal be immersed in water, contained in a transparent glass
vessel, the phenomena of drowning are readily discernible; there is
first a deep expiration, by which bubbles of air are expelled from the
lungs; there is then an effort to inspire, but the effort is
ineffectual; there being no air which can be received into the lungs,
and a spasm of the muscles of the glottis seems to forbid the admission
of any considerable quantity of water into the trachea. The attempts to
breathe are repeated several times, and at each attempt at expiration a
small proportion of air is expelled from the mouth and nostrils, until
the air-cells of the lungs are almost emptied;[29] then the animal
becomes insensible; and convulsive action of the voluntary muscles mark
the instant when the brain begins to suffer from the influx of the dark
coloured venous blood. After the cessation of these convulsive actions,
the animal becomes motionless, and gives no sign of life; but if the
hand be applied to the thorax, the actions of the heart, gradually
becoming fainter and fainter, indicate that some remains of vitality
still linger in the system. Before the circulation of the blood
altogether ceases, the muscles of respiration once more resume their
actions, and ineffectual efforts are made to breathe. It is a remarkable
circumstance that the diaphragm continues to exert itself nearly as long
as the heart itself, and that the interval between the cessation of the
motions of the diaphragm and that of the motions of the heart, which is
so short in animals that die by strangulation, is still shorter in those
who perish by drowning.[30] These phenomena follow each other in rapid
succession, and the whole scene is closed, and the living animal is
converted into a lifeless corpse, incapable of recovery, in the brief
space of a few moments, (_Brodie’s Manuscript Notes_). If however the
animal be taken out of the water before the total extinction of life,
and the diaphragm contract afterwards, so as to draw air into the lungs
before the action of the heart has ceased, the circulation is
maintained, and the animal continues to respire; he will thus have
escaped immediate death from suffocation; but his life still remains in
jeopardy, for there is a second period of danger, and one at which death
may take place, when we are the least prepared to expect it; for the
dark coloured blood which has been transmitted through the circulatory
system, during the suspension of respiration, would seem to act like a
narcotic poison upon the brain; no sooner therefore does it enter that
organ, but deleterious effects are produced, the animal at first falls
into a state of stupor, the pupils of the eyes become dilated, the
respiration laborious, the muscles of the body convulsed, and the animal
dies, _poisoned by its own blood_.
The body of a person who has died from drowning exhibits a physiognomy
which it is important to notice. The whole surface is distinguished by a
remarkable coldness and pallor; the eyes are half open, and their pupils
considerably dilated; the tongue is pushed forward to the internal edges
of the lips, and sometimes wounded; and the mouth and nostrils are
covered with foam. At other times, instead of a pallid visage, we have
one that is swelled, and bloated with livid blood.
Upon dissection we shall perceive the vessels of the brain more or less
gorged with blood;[31] in the trachea a watery and bloody froth will be
found; the lungs will appear expanded, full of frothy mucus, and,
generally, livid; the right cavities of the heart gorged with blood, the
left nearly empty; and it has been sometimes noticed that the blood
remains fluid[32], and follows after every incision by the scalpel. The
stomach will generally be found to contain some water. _Hebenstreit_
also states, that since in the act of drowning the person dies on an
inspiration, the diaphragm is necessarily found convex, or bent towards
the abdomen; this statement however is erroneous.
Upon these appearances we have a few observations to offer, especially
as they have given origin to some important questions; and first, with
respect to _the presence of water in the stomach and lungs_, than which
few indications, connected with the subject of drowning, have given
occasion to greater controversy.[33] For since it hath been observed
that water is rarely found in the stomach or lungs of a person who has
been submerged after death, it was inferred that the presence of that
fluid in these organs necessarily proved that the individual must have
been plunged into the water during life. As a general proposition this
may be admitted as correct, although it is liable to certain exceptions
with which the medical jurist ought to be acquainted; we may, for
instance, suppose a case, in which the submerged person may be so
plunged at once under water, as to have been suffocated without his
previously coming to the surface, and when _asphyxia_ has taken place,
the powers of deglutition, on which the presence of water in the stomach
wholly depends, are at an end; or we may suppose that the party in
question faints from terror; a remarkable instance of this kind is
quoted by _Foderè_,[34] from _Plater_, of a young woman, who having been
condemned to be drowned for infanticide, fainted at the moment she was
plunged in the water, and having remained for a quarter of an hour under
its surface, recovered after being drawn out.[35]
With respect to the presence of water in the bronchiæ and lungs, we may
observe that, in the violent struggles of a drowning man, a certain
portion of water generally passes the epiglottis; and being immediately
mixed with the air and mucus of the trachea, constitutes that frothy
mucus, which we have described as being so highly characteristic of this
species of violent death; although we are not to conclude with _Larrey_,
that it is the immediate cause of dissolution in such cases. The
quantity of water, however, thus forced into the pulmonary structure, is
extremely small, for its entrance is powerfully opposed by a spasm of
the muscles of the glottis;[36] were it to occur in any considerable
quantity, and to appear in its fluid state, instead of that of froth,
the influence would clearly be, that _it had passed in after death_.
