Observations on the condition of the body after death from cholera / By Wm. Frederick Barlow.

  • Barlow, W. F. (William Frederick), 1817-1853.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the condition of the body after death from cholera / By Wm. Frederick Barlow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    2cl. The deferred rigidity 3d. The delay of i^utrefaction. 4th. The aspect of the features, of which uotliing has been said at present: it was placid, like that of the sleeper. As to the first matt<^r, it will doubt- less have sti'uck the reader that the packing of the body in saw-dust had, in every probability, much to do with the retention of the heat. It would be against reason not to conclude so ; and such is the opinion of Dr. Green, Dr. Walhs, and Mr. Kelson; such that of Dr. Alfred Taylor and others to whom I have mentioned the facts of the case. Still, it seems clear that there was something not a little vmcommon in the tempera- ture' of the body, and that the long- continued heat was far from being alto- gether owing to the bad non-conductor wherewith it was sm-roimded: the corpse, as we see by the account, had less heat on the 15th, was caUed cool on the 16th, and not pronounced quite cold until the 17th, though it was removed from the saw-dust about noon on the 14th. Inferring from Dr. Green's nar- ration that the face was left uncovered whilst the rest of the body was com- pletely enveloped in the saw-dust, I made inquiry of that gentleman whether the exposed part did not become more quickly cold than the rest of the body. Dr. Green says, in a note, I took cai'e that the face shoidd be entirely un- covered. The next morning there was not much, if any, difference between the temperature of the face and other pai-ts; but on the morning of the 15 th the face was decidedly colder than the rest of the body. From this we may gather that the saw-dust operated in keeping, or helping to keep, the body warm : indeed, it could not have done otherwise; but tlie corpse appeal's to have been very slow in cooling even when there seemed notliing to prevent its doing so. I asked Dr. Green to in- fonn me of the circumstances under which the body lay subsequently to its being removed from the saw-dust, of the temperature of the atmosphere meanwhile, &c., and I learn from him that it was laid on a board, dressed as the dead are usually, and covered witli a sheet. No fire was in the room it lay in. The window was open in the day time, and shut at night. The following was the temperature of the weather at Biistol in foiu- out of the five dnys wherein the corpse was watched:— Saturday, Oct. 13th, 45°,wind East. ^cMonday „ 15th, 45° „ East. Tuesday ,', 16th, 47° „ E. S.E. Wednesday 17th, 60° „ W. S.W. From hence we may conclude that the body was slow in cooling even when by no means unfavoiuably situated for losing its warmth quicldy, when the temperature was moderately low, the wind being in the east the while, when the window of the room was open at day-time, and the body lightly covered. No doubt it woidd have been very instructive to have had some observa- tions made cai-efuUy by the thermo- meter in the case of Mr. B , setting fortli plainly a ti'ue comparison between the heat of the body in life and death, and mai-king to a nicety the slow de- grees by which it lingeriugly left the body; but it is not surprising that they were not effected, seeing how every^ moment of the time of most practitioners was occupied dm'ing our late di-eadful and memorable visitation of cholera, wherever the pestilence thickly raged. And I must be permitted to say, that it would be absm-d to put aside all obser- vations on tlae grormd that they might have been exacter and more delicate. As a nUe, we know by our touch when bodies are hot and cold; and in taking the temperature of patients rmder diffe- rent cii'cumstances, the thermometer is continually verifying what we have as- certained, though not with enough mi- nuteness, by the hand, which, to test a matter of this kind, is confessedly an infinitely ruder instrument. Persons have felt the bodies of those dead by cholera, and given a concurrent testi- mony that they were warmer, greatly warmer, tlianin life-time, and sm'elywe must admit then- evidence notwithstand- ing no thermometer was used.f I know that some of the profession have been summoned to the dead by reason of their gi-owing warm; they obeyed the call as one of the fancy, but were soon obliged to confess the existence of, to their minds, a strange and novel pheno- menon. In the case before us it is not stated * Sunday was not mentioned ; but the tem- perature observed at Greenwich was, higliest, 4S°, wind N.E.; lowest, 37°, wind N. N.E. t I presume in almost all cases where evi- dence IS given upon inquests and trials, that where the warmth or coldness of the dead is mentioned by the medical witness, he refers to what he ascertained by the touch. The thermo- meter should certainly be oftener used.