The Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence by the Late Alfred Swaine Taylor (Volume 1) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905. Excerpt: ... equilibrium, as in the former case. Graphically represented, the temperature will form a curve--i.e., there is never an intermediate rise after death when once the fall has begun. The final conclusion on all the above may then be drawn as follows: --Cooling of the body is a good criterion of death, and when it has definitely taken place a more certain reply to the question, "When did death occur?"may be given than when the internal temperature is nearly that of the living body; that is, we know of cases, more or less inexplicable, of retention of heat for unusual periods, but we do not know of inexplicable cases of rapid cooling. 4. Insensibility And Loss Of Power To Move. These small points are certainly concomitants of death, and must therefore be noted in a complete exposition of the " signs of death," but they certainly may be, and are, found in cases of death which is only apparent, and not real. Thus in the apparently drowned they are found, and not only so, but any perceptible heart-beat or respiratory movement is absent too, for a long time in some cases that ultimately recover entirely, a fact again calling for prolonged efforts at resuscitation. The same phenomena of insensibility and loss of power to move are witnessed in prolonged fainting attacks, in apoplexy at times, or even epilepsy, in trance, catalepsy, and the cases already mentioned of prolonged sleep; in fact, these two signs of death have by the laity had a very undue weight thrown upon them without attention being paid to the other more certain signs. The results have in some cases been appallingly disastrous. Vide "Premature Burial," ante, and also the following case: --li. M. J., December 8th, 1877, p. 819.--A woman in a state of trance buried alive. The Appeal Court at Naples sente...