(5) Extinction of muscular irritability. The
above signs afford no means of determining how long life has been
extinct. The following, however, do:
=Cooling of the Body.=--The average internal temperature of the body is
from 98 deg. to 100 deg. F. The time taken in cooling is from fifteen to twenty
hours, but it may be modified by the kind of death, the age of the
person, the presence or absence of clothing on the body, the surrounding
temperature, and the stillness or otherwise of the air about the body.
Still, the body, other things being equal, may be said to be _quite
cold_ in about _twelve hours_.
=Hypostasis= or =post-mortem staining= is due to the settling down of
the blood in the most dependent parts of the body while the body is
cooling. It is a sure sign of death, and occurs in all forms of death,
even in that due to haemorrhage, although not so marked in degree.
Post-mortem staining (_cadaveric lividity_) begins to appear in from
eight to twelve hours after death, and its position on the body will
help to determine the length of time the body has lain in the position
in which it was found. The staining is of a dull red or slaty blue
colour.
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