Rigor mortis : estimation of the time since death by evaluation of cadaveric rifidity .

Rigor mortis is certainly the most fascinating cadaveric sign. Because it gives the deceased person a petrified appearance, rigor mortis is noticed by everybody who encounters a corpse. The progressive nature of the resolution of rigor mortis may be caused by a similar phenomenon. The different fibres relax at different times as the number of fibres destroyed by postmortem reactions increases. In 1811, the French physician and chemist P. H. Nysten published the first scientific description of rigor mortis. The descending pattern in the development of rigor mortis was thought to be caused by the varying distances from the central nervous system. In 1904, Z. Fuchs described the brain as the initial site of death, followed by the proximal part of the spinal cord, and suggested that the process then progressed towards the caudal spinal cord: the presumed impulsions arose from catabolic changes in the nerve cells.