5. =Stomach.= On the external examination the size (dilatation, contractions due to scirrhous carcinoma or scars), shape (hour-glass, etc.), position, color of surface, consistence of wall, presence of adhesions, etc., should be noted. When the stomach is opened note presence of _gas_ (odor), _character of contents_ (fluid, gruel-like, food-remains, curds, foreign bodies, mucus, pus, blood, parasites, drugs, etc.), _odor_ (yeasty, sour, acid, sweetish, foul, H_{2}S, odor of foods or drugs), _reaction_ (acid or alkaline), _color_ (yellow, greenish, grayish, brown, black, bloody, etc.) Describe the character of mucus on the mucosa (tough, glassy, difficult to remove in acute catarrh; softer, grayish or grayish-red, often containing small black blood-specks in chronic catarrh). Bile gives a yellow or greenish color. The presence of blood may give to the stomach-contents the appearance of “coffee-grounds;” in hæmorrhage by diapedesis the contents may be brownish. Cloudy swelling of the glands is common in sepsis, chronic anæmia and various poisonings. It affects cells in deepest portion of glands, as shown by excising a bit of the mucosa and examining microscopically. The brownish or black discoloration of the mucosa associated with softening of the latter (gastromalacia, postmortem digestion) must not be taken for a pathologic condition. The mucosa becomes soft, cloudy or jelly-like and strips easily from the whitish submucosa. Softening of the entire wall leads to perforations that must not be mistaken for pathologic ones. Their edges show no signs of disease. The normal mucosa is grayish in _color_. In chronic passive congestion the color may be dark red. Hypostatic congestion is common in the large veins of the fundus. Hæmorrhages occur chiefly in the fundus and along the greater curvature (caused by vomiting). In potassium cyanide poisoning the mucosa is often rosy-red in color and has a soapy feel. The normal mucosa is nearly smooth when the folds caused by contraction are spread out. Localized hyperplasias occur in chronic gastritis (etat mamelonné) and cannot be smoothed out by stretching. Erosions (common in chronic passive congestion) and ulcers (round or peptic, carcinomatous, due to corrosives, very rarely to tuberculosis and syphilis) are to be carefully examined and described. The different layers of the stomach wall are to be examined with respect to their absolute and relative thickness. Thickening of the submucosa may be caused by œdema, purulent infiltration, increase of connective-tissue, carcinomatous or sarcomatous infiltration. Hyperplasia of the muscular coat occurs chiefly at the pylorus in cases of stenosis.