Atlas Nightshade

Day 129

“The whole of this paragraph must now appear a tissue of

inconsequence and incoherence. All experience does not show that

‘drowned bodies’ require from six to ten days for sufficient

decomposition to take place to bring them to the surface. Both

science and experience show that the period of their rising is,

and necessarily must be, indeterminate. If, moreover, a body has

risen to the surface through firing of cannon, it will not ‘sink

again if let alone,’ until decomposition has so far progressed as

to permit the escape of the generated gas. But I wish to call

your attention to the distinction which is made between ‘drowned

bodies,’ and ‘bodies thrown into the water immediately after

death by violence.’ Although the writer admits the distinction,

he yet includes them all in th