Observations on the condition of the body after death from cholera / By Wm. Frederick Barlow.

  • Barlow, W. F. (William Frederick), 1817-1853
Date:
1850
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the condition of the body after death from cholera / By Wm. Frederick Barlow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    stances? Supposing carbonic acid to be formed, wbeucc; oonies tbe oxygen tbat combines witli tbe carbon,—liow are its elements brougbt togctber tbat they may unite ? Does tbe oxygen exist witbin, or does it proceed from witbont, fui-nislied in abundance by tbe air itself, as a distinguisbed animal chemist* will be seen to suggest jire- sently? Is tbe elevation of tempera- ture confined to tbe skin, or is it diffused wberever tbere are vessels? Is it always accompanied by a change of colour on the surface, by that mottled red which Mr. Mayo mentions, and which I have had occasion to observe myself? How much, Jiow very much, remains to be exploded ere we can gain any satisfac- tory knowledge of this subject! The late epidemic, with its thousands of deaths, has scai'cely taught us any tiling about it. Knowing that Dr. Garrod had made miich iuquu'y into the state of the blood in cbolei'a, I requested him to have the goodness to state bis view of the most likely way in which he considered tbe rise of heat after death to be occasioned. As it will be better to lay his own words before the readers, I beg atten- tion to a literal copy of a letter where- with I have just been obliged by liim. 63, Harley Street, April 1860. My deak Sir,—You ask my opinion as to the probable cause of the increase of temperature observed freqiiently to occur in tbe bodies of patients who have died of cholera. I think, in tbe first place, tbat it is impossible tbat putrefaction sboidd have auy sbai'e in the production of the phenomenon, as the time at wbich it occurs shows ; and also tbe fact tbat cholera bodies are not at all prone to decomposition. It must, therefore, be some other chemical change, and I conceive tbat the follow- ing must be tbe explanation ;—Diuiug the collapsed stage of tbe disease, the blood, from imperfect circulation, &c., is jjrevented from being properly oxyge nised, and bence a venous blood is cir- culating in all the vessels of tbe body, accounting for the cold stage. After death, however, the blood in tlie super- ficial capillaries becomes acted upon by tlie oxygen of the external air, and tbe formation of carbonic acid, with tbe production of heat, ensues: this heat * Dr. Gnrrod. often for a time much exceeds in amount that wliich is abstracted by the cooling influence of the suiTOunding air : after death from most other causes, the blood, having Ijecome oxygenated during life, no fiu-tlier heat is evolved, and tbe ordiuai-y cooling process euBues. I am, deal- sir, Yom-s faithfully, A. B. Garkod. W. F. Barlow, Esq. It is unnecessary to ask the attention of tbe reader to these observations. That tbe oxygen of the air does act upon tbe blood in the capillaries may be inferred from the fact of the livid colour of the body giving way occa- sionally to a red tint. The same thing has been noted in the asphyxiated, and perhaps in these also some waimth may be generated, after tbe breatlung has ceased, by the aerial oxygen acting on the carbon of tbe venous blood, where- with the superficial vessels ai-e charged heavily. If tbe view suggested by Dr. Garrod be a right one, the skin woidd probably be found ui such instances as be refers to (were a thermometer care- fully and j)ropeiiy employed) wanner than the parts beneatli.=:= It would he interesting to know whether the augmentation of heat be invariably accompanied by change of colour, and whether those bodies become most elevated in teinj»erature which ai-e most livid at the time of death. It woidd be of moment to Imow, also, tbe relative efiects of exposing some j)arts to tbe air, and of keeping others, as far as possible, excluded fiom it. Changes of tbe blood in the capiUaiy vessels may partly explain long main- tenance of heat where tlie body is ex- posed to tbe air, and not in cholera only, but other cases. As tbe chemical combinations, on which the heat may be sui:)posed dependent, are of quick or gradual completion, so will the waiinth • of surface hasten away or Unger. We arc supposing a case in which a high temperature, so fai as mere chemical changes go, is produced immediately by tbe same causes in tlie living. Though oxygen be no more su]5plied from -n-itbiu by ever fresh and fastly-flowing currents of arterial blood, it may be obtained from without; but now it acts upon stirless, * It had occurred to Dr. nashani and myself Mme time ap^o, that a comparison of the heat of ffle external and deep-seated parts might tend to some important conclusions.
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