Physiologically considered, death from drowning is to be regarded as identical with death from asphyxia or strangling, and hence the results of the dissection, do not differ from those just mentioned. Those drowned may die from cerebral hyperæmia, the rarest form; from pulmonary hyperæmia; from both combined; or from neuro-paralysis. Death from hyperæmia of the thoracic organs, and death from paralysis, are of almost equal frequency in cases of drowning. The countenance is pale, in most cases not swollen, the eyes shut, and when asphyxia has been the cause of death, there is commonly froth over the mouth. If the body has been in the water for two or three days in summer, or eight to ten in winter, the face is rather reddish, or bluish-red—the commencement of putrefaction, which in bodies in water, begins in the head and extends from above downwards, and not in the abdominal coverings. An almost constant appearance is the cutis anserina, a phenomenon entirely independent of the temperature of the water in which the person has been drowned. The hands and feet have a livid, grayish-blue color, and the skin is corrugated in longitudinal folds, provided the body has not been taken out of the water within about eight hours after death. Sand, gravel, mud, etc., are often found under the finger-nails. Contraction of the penis and scrotum in men who have fallen into the water alive, is an almost constant appearance. The lungs are greatly increased in volume, completely fill and distend the cavity of the chest, and are not firm and crepitating like healthy lungs, but feel like sponge. The trachea and large bronchial tubes are frequently filled with frothy mucus. The spasmodic closure of the glottis, will prevent the entrance of water into the lungs while life continues, but after death it may enter in small quantities. In the stomach is often found some of the fluid in which the drowning has taken place. CHAPTER V. MEDICO-LEGAL QUESTIONS. 1. Method of Conducting a Medico-Legal Autopsy. In making medico-legal examinations of human bodies, the greatest care must be taken not to omit the examination and recording of any of the appearances presented; since a point trifling in itself, may, in the course of the subsequent legal process, prove of great importance. It may sometimes be necessary for the physician to examine the exact spot and the locality in which the body has been found, to ascertain the position in which it was discovered, etc., and also to inspect the clothing.