The WiZard is In - 20-4-2010 at 12:02
Cacodyle/Kakodyl - Alkarsin As2(CH3)4
Name by Bunsen (Burner) for the Greek word meaning
smells worse than a used woman.
Cadaverine - A potime formed in the decay of animal
proteins after death.
Putrescine - initially detected in decaying animal tissues.
Any Additions.....>
I recommend :—
Death to Dust: What happens to dead bodies?
Kenneth V. Iserson, M.D.
Galen Press, Ltd, 1994
The first sign of putrefaction is a greenish skin discoloration appearing on the
right lower abdomen about the second or third day after death. This coloration
then spreads over the abdomen, chest and upper thighs and is usually
accompanied by a putrid odor. Both color and smell are produced by sulphur-
containing intestinal gas and a breakdown product of red blood cells. The ancient
Greeks and the Etruscans paid homage to this well recognized stage of
decomposition by each coloring a prominent god aquamarine, considered the
color of rotting flesh.
Bacteria normally residing in the body, especially the colon, play an important
part in digestion of food during life. They also contribute mightily to
decomposition after death-the process of putrefaction. The smell, rather than the
sight, is the most distinctive thing about a putrefying body.
Under normal conditions, the intestinal bacteria in a corpse produce large
amounts of foul-smelling gas that flows into the blood vessels and tissues. It is
this gas that bloats the body, turns the skin from green to purple to black, makes
the tongue and eyes protrude, and often pushes the intestines out though the
vagina and rectum. The gas also causes large amounts of foul-smelling blood
stained fluid to exude from the nose, mouth and other body orifices. Two of the
chemical produced during putrefaction are aptly named putrescine (1,4-
diaminobutane) and cadaverine (1,5-pentanediamine). If a person dies from an
overwhelming bacterial infection, marked changes from putrefaction can occur
within as little as 9 to 12 hours after death.
By seven days after death, most of the body is discolored and giant blood-
tinged putrid blisters begin to appear. the skin loosens and any pressure causes
the top layer to come off in large sheets (skin slip). As the internal organs and
the fatty tissues decay, they produce large quantities of foul-smelling gas. By the
second week after death, the abdomen, scrotum, breasts and tongue swell; the
eyes bulge out. A bloody fluid seeps out the mouth and nose. After three to four
weeks, the hair, nails and teeth loosen and grossly swollen internal organs begin
to rupture and eventually liquefy. The internal organs decompose at different
rates, with the resistant uterus and prostate often intact after twelve months,
giving the pathologist one way to determine an unidentified corpse's sex.
Richard Selzer poetically described the process in Mortal Lessons:
There is to be feast. The rich table has been set. The board groans. The
guests have already arrived, numberless bacteria that had, in life, dwelt in
saprophytic harmony with their host. Their turn now! Charged, they press
against the membrane barriers, break through the new softness, seep
across plains of tissue, devouring, bleaching gas-a gas that puffs eyelids,
cheeks abdomen into bladders of murderous vapor. The slimmest man take
on the bloat of corpulence. Your swollen belly bursts with a ripping sound,
followed by a long mean hiss.
And they are large! Blisters appear upon the skin, enlarge, coalesce,
blast, leaving brownish puddles in the declivities. You are becoming
gravy...Gray sprays of fungus sprout in the resulting marinade, and there
lacks only a mushroom growing from the nose.
If you don't bury me for the love; you'll bury me for the
stink!
My Shanty Irish grandmother.
[Edited on 20-4-2010 by The WiZard is In]
hissingnoise - 20-4-2010 at 14:44
Some posts would be better not read at bedtime. . .
Living in the modern era though, has some comfort; we rarely, if ever, have to witness such grisliness!
chemrox - 22-4-2010 at 22:50
squalene from shark liver oil paying deference to sailors I suppose
and skatole of course needs no further explanation
angelic acid I assume is so named because of a pleasant floral aroma
did Bunsen find the smell of a woman after sex to be unpleasant? The choice of a Greek word is suggestive too...I suppose Bunsen was German and
confused about women as a cultural phenomenon.. such a good little burner too. Hard to find a decent one anymore.
psychokinetic - 22-4-2010 at 23:48
Rather bedtime than dinner time.
Ephoton - 23-4-2010 at 01:19
yes I must say you do pull out some very interesting in not weird papers.