The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-11-10
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Gases.
The question OF an absolutely q re
sign 3f death has troubled manAind
from ancient times. III has been most
garioEsly answered, but never Is entire
action. The difficulties I'VE meet
says DR.. Theodore Deckee, ga the
E aPress, are: First, that not an or
Is of the body die ID q moments
second, that the action Of some of
ne vital organs may be so diminished
tlat BY ordinary means II appears al
most impossible to decide whether the
life in them is in fact extinct or not.
The actual causes Of physiological
death are three: First, cessation Of
brain function; second, cessation Of
respiration or failure of the lungsi
third, failure Of the heart.
The FIRST, involving immediate death
of the central or animal nervous sys-
tenn only, is not at once followed by the
Inactivity Of the pertpheral nervous sy
tenn and its special, so-called, vegeta-
tive centers, as long ago was demon
strated by Brown-Sequard, SchiH and
others, So the lungs may continue to-
contract and expand, the heart may.
continue to beat, even with greatly di-
minished power. We know further that
the life of the skin is not extinct; hair.
and nails continue to grow; the stom-
ach continues to digest, the liver to.
secrete Bile, etc. Respecting the second
cause of death, we weIlknow that respi-
ration may a for quite awhile Il
the brain is not affected and the cir
culation not interrupted. And of the
third cause, by heart failure, the same
may be said. So we see that we may
! speak Of true absolute physiological
death only after the cessation of func-
tion Of the three organs together. or
at least Of two Of them, the lungs and
the heart, without the life action Of
which the brain certainly cannot oper.
ate.
Now, as regards respiration we have
very simple means to demonstrate its
cessation. So remains, in fact, as the
only one to show its true death, the
heart. This to prove indeed with alb
solute certainty is quite a difficult prob
lem. Upon the absence, therefore, OF
any and all traces of circulation in the
body have been concentrated most ex-
| periments. And as regards the same
we have to take into considerationthat
by disease, the heart beats might be
diminished to but so few faint pulsa-
tions per minute, might become so inn
perceptible, that without the aid OIL spe-
cial instruments and long-continued
observations nothing of their existence
may be, detected.
In the following I shall give the sim
pie means by which any person easily
enough may convince himself of the alb
sence or presence even of the slightest
traces of circulation.
If we ligate tight a member of the
body, best, for example, a finger be.
tween the first and second Joint, in the
living we will 0 notice beginning al
most at once reddish co,orationo of the
portion above the ligature. 1t becomes
darker and darker red, and finally AS
sumes a dark blush red color. The en-.
tire upper portion viii be thus affected.
and only directly around the ligature
there will be a small, color.ess white
ring. Now, as sure as this discolora-
ton will be observed in the living be-
ing, as sure will all traces of it be alb.
sent in the dead. The british discolora-
ton occasionally observed of and
around the finger nails in some corpses
is of no influence upon, nor does it in.
terfere in the slightest with the phe-
nomenon and its correct ~interpreta-
ton.
The phenomenon, of course, is easily
enough explained in the living by the
stagnation of the blood in the veins and
gapillaries when a new supply through
the arteries and the back How through
the veins is cut off by the ligature. The
white ring around the latter is pro-
duced by the partial arterial partial
venous anaemia
In place of a finger, if, as it at times
may happen, the skin becomes too thick
and horny to show the phenomenou
p.ainly-though this will but seldom
oceur-one may use the toes, the ear
laps, even the tip Of the nose, if desired.
The member must be only thin enough
in order to make the ligature as tight
and perfect as possible.
/ have used this means in about 1000
to 1,040 cases previous to post-mortem
examinations.
In n case only I observed the men-
toned d-iscoloration, though it was i'm.
possible to notice any heart action BY
any means. I at once resorted to vine
section, and, sure enough, the blood
flowed, and after a short time faint
~heartbests up to seven a minute could
be distinguished. Everything was
done to start respiration. Yet il was
too late, and the heartbeats within bali
an hour gradually diminished. The
corpse had been lying for dead for over
two hours.
skill OF the Cameo Gutter.
The cameo cutters occupation is
very exacting. He can put in only
a few hours work at a time as a
usual thing because of the tension