NOTE: - 8 -

...so too that the common folk may know the certain signs of death; wherefore I have deemed it necessary to set down plainly in this place the SIGNS OF ONE SUPPOSED DEAD: 1. If the eyes of the dying person are not deeply sunken, [and are] motionless, yet clear. 2. If the color of the whole body is pale, [yet] a particular redness appears in the cheeks and upon the face. 3. When he has a faint respiration, which may be recognized by bringing a mirror close to the mouth; if he has breath, the mirror will become dimmed with moisture. 4. [If] he has a particular warmth in the armpits and upon the left side around the heart. 5. And if the body remains soft. Whenever these signs are seen, it is to be hoped that he may revive; wherefore, at that time, they must without fail render aid with heartfelt compassion in this manner: let them warm a piece of shawl-[cloth] or broadcloth, or moisten [it] in warm water or warm vinegar, and rub [him] until the body grows warm and the blood begins to circulate in the veins; let them cause him to smell the medicine of ticket number 80 or 81, and tickle his feet [and] armpits; calmly and with prudence let them employ all necessary measures until they are able to restore him. If, by employing the aforesaid measures, no sign of life should come to light, even then they must not bury him before three days have passed, or until certain signs of death come to light, or until a physician has examined [him]. It would be well that they lay him to rest in a separate room and frequently fumigate with incense and the berries of juniper, or the medicine of ticket number 78 or 79, and refresh the air by opening the door or the window. 26. THE CERTAIN SIGNS OF DEATH are accounted to be these: if the skin of the forehead is dry and lax, the nose pinched and sharp, the eyes motionless, sunken, and turbid, the temple-bones prominent and the lips drawn down, the breath, the pulse, and the beating of the heart entirely stopped, the whole body grown stiff, cold, and its color changed to that of a corpse. If all of these signs together are not seen, then there is still hope of his recovery. The most certain sign of death is if the entire body has grown stiff as wood in all its joints—