Organs which Putrefy Early
1. The Trachea, including the Larynx.—The rapid change in the trachea must be borne in mind, in order to avoid the error of attributing death to suffocation or drowning. An examination of the trachea should never be omitted.
2. The Brain of Infants up to the First Year.
3. The Stomach.—The first traces of putrefaction are seen in from four to six days after death. All the coats of the stomach are softened, but there is no excoriation, as is the case when corrosive poisons are taken. Emphysematous separation of the mucous coat may be present, but must not be confounded with the excoriation just mentioned.
4. The Intestines.—Casper declares that he does not remember any case in the course of his experience where the intestines were “found earlier putrefied than the stomach.” In the course of putrefaction they become of a dark brown colour, bursting, and allowing an escape of their contents; and they ultimately become changed into a dark pultaceous mass.
5. The Spleen.—This organ in some cases putrefies before the stomach and intestines; but, as a rule, it resists decomposition longer.
6. The Omentum and Mesentery.
7. The Liver.—This organ is not unfrequently found firm and dense some weeks after death. It putrefies earlier in new-born children than in adults. The convex surface first shows signs of putrefaction. The gall-bladder also remains for some time recognisable.
8. The Adult Brain.—The brain of newly-born children, as mentioned before, soon putrefies. This is not the case in the adult brain. Putrefaction sets in not on the surface, but at the base of the brain. A wound of the brain causes it to putrefy more rapidly than if no injury be present.