=Tests for the Determination of the Occurrence of Death.= Loss of reflexes or response to stimuli are early signs. Mirror, flame or feather held before the mouth and nose, or vessel containing fluid placed on epigastrium show absence of respiration. Opening of artery, temporal or radial; if death has occurred vessel will be empty. Tests with blood-pressure apparatus are negative in dead body. Electrical tests and Roentgengrams of heart and lungs show no movement in these organs. Subcutaneous injection of ammonia; no congestion or vesicle formed in the dead body. Subcutaneous injection of fluorescin (_Icard’s test_): in the living body a greenish color soon appears in skin, mucous membranes and conjunctivæ; but not in the dead body. Heat applied to the skin causes no reddening in the dead body, and, if a vesicle forms, the fluid contained in it has no albumin and the underlying skin is dry and glazed and not red. The application of caustics produces no eschar in the dead body. A steel needle inserted into the living tissues becomes quickly tarnished; in the dead body oxidation will not take place after many hours. Glazing of the eyes (if these are open) takes place very quickly after death; the eye-ball collapses ordinarily, but may remain prominent in death from hanging, suffocation, apoplexy, etc. The eye loses its elasticity; the pupils can be made oval by compressing the globe (_Ripault’s test_). The patch of dark discoloration on the part of the sclerotics exposed to evaporation is known as _Larcher’s sign_. The hands held against a strong light lose the pink tinge between the fingers, and the soles and palms become yellow. A tight ligature about a finger or limb causes no reddening (_Magnus’s test_). Relaxation of the sphincters occurs soon after death. It should be borne in mind in this connection that the discharge of gas and féces is not uncommon after death, that a fetus may be expelled by the increase of intra-abdominal pressure due to rigor mortis and gas-formation, that a discharge of semen or prostatic fluid almost always occurs in the adult male, that electric contractility may last several hours after death, that muscles may twitch during this period, and that atropine will dilate the pupils for some time postmortem.