Dr. Gannal, in “Signes de la Mort,” p. 31, says:—
“I share the opinion of the majority of authors who have written on this subject, and I consider putrefaction as the only certain sign of death.” The author then shows that all other signs are uncertain, and adds “that it is possible, by taking certain measures, to wait until putrefaction is well manifest, without injuring the public health.” If the attending medical practitioner could always be relied upon to look for any such combination of signs as above suggested, there would be much less danger of premature burial than at present almost everywhere prevails; but personal investigation obliges the author deliberately to declare that these are looked for only in a comparatively few instances.
RIGOR MORTIS.
RIGOR MORTIS.
With reference to rigor mortis, one of the signs many physicians regard as infallible as putrefaction, and to which the British Medical Journal attaches much importance, I cite the following:—
Dr. Samuel Barker Pratt says that rigor mortis, which is regarded as an absolute proof of death, is in itself a life-action, caused by a gradual withdrawal of the nerve-forces from the body, and is distinctly akin to, and the same in effect as, the tightening of a muscle, and other similar physiological actions in the living body.
Dr. Roger S. Chew observes:—
“Rigor mortis is a condition that seldom or never supervenes in the hot weather in India, and is often a feature of catalepsy.
“Ecchymoses, or post-mortem stains, are sometimes of value, but very frequently they do not appear, even though there are strong evidences of putrefaction having set in, and in some cases this cadaveric lividity, as it is termed, may be the result of violence received before animation was suspended, and, the vital spark not having been extinguished though the body was apparently dead, echymosis had asserted itself as a process of life, and not death.”