It is proper to notice whether or not the body is in the condition
of post mortem rigidity. More attention has, perhaps, been given to
this post mortem condition than it well deserved. According to Kühne,
the rigor mortis is produced by a change in the muscular fibres; the
fibres first lose their contractibility, then there is coagulation
of the myosine and loss of elasticity. When this acidity has reached
its height, muscle becomes softer, and the rigor mortis gradually
disappears; finally, the acid condition is succeeded by an alkaline
fermentation, and decomposition ensues.
The rigor mortis generally begins in the muscles of the lower jaw
and back of the neck; it then extends to those of the face, neck,
thorax, arms, and finally, the legs; it usually disappears in the
same order; it generally begins in from eight to twenty hours after
death, but often much sooner. The bodies of persons killed on the
field of battle, and of those who have been drowned, sometimes seem
to be overtaken by the rigor mortis at the very instant of death; the
bodies retain the same position, and the face the same expression,
which they had in the last moments of life. The rigor mortis may
continue for from one to ten days, generally, but not always; death
from narcotic poisons is followed by a short and feeble rigidity.
While death by lightning is followed by rapid and intense rigidity,
in young children, it is feeble and of short duration. The degree and
duration of rigor mortis after death from violence, from different
diseases, etc., is stated so variedly and contradictorily by
different observers, that no definite rules can be given concerning
it.
The temperature of the normal living body is 98° to 99° F. In
illness, the temperature may be increased several degrees. After
death, the body generally cools to the same point as the surrounding
air; this is said to take place in from fifteen to twenty hours.
Taylor, from the examination of one hundred bodies, states that the
average heat of the skin of the abdomen, at a period of two to three
hours after death, is 77°; at four to six hours, 74°; at six to eight
hours, 70°; at twelve hours, 69°. The internal viscera retain their
heat longer than the surface of the body.
It is said, that, after sudden death from accidents, apoplexy, acute
disease and asphyxia, the body retains its heat for an unusually
long period. It is both asserted and denied, that after death from
hemorrhage the body cools rapidly; the body of an adult cools more
slowly than that of a child or an old person; that of a fat person
more slowly than that of a lean one.
In some cases there is an exceptional retention and even an increase
of heat in the dead body. Dr. John Davy reports, that in case of
death from rheumatism, after the viscera had been exposed for several
minutes, the temperature of the left ventricle of the heart was 113°,
and that of the liver 112°. In a second case, six hours after death,
the temperature of the heart was 108°. It is stated that after death
from yellow fever and cholera, the temperature increases for several
hours after death. There are also recorded a number of instances in
which the body retained its heat for several days, without known
cause.
It will be seen from what has been said, that if we are called upon
to pronounce upon the length of time that has elapsed since death,
in a given case, this is only to be done approximately, and it is
probably necessary to take into consideration the cause and manner of
death, the condition of the individual, the state of the atmosphere,
the manner in which the body has been kept after death; and even
after making these allowances, we can only say that a person has
probably been dead for such and such a time.
This chapter may prove tedious to some, but it is, however, an
undeniable fact, that the preceding information (compiled from the
Morbid Anatomy of F. Delafield, M. D.), is of the utmost importance
to the professional undertaker. The external examination of the
body, before handling, is a matter not to be neglected. Should any
syphilitic sores or foul ulcers be present, the utmost caution must
be used in handling the body, as the pus, which is a most virulent
poison, might find its way into the system through some abrasion of
the skin. The effects of this poison are such, that, should it not
prove fatal, it will leave in the system traces that can never be
completely eradicated. This chapter also contains information of such
character as will be found needful to fully understand the subsequent
chapters.