[The proportion of potassium and calcium in the vitreous body in relation to the time of death].

The method of atomic absorption spectrophotometry was employed to estimate the proportion of potassium and calcium in vitreous humour in 47 deceased persons. The amount of both was found to increase in linear proportion to the time elapsed from death. The correlation can be expressed in the form of equations. The simultaneous estimation of the proportion of potassium and calcium in vitreous humour enables a more precise ascertainment of the time of death than the estimation of merely one of the two elements. In persons who died of brain injuries, strangulation or who had suffered from conditions associated with metabolic breakdown, the time of death should not be determined according to the amount of calcium in vitreous humour; in such cases only the proportion of potassium should be exploited.