Signs of Death.-- During death the chief physical processes, such as respiration and Cir culation, may first cease, but molecular activity may persist for some time, as is evidenced in the common observation of the growth of hair after death. The desirability of knowing the absolute signs of death is due not so much to the danger of burying the living, as to the possibility that efforts at resuscitation may not be adequately performed in cases of apparent death. The idea that at the present time people can be buried alive is more or less absurd; but it is very true that many cases of apparent asphyxia, notably following drowning or electrical shock, are re coverable if proper means are taken.
There are a number of conditions that simu late death. The commonest of these are cata lepsy and trance states, partial asphyxia and syncope or fainting. In catalepsy there is usu ally a loss of consciousness, the muscles of the body generally become very rigid, but the limbs may be readily moved and' placed in various positions. The temperature is lowered, but the respiration and the heart-action, while reduced, are apparent. In trance the appearance of death is much more striking, consciousness is usually abolished, the face is pale, the limbs may be flaccid, and sometimes are rigid, the reflexes may be lost, and the pupils may be dilated and immobile. The absence of the signs of decom position, the normal ophthalmoscopic appearance of the fundus of the eye, and the persistence of electrical excitability are sufficient, however, for determining this condition. Partial asphyxia by drowning is one of the most frequent causes of apparent death. Resuscitation has resulted even after a body has been under water for an hour.. This fact emphasizes the desirability of continued treatment in all cases of asphyxia by drowning. Ordinary fainting is readily dis tinguished from normal death.
The special signs of death are those that in volve the circulation, respiration, conditions of the muscular system and certain changes in the eye. Circulatory changes are those of stoppage of the heart, with consequent loss of heat and coagulation of the blood. Careful listening to the heart-sounds by means of specially devised instruments may be necessary to determine whether the heart has stopped beating or not, and special methods of applying ligatures to the lobe of the ear or the finger, cutting off the venous return and permitting the ordinary in flow to continue, may be used. The respiratory changes consist of cessation of respiration, with consequent change in the color of the patient, there being marked pallor in distinction usually to marked cyanosis of asphyxia. A mirror placed before the nose or over the mouth will sometimes detect breathing when it cannot be seen or heard; and if a vessel of water be placed over the chest, movements of that organ may he detected. Muscular changes are very characteristic. There is usually complete muscular relaxation, followed by great stiffness (rigor mortis) after a certain number of hours. There is commonly loss of excitability of the muscles. Changes in the eye are corroborative rather than unique. The iris is usually flaccid; the pupil is ordinarily moderately dilated and irresponsive to light, and is not reacted upon by atrophic or eserine half an hour after death. There is a marked atimmia of the fundus of the eye when viewed with the ophthalmoscope.
Finally there are a series of cadaveric changes that result and which are indubitable evidence of death. There is gradual loss of heat, although in certain cases of cholera tem peratures as low as 76° F. have been observed, and the patient has still lived. Rigor mortis develops, probably, by the action of a ferment resulting in the formation of myosin. This condition may come on very rapidly, sometimes in a few hours, but complete rigor mortis rarely takes place within this time. Occasionally there is an instantaneous rigor mortis, when death occurs suddenly during violent muscular exer tion. This happens in times of war, when weapons are sometimes firmly grasped in the dead hand; and in some cases of drowning the patients may be found with weeds and mud clutched in the fingers. The disappearance of rigor mortis usually takes place in from 16 to 36 hours, although there is no absolute rule. Coagulation of the blood, post-mortem hy postases, post-mortem lividities and putrefactive decoloration, with formation of gases, are usually characteristic and unequivocal.
Death in Mythology, etc.— The repre sentation of death among nations in their earlier stages depends upon the ideas which they form of the state of man after this life, and of the disposition of their gods toward mankind. In this respect the of these representations is very interesting. Of later ages the same cannot be said, because imitations of representa tions previously adopted are very often the subjects of the plastic arts in such periods. However, these representations do not alto gether depend on the causes above mentioned, as the general disposition of a nation (for in stance, that of the Greeks, who beautified every object) has also a great influence upon them. The Greeks represented death as a pleasing, gentle being, a beautiful youth. They personi fied death under the name Thanatos, while the Kees were rather the goddesses of fate and violent deaths, like the Valkyrie in the northern mythology. According to Homer, Sleep and Death are twins, and Hesiod calls them the sons of Night. They are often portrayed together on cameos, etc. During the most flourishing period of the arts Death was represented on tombs as a friendly genius with an inverted torch, and holding a wreath in his hand; or as a sleeping child, winged, with an inverted torch resting on his wreath. Sleep was represented in the same manner, except that the torch and wreath were omitted. According to an idea originating in the East, death in the bloom of youth was attributed to the attachment of some particular deity, who snatched his favorite to a better world. It was ascribed, for instance, to Jupiter, or to his eagle, if the death was oc casioned by lightning; to the water-nymphs if the individual was drowned, as in the case of Hylas; to Eos or Aurora if the death happened in the morning; to Selene, if at night, etc. These representations were more adapted to relieve the minds of surviving friends than the pictures of horror drawn by later poets and artists. (Consult Herder's (Wie die Alten den Tod gebildet.') Euripides, in his (Alcestis,' even introduced Death on the stage, in a black robe, with a steel instrument in his hand, to cut off the hair of his victims, and thus devote them to the infernal gods. The later Roman poets represent Death tinder more horrible forms, gnashing his teeth and marking his victims with bloody nails, a monster overshadowing whole fields of battle. The Hebrews, likewise, had a fearful angel of death, called Samael, and prince of the world, and coinciding with the devil; but he removes with a kiss those who die in early youth. The disgusting representa tions of Death common among Christians originated in the 14th century; for the repre sentation of Death as a skeleton merely covered with skin, on the monument at Cumr, was only an exception to the figure commonly ascribed to him among the ancients. In recent times Death has again been represented as a beautiful youth — certainly a more Christian image than the skeleton with the scythe. The monument made by Canova, which George IV erected in honor of the Stuarts in Saint Peter's Church at Rome, represents Death as a beautiful youth. He is sometimes portrayed tinder the figure of a dy ing lion.
Causes of Death.— There are 15 principal causes of death, with the rate per 100,000, as given by the census bureau. They are as fol lows: Pneumonia, 191.9; consumption.
heart disease, 134: diarrhceal diseases, 85.1; kid ney diseases, 88.7; apoplexy, 66.6; cancer, 60; old age, 54; bronchitis, 48.3; cholera infantum, 47.8; debility, 45.5; inflammation of brain and meninx 41.8; diphtheria, 34.4; typhoid, 33.8; and premature birth, 33.7. Death from all principal causes shows a decrease during the last two decades, the most notable instance be ing that of consumption, which shows a de crease of over 50 per cent per 100,000. The world's death rate is estimated at 68 a minute. 97,920 a day, and 35,740,800 a year Bibliography.—Alden, H. M., 'A Study of Death' (New York 1903); Carrington, H. and Meader, J. R.,