DEATH. 
ed cold ; the a retreats upwards with the blocd, 
ma obferved in 
diaphragm, the eighth or a fee and the arch of the 
aorta. Laftiv, the sa ant back upon the heart icfelf. 
This vifcus now refts ort time, and then makes an 
effort to free itfelf from ate contained blood. The impof- 
fibility of driving this t — the lungs creates a fenfe of 
anxiety, whic aay rife < the laft ftruggle of nae 
life. The heart’s actio ation ar 
performed for a few ae re ooegtee intervals, all, . latt 
the accumulated blood is no longer a fu ftimulus, and 
the fenfibility and contractile power of the organ are finally 
rom the natural effe& of the ela i 
powers refiding in the parietes of = thorax. Hence, 
ee language, to expire has me fynonymous ek 
he action of, the left veut cke ceafes firft, as the 
ebitredtion of refpiration cuts off its fupply of tlood. The 
right ventricle then ceafes to a@, although it ftill receives 
blood from the vene cave. ‘The auricle even now palpi- 
tates for a while, and receives and repels the blood alter. 
nately with the venze cavz, till it alfo grows infenfible to 
the flimulus. 
mufc les are relaxed at the moment of death; fo that 
the dropping of the under jaw; and a 
ee a of the body are eafily bent and moved i 
dire&tio 
; they 
become firmly .contraCled, 
and bring the whole body into a moft ri 
id fate ; 3; fo that 
natural progrefs towar 
fibres. Phyfiologifts regard this phenomenon, together-wit 
that of the oe of the blood, as arifing from the 
elidue of vital po wer, which the body 
ition. It does not 
of death. 
a powerful 
t itiffen, nor does t 
blogd coagulate ; this is aces by ftating that the vital 
principle is totally and fuddenly ee ee over the whole 
body in fuch kinds of death; moment of ap- 
ale diffolution is alfo that of abfolute vaderial death. We 
e alfo informed that thefe changes do not take place in 
the human fubjeé&t, when dying of fome ee ma‘ignant, 
and, as they are often called, putrid fevers. Here the 
exertions of the animal in one e cafe, and the prog refs - the 
by oes we may be certain that death has really taken p! lace. 
The preceding account will fufficiently convince the readers 
that the ceffation of re{piration and the heart’s a€tion cannot 
the ae. power of the cee. bie this we ee no means 
ofafcertaining. As fingle fy mptoms, neither the ceff.tion of 
the pulfe and breathing, nor coldnefs of the body, nor want 
of efflux of blood from a vein, nor infenfibility to flimuli, 
nor relaxation of the fphinGers, and other mufcles, can 
fted 
. Perha 
by the contraction af th 
of death as any individual circumftance. 
for a certain time. 
Putrefadlion is the a canepa decompofition which dead 
anima] bodies undergo, and which is to be regarded as one 
of their moft ftriking peculiarities. This fubjeé& might ge 
be confidered as foreign yfiology, defined, as it 
een, by fome o : 
when we Saaraae that the changes 
r the departure of the aay ac af throw light 
on le eiueeke itfelf; the hiftory of the body will ttil 
belong to the phyfiologit, its appearance can no 
of its former ftate, and every trace 
But this only laits ; 
th 
under the dominion of thofe phytical laws, which govern 
all other inorganic matter. new motion takes place in 
their interior, and their component e elements manifeft a ten=- 
dency to feparate from each other, froager in aie sa 
ear 
fimple, and its component parts few and not volatile in their 
nature. 
A neceflary condition for the occurrence of putrefaction is 
that the body 
chemical agen f 
abfolutely ener ictory t 
difeafes chara&terized: by the epithet putrid, w 
le& that the changes denoted by this expreffion are by no 
means fuch as occur in putrefaction other circume 
ftances neceflary to the decompolition of the dead animal 
body are, 1{t, a certain temperature, which fhould be above 
10° of Reaumur’s feale. Cold carried to the f freezing point is 
a complete prefervative Hee purrefaction, as long as the avi- 
mal fubflance is ie oit, Hence the € pra Eice © 
ing meat in {now inn ee n countries, and of tranfporting 
pac aie in Ice to sande ate a ob ay ise 
higher the temperature the more r s the putrefa 
vided the heat be not fufficient to rs uce the ee to agele 
for then it is brought to the of fome mummies. 24, 
A certain degree of moutture is * fo neceflary, ctherwife the 
body might be reduced to a mummy contact 
of air promotes the decompofition by volatilizi: ng the dif- 
engaged elements, which rife in the form of vapour. It is 
not, however, eflential, as putrefaction w will go on im vacuo. 
The phenomena of putrefaétion, 1 refulting from a feries of 
particular attractions, affume various modifications, accord- 
ing to the kind of fubflance which undergoes this change 3 
5 the 
af OD 
