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

  • Barlow, W. F. (William Frederick), 1817-1853
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

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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    tacks both the weak and the sti-ong, that it respects no age, and that it liappens sometimes in the com'se of miiladies which have produced mani- fest, perhaps alanning prostration; that its dm-ation vaiies not a little; that it is attended hy cramps, which, to speak comparatively, are slight and partial, or rmiversal and violent, and endure unto death;—we may safely conclude, without any further conside- ration, that very opposite states of musculai irritability must necessarily prevail at the moment of dissolution, and that the time at which rigor mortis wiil ajipear, the force it wUl be exerted with, and the period of its remaining, will all, as a consequence, be far from imiform. The state of nutiition of the muscular tissue may be mentioned in reference to ligor mortis, not only as respects death by cholera, but other forms of it. Muscu- lar, or, as they should be called, extraor- dinaiily musculai persons, are of course most likely to exhibit the phenomenon in the most marked and lasting way. Atrophy, or that impaired amount of nutrition wliich would hardly be re- cognised as such, (and we do but observe this matter rudely), leads on the other hand to a less palpable and abiding foi-m of it. The remai-k, as need scarcely be observed, apjilies equally to the involuntaiy as to the voluntary muscles—to the heai-t as to the biceps. Paralysis does not pre- vent rigor mortis, unless, as Sommer shows, it interferes with the noiuish- ment of the muscles. This physiolo- gist once remarked an entu-e absence of rigidity on the pai-alysed side, the muscles whereof appeal- to have been in an unhealthy state. Fatty degeneration, (which I speak of from its commonness), has no doubt a great influence on the degree and dura- tion of rigor mortis.* It would too, I should think, if excessive, either lead to the prevention of cramps in life-time, or veiy much modify their power, for wo * It would be of no little interest to examine this question thoroughly, in reference to the heart. What ha.s been called concentric hyper- trophy, by a grave pathological mistake, would, I should suppo.se, never be found where this de- generation IS both general and extreme. 1 asked Dr. Quain to tell me his experience on this point. He says that hearts in such a state of degene- ration are generally found dilated, and their parietes flabby, but that he has seen tliem firm- ly contracted where the degeneration was not extensive nor excessive. cannot but suppose that ceteris paribus the best nourished and most irritable muscles would be most Liable to this peculiar form of spasmodic action. It is with the state of the living, (only in a lai'ger, more emphatic sense) as with the condition of the dead. It is modified by many circiunstances that we know, by more that we know not. How can we, expect diseases to run their cotirse in sameness, seeing that the subjects of them so manifold- ly differ ? How look for precisely the like states in death, perceiving clearly that at the time of dymg tliere are many parts and actions of the body extremely diffejing in different persons'? Even the remedies given for the disease, may, if they have cu-culated, have more relation to the time of com- mencement of violence, and ditration of rigor mortis, than might be at first supposed. I am led to the remai-k by the influence of chloroform, which not only, as may be shown by experi- ment, impaii-s the irritabHity of the muscles during life time, but leads to unusually early rigor mortis. This I have seen myself* It is well known that the exliibition of chloroform has diminished, and sometimes allayed, the cramps of cholera; and it may be pre- sumed reasonably to have accomplished this by virtue of its power to lessen, or annihilate, muscular contractility. And it is surely not exti'avagant to suppose that rigor mortis might set in somewhat eaiiier than common in certain cases whei'e chloroform has been largely given, seeing that whatever impau'S the iiTitabihty of muscles is favom-able to their rapid post-mortem rigidity. Animals killed in the chase, being tired to deatli, have been known to stiffen almost as soon as dead. Why so ? Because 'their irritability was utterly, or almost utterly, spent. Had they been destroyed of a sudden, drtring sleep, there would have been just the opposite condition of the musciUar fibre, and a state wherein the post- ponement of rigor mortis might have been properly looked for. * Dr. Tyler Smith says that he has seen it hap- pen in the frog within ten minutes of the heart ceasing to beat. See London Journal of Medi- cine, Dec. 1S49. It would be important to de- termine accurately the time at which rigor mortis is wont to occur after death by chloroform in the human subject. Whore death is suspected to have been caused by it, the knowledge of tliis matter mig/il perhaps much help inquiry.
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