A handbook for the post-mortem room / by Alexander G. Gibson.

  • Gibson, Alexander George, 1875-1950
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A handbook for the post-mortem room / by Alexander G. Gibson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    smell;, should be noted down. At this stage it may be necessary to ascertain the dimensions of the body in ligureSj the weight, the height from the soles to the top of the head, and any other measurements that the special needs of the examination suggest. Post-mortem staining of the skin, lividity, or hypo- stasis can always he seen in the most dependent parts of the body ; it is a dull reddish discoloration absent from the upper parts and from the lower parts where there has been pressure, e. g. on the shoulder-blades and over the buttocks or under bandages. It may he recognized further, because it disappears on pressure, showing that the blood is contained in the capillary vessels. Bruises and extra-vascular bleedings, such as in haemorrhagic inflammations of the skin, do not fade on pressure, show colour zones with different tints and are not uniformly purple or bluish. Rashes on the skin may entirely fade after death, owing to the disappearance of inflammatory hyperaemia, hut if, say, a measles rash has been present a few days the skin may he slightly raised in the affected areas and pigmented or roughened. The head and limbs should be moved in turn to determine tlie state of the body as regards rigor mortis and to ascertain whether there is a fracture or an abnormal increase or diminution in movement at any of the joints. Some degree of rigor mortis can usually be seen unless decomposition has set in. It begins in the facial muscles, travelling to the trunk, arms, and legs in that order ; it disappears usually in the same order. Evidence of decomposition. The evidence of