Organs which Putrefy Early

1. The Trachea, including the Larynx.—The rapid change in the trachea must be borne in mind, in order to avoid the error of attributing death to suffocation or drowning. An examination of the trachea should never be omitted.

2. The Brain of Infants up to the First Year.

3. The Stomach.—The first traces of putrefaction are seen in from four to six days after death. All the coats of the stomach are softened, but there is no excoriation, as is the case when corrosive poisons are taken. Emphysematous separation of the mucous coat may be present, but must not be confounded with the excoriation just mentioned.

4. The Intestines.—Casper declares that he does not remember any case in the course of his experience where the intestines were “found earlier putrefied than the stomach.” In the course of putrefaction they become of a dark brown colour, bursting, and allowing an escape of their contents; and they ultimately become changed into a dark pultaceous mass.

5. The Spleen.—This organ in some cases putrefies before the stomach and intestines; but, as a rule, it resists decomposition longer.

6. The Omentum and Mesentery.

7. The Liver.—This organ is not unfrequently found firm and dense some weeks after death. It putrefies earlier in new-born children than in adults. The convex surface first shows signs of putrefaction. The gall-bladder also remains for some time recognisable.

8. The Adult Brain.—The brain of newly-born children, as mentioned before, soon putrefies. This is not the case in the adult brain. Putrefaction sets in not on the surface, but at the base of the brain. A wound of the brain causes it to putrefy more rapidly than if no injury be present.

Organs which Putrefy Late

9. The Heart.

10. The Lungs.—Contemporaneously with the appearance of decomposition in the heart, the lungs also begin to show signs of putrefaction, though this condition may take place earlier.

11. The Kidneys.—These organs are long in yielding to the putrefactive process.

12. The Bladder.—Nearly all the other organs of the body are in a state of decomposition before this viscus becomes materially affected.

13. The Gullet.—This long remains firm, even after the stomach and intestines fail to be recognised.

14. The Pancreas.—The body must be far advanced in putrefaction before this gland becomes affected.

15. The Diaphragm.—This may be distinguished after the lapse of four to six months.

16. The Blood-vessels.—The aorta may be recognised after the body has been interred for fourteen months.

17. The Uterus.—Of all the organs of the body, the uterus resists the putrefactive changes longer than any other organ.

Table showing some important Facts to be
noticed with regard To Putrefaction:

• 1. Earliest external indication of it.
• (1) In a Body exposed to Air.—Greenish coloration of the
• abdominal coverings.
• (2) In a Body immersed in Water.—Face, head, and ears,
• gradually extending from above downwards.
• 2. Earliest internal indication.—Found in the trachea, including
• the larynx.
• 3. Advanced putrefactive appearances to be expected in a body
• exposed to air, say from fourteen to twenty days at mean
• temperature, as regards—
• (1) Epidermis.—Raised here and there in blisters about
• the size of a walnut, in some places the size of a dinner
• plate, and quite stripped off.
• (2) True Skin.—Maggots cover the body, chiefly in the
• folds of the skin.
• (3) Cellular Tissue.—Blown up with gas.
• 4. Comparative time required to produce equal extent of putrefaction
• in a body—
• (1) In Air.—One week. One month.
• (2) In Water.—Two weeks. Two months.
• (3) In Earth.—Eight weeks. Eight months.

Does Lime hasten Putrefaction?—It is a very general opinion that it does. Careful experiment has, however, proved that lime neither retards nor hastens putrefaction, but that it prevents the escape of the gases produced during the process by absorbing them; it is, therefore, a good and safe deodoriser, and in this property its true value lies.