Professional Documents
Culture Documents
death
* Outline :
• Types of death.
• Hypostasis .
• Rigor mortis .
• Post- mortem decomposition.
• Putrefaction .
• Formation of adipocere.
Types of death :
A- somatic death :
the person irreversibly loses his/her ability t sense , being :
- un-conscious
- un-able to be aware of the environment .
- un- able to appreciate any sensory stimuli .
- un- able to initiate any voluntary movement .
• Cellular death :
- In which the tissues and their constituent cells are dead >>> no
longer function or metabolic activity.
- It follows ischemia and anoxia as a consequence of cardiorespiratory
failure >>> so it’s a process rather than an event EXCEPT in some cases :
falling in to molten metal , nuclear explosion .
Note : the season of the year and the location will make a great
difference to the time scale of skeletalization .
Decomposition in immersed bodies
• The old rule :the bodies decay twice as fast in air as in water is grossly
inaccurate , but emphasized the slower rate of decomposition.
• Water slows up decomposition mainly because of the lower
temperature , and protection from insect and small predators .
• The gas formation is the reason for the inevitable flotation of an
un weighted body >>> the usual posture of a freely floating body is
face down , as the head is relatively dense , and doesn’t develop the
early gas formation as thorax and abdomen .
• As stated before , temperature is the major detemainant or the rate
of decomposition .
Decomposition in buried bodies
• The rate of decay of bodies buried in earth is much slower than of
those in either air or water .
• The process of putrefaction may be arrested to a remarkable degree
in a certain conditions , allowing exhumation several years later to be
of a value .
• The speed and extent of decay in interred corpses depend on a
number of factors :
- If the body is buried soon after death.
- low temperature, exclusion of animal and insect predators , and
lack of oxygen are all important factors .
• Deep graves preserve the corpse better than the shallow ones seen in
some concealed homicides . ( colder , exclude air better , not directly
affected by rain .
• The nature of the soil in it’s drainage and aeration properties .
• The coffin .
Formation of adepocere
• Adepocere : a waxy substance derived from the body fat .
• The change of adipocere is partial and irregular and almost the whole
body may be affected .
• It’s caused by hydrolysis an hydrogenation of adipose tissue >>
formation of greasy and waxy material if of recent origin >> after
years it becomes brittle and chalky .
• Color >>> vary from white to grey or greenish green .
• Smell >>> earthy , cheesy ammoniacal .
• The formation of adepocere , as an alternative to total putrefaction ,
requires certain environmental conditions .
• it’s usually taught that moisture is necessary for the process , and it’s
undoubtedly a fact that most adipocere formation occurred in
immersed bodies , however numerous cases have formed adipocere
while being in dry ,concealed environment >>> in this case original
internal body water was sufficient for hydrolysis to proceed .
• The activity of anaerobes such as Clostridium prefringens assist in the
reaction which needs some warmth in the initial stages .
Thank you