It has been noticed in the new-born infant, as well as in the foetus. It
lasts from sixteen to twenty hours or more. In lingering diseases, after
violent exertion, and in warm climates, it sets in quickly, and
disappears in two or three hours; in those who are in perfect health and
die from accident or asphyxia, it may not come on until from ten to
twenty-four hours, and may last three or four days. After death from
convulsions or strychnine-poisoning, the body may pass at once into
rigor mortis. Rigor mortis must be distinguished from _cadaveric spasm_
or the _death clutch_; in the former, articles in the hands are readily
removable, in the latter this is not the case. In tetanic spasm the
limbs when bent return to their former position; not so in rigor mortis.
=Putrefaction= appears in from one to three days after death, as a
greenish-blue discoloration of the abdomen; in the drowned, over the
head and face. This increases, becomes darker and more general, a strong
putrefactive odour is developed, the thorax and abdomen become distended
with gas, and the epidermis peels off. The muscles then become pulpy,
and assume a dark greenish colour, the whole body at length becoming
changed into a soft, semi-fluid mass.
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