The student's handbook of forensic medicine and medical police / by H. Aubrey Husband.

Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The student's handbook of forensic medicine and medical police / by H. Aubrey Husband. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    and with the odour of decayed cheese. The forma- tion of this substance ' to any considerable extent is not likely to occur in less than three to four months in water, or six months in moist earth, though its com- mencement may take place at a much earlier period.' To explain the formation of adipocire, it has been supposed to be due to the decomposition of the mus- cular structures of the body, by which hydrogen and nitrogen are evolved—these combining to form am- monia, which coming in contact with the fatty acids of the fat, a soap is formed. The process of saponification takes place most rapidly in young fat persons; next, in those adults who abound in fat, and in those whose bodies have been exposed to the soil of water-closets or immersed in water; and lastly, in those who have been buried in moist, damp soil. The muscular tissue appears to be the first to undergo this change. Table showing the Order in ivhich the Internal Organs undergo Putrefaction. 1. The trachea. 2. The brain of infants. 3. The stomach, j. The intestines. 5. The spleen. 6. The omentum and mesen- tery. 7. The liver. S. The adult brain. 0. The heart. 10. The lungs. 11. The kidneys. 12. The bladder. 13. Thegullet 14. The pancreas. 15. The diaphragm. 16. The blood-vessels. 17. The uterus. II,—Internal. A. Organs which putrefy early. 1 The Trachea, including the Larynx.—This rapid change in the trachea must be borne in mind, m order to avoid the error of attributing death to sutWatmn or drowning. An examination of the trachea shouH never be omitted. (See Casper, vol. i. p. 45, Syd. Trans.)