dark coloured blood which has been transmitted through the circulatory system, during the suspension of respiration, would seem to act like a narcotic poison upon the brain; no sooner therefore does it enter that organ, but deleterious effects are produced, the animal at first falls into a state of stupor, the pupils of the eyes become dilated, the respiration laborious, the muscles of the body convulsed, and the animal dies, _poisoned by its own blood_. The body of a person who has died from drowning exhibits a physiognomy which it is important to notice. The whole surface is distinguished by a remarkable coldness and pallor; the eyes are half open, and their pupils considerably dilated; the tongue is pushed forward to the internal edges of the lips, and sometimes wounded; and the mouth and nostrils are covered with foam. At other times, instead of a pallid visage, we have one that is swelled, and bloated with livid blood. Upon dissection we shall perceive the vessels of the brain more or less gorged with blood;[31] in the trachea a watery and bloody froth will be found; the lungs will appear expanded, full of frothy mucus, and, generally, livid; the right cavities of the heart gorged with blood, the left nearly empty; and it has been sometimes noticed that the blood remains fluid[32], and follows after every incision by the scalpel. The stomach will generally be found to contain some water. _Hebenstreit_ also states, that since in the act of drowning the person dies on an inspiration, the diaphragm is necessarily found convex, or bent towards the abdomen; this statement however is erroneous.