The body of the deceased being removed from the bed and placed upon a table was remarkable for its excessive development of fat. The head having been opened, the brain was submitted to inspection and acknowledged to be healthy; and the same of the tongue, the oesophagus, the larynx, the bronchi, the lungs, the heart, the spleen, the kidneys, the bladder: the womb was somewhat engorged, and larger, heavier than normal, but without any trace of inflammation. All the principal joints were opened and found healthy; likewise glands, arteries, veins and lymphatics. The alimentary canal was carefully examined throughout, without discovering any organic lesion in the stomach or large intestine. A few reddish brown spots were, however, to be seen in the small intestine. Broussais upon this pronounced death to have been caused by enteritis. Several of the medical men, on the other hand, were unwilling to admit that these reddish brown spots could have caused death. The liver was then examined. On separating one of the lobes a layer of grease was left on the blade of the knife, as is the case always in cutting into a fatty liver, but which phenomenon is never manifested in the case of a healthy liver. Those gentlemen who had demurred to the reddish brown spots as being the cause of death were of opinion that the fatty liver, or which is the same thing, the obstruction to the hepatic circulation had produced death. Broussais could not agree with this opinion, but dwelt upon the importance of the testimony revealed by the reddish brown spots, and a warm discussion ensued. The _post mortem_ being over, I returned to the hospital, leaving these gentlemen in the midst of a discussion as to how the medico-legal statement accounting for the death should be drawn up. At this time I was scarcely able to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, although I had already spent several years in the hospital as assistant to M. Fouquier, and had frequently listened to the teachings of Broussais, which explained all diseases as due to irritation dependent upon organic lesion; and always ended by shewing that the only rational treatment for every morbid affection consisted in blood-letting, leeching and low diet. It may be mentioned as somewhat remarkable that at the _post mortem_ held upon the corpse of Broussais, no organic lesion sufficient to account for death was discoverable. In his own person, the greatest possible contradiction to his theory was thus presented. Since that time my attention has been particularly directed to this subject. In my own practice I have constantly observed that when any obstruction occurs in the liver no progress is ever made towards the cure of diseases arising from this cause, until the obstruction is overcome, and if not overcome, that death supervenes; and the cause of this death is to be found only in the liver, as in the case of the lady just mentioned. One of the earliest signs of obstruction of the liver, is swelling of the legs