4. A bright needle plunged into the body of the biceps muscle (Cloquet’s needle test) and left there, showing on withdrawal no signs of oxidation.
5. The opening of a vein, showing that the blood has undergone coagulation.
6. The subcutaneous injection of ammonia (Monte Verde’s test), causing a dirty-brown stain indicative of dissolution.
7. A fillet applied to the veins of the arm (Richardson’s test), causing no filling of the veins on the distal side of the fillet.
8. “Diaphanous test:” after death there is an absence of the translucence seen in living people when the hand is held before a strong light with the fingers extended and in contact.
9. “Eye test:” after death there is a loss of sensibility of the eye to light, loss of corneal transparency, and the pupil is not responsive to mydriatics.
POST-MORTEM CHANGES.
The human body after death undergoes certain changes which will be discussed under the following heads:
1. Cooling of the body.
2. Flaccidity of the body.