443 Proceedings of the British Associatioiu 



Section E. — Anatomy and Medicine. 



The reading of Dr Hodgkin's memoir on the action of poisons 

 was concluded. 



In the second part of this report, Dr Hodgkin began with de- 

 scribing the general and local effects produced by injecting hot wa- 

 ter into the stomach of the dog. He next proceeded to direct at- 

 tention to the inferences which may be drawn from the situation of 

 the principal lesion of the stomach in poisoning, shewing, that where 

 the agent is intensely active, this is observed in the greater curva- 

 ture immediately opposite the orifice of the oesophagus, rather than 

 precisely at the cardiac extremity, where, in other cases, the most 

 intense injection is generally met with ; whilst, on the other hand, 

 if the poison be not sufficiently strong at once to destroy the powers 

 of the stomach, its effects will be found most conspicuous in those 

 parts which, under ordinary circumstances, are the most frequent 

 seats of injection. Another circumstance on which Dr Hodgkin 

 particularly insisted, was the occurrence in cases of inflammation of 

 the stomach, of an interstitial deposition of lymph, producing the 

 appearance of small, irregular, opaque whitish spots in the sub- 

 stance of the mucous membrane itself. This appearance he consi- 

 dered as of importance, as furnishing, in some instances, a ground 

 of distinction between the effects of decided inflammation and mere 

 congestion. The character of the secretion found on the surface 

 of the mucous membrane also, Dr Hodgkin considered capable of 

 throwing considerable light on the condition of the membrane be- 

 fore death. 



Professor Clarke read to the Section a portion of the report which, 

 at the previous meeting of the Association, he had been requested 

 to prepare on the present state of Physiological Science. Dr Clarke 

 explained that it had been drawn up in the idea that it was intended 

 to be laid before a general meeting of the Association, and not be- 

 fore the Medical Section in particular, and that he had consequently 

 endeavoured to give it a more popular character than he otherwise 

 would have felt justified in doing. 



A similar explanation was given by Dr Yelloly, respecting the 

 report on the state of Pathology, which he had been requested to 

 prepare. 



Dr Yelloly, on the part of the Strangers of the Medical Section 

 of the British Association, proposed that a resolution should be en- 

 tered on the minutes, expressive of their warmest acknowledgments 



