On some of the more important diseases of the army : with contributions to pathology / by John Davy.

Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some of the more important diseases of the army : with contributions to pathology / by John Davy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    soft. The softening from tlie action of the gastric juice, or to speak more correctly, in connexion with the presence of that juice in the stomach at the time of death, seems to be most uncertain, and this even in instances of death from accidents. In many cases of such deaths, though the persons previously were in vigorous health, I have not been able to detect any traces of it. As regards the softening of organs generally, considered as a ])ost mortem change, and nowise to be taken into account as the effect of fore-existing disease,—length of time reckoning from the death, and the temperature of the air at the time, may be held to be the two circumstances most deserving of attention; to which may be added, the condition of the body as regards its tendency to putrefaction,—this hardly of less importance for the purpose of arriving at a just conclu- sion. These circumstances scarcely require comment. It is well-known to every one, how rapidly meat becomes tender, and how very short a time it will keep during the warm w'eather of summer, and how the contrary is noticeable in winter. Within the tropics, at a temperature of 80^ and higher, so great is the proclivity to putrefy, that meat cannot be salted with a chance of its preservation, unless immersed in brine as quickly as possible after the slaughtering of the animal; indeed the pieces should be immersed whilst still warm. This aptness to putrescence necessitates in hot climates the speedy funeral of the deceased, a service commonly performed on the day of the fatal event, or at the farthest not beyond the following. The same reason is assignable for the examination of the body very soon after death, many instances of which will be found specified in the following pages. In addition to the preceding circumstances, as regards the stomach and the parts immediately adjoining it, 1 am disposed to think another should be taken into account, viz., the contents of the organ. In one instance in which the putre- faction had commenced and much gas was disengaged, the stomach, which contained a good deal of fermenting chyme, was not at all softened, nor was the spleen adjoining. Might not the carbonic acid disengaged have preserved the stomach ? The case was one of death from an accident; the examination was made 23 hours after death. Blood abounded in the body; the tem- perature of the air of the room was 74°. In this instance, air- bubbles were found even in the anterior chamber of the eye,—a