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Cadaver of newborn infant submerged two weeks (top) and four weeks (bottom) in running freshwater
Long before there were large-scale body farms (most famously the UT-Knoxville Forensic Anthropology Center, aka “The Body Farm”) to systematically test and observe the effects of various conditions on deceased bodies found in nature (or, for that matter, in unnatural settings), forensic pathology pioneers would sometimes replicate outdoor conditions on cadavers that were found and considered unidentifiable, and learn how different conditions affected the rates and modes of decomposition.
This newborn was found two weeks after death (determined by the growth rate of local algaes at that time of year), but was left in place for two more weeks in order to provide accurate depiction of a body submerged for one month in cold running water.
Note the algae forming a mostly-uniform coat on the body, but amassing much larger growths in the curves and open spaces, such as behind the knee, and in the crook of the elbow. Though the skin eventually decomposes and obscures the natural angles of those regions, the algal blooms will obscure such angles much earlier on in the decomposition process. From afar, this can make the cadaver appear to have been deceased for much longer than it actually has been.
Atlas of Legal Medicine. Dr. Eduard von Hofmann, 1898.
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Craniorachischisis totalis
This open neural tube defect occurs very early in pregnancy, like all deformities and malformations of the neural tube.
I won’t get into the (actually very interesting, if complicated) specifics of the notochord and neural plates and the gene signaling going on, but around the third week of development a groove forms down the back of the embryo. This is called the neural groove, and it will form the canal that the spinal cord and spine will develop within. One of the most critical phases of development is the closure of that grove to form a tube, and much can go wrong.
Though an embryo may have such a malformation that they’re unable to sustain life independently, the genes and cells in other parts of the body don’t know that, and since they continue to receive blood and nutriment from the mother, they continue doing their thing and forming other structures. That’s how such a catastrophic defect from so early on can end up at this stage - fully formed except for the critical neural regions.
Manual of Pathology. W. M. Late Coplin, 1905.
(via biomedicalephemera)
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Frontal section through the head of newborn - region of molars
The big empty space is where the brain would be, if it were left in the head, just to get a general orientation. The blue circle-shaped regions shown down near the tongue cross-section are odontoblasts (tooth germs). The deciduous (baby) teeth all begin their development early in gestation. By 20 weeks into pregnancy, the initial calcification has established the tooth germs throughout the mouth.
Though the crowns of the teeth (harder tissues - dentin and enamel) are not deposited until roughly 5-6 months old in the case of the first molars, you can clearly see the development of the inner tissues of the teeth going on in this cross-section.Atlas and Textbook of Dentistry Including Diseases of the Mouth. Gustav Preiswerk, 1906.
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Visceral Hemorrhage in Newborn
This can be caused by trauma during birth, such as if the infant gets stuck and needs to be extracted with forceps. If you look at the liver (lowermost organ), you can see the necrotic tissue on the right-hand side. You can also see necrosis within the kidney cross-section, spreading from the renal pelvis.
An American Text-Book of the Diseases of Children. Louis Starr, 1900.
