was exhumed by the Police on the morning of October the 4th, and sent in for examination. Careful enquiiy elicited thefact that the body was buried at a depth of 2| feet, there being about 9 inches of water in the grave. I found the skin of the abdomen, chest, and both upper and lower extremities dry, mottled and waxy looking; there were no blebs anywhere on the body, the face was blackened and dry, and there was no offensive odour such as is apparent in holding autopsies on bodies in September, some time after death. 1 also noticed, on opening the body, a waxy appearance of the surface of the heart and I preserved the heart, some of the omentum. omental fat, muscles, and skin and subcutaneous tissues from the right forearm for chemical analysis. By the courtesy of the Chemical Examiner to the Government of Bengal, I am enabled to append the following result of chemical
bod}'
analysis.
From?The Chemical Examiner to Government. To?The Officiating Civil Medical Officer, Mymensingh.
HAS ADIPOCERE BEEN OBSERVED IN INDIA? By Reginald S. Ashe, m.b.
In the
April
number of the Gazette for the
Chemical Examiner's Department, Medical College. Dated Calcutta, 25th January 1898. Sir,?In reply to your D. O. dated Mymensingh, the 23rd November 1897, forwarding for chemical analj'sis portions of muscle, skin, and heart in a supposed case of adipocere, I have the honour to report that very partial saponification has taken place in the tissues. I have the honor to be,
year 1897, can article appeared by Dr. H. F. Nuttall, headed "Has Adipocere been observed in India?" in which, after detailing the condi-
tions under which it is observed in Europe, he epitomizes Dr. McKenzie's paper on adipocere and remarks: "It remains an open question what it was he observed and called saponification." He also throws out the suggestion, relying on the" statement of Hoffmann which he possibly the changes observed by quotes, that McKenzie were simply the effects of putrefaction and maceration which would naturally be much hastened by the high temperature of the water and damp soil in which the bodies were found," and states that, "McKenzie's observations would have carried weight, if they had been accompanied by at least a single chemical analysis or a scientiAs I had the fic description of what he saw. of Medical Jurisprudence studj'ing pleasure under Dr. McKenzie, and was fortunate enough to see some of the cases which he had embodied in his paper, I may be permitted to give the following case in support of Dr. McKenzie's paper, together with the test required by Dr. Nuttall. Gulu Sheik, son of Malli Daffadar, Mahomedan, aged about 9 years, of village Ghoskhulla, Police Station, Iswargunge, District Myniensingh, Province Bengal, died 011 the afternoon of Wednesday, 29th September 1897, and was buried on the morning of Thursday, 30th September. As circumstances came to be known which rendered the cause of death suspicious, the "
Sir, Your most obedient Servant,
(Sd.)
CHUN! LAL
BOSE,
m.b., f.c.s.,
Additional Chemical Examiner to Government.
T1 lis case, therefore, illustrates the fact that can begin to be formed in a body in India four days after death under the conditions enumerated above.
adipocere
bod}'
analysis.
From?The Chemical Examiner to Government. To?The Officiating Civil Medical Officer, Mymensingh.
HAS ADIPOCERE BEEN OBSERVED IN INDIA? By Reginald S. Ashe, m.b.
In the
April
number of the Gazette for the
Chemical Examiner's Department, Medical College. Dated Calcutta, 25th January 1898. Sir,?In reply to your D. O. dated Mymensingh, the 23rd November 1897, forwarding for chemical analj'sis portions of muscle, skin, and heart in a supposed case of adipocere, I have the honour to report that very partial saponification has taken place in the tissues. I have the honor to be,
year 1897, can article appeared by Dr. H. F. Nuttall, headed "Has Adipocere been observed in India?" in which, after detailing the condi-
tions under which it is observed in Europe, he epitomizes Dr. McKenzie's paper on adipocere and remarks: "It remains an open question what it was he observed and called saponification." He also throws out the suggestion, relying on the" statement of Hoffmann which he possibly the changes observed by quotes, that McKenzie were simply the effects of putrefaction and maceration which would naturally be much hastened by the high temperature of the water and damp soil in which the bodies were found," and states that, "McKenzie's observations would have carried weight, if they had been accompanied by at least a single chemical analysis or a scientiAs I had the fic description of what he saw. of Medical Jurisprudence studj'ing pleasure under Dr. McKenzie, and was fortunate enough to see some of the cases which he had embodied in his paper, I may be permitted to give the following case in support of Dr. McKenzie's paper, together with the test required by Dr. Nuttall. Gulu Sheik, son of Malli Daffadar, Mahomedan, aged about 9 years, of village Ghoskhulla, Police Station, Iswargunge, District Myniensingh, Province Bengal, died 011 the afternoon of Wednesday, 29th September 1897, and was buried on the morning of Thursday, 30th September. As circumstances came to be known which rendered the cause of death suspicious, the "
Sir, Your most obedient Servant,
(Sd.)
CHUN! LAL
BOSE,
m.b., f.c.s.,
Additional Chemical Examiner to Government.
T1 lis case, therefore, illustrates the fact that can begin to be formed in a body in India four days after death under the conditions enumerated above.
adipocere
