authentic instances of apparent death, the respiratory muscles have not been seen to move, yet inspiration and expiration--however slowly and imperceptibly--must have taken place.” THE PUTREFACTIVE TEST. [THE PUTREFACTIVE TEST.] Dr. Roger S. Chew, of Calcutta, whose personal experiences of apparent death are elsewhere recorded in this volume, says:-- “Numerous expedients have been suggested as means of ascertaining whether a body is really dead or whether the animation is temporarily suspended; but, though these suggestions may collectively yield a correct diagnosis, still they are valueless when separately considered, and cannot compare with the ‘putrefaction test.’” In the “Principles and Practice of Medicine” of the late Dr. Hilton Fagge, edited by Dr. Pye-Smith, vol. i., p. 19, of the second edition, is the following:-- “In most cases there is no difficulty in determining the exact moment at which death occurs. But sometimes it cannot be fixed with certainty, and there are some altogether exceptional instances (though I have never myself met with one) in which for hours, or even for days, it remains uncertain whether life is extinct or merely suspended. _I believe that the only sign of death which is both certain to manifest itself in the course of a few days, and also absolutely conclusive and infallible, is the occurrence of putrefaction_, which is generally first indicated by discoloration of the surface of the abdomen. And in any case admitting of doubt, the coffin should not be closed until this has shown itself.” (Italics ours.) The _Medical Examiner_, Philadelphia, vol. vi., p. 610, says:-- “A recent French reviewer in the _Gazette Médicale_ closes a survey of the differences between real and apparent death, by the following remarks:--‘Experience,’ says he, ‘has shown the insufficiency of each of these signs, with one exception--_putrefaction_. The absence of respiration and circulation, the absence of contractility and sensibility, general loss of heat, the hippocratic face, the cold sweat spreading over the body, cadaveric discoloration, relaxation of the sphincters, loss of elasticity, the flattening of the soft parts on which the body rests, the softness and flaccidity of the eyes, the opacity of the fingers, cadaveric rigidity, the expulsion of alimentary substances from the mouth;--all these signs combined or isolated may present themselves in an individual suffering only from apparent death.’” Prof. D. Ferrier, in an article on “Signs of Death” in Quain’s “Dictionary of Medicine,” pp. 327, 328, says:--