806 



DEATH. 



the extremities ; we should naturally look for 

 it about the trunk, in conformity with the order 

 of disappearance observed by all other vital 

 actions ; but as we have stated above, this phe- 

 nomenon both appears and declines first upon 

 the trunk ; in other words, according to the 

 hypothesis, the muscles in this part expire 

 while those of the extremities are still alive. 

 Devergie is puzzled to reconcile the long 

 continuance and intensity of rigidity in cases 

 of asphyxia from carbonic acid, with the 

 fact that this agent is destructive to contrac- 

 tility. We are somewhat surprised that he 

 was not brought, by the mutual opposition of 

 these facts, to consider that rigidity and vital 

 contraction have nothing in common but the 

 tissue in which they are manifested. 



The third cause enumerated by Beclard is 

 the coagulation of the blood. This is probably 

 nearer the truth than are the other explanations 

 of the phenomenon ; but it would be more 

 correct to say that rigidity and coagulation of 

 the blood are effects of the same causes, viz. 

 coagulation of fibrin. They occur about the 

 same time, and are impeded by the same 

 agents. It has been proved that the muscles 

 are the subjects of the rigidity, that they are 

 contracted, and that their contraction is not of 

 a vital nature. As this change must there- 

 fore be either mechanical or chemical, what 

 more probable cause (in the absence of actual 

 demonstration) can be imagined than the coa- 

 gulation of fibrin in the muscles? 



The rigidity occasioned by certain diseases 

 may be mistaken by an unpractised observer 

 for mortal stiffness. This error is most likely 

 to be committed in cases of hysteria, for this 

 affection, not content with imitating almost 

 every other malady, has been often successful 

 in mimicking death itself. Tetanus is in- 

 stanced by some authors as a disease likely to 

 occasion mistakes of the kind alluded to. This 

 may be true of hysteric tetanus, but not of the 

 idiopathic or of the traumatic species, which 

 have characters too striking to be overlooked 

 by even the most inexperienced. Besides, if 

 the rigidity of any given case, supposed by one 

 to be cadaveric, were by another proved to be 

 tetanic, we are of opinion that the condition of 

 the subject would be not a whit less hopeless, 

 since the case implies that the respiration and 

 circulation are apparently extinct ; and when 

 this is the case in tetanus, we may feel 

 quite certain that if the patient is not actually 

 dead, he is quite irrecoverable. Nysten de- 

 clares that the rigid spasm of disease may 

 be always distinguished from that of death by 

 the circumstance that it precedes the loss of 

 heat in the former case, while in the latter the 

 order of the events is just the reverse. This 

 test holds good in a very large proportion of 

 cases, but must not be implicitly relied upon, 

 because, as we have before observed, corpses 

 not unfrequently retain their caloric for some 

 time after rigidity has commenced. A better 

 criterion is that of overcoming the rigidity 

 by force ; if it be cadaveric, the contraction 

 is completely annihilated ; if morbid, it will 

 return when the force is withdrawn. 



A species of rigidity more likely to be con- 

 founded with the cadaveric is that which is 

 sometimes found in the dead body, but which 

 is the product of disease. Of this description 

 is the spasmodic contraction which often con- 

 tinues after death by apoplexy and other cere- 

 bral and spinal diseases ; and the observation 

 of which is as old as the time of Hippocrates. 

 M. Marc relates the case of a gentleman who 

 went to a theatre apparently in good health, 

 and after the representation was over, was 

 found by his friends sitting in the front of the 

 box, with his head resting upon his hands, and 

 his elbows on the ledge. He had died of apo- 

 plexy, and been retained in that position by 

 the tonic spasm of his muscles.* This con- 

 traction is unquestionably vital, but it ceases 

 after a few hours, and the flexibility is then 

 succeeded by true cadaveric rigidity. In 

 medico-legal cases it is of the utmost moment 

 to bear this distinction in mind, but it is one 

 that has received much too little attention. 

 Many of the standard works upon forensic 

 medicine are altogether silent upon the subject. 

 Its importance was proved by a case which 

 occurred in France some years ago. The body 

 of a man named Courbon was found in a ditch, 

 with the trunk and limbs in such a relative 

 position as could only have been maintained 

 by the stiffness of the articulations. This 

 stiffness, moreover, must have come on at 

 the very time when the body took the said 

 position, unless it could be imagined that the 

 body had been supported by the alleged mur- 

 derers until the joints were locked by cada- 

 veric stiffness, a supposition infinitely too im- 

 probable to be entertained for an instant. But 

 by regarding the rigidity as of a spasmodic 

 nature (resulting from apoplexy, of which there 

 were sufficient proofs in the necroscopy), the 

 difficulties of the case were altogether removed. 

 A full report of the case, and of the medico- 

 legal consultation upon it, will be found in the 

 seventh volume of the Annales d' Hygiene. In 

 death by asphyxia there is often a spasmodic 

 contraction which may continue for some time 

 after decease. Orfilaf is of opinion that this 

 may be readily distinguished by the continu- 

 ance of animal heat, which he agrees with 

 Nysten in judging to be incompatible with 

 rigidity. While denying the universality of 

 this principle, we think it sufficiently extensive 

 to admit of a very useful application in a great 

 number of instances. 



From what has been said, it can scarcely 

 be doubted that rigidity is a certain evidence 

 of death. Prior to this there is no indication 

 derivable from changes in the tissues svhich 

 can be depended upon ; but the flexibility that 

 follows it affords, if possible, still stronger 

 proof of the condition of the body. There is 

 no state with which it can be confounded if 

 we except the interval between spasmodic and 

 true post-mortem stiffness ; but very little cau- 

 tion is requisite for avoiding a fallacy of this 

 description. 



* Annales d' Hygiene, &c. t.vii. p. 604. 

 t Lemons de Med". Leg. t. ii. p. 195. 



