When We Die : The Science, Culture and Rituals of Death

by Mims, Cedric

• ISBN13: 9780312200503
• ISBN10: 0312200501
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-15
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

Death is the last great taboo and certainly, to most people, the most frightening.When We Die is a candid look at the facts; it includes information on:-What defines death; the biological breakdown of the body -The causes of death, including natural death, premature death, accident, suicide, euthanasia, and homicide -Burial and cremation practices from around the world -Medical use of body parts; the ethics of organ transplants -Embalming, mummification, and freezing -Funerary rites and rituals used in religion and as depicted in art -Death and the corpse: the emotional impact -Mourning and grieving customs -The care of the dying -The magic of DNA and pathologists' skills -Aspects of criminal investigations, including: the cause of death; fingerprinting; and identifying a corpse from teeth, bones, and blood -Varying attitudes toward the concept of an afterlife and immortality -The mythology of ghosts, specters, and hauntingCedric Mims has written an informative, compelling, sometimes shocking yet often humorous account of what happens to our mortal remains when we eventually die.

Author Biography

Professor Cedric Mims spent 20 years in Africa, Australia, and the USA. For the next 20 years he was Professor of Microbiology at Guys Hospital in London. He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xii
Sources	x
Part I: Death and its Causes	1	(108)
What is Death?	3	(6)
The Death of Cells	3	(1)
The Necessity of Death: Nature's Strategy	4	(1)
Why Immortality would Raise Problems	5	(2)
Death of a Whole Species: Extinction	7	(2)
The Main Causes of Death	9	(21)
The Broad Picture	9	(1)
How Long Do We Live?	10	(1)
The Quality of Life	11	(1)
What Do We Die Of	12	(2)
Measuring the Impact of Death and Suffering	14	(2)
Causes of Death: The Big Killers	16	(14)
Suicide, Euthanasia, Homicide	30	(51)
Suicide	30	(15)
Euthanasia	45	(7)
Homicide	52	(29)
Ageing and Death	81	(28)
Life Expectancy and Life-span	81	(2)
Ageing in Animals and Humans	83	(4)
Ageing in the Test Tube	87	(2)
What Happens to us during Normal Ageing	89	(4)
What Causes Normal Ageing	93	(9)
How to Cheat Death	102	(3)
The Burden of Longevity	105	(4)
Part II: What Happens to Corpses?	109	(116)
The Body after Death	111	(21)
What Time of Day Do We Die?	112	(1)
Death as a Physical Event	112	(2)
Death and the Law	114	(1)
When Has Death Occurred?	115	(4)
From Rigor Mortis to Putrefaction	119	(2)
Consumption of the Corpse	121	(1)
How the Corpse Decomposes	122	(2)
Fossils and Petrification	124	(1)
Are Corpses Dangerous?	125	(1)
Nature's Need to Recycle the Corpse	125	(1)
Preliminary Treatment of the Corpse	126	(6)
Burial	132	(37)
Religion Makes a Difference	132	(3)
Is Burial Natural?	135	(1)
Simple Pit Burial	136	(1)
Mass Graves	137	(1)
Shrouds and Coffins	138	(6)
The Fear of Burial Alive	144	(1)
Delayed Burial and Reburial	145	(4)
Funerals	149	(4)
Burials at Sea	153	(2)
Tombs and Monuments	155	(4)
Cemeteries, Catacombs and the Columbarium	159	(9)
Green Burials	168	(1)
Exposure and Cremation	169	(15)
Exposure to the Elements	169	(2)
Cremation	171	(13)
Unusual Methods of Disposal	184	(6)
Cannibalism	184	(4)
The Acid Bath	188	(1)
The Compostorium	188	(1)
Eccentric Exits	189	(1)
Embalming and Mummification	190	(20)
Embalming	191	(4)
Mummification	195	(15)
Freezing and Other Methods of Preservation	210	(15)
Natural Freezing	210	(3)
Cryopreservation: Suspended Animation	213	(2)
The Bog Men	215	(2)
Alcohol, Formaldehyde and Other Preservatives	217	(1)
Eccentric Methods of Preservation	218	(2)
Preservation of DNA	220	(1)
Cloning	221	(4)
Part III: The Use and Abuse of Corpses	225	(90)
The Body and the Laboratory: Dissection	227	(25)
Who Owns a Dead Body?	227	(1)
Post-mortem Examination	228	(3)
Using the Corpse for Divination	231	(1)
The Study of Human History and Evolution	232	(6)
Ethical Problems with Human Remains	238	(3)
Dissection and the Training of Doctors	241	(8)
Alternatives to Dissection	249	(1)
Further Uses for Whole Corpses	250	(2)
Using Parts of the Body: Transplantation	252	(34)
Bones, Teeth, Placentas, Hair	252	(3)
Spare Part Surgery: Organ and Tissue Transplants	255	(4)
Where Do Transplanted Organs Come From?	259	(16)
Using Dead or Renewable Human Material	275	(5)
Medicinal Uses of Corpses	280	(1)
The Amazing World of Human Relics	281	(5)
The Abuse of Corpses	286	(9)
Punishing the Corpse	286	(2)
Cannibalism Revisited	288	(1)
Understanding Human Sacrifice	289	(3)
Using Corpses for Fertilizer, Fat, Leather	292	(2)
Necrophilia: Macabre Eroticism	294	(1)
Identifying Bodies and Parts of Bodies	295	(20)
Whose Body?	296	(4)
Murder Investigations and the Corpse	300	(8)
Whose Cells?	308	(1)
Who Owns DNA Sequences?	309	(1)
Removing Parts of the Body	310	(5)
Part IV: Death and Afterlife	315	(44)
Death and the Corpse: The Emotional Impact	317	(21)
The Prospect of Death	317	(3)
Seeing the Body	320	(2)
Corpses and Death Avoidance	322	(1)
The Comparison of Death with Sleep	323	(3)
Belief in an Afterlife and Anxiety about Death	326	(3)
Death as it Seems to Children	329	(1)
Old People and Death: Hospices and the Care of the Dying	330	(3)
Mourning and Grieving	333	(4)
What to Do when Someone Dies	337	(1)
The Afterlife and the Future of Corpse Disposal	338	(21)
The Afterlife and the Soul	338	(3)
Religion and the Afterlife	341	(8)
Reincarnation	349	(1)
Near-death Experiences	349	(4)
Ghosts, Spectres, Hauntings	353	(2)
The Transit to the Afterlife	355	(1)
The Future of Corpse Disposal	356	(3)
References	359	(5)
Index	364