1034 OF DEATH. 



portion to any local lesion. But, again, the loss of the Heart's irritability 

 may be a gradual process, resulting from the deterioration of its tissue by 

 fatty degeneration or by simple atrophy ; and this last condition may be due 

 to deficiency of blood, as happens in chronic starvation and diseases of ex- 

 haustion, in which the failure of the circulation seems due to the weakening 

 of the heart's power and to the lowering of the quantity and quality of the 

 blood, acting as concurrent causes, the condition thus induced being appro- 

 priately designated Asthenia. In all cases it is to be observed that when 

 the Vital powers have been previously depressed, a much slighter impression 

 on the Nervous system is adequate to produce Syncope, than would be re- 

 quired when it is in a state of full vigor. The causes of the tonic spasm of 

 the heart have not been clearly made out ; but it seems producible, like the 

 more common form of Syncope, by agencies operating through the Nervous 

 system ; thus it has supervened upon the ingestion of a large quantity of 

 cold water into the stomach. 



883. Somatic Death may be occasioned, secondly, by an obstruction to the 

 flow of blood through the capillaries of the lungs, constituting Asphyxia 

 ( 323) ; and this may be consequent upon a disordered state of the lungs 

 themselves, or upon suspension of the respiratory movements through affec- 

 tions of the Nervous centres. It is in this mode that most fatal disorders of 

 the Nervous System produce death, except when a sudden and violent im- 

 pression occasions a cessation of the heart's power ; thus in Apoplexy, Nar- 

 cotic Poisoning, etc., death results from the paralyzed condition of the 

 Medulla Oblongata ; whilst in Convulsive diseases, the fatal result generally 

 ensues upon a spasmodic fixation of the respiratory muscles. Thirdly, So- 

 matic death may be occasioned by a disordered condition of the Blood itself 

 ( 204), which at the same time weakens the power of the Heart, impairs 

 the activity of the Nervous system, and prevents the performance of those 

 changes in the systemic Capillaries, which afford a powerful auxiliary to the 

 circulation. This is death by Necra-mia. 1 Fourthly, Somatic death may 

 result directly from the agency of Cold, which stagnates all the vital opera- 

 tions of the system. Where the cooling is due to the agency of an extremely 

 low external temperature, which acts first upon the superficial parts, there 

 is reason to think that the congestion of the internal vessels thereby induced, 

 occasions a torpid condition of the Nervous centres, and that the cessation 

 of the Circulation is immediately due to Asphyxia. But when the cooling 

 is gradual, and the loss of heat is almost equally rapid throughout, it is ob- 

 vious that, the stagnation must be universal, and that no cessation of activity 

 in any one part is the occasion of the torpor in the functions of the remainder. 

 It is in this manner that death ordinarily results from Starvation, and not 

 by the weakening of the heart's action, as commonly supposed ; the proofs 

 of this have been already stated ( 4M1). 



884. As a general rule, we find that the more active the changes which 

 normally take place in any tissue during life, the more speedily does its 

 Molecular Death follow Somatic Death, the requisite conditions of its vital 

 action being no longer supplied to it. Thus we observe that in Cold-blooded 

 animals, the supervention of Molecular upon Somatic death is much less 

 speedy than it is in Birds and Mammals. This seems due to two causes. In 

 the first place, the tissues of the former, being at all times possessed of a 

 lower degree of vital activity than those of the latter, are disposed to retain 

 it for a lunger time; according to the principle already laid down. And 

 secondly, as the maintenance of a high temperature is an essential condition 

 of the vital activity of the tissues of Warm-blooded animals, the rapid cool- 



1 See Dr. C. J. li. Williams's Principles of Medicine, 3d edit., p. 553. 



