Chapter IV: Vital Activities Which May Have Immediately Preceded Sudden Death,

1. _Respiration_: Soot or froth may be in the mouth, trachea, or nostrils.

2. _Deglutition and Peristalsis_: Local water or blood may have been swallowed; food may be in the stomach (e.g., of the newly-born); vomit or fæces may have been voided; salivation may have been profuse.

3. _Blood-Circulation_: Much blood may have been lost, possibly having “spurted” (e.g., in the newly-born); the heart and vessels may be empty; there may be true extravasation into or hyperæmia of the tissues (a microscope will reveal reaction to an irritant); the veins may be swollen on the distal side of a ligature; the blood may give spectroscopic tests for poisonings.

4. _Neuromuscular_: Articles may be clutched e.g., weapons, grass (“a drowning man catches at a straw”), hair, mud; _cutis anserina_ may be present; _emissio seminis_ or abortion may have occurred; the eyelids are usually open at death; children are usually born with the eyelids sealed.