DEATH, the cessation of life; the state of any being, animal, or plant, in which the vital functions have totally and permanently ceased to act. Every blow we strike, every thought we think, is accompanied by the death and disintegra tion of a certain amount of muscular or nervous fiber as its necessary condition; thus every action of our corporeal life, from its beginning to its close, takes place at the expense of the vitality of a certain amount of organized structure. This is termed molecular death, and, within its proper limits, is obviously es sential to the life and well-being of the organism. The cessation of the circu lation and respiration may be regarded as constituting somatic death, or the death of the entire organism, which must obviously be shortly followed by the mo lecular death of every portion of the body. Death happens either from the natural decay of the organism, as in old age, or from some of those derangements or lesions of the vital organs which oc cur in diseases and injuries. For techni cal reasons a discrimination should be made between death, decease, and demise. The three principal modes of dying begin at the heart, the brain, or the lungs.
At the approach of death, the mind may be affected in various ways, includ ing dullness of the senses, vacancy of the intellect, extinction of the sentiments, as in natural death from old age, or a pe culiar delirium closely resembling dream ing, which is usually of a pleasing and cheerful character. In most diseases of long standing the cessation of the heart's action is gradual, the rate of the pul sation being much increased, but their energy being much impaired. In some acute affections the failure is shown by the irregularity of the pulse, while the force is little altered. In other cases, es pecially in cerebral diseases, the heart, before finally ceasing to beat, contracts violently and suddenly stops. The respi ration is sometimes hurried and panting till just before death, while in other cases it is slow, laborious, and stertorous. There is also a loss of animal heat, begin ning at the extremities.
The signs of actual death are (1) the heart's arrest and the gradual extinction of the vital functions; (2) changes in the tissues; (3) change in the external ap pearance of the body.
(1) The arrest of the circulation and respiration at first sight appears to af ford decisive evidence of death, but these functions may be reduced to so low a condition that it is by no means easy to decide whether or not they are com pletely annihilated. In cases of apparent drowning, chloroform poisoning, and in newly-born infants, they are frequently suspended and again restored, and cases occasionally occur in which the patient has the power of voluntarily suspending them for a considerable period. The gradual loss of animal heat is an impor tant sign, but in exceptional cases a rise of temperature may take place after death.
(2) The most important among the changes in the tissues is the "rigor mortis," or rigidity of the muscles, which ensues at a varying period after death. It may appear within half an hour, or it may be delayed 20 or 30 hours, ac cording to the nature of the disease; its mean duration is from 24 to 36 hours. It begins in the neck and trunk; then ap pears, according to most observers, in the upper, and lastly in the lower, extremi ties; and disappears in the same order.
(3) The most important change in the external appearance of the body is un questionably the altered color of the sur face. Livid spots of various sizes may occur from local congestions during life; but the appearance of a green tint on the skin of the abdomen, accompanied by a separation of the epidermis, is a certain sign that life is extinct.
Death, in a legal point of view, is either natural or civil; the former being the cessation of both physical life and of the legal rights which attach to it, the latter the cessation of the legal rights while the physical life remains. The doctrine of civil death is now abolished except as to cases of outlawry, in which it seems still to be applicable.