DEATH. The cessation of life. The ceas ing to exist.
Civil death is the state of a person who, though possessing natural life, has lost all his civil rights, and as to them, is considered as dead.
A person convicted and attainted of felony and sentenced to the state prison for life is, in the state of New York, in consequence of the act of 29th of March, 1799, and by virtue of the conviction and sentence of imprisonment for life, to be considered as civilly dead ; Platner v. Sherwood, 6 Johns. Ch. (N, Y.) 118 ; Troup v. Wood, 4 Johns. Ch. (N. Y.) 228, 260. And a similar doctrine anciently prevailed in other cases at common law in England. See Co. Litt. 133 ; 1 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 132, n.
Natural death is the cessation of life.
It is also used to denote a death which occurs by the unassisted operation of natural causes, as dis •inguished from a violent death, or one caused or accelerated by the interference of human agency.
In Medical Jurisprudence. The cause, phe nomena, and evidence of violent death are of importance.
An ingenious theory as to the cause of death has been brought forward by Philip, in his work on Sleep and Death, in which he claims that to the highest form of life three orders of functions are necessary,—viz.: the muscular, nervous, and sen sorial; that of these the two former are independ ent of the latter, and continue in action for a while after its cessation ; that they might thus continue always, but for the fact that they are dependent on the process of respiration ; that this process is a voluntary act, depending upon the will, and that this latter is embraced in the sensorial function. In this view, death is the suspension or removal of the sensorial function, and that leads to the suspension of the others through the cessation of respiration. Philip, Sleep & D. ; Dean, Med. Jur. 413 et seq.
• Its phenomena, or signs and indications. Real is distinguishahle from apparent death by the absence of the heart-beats and res piration. These conditions are, however, not always easy to determine positively when the following tests may be applied : 1. Temperature of body the same as the sur rounding air. 2. Intermittent shocks of elec
tricity at different tensions give no indica tions of muscular irritability. 3. Movements of the joints of the extremities and of the jaw showing more or less rigor-mortis. 4. A bright needle plunged into the muscles and left there showing no signs of oxidation on withdrawal (Cloquet's test). 5. The open ing of a vein showing that the blood vessels are empty, or that in the veins of dependent parts of the body the blood has coagulated. 6. The subcutaneous injection of ammonia causing a dirty brown stain (Monte Verde's test). 7. A fillet applied to the arm caus ing no filling of the veins on the distal side anus test"; after death there is an absence of the translucence seen in the living when the hand is held before a strong light with the fingers extended and in contact. 9. "Eye test"; after death there is loss of pupillary reaction to light and to mydriatics, and there is also loss of corneal transparency ; H. P. Loomis in Witthaus tif Becker, Med. Jur.
Its evidence when produced by violence. This involves the inquiry as to the cause of death in all cases of the finding of bodies divested of life through unknown agencies. It seeks to gather all the evidence that can be furnished by the body and surrounding circumstances bearing upon this difficult and at best doubtful subject. It more im mediately concerns the duties of the coroner, but is liable to come up subsequently for a more thorough and searching investigation. As this is a subject of great, general, and growing interest, no apology is deemed nec essary for presenting briefly some of the points to which inquiry should be directed', together with a reference to authorities where the doctrines are more thoroughly dis cussed.
The first point for .determination is, wheth er the death was the act of God or the result Of violence. Sudden death is generally pro duced by a powerful invasion of the living forces that develop themselves in the heart, brain, or lungs—the first being called syn cope, the second apoplexy, and the as phyxia. Dean, Med. Jur. 426.