[ 90 J 
The ftiffnefs of bodies after acute dif- 
eafes is not an unufual occurrence. 
In the plague at Smyrna during the year 
1-784, and which I have defcribed in a 
work printed at Laufanne, the bodies of 
thofe who died were in general fo ftifF, 
that one could not bend their arms or 
legs in any way. Thefe bodies were a 
long time before they became putrid. 
In poifoned animals, or fuch as have 
fuffered a violent and cruel death, moft 
commonly putrefaction foon makes its ap¬ 
pearance. This indeed might be expeCted 
from the very relaxed and almoft parboiled 
ftate, of the mufcles. 
Sometimes animals thus circumflanced 
emit ftrong, difagreeable effluvia, from 
the fecretion of a putrid fluid, effected in 
the mid ft of the nervous derangements; 
this doubtlefs contributes to the diffolution 
of the folids, and may, on fome occaflons, 
be the fole-deftroying power. 
Let 
