DEATH DUTIES 



DE BAR? 



715 



ing to most olwervers, in the upper, and lastly 

 in tl)<- lower e\ 1 1 em 11 ie-, and dUup(>eara in the 

 same order. 



(3) Various changes in the external appearance 

 nl tin* lnl\ liavr IMTM regarded as indicative of 

 death by different writers; of theHe, the most 

 important unquestionably is the altered colour of 

 ihr -urf;ice. Livid spots of various si/.cs may occur 

 from loral OODgOltioni daring life; but the appear- 

 ance of a green tint on the skin uf the abdomen, 

 accompanied by a separation of the epidermis, is a 

 certain sign that life is extinct. 



The discrimination of true from apparent death 

 is obviously not a matter of mere physiological 

 interest. The case of Vesalius, the eminent 

 anatomist, who opened an apparently dead body 

 in which the exposed heart was seen to be still 

 beating, is well known ; as also that of the Abbe 

 Prevost, who, having been struck down by apoplexy, 

 was regarded as dead, but recovered his conscious- 

 ness under the scalpel, and died immediately after- 

 wards ; and a French author, Bruhier, in a work 

 On the Danger of Premature Interment (1742-45), 

 collected fifty-four cases of persons buried alive, 

 four of persons dissected while still living, fifty- 

 three of persons who recovered without assistance 

 after they were laid in their coffins, and seventy- 

 two falsely considered dead. But when reason- 

 able care is taken such mistakes are hardly possible. 



See KlIII Ah, ('ATAI.Kl'SY. 



Death, in a legal point of view, is either natural 

 or civil : the former being the cessation both of 

 physical life and of the legal rights which attach 

 to it ; the latter, the cessation of the legal rights 

 whilst the physical life remains. A man was said 

 to be civilly dead in England when he had been 

 attainted or treason or felony, or had abjured the 

 realm, or was banished, or became professed in 

 religion by going into a monastery. In these 

 events his property devolved as if he were naturally 

 dead. The doctrine of civil death is now abolished 

 except as to cases of outlawry, in which it seems 

 still to be applicable. 



According to the Scottish Law of Death-bed, an 

 heir in heritage was entitled to reduce all voluntary 

 deeds granted by his ancestor to his prejudice, if 

 they were granted by this ancestor on his death- 

 bed. It was necessary that at the time the deed 

 was granted the ancestor should be suffering from 

 the disease of which he died, and should not sur- 

 vive for more than sixty days. The law did not 

 apply if, after granting the need, the ancestor was 

 able to go unsupported to kirk or market. The 

 law of death-ben was abolished in 1871. 



The so-called Valley of Death is a specially arid 

 tract in the MOHAVE DESERT (q.v.) a depiction 

 without vegetation, and with a saline efflorescence. 

 See also the articles ANNUITY, CAPITAL PUNISH- 

 MENT, DANCE OF DEATH, DISEASE, EXECUTION, 

 INSURANCE, LIFE, REGISTRATION. 



Death Duties. See LEGACY. 



Death's-head IMoth (Acherontia atropos), 

 a species of Hawk-moth (q.v.), in the family 

 Sphingidie, not uncommon in some parts of 

 England and of the continent of Europe. It is 

 widely distributed over the world, being found in 

 Africa, the Mauritius, and the East Indies. It is 

 one of the largest of the European Lepidoptera, 

 and measures almost six inches from tip to tip of 

 the extended wings. The general colour is dark, 

 the woolly body yellow, with, black markings, the 

 thorax with markings which have some resem- 

 blance to a skull, the upper wings mottled with 

 brown, black, and yellow, the hind wings dark 

 yellow with two black bands. The large cater- 

 pillar is greenish-yellow, the back speckled with 

 black, with transverse lines partly blue and partly 



white. The tail end bean an K-Hhapcd horn. In 



countries where the potato U cultivate! it i* 



to be found feeding on the leaves of that plant. 



Death's-head Moth (Acherontia atropos) and Caterpillar. 



In the pupa stage it is brown, and lies in a hole in 

 the ground. The insect is nocturnal in habit, and is 

 interesting as an audacious plunderer of bee-hives. 

 How it daunts the bees is a mystery. Even more 

 remarkable is the much discussed shrill piping note, 

 which is probably produced by the forcible expul- 

 sion of air from tlie fore-gut through a cleft in the 

 proboscis. The sudden appearance of large num- 

 bers is popularly regarded as ominous of evil, and 

 in the Mauritius the insect is believed to cast from 

 its wings a dust which produces blindness in those 

 persons on whom it falls. 



Death-watch, a ticking or rapping noise 

 produced by various insects in houses. Being 

 pftenest heard in the quiet of sickness and anxiety, 

 it has been superstitiouslv regarded as a signal of 

 approaching death. In Britain it is generally the 

 love-signal of the small boring beetle (Anobium, 

 see BORERS), of a brownish colour, and about j 

 inch in fength. Various species frequent wood, 

 furniture, &c. A. pertinax, A. tesselatum, and 

 A. striatum are all common death-watches. Some 

 other insects besides Anobium make tapping noises, 

 notably the Giant Cockroach (q.v.) or drummer. 

 One of the book-lice (Atropos jmlsaturius), in a 

 very different order, used to be regarded erroneously 

 as the ' death- watch.' 



Debacle, a French word, meaning in that 

 language the breaking up of the ice in a harbour 

 or river, but introduced into English by geologists 

 to express any sudden fhxxl of water, which bears 

 before it opposing olwtacles, and leaves its path 

 marked with confused and scattered fragments of 

 rocks, stone, and other debris. 



De IS;iry. HKIXKICH ANTON*, an eminent 

 lx>tanist, Wn at Frankfort-on-Main, 20th January 

 1831. After a course of medical studies at 

 Heidelberg, Marburg, and Berlin, he began in 

 1853 to practise in his native city, but next year 

 became a jtrirnt-dttrmt in Tubingen, the year after 

 was called to le professor of I'.otanv at Freiburg, 

 where in 1859 he was appointed ordinary professor. 

 In 1867 he ol>eyed a cull to Halle, ami in 187'J t<> 

 Strasburg, whe're he was the first rector of the 

 newly reorganised university. He diet! at Stras- 

 1'iirir! 19th January 1888.* As a botanist, De 

 i Bary is famous especially for the contributions he 



