In coachmen, corns may be formed between the thumb and index finger, and between the index and the second finger of the left hand, from the pressure of the reins, and between the thumb and index finger of the right hand, from the pressure of the whip.
In bricklayers, from the constant action of picking up bricks, the flattening of the tip of the thumb and index finger of the left hand is not uncommon.
Plasterers have corns on the external surfaces of the thumb and index finger, due to grasping the “hawk” on which the plaster is placed during their work.
Joiners and carpenters have callosities on the palm of the right hand from grasping their tools, and between the thumb and index finger of the right hand, also over the first interphalangeal joint of the right index finger. The right shoulder is lower than the left.
The finger-ends of turners and coppersmiths are also more or less flattened; in the latter, a deposit of the metal may take place.
To ascertain the time which may have elapsed since death.—This can scarcely be determined with precision, as so much depends upon the conditions under which the body may have been placed. The subject under consideration is, therefore, beset with difficulties, and its elucidation will require the greatest care on the part of the medical expert. A careful attention, however, to the subjects treated in the following pages will help to clear up many a doubtful point.
COOLING OF THE BODY
| (1) External circumstances. |  | Covered by bed-clothes, or otherwise | ||
| unexposed, when cooling will be dry | ||||
| slower than in cold air quickly moving. | ||||
| (2) Condition of the |  | Slow, if fat. | ||
| body itself. | ||||
 | 1. Wasting diseases. Quick. | |||
| 2. Suffocation. Slow. | ||||
| (3) Kind of death. | 3. Cholera, yellow fever, | | Increase | |
| rheumatic fever, and | of heat | |||
| cerebro-spinal meningitis. | after death. | |||
The following circumstances must also be taken into consideration: (1) Age. (2) Air—(a) moving; and (b) at rest. (3) Moisture. (4) Warmth. (5) Nature of the supposed cause of death, as affecting cooling of the body, and promoting the rapid advance of putrefaction. (6) Presence or absence of the rigor mortis. Bodies may be preserved for months if exposed to intense cold.
The following Table, compiled from the experiments of Devergie, may be of use in aiding the expert to form his opinion, but it must be borne in mind that, from the great difficulties which surround the subject, the statements made are only approximately correct. The table is divided into four stages or periods, the last being that in which putrefaction commences:—