Although the presence of this frothy matter must be considered as a
strong presumptive proof that the person found in the water had perished
by drowning, the converse of this proposition is by no means established
by the absence of such an indication.
_The buoyancy of the human body_ is another point in the history of
Drowning, which has occasioned much discussion; and in solving the
problem, so highly important in its forensic relations, _whether a body
found in the water, had been drowned, or thrown in after death_, it has
been considered by some physiologists as capable of affording a certain
degree of presumptive evidence, although we are inclined to attach but
little or no importance to such an indication. The specific gravity of
the human body, under ordinary circumstances, is very little greater
than that of fresh water, so small indeed is the difference that, when
the lungs are inflated, a man will float[37] with little or no effort,
if he have sufficient self possession, and does not attempt to raise too
great a portion of his body out of the sustaining fluid;[38] but, when
the air of the lungs is expelled, and probably, at the same time, a
certain quantity of water is taken into the stomach,[39] the body
becomes specifically heavier, and the victim sinks. It may be assumed as
a general rule, that no newly drowned body floats, although many facts
have been adduced in support of a contrary opinion; the naval custom of
loading the dead bodies with weights, before they are consigned to a
watery grave, is not for the purpose of sinking the corpse, but for
preventing its rising after the process of putrefaction has commenced.
The period during which a body will remain at the bottom cannot be very
accurately determined, as the change does not take place until a
sufficient quantity of air be generated to buoy it again to the surface;
in the melancholy instance of the loss of the Royal George, the dead
bodies were observed ascending to the surface of the sea, on or about
the fifth day. The general position of a body which has thus risen,
provided there be no external or adventitious circumstances to change
it, is such, that it floats nearly immersed, the face, arms, and legs
hanging downwards, and the loins being uppermost; this is the form which
the body must mechanically and hydrostatically assume, if the sustaining
power of generated air be, as it generally will, in the cavity of the
abdomen, where putrefaction is more likely to commence; for the head and
limbs are generally[40] specifically heavier than water, while the
trunk, especially if inflated with air, is somewhat lighter.
It has been said that a position, different from that which we have just
described, will take place where the person has been strangled, and the
body then thrown into the water; for in this latter case, it is
contended, that the lungs will be distended with air, and that
consequently, the sustaining power must be in the thorax; in support of
this opinion the story of the appearance of _Caraccioli_[41], Admiral of
the Neapolitan navy, has been ingeniously adduced; this unfortunate man
was hanged in pursuance of the sentence of a court martial, and his body
was committed to the deep in the usual manner; thirteen days after
which, while the King of Sicily was walking on the deck of Lord
_Nelson’s_ ship, he suddenly exclaimed with a yell of horror—“_Vien!
Viene!_”—The Admiral’s corpse, breast high, was seen floating towards
the ship; the shot that had been attached to the feet for the purpose of
sinking it, not being sufficiently heavy. This may perhaps be explained
by supposing that the corpse was stiff before it was immersed, in which
case, the centre of gravity being exceedingly low on account of the shot
tied to the feet, he must have floated upright, wherever the buoyant
power from generated air might be situated. At all events, we feel no
hesitation in at once rejecting the proposition, for the support of
which it has been brought forward; the fact is that, in relation to
gaseous contents, the lungs are the same in strangled, as in drowned
persons; for in both cases a quantity of air is forcibly expelled from
them before dissolution.