sometimes for
upward of an hour, occurring mostly in muscular subjects who died very
suddenly, and in whom the muscular irritability or nervous stimulus or
both had not become exhausted at the moment of dissolution. Richardson
doubts the existence of postmortem movements of respiration.

Snow is accredited with having seen a girl in Soho who, dying of
scarlet fever, turned dark at the moment of death, but in a few hours
presented such a life-line appearance and color as to almost denote the
return of life. The center of the cheeks became colored in a natural
fashion, and the rest of the body resumed the natural flesh color. The
parents refused to believe that death had ensued. Richardson remarks
that he had seen two similar cases, and states that he believes the
change is due to oxidation of the blood surcharged with carbon dioxid.
The moist tissues suffuse carbonized blood, and there occurs an osmotic
interchange between the carbon dioxid and the oxygen of the air
resulting in an oxygenation of the blood, and modification of the color
from dark venous to arterial red.

A peculiar postmortem anomaly is erection of the penis. The Ephemerides
and Morgagni discuss postmortem erection, and Guyon mentions that on
one occasion he saw 14 negroes hanged, and states that at the moment of
suspension erection of the penis occurred in each; in nine of these
blacks traces of this erectile state were perceived an hour after death.

Cadaveric perspiration has been observed and described by several
authors, and Paullini has stated that he has seen tears flow from the
eyes of a corpse.

The retardation of putrefaction of the body after death sometimes
presents interesting changes. Petrifaction or mummification of the body
are quite well known, and not being in the province of this work, will
be referred to collateral books on this subject; but sometimes an
unaccountable preservation takes place. In a tomb recently opened at
Canterbury Cathedral, a for the purpose of discovering what
Archbishop's body it contained, the corpse was of an extremely
offensive and sickening odor, unmistakably that of putrefaction. The
body was that of Hubert Walter, who died in 1204 A.D., and the
decomposition had been retarded, and was actually still in progress,
several hundred years after burial.

Retardation of the putrefactive process has been noticed in bodies some
years under water. Konig of Hermannstadt mentions a man who, forty
years previous