appearance is a swelling of the mucous membrane and superficial erosions. Virchow,[305] who was the first to call attention to this peculiar grey swelling of the intestinal mucous membrane under the name of _gastritis glandularis_ or _gastradenitis_, shows that it is due to a fatty degeneration of the epithelial cells, and that it is by no means peculiar to phosphorus poisoning. The swelling may be seen in properly-prepared sections to have its essential seat in the glands of the mucous membrane; the glands are enlarged, their openings filled with large cells, and each single cell is finely granular. Little centres of hæmorrhage, often microscopically small, are seen, and may be the centres of small inflammations; their usual situation is on the summit of the rugæ. Very similar changes are witnessed after death from septicæmia, pyæmia, diphtheria, and other diseases. The softening of the stomach, gangrene, and deep erosions, recorded by the earlier authors, have not been observed of late years, and probably were due to _post-mortem_ changes, and not to processes during life. The same changes are to be seen in the intestines, and there are numerous extravasations in the peritoneum. [303] _L’Empoisonnement_, p. 520. [304] _Poisons_, 3rd ed., p. 276. [305] Virchow’s _Archiv. f. path. Anat._, Bd. 31, Hft. 3, 399. The liver shows of all the organs the most characteristic signs; a more or less advanced fatty infiltration of its structure takes place, which was first described as caused by phosphorus by Hauff in 1860.[306] It is the most constant pathological evidence both in man and animal, and seems to occur at a very early period, Munk and Leyden having found a fatty degeneration in the liver far advanced in twenty-four hours[307] after poisoning. In rats and mice poisoned with paste, I have found this evident to the naked eye twelve hours after the fatal dose. The liver is mostly large, but in a case[308] recorded in the _Lancet_, July 14, 1888, the liver was shrunken; it has a pale yellow (or sometimes an intense yellow) colour; on section the cut surface presents a mottled appearance; the serous envelopes, especially along the course of the vessels, exhibit extravasations of blood. The liver itself is more deficient in blood than in the normal condition, and the more bloodless it is, the greater the fatty infiltration. [306] Hauff collected 12 cases, and found a fatty liver in 11.--_Würtemb. Med. Corresp. Bl._, 1860, No. 34. [307] _Die acute Phosphor-Vergiftung_, Berlin, 1865.