texture which occur in the depending portions of the lungs, from the mere accumulation of blood in consequence of gravitation, for an inflamed state of the organs; in which latter case a crowd of fine vessels injected with blood of a florid colour furnish a diagnosis that cannot be mistaken.
In cases where a violent effort has preceded death, violet-coloured spots containing venous blood may be perceived on the surface of the lungs, and which are true ecchymoses, occasioned by the rupture of some small vessels. Such phenomena must be carefully distinguished from the livid, black spots, which have been observed in cases of narcotic poisoning, and which are characterised by a more dense, and less crepitating texture. In this stage of the dissection, we may conveniently extend our examination into the trachea, and bronchiæ, and observe whether these tubes contain frothy mucus as in drowning; coagulated blood, as in pulmonary hemorrhage; pus, as in the event of the rupture of a vomica or impostume; or ropy and tenacious mucus or lymph, as in croup, tracheal inflammation, and bronchitis; or chyme, as may occur in cases of intoxication, and diseases of the brain, where vomiting has taken place during a state of insensibility.[1] We shall at the*
- ↑ We have already alluded to such a cause of suffocation, (see p. 58 and 438.) The following instructive case has been transmitted to us by Mr. Alcock, whose zeal and acumen in anatomical researches are as honourable to himself, as they are useful to the profession of which he is so active a member. "Wm. Thompson, æt. 36, formerly a soldier of the 27th regt. late a watchman of St. James's parish, had had three fits, stated to be epileptic, within the last two years. "Dec. 9th 1821, he was attacked by another fit, having the usual character of epilepsy, which terminated fatally. In the morning he appeared in his usual health, and had remarked to his wife that "he was as well as ever he had been in his life." He ate largely of pork,
