Dec. i? 9 s ] Motter : Study of the Fauna of the Grave. 
2o;j 
» 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. 5 S 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, 
fasciae, 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 
