CADAVERIC EIGIDITY. 461 



have stated that there does not seem to be any such occur- 

 rence, except under conditions of most extraordinary external 

 violence, as instantaneous death of all parts of the organism. 1 

 If we confine ourselves to physiological facts, we cannot ad- 

 mit the existence of a single vital principle which animates 

 the entire organism. Each tissue appears to have its peculiar 

 property, dependent upon its exact physiological constitution, 

 which we call vitality ; a term which really explains nothing. 

 The tissues usually die successively, and not simultaneously, 

 nearly all of them being dependent upon the circulating, 

 oxygen-carrying blood for the maintenance of their physio- 

 logical properties. It has been demonstrated, indeed, that 

 the so-called vital properties of tissues may be restored, after 

 apparent death, by the injection of blood into their vessels. 8 



After death, there is often a discharge of the contents of 

 the rectum and bladder, and parturition, even, has been known 

 to take place. 3 The appearance which indicates growth of 

 the beard is probably due to shrinking of the skin and, per- 

 haps, contraction of the smooth muscular fibres attached to 

 the hair-follicles. The most important phenomenon, how- 

 ever, which is observed before putrefaction begins, is a gen- 

 eral rigidity of the muscular system. 



Cadaveric Rigidity. At a variable period after death, 

 ranging usually from five to seven hours, all of the muscles 

 of the body, involuntary as well as voluntary, become rigid, 

 and can 'only be stretched by the application of considerable 

 force. Sometimes, especially after long-continued and ex- 



1 See vol. iv., Nervous System, p. 410. 



2 In vol. i., Blood, p. 99, we have cited a curious experiment by Brown- 

 Se"quard, in which blood was passed from a living dog into the carotid of a dog 

 just dead from peritonitis. The animal was so far revived as to sustain himself 

 on his feet, wag his tail, etc., and died a second time, twelve and a half hours 

 after. In this experiment, insufflation was employed in addition to the transfu- 

 sion. In cases of death from haemorrhage, it is well known that life may be 

 brought back, as it were, by artificial restoration of the blood. 



3 SYMONDS, Cyclopaedia, of Anatomy and Physiology, London, 1835-1836, vol. 

 i., p. 804, Article, Death. 



