Dec. i? 9 S ] HOTTER : STUDY OF THE FAUNA OF THE GRAVE. 20o 



Orfila, Goedart and others have been led to the conclusion 

 that, other things being equal, the deeper the grave the slower the 

 progress of decomposition. In two cases following (Nos. 58 and 59), 

 buried within sixteen days of each other, after an interment of seven 

 years and nine months, the skeleton at the bottom of the grave was 

 found almost wholly stripped, while the upper one had still a heavy 

 case of adipocere. 



So varied and so numerous are the modifying conditions and cir- 

 cumstances that it is impossible to say, definitely and absolutely, what 

 is the exact order of disappearance of the several organs and tissues. 

 Looking at the problem from the opposite standpoint, it seems that 

 the bones and the hair are the last to undergo disintegration. I have 

 found the bones, after an interment of seventy-one years, still pre- 

 serving their general form and appearance, though easily crushed be- 

 tween thumb and fingers ; the hair I have seen practically intact after 

 thirty-six years. The brain I have found a still recognizable grayish 

 mass, lying within the skull after all the other soft tissues had disap- 

 peared and the skeleton had been completely disarticulated. Indeed, 

 I have found it, after eighteen years and two months (No. 136), lying 

 on the occipital bone after the skull itself had fallen apart. Strange 

 to say, the spinal cord seems to disappear much earlier ; I have failed 

 to find any vestige of it — in one case (No. 6) — after three years and 

 five months. The skin and the more superficial connective tissues of 

 the trunk and extremities are converted into a sort of case of adipocere, 

 which preserves the general outline of the cadaver long after the in- 

 ternal organs, and the muscles and tendons even have been completely 

 destroyed and the skeleton within stripped and disarticulated. Under 

 ordinary conditions of interment, some, at least, of this adipocere may 

 persist for ten or twelve years, remaining longest about the pelvis and 

 lower part of the abdomen. I have been able to recognize the skin, 

 fascia?, muscles, tendons, vessels and nerves of the thigh in one cada- 

 ver (No. 44) after six years and five months ; while, on the other 

 hand, in another case (No. 40) the muscles had entirely disappeared 

 after six years and three months. In most of the cases observed, the 

 thoracic and abdominal organs seem to have disappeared before the 

 muscles. The face, hands and feet seem to be the first parts attacked ; 

 I recall at least one instance where the skull was entirely stripped 

 while as yet there seemed to be but little change elsewhere. 



In the following pages I have brought together, for the purpose of 



