Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/494

474 474 DROWNING which takes place more or less in all forms of death. On the thighs the skin presents a roughened appearance, owing to the unusual development of the papillae, and to this the name of cutis anserina, or goose-skin, has been applied. Among the external signs which we are passing in review the state of the hands and fingers merits special attention. In his dying agonies the drowned individual spasmodically clutches for help in all directions and, should it be a pond or a canal with built retaining walls into which he has fallen, his nails may be injured, sand or mud may be found beneath them, and, firmly grasped in the hand, may be vegetable structures from the sides or the bottom of the pond; or, on the other hand, his fingers may present traces of recent injury. Internally, the usual signs of asphyxia or apnoea are well marked. These are : (I) A distended condition of the right cavities of the heart with dark fluid blood, while the left are well contracted, and are either empty or contain only a small quantity of dark-coloured blood. (2) The lungs are developed, and highly congested. On their tissue being incised, the cut surfaces on pressure give out dark-coloured blood and frothy mucus in large quantity. (3) There is congestion of the mucous lining of the air passages ; and (4) dark colour and fluidity of the blood through the body. Among the signs specially characteristic of this form of asphyxia we have: (1) An unusual quantity of water in the stomach (amounting to one or two pints), which can only be accounted for by water having been swallowed during the last agonies of death. In many cases this cannot be determined with any degree of certainty, the fluid found in the stomach presenting no characters by which it can be positively identified as having formed a portion of the water in which the drowning occurred. In other cases, the fluid by certain characters, as its taste, can be determined to be sea-water, or from its containing some foreign substances, such as aquatic plants or insects, &c., can be identified as the water of the pond or river in which deceased was found. (2) Water in small quantity has been detected in the air- passages. But this, as we shall show, is a sign of little im portance, and even in the most favourable circumstances one not easily observed. (3) A peculiar foamy froth presents itself in the throat and windpipe. The appearance of this froth is most striking. It is of a silvery whiteness, and when closely examined is seen to be composed of an infini tude of minute bulke of air. Its origin is easily explained. In the struggle for breath, mucus is poured out along the air passages in greatly increased quantity, and this, together with any water that may have entered, is churned up along with the air which is pent up in the windpipe. Where death has been attended with violent struggling this froth is poured out in great quantity, and may occupy the mouth and nostrils. It is a sign of great importance, as showing that the person was alive while in the water. It is, how ever, apt to be confounded with a somewhat similar appearance in two other forms of death. W T hen acute bronchitis proves fatal, the air-passages are filled with frothy mucus which, however, differs in its external characters from the froth found in the drowned. It is not foamy, and the bullse of air are much larger. In addition the special signs of an acute disease of the bronchial tubes are present. In death occurring during a fit of epilepsy, frothy mucus is also often found in the windpipe, but in comparatively small quantity as compared wiih death by drowning, and the bullse are of larger size. Of course when all the characteristic signs are present the evidence of drowning is so much the stronger ; but it is quite possible, from the presence of a well-marked sign, to be certain as to the cause of death. A girl had fallen asleep during the night close to a stove in the cabin of a coal barge. Her clothes accidentally caught fire, and the pain of the burning quickly awoke her. In her desperation she rushed up the cabin stairs and threw herself into the water. In the morning her body was recovered consider ably burned and covered with the charred dress. The conduct of the parties in the barge at the time was open to suspicion, and it was of importance to determine whether the body had not been thrown into the water after death. All the signs of death by drowning were well marked. The stomach contained water in considerable quantity, and floating on the surface of this fluid were two charred frag ments of the dress. These must have been swallowed. The burnt dress was very friable, and portions of it similar to those found floating in the stomach broke away on the slightest touch. The surface of the canal in the immediate neighbourhood of deceased must, during her dying agonies, have been covered with these fragments, and the water which she swallowed happened to contain two of these fragments. Their presence clearly indicated that deceased was alive after she had reached the water. Again, cases have come under our notice, and many such are on record, where in the hand of the deceased have been found firmly grasped a bunch of aquatic vegetable structures which were known to grow only at the bottom of the pond in which the body was found. Experiments on dogs show that complete immersion pro duces fatal asphyxia in four minutes, and in man from one to two minutes suffices to cause death. On the other hand, a certain amount of practice enables experienced swimmers to resist asphyxia ; and it is related that in 1872 the champion swimmer of England, of the name of Johnson, remained under water for three minutes and ten seconds. It is also known that recovery has followed after an immersion of twenty minutes. In such cases it is to be presumed that the immersion was not complete. As to the sensations of the drowned, after the first struggle for breath, the brain becomes loaded with venous blood, and unconsciousness to external objects ensues. Captain Marryatt tells us that his sensations as he was drowning were rather pleasant than otherwise : &quot; The first struggle for life once over, the water closing round me assumed the appearance of waving green fields It is not a feeling of pain, but more like sink ing down, overpowered by sleep, in the long soft grass of a cool meadow.&quot; (Life, vol. i. p. 74.) Hence drowning is a favourite death with suicides, in whom resolutely bent, as they generally are, on self-destruction the preliminary struggle is soon over. The presence of marks of violence is our only indication of homicide, and when these are absent the verdict of the medical jurist must be that the case is either one of suicide or of simple accident. One circumstance, however, interferes with the recognition of the signs which we have passed in review, and that is the presence of putrefaction or decay. In consequence of death having occurred in such a medium as water, and as from the sinking of the body it is not exposed to atmospheric air, putrefaction in the colder months of the year proceeds slowly ; but in summer, owing to the rapid development of gas in all the soft structures of the body, but especially in the intestines, the body quickly comes to the surface of the water, and decomposition proceeds with great rapidity. All the canals of the body are relaxed, and the pressure of gas is such as to force the froth from the air passages, the water from the stomach, and the blood from the heart. &quot; Almost never,&quot; says Devergie, the great authority on the effects of putrefaction in the drowned, &quot; can the signs of drowning during life be determined in summer, so quick is the gaseous putrefaction.&quot; Hence, too great caution cannot be exercised by the medical jurist in giving a positive opinion in such cases. It is remarkable that the progress of putrefaction in persons who have died by drowning she uld differ widely