Poisons, Their Effects and Detection: A Manual for the Use of Analytical Chemists and ExpertsBlyth, Alexander Wynter
Science
Poisons, Their Effects and Detection: A Manual for the Use of Analytical Chemists and Experts
Blyth, Alexander Wynter
Poisons
The appearances twenty-four hours after death were as follows:--The eyes
were coated with a thick slime, and both cornea were opalescent; there
was strong rigidity of the body. The pia mater covering the brain was
everywhere hyperæmic, and at the hinder border of both hemispheres
appeared a small clot, surrounded by a thin layer of bloody fluid. The
_plex. venos spin._ was filled with coagulated blood, and there was also
a thin extravasation of blood covering the medulla and pons. The lungs
were mottled bright brown-red; the middle lobe of the right lung was
dark brown, solid, and sank in water; the lower lobe of the same lung
and the upper lobe of the left lung were nearly in a similar condition,
but the edges were of a bright red. The parenchyma in the darker places
on section did not crepitate. On the cut surface was a little dark,
fluid, weakly-acid blood; the tracheal mucous membrane was injected. The
heart was filled with thick coagulated blood; the liver was congested,
of a reddish-brown colour, and rich in dark, fluid blood: in the vena
cava inferior was coagulated blood. The kidneys were not hyperæmic; the
intestines were superficially congested.
I think there can be little doubt that the symptoms during life, and the
appearances after death, in this case are perfectly consistent with the
following view:--The vapour acts first as a direct irritant, and is
capable of exciting inflammation in the lung and bronchial tissues; but
besides this, there is a secondary effect, only occurring when the gas
is in sufficient quantity, and the action sufficiently prolonged--viz.,
a direct coagulation of the blood in certain points of the living
vessels of the lungs. The consequence of this is a more or less general
backward engorgement, the right side of the heart becomes distended with
blood, and the ultimate cause of death is partly mechanical. The
hyperæmia of the brain membranes, and even the hæmorrhages, are quite
consistent with this view, and occur in cases where the obstruction to
the circulation is of a coarser and more obvious character, and can
therefore be better appreciated.
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