The changes in the temperature of a corpse in the course of its decomposition (an experimental study)

Abstract

The objective of the present work was to study dynamics of the temperature of a corpse of an experimental animal (a pig) between the moment of death till complete skeletization, The porcine corpse weighing approximately 100 kg was placed in the bilberry spruce forest in the southern part of the Karelian Republic. Variations in the temperature of the corpse were measured with the use of the EClrerk-USB-2Pt logger (an autonomous register of temperature) along with those of the environmental (the air and the soil) temperature during 86 days in the period from June till September. It was shown that the temperature of the corpse first decreased but began to increase thereafter due to the enhancement of the biological activity of microorganisms. It is concluded that putrefactive decomposition of the corpse does not always suggest the necessity to discontinue the measurement of its temperature. The forensic medical examination of a corrupted corpse should take into consideration the possibility of an increase of its temperature in the course of time because it may be a source of a mistake when estimating prescription of death coming. The problem of postmortem rise in the temperature of a corpse undergoing putrefactive decomposition needs a thorough theoretical interpretation with a view to promoting the practical application of the proposed method with due regard for the difference in the environmental conditions in various climatographical regions of the Russian Federation.