Indications of Death
DEATH, SIGNS OF.—1. To determine if a person is dead, a clinical thermometer may be inserted far into the rectum and allowed to remain five minutes. If it registers 90 degrees or more, life is present; it is below 80 degrees in death, though the internal temperature will not drop for an hour or more.
2. Form a small blister on the skin by heat; open it widely. If the part beneath is red and the. edges dark-red, there is life. If colorless, death is indicated.
3. Ascertain lung action by placing a shallow dish of water on the chest to note movement of the water; by a feather before the nostrils to note passage of air; or by a cold mirror before the nose and mouth to note moisture from the breath.
4. In three days, on the average, putrefaction begins, perceptible by disagreeable odor and distension of the abdomen by gas. If doubtful, wait until this takes place. The electrical test is an accurate one, but requires expert knowledge.
There are many signs of death; but practically all of them, with the single exception of putrefaction, are fallible and can¬not be considered conclusive. The following abridged gen¬eral summary of the signs of death is taken from Hereward Carrington and John R. Header’s Book, “Death: Its Causes and Phenomena:”
“Observations of the circulation are inconclusive. Often, the heart may be beating, yet is too faint to be heard. On the other hand, the heart may have ceased to beat, but your own pulsations will be felt, and a false notion gained that the sub¬ject is alive. Other testi, such as cutting a vein, coagulation, ligature of the finger, cupping, leeching, etc., show merely that the circulation has stopped; not that it cannot be restored by proper measures, such as cardiac massage, hot packs, etc. “The temperature post-mortem is a very uncertain sign. The little livid spots, known as cadaveric sigillations, once thought to be an infallible sign of death, may occur before death in certain diseases, such as cholera, uremia and as¬phyxia and may be absent where there has been abundant hemorrhage.
“The failure of the skin to blister was long thought to be a conclusive sign of death; but this is now known to be untrue. The parchment-like appearance of the skin is also uncertain.” The following signs have in the past been considered sure signs of death, but all of them are now known to be uncertain: