[Studies on the estimation of the postmortem interval. 5. The turbidity of the cornea (author's transl)]

The authors have investigated the relationship between the postmortem interval and the turbidity of the cornea of 410 persons who had died at known times and had been subjected to medico-legal autopsies in our laboratory. The conclusions are as follows: 1) Differences due to the states of the eyelids of cadavers, either open or closed, gave rise to slight variations of the turbidity of the cornea only within 12 hours after death. Slight variations due to age and sex were seen only from 12 to 24 hours after death and only in the age group of 0 to 19 years. Seasonal variation was not seen on the cadavers which had remained indoors at the Hokkaido districts. 2) In death from exsanguination none became a state of the strong turbidity. In death from intracranial injuries and asphyxia the strong turbidity developed earlier than in the other types of death. 3) When the cornea is transparent, the time which has elapsed since death is less than 36 hours, with few exceptions, with eyelids either open or closed. On the cadavers with closed eyelids, the week turbidity of the cornea is seen between 6 hours and 3 days, the moderate turbidity between 12 hours and 2 weeks and the strong turbidity over 18 hours.