Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy : inclusive of several papers from the Philosophical transactions, etc. / by John Hunter ... ; with notes by Richard Owen.
- John Hunter
- Date:
- 1840
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Observations on certain parts of the animal oeconomy : inclusive of several papers from the Philosophical transactions, etc. / by John Hunter ... ; with notes by Richard Owen. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![of publishing the whole of my observations on digestion at some future period; but he desired me, in the meantime, to give this fact by itself, with my remarks; as it would prove that there is a sol- vent power existing in the stomach, and would be of use in the ex- amination of dead bodies.* An accurate knowledge of the appearances in animal bodies, where death has been the consequence of some violence while they were otherwise in health, ought certainly to be considered as neces- sary to qualify us to judge truly of the state of the body in those that die of diseases. An animal body undergoes changes after death; but it has never been sufficiently considered what those changes are, or how soon they may take place ; yet till this be done it is impossible we can form an accurate judgment of the appear- ances which present themselves at the time of inspection. The diseases of an animal body (mortification excepted) are always connected with the living principle, and are not in the least similar to the changes which take place in the dead body: without a knowledge of this, an opinion drawn from dissections must always be very imperfect or very erroneous. Appearances which are in themselves natural may be mistaken for those of disease ; we may see diseased parts, and suppose them in a natural state; we may consider a circumstance to have existed before death which was really a consequence of it; or we may imagine it to be a natural change after death, when it was in fact a disease of the living body. It is easy to see, therefore, how a man in this state of igno- rance must blunder when he comes to connect the appearances in a dead body with the symptoms that were observed in life; and, indeed, all the advantage to be derived from opening dead bodies depends upon the judgment and sagacity with which this sort of comparison is made. There is a case of a mixed nature, which can neither be reckoned a process of the living body nor of the dead : it participates of both, inasmuch as its cause arises from life, and the effect cannot take place till after death. To render this more intelligible, it will be necessary to state some general ideas concerning this cause and effect. An animal substance, when joined with the living principle, can- not undergo any change in its properties but as an animal; this principle always acting and preserving the substance possessed of it from dissolution, and from being changed according to the natural changes which other substances undergo. * [The original paper is printed in the 62d volume of the Philosophical Trans- actions; and was read June 18th, 1772. It begins as follows: An accurate knowledge of the appearances in animal bodies that die of a -violent death, that is, in'perfect health, or in a sound state, ought to be considered as a necessary foundation forjudging of the state of the body in those that are diseased. The remainder of the essay is given in the 2d edition of the Animal OEconomy, with verbal alterations of the same kind and degree as are exemplified in the paragraph above quoted ; with the omission of one sentence and a note, which are subjoined at the end of the paper.] 14](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21131545_0111.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
