- dled like a sieve;[1] but I have not been able to find in medical
authors any farther authority for the general statement. Destruction of the coats of the stomach as produced by arsenic has been variously described by authors under the terms erosion, corrosion, dissolution, ulceration. But the correct mode of describing it appears to be by the terms gelatinization, or ulceration, according to the nature of the diseased action by which it is induced. At all events it is necessary to beware of being misled by the terms erosion, corrosion, and the like, which all convey the idea of a chemical action; while it is well ascertained that a chemical action either does not exist at all between arsenic and the animal tissues, or, if it has existence, tends to harden and condense rather than to dissolve or corrode them. Arsenic is not a corrosive.
Another species of destruction of the coats of the stomach, which will require a little notice, is sloughing or gangrene. This appearance occurs frequently in the narratives of the older writers; but it has not been enumerated in the list of morbid appearances at the commencement of this section, because its existence as one of the effects of arsenic is problematical. It has not been witnessed so far as I know by any recent good authority. Those who have mentioned it have probably been misled by the appearance put on by the black extravasated patches, when they are accompanied by disintegration of the villous coat and effusion of clots of black blood on its surface—an appearance which resembles gangrene closely in everything but the fetor. Sir B. Brodie has stated that Mr. John Hunter has preserved in his museum, as an example of a slough of the villous coat caused by arsenic, which turned out on examination to be nothing else than an adhering clot.[2] It is clear too, that, when Mr. James speaks of having found "several gangrenous patches" on the villous coat of the stomach, and "patches of sphacelus" in the intestines, on examining the body of a notorious French criminal, Soufflard, who poisoned himself with arsenic in prison in 1839, he mistook for gangrene what was merely extravasation; for the man lived only twelve hours.[3]
Various secretions have been found on the inner surface of the stomach. The mucous secretion of the inner membrane is generally increased in quantity. Frequently it is thin, but viscid, as in its natural state; but sometimes it is both abundant and solid, as if coagulated; and then it forms either a uniform attached pellicle, or loose shreds floating among the contents.[4] In both forms it has been mistaken for the mucous membrane itself. I believe this increased secretion and preternatural firmness of the gastric mucus cannot take place without some irritating agent being applied to the stomach. Both may occur without any other sign of inflammation in the mucous membrane. In a case of suicide after seduction which came under
- ↑ Trial of Medad Mackay at Allegany, 1821. The prisoner was found not guilty. But the presence of arsenic in the stomach was proved by several tests.
- ↑ Philosophical Transactions, cii. 216.
- ↑ Archives Gén. de Médecine, 1. 107.
- ↑ Harles de Arsenico, 153, and Renault sur les Contrepoisons de l'Arsénic.
