SHOCK 17 



organs and tissues at a distance from the site of the 

 injury. 



Thus, it is a matter of common experience that an 

 animal may be killed by a rap on the head. Here, as 

 in the case of decapitation, it is clear that the death 

 of the individual tissues does not immediately ensue, 

 but follows later as a result of the inability of those 

 tissues to function in the correlated and reciprocal 

 fashion necessary to keep one another alive. It is not 

 so generally recognized that an apparently minor in- 

 jury, such as a crushed extremity or a superficial burn, 

 may lead to the same end. Unfortunately, however, 

 this is a fact which is amply attested to by the results 

 of experience both in practice and in the laboratory. 



In such instances as those cited above, by appropri- 

 ate experimental procedures we may determine the 

 order in which the various body tissues die, and the 

 histological changes which either accompany or re- 

 sult from their death. Little more, however, may be 

 learned from such experiments. In order to deter- 

 mine the mechanism causing the death of animals 

 under such conditions, we must resort to other modes 

 of investigation which afford an insight into the dy- 

 namics of the principal physiological and structural 

 changes which precede the end result of the experi- 

 ment. Such methods and the findings which have re- 

 sulted from their application must now be considered. 



It is a common and disconcerting experience that 

 patients who have suffered an injury involving a local- 

 ized mutilation of tissue frequently die although the 

 injury has been easily repaired by the usual pro- 

 cedures. Prior to death, such unfortunate individuals 



