DEATH. 



803 



that no expression remained more than that of 

 the repose of the muscles. The nature of the 

 disease also modifies the facial expression of 

 the dying. In some we observe the impress 

 of the previous suffering, as in peritonitis and 

 in cases of poisoning l>y irritants ; in others 

 the character is derived from a peculiar affec- 

 tion of some part of the respiratory apparatus, 

 as of the diaphragm in pericarditis ; or from 

 an affection of the facial muscles themselves, 

 as in tetanus and paralysis. But the condition 

 of the mind is perhaps more often concerned 

 in the expression than even the physical cir- 

 cumstances of the body. For, as some kind 

 of intelligence is frequently retained, and 

 strong emotions are experienced till within a 

 few moments of dissolution, the features may 

 be sealed by the hand of death in the last look 

 of rapture or of misery of benignity or of 

 anger. Every poetical reader knows the pic- 

 ture of the traits of death (no less true than 

 beautiful) drawn by the author of the "Giaour." 

 But such observations are not confined to 

 poets. Ilaller could trace in the dying coun- 

 tenance the smile which had been lighted by 

 the hope of a happier existence : " Adful- 

 gentis J'ugienti uninxE spei non raro in mori- 

 bundis signa vidi, qui serenissimo vultu, non 

 sine blando subrisu, de vita excesserunt ." * 

 Watchers of the dead have often affirmed, and 

 we can ourselves testify to the fact, that a 

 smile has appeared upon the countenance some 

 hours after death, though no such expression 

 had been witnessed at the time of the event ; 

 which is not difficult of interpretation if we 

 consider that an extremely slight muscular 

 action is sufficient to give any kind of expres- 

 sion, particularly that of complacency, that 

 mortal rigidity is produced by a species of 

 contraction in muscular fibres, (to be discussed 

 more fully hereafter), and that this change 

 seldom takes place till several hours after 

 death. 



SIGNS Or ACTUAL DEATH. 



The discrimination of true from apparent 

 death is not a matter of mere physiological 

 interest. It is of great importance that the 

 medical practitioner should be able to decide 

 in doubtful cases whether the resources of art 

 may be dispensed with, or the rites of sepul- 

 ture be permitted, as well as to give evidence, 

 in certain medico-legal inquiries, of the pre- 

 cise period at which an individual expired. 

 We have not space to record the numerous 

 cases that may be met with in various authors, 

 proving that even the most sagacious and ex- 

 perienced observers have been at times de- 

 ceived as to the reality of death. In the works 

 of the ancients there are frequent allusions to 

 premature interments. Pliny has a chapter, 

 " De his qui elali revixerunt;" and among 

 other cases mentions that of a young man of 

 rank, who was revived by the heat of his 

 funeral pyre, but who perished before he could 

 be rescued from the flames. " Ilsec est con- 

 ditio mortalium," is the reflection of the phi- 

 losopher, " ad hasce ejusmodi occasiones for- 



* Elem. Phys. lib. xxx. $ 23. 



tuna; gignimur, ut de homine ne morti quidem 

 debeat credi." Celsus asks, " si certa future 

 mortis indicia sunt, quomodo interdum de- 

 serti a m^dicis convalescant, quosdamque 

 fama prodiderit in ipsis funeribus revixisse ? " 

 " Complura fuerunt exempla," says Lord 

 Bacon, " hominum, tanquam mortuorum aut 

 expositorum a lecto, aut delatorum ad funus, 

 quinetiam nonnullorum in terra, conditorum, 

 qui nihilominus revixerunt."^ 



In the writings of Winslowf and BruhierJ 

 will be found an ample collection of melan- 

 choly instances of premature interment, besides 

 those which are scattered through various sys- 

 tematic wprks upon forensic medicine. Un- 

 intentional vivisection, moreover, has befallen 

 other instances than the celebrated subject 

 of Vesalius. Few of our readers have not 

 shuddered at the tale of the dismal fate of 

 the Abbe Prevost, who, having been struck 

 with apoplexy in the forest of Chantilly, was 

 taken home for dead, but recovered his con- 

 sciousness under the scalpel, and died im- 

 mediately afterwards. We must not recount 

 the marvellous recoveries recorded by French 

 authors, of Madame Mervache, the wife of a 

 jeweller at Poitiers, who was restored to life 

 in her grave, by the attempts of a robber to 

 despoil her of the rings with which she had 

 been buried ; and of Francois Civille, a Nor- 

 man gentleman, whose custom it was to add 

 to the signature of his name, " trois fois mort, 

 trois fois enterre, et trois fois par la grace de 

 Dieu ressuscite." The English reader will 

 find an interesting selection of cases in the 

 Appendix to Dr. Smith's Principles of Fo- 

 rensic Medicine, and in the article Premature 

 Interments in the Encyclopedia Britannica. 

 We shall only add that Bruhier collected fifty- 

 two cases of persons buried alive, four of per- 

 sons dissected prematurely, fifty-three of per- 

 sons who recovered without assistance after 

 they were laid in their coffins, and seventy-two 

 falsely reported dead. 



We shall arrange the indications of death 

 under three heads : 



1st. Signs of the extinction of vital functions 

 and properties. 



2dly. Changes in the tissues. 



3dly. Changes in the external appearance of 

 the body. 



1. The arrest of the circulation and respi- 

 ration would at first appear to afford decisive 

 evidence that a person is no longer alive. But 

 this sign is liable to the two-fold objection that 

 we cannot distinguish with absolute certainty 

 the minimum of the functions mentioned, 

 from their complete annihilation, and that re- 

 coveries have taken place after their real or 



* Hist. ViUe ct Mortis, x. 



t Dissert, an mortis incerta sint indicia. 



J Dissert, sur 1'Incertitude des signes de la mort. 



Louis in his Lettres sur la Certitude des signes 

 de la mort, insinuates that some of Bruhier's cases 

 are apocryphal. A more recent and perhaps a 

 more authentic collection of cases will be found in 

 M. Julia de Fontnnclle's " Rcchcrches medico- 

 Icgales sur 1'incci'titude des signes de la mort," &c. 

 1834. 



