Lynnerup N
Institute of Forensic Pathology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
J Forensic Sci. 1993 Jul;38(4):816-20.
In the 1960s Marshall and Hoare presented a "Standard Cooling Curve" based on their mathematical analyses on the postmortem cooling of bodies. Although fairly accurate under standard conditions, the "curve" or formula is based on the assumption that the ambience temperature is constant and that the temperature at death is known. Also, Marshall and Hoare's formula expresses the temperature as a function of time, and not vice versa, the latter being the problem most often encountered by forensic scientists. A simple BASIC program that enables solving of Marshall and Hoare's equation for the postmortem cooling of bodies is presented. It is proposed that by having a computer program that solves the equation, giving the length of the cooling period in response to a certain rectal temperature, and which allows easy comparison of multiple solutions, the uncertainties related to ambience temperature and temperature at death can be quantified, substantiating estimations of time of death.
20世纪60年代，马歇尔和霍尔基于他们对尸体死后冷却的数学分析，提出了一条“标准冷却曲线”。尽管在标准条件下相当准确，但这条“曲线”或公式是基于环境温度恒定且死亡时体温已知的假设。此外，马歇尔和霍尔的公式将温度表示为时间的函数，而非相反，而后者是法医科学家最常遇到的问题。本文给出了一个简单的BASIC程序，该程序能够求解马歇尔和霍尔关于尸体死后冷却的方程。建议通过拥有一个能求解该方程的计算机程序，根据特定的直肠温度给出冷却期的时长，并允许轻松比较多个解，与环境温度和死亡时体温相关的不确定性可以被量化，从而证实死亡时间的估计。
