The second animal was exhumed after eight weeks in a highly putrescent state. Its entrails, on distillation, showed the phosphorescent appearance for thirty-five minutes.
The third animal was taken from the earth after twelve weeks, but no free phosphorus could be detected, although there was evidence of the lower form of oxidation (PO3) by Blondlot’s method.
The fourth animal was exhumed after fifteen weeks, but neither free phosphorus nor PO3 could be detected.[323]
[323] Vierteljahrsschrift für gerichtliche Medicin, Jan. 7, 1876; see also Zeitschr. f. anal. Chemie, 1872.
A man, as well as a cat, was poisoned by phosphorus. On analysis, twenty-nine days after death, negative results were alone obtained.—Sonnenschein.
It will thus be evident that there is no constant rule, and that, even when decomposition is much advanced, an examination may be successful.