OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 107 



being somewhat turbid in places, as if from some former cause. The veins of the 

 pia mater and the vertebral veins were full of blood. 



M. Pihorel makes a similar report of his case. He found some thickening of the 

 cerebral arachnoid, which was also adherent to the pia mater, but to what extent 

 he does not state. The blood of the sinuses and of the dura mater was fluid. The 

 same condition as to fulness of blood, and the same slight excess of serum in the 

 ventricles and sub-arachnoid spaces, existed in Sir E. Home's case. 



Thorax. — Dr. Horner found all the thoracic organs healthy, except that the left 

 ventricle of the heart was described as hypertrophied. The heart was nearly 

 empty, owing to the escape of its fluid when the head was opened, 



M. Pihorel found the walls of the trachea and bronchial tubes congested, a spot 

 of distinct inflammation corresponding to the cricoid cartilage. The trachea and 

 bronchia3 were full of a red and frothy mucus. The lungs were healthy and crepi- 

 tant, but were somewhat congested ("premier degr6 d'engorgement sanguin"). 

 Two inches below the pharynx the oesophagus was narrowed, but no notable altera- 

 tion of its tissues could be discovered. 



In Sir E. Home's case the lungs were healthy, the anterior fold of the pericar- 

 dium was dry, resembling a dried bladder. The cavity of this membrane contained 

 half an ounce of serous fluid, frothy from admixture with gases which escaped in 

 bubbles. 



Abdomen. Horner's Case. — The peritoneum contained a few ounces of serum. 

 The mucous membrane of the stomach was intensely injected with blood, and most 

 remarkably so in the wrinkles of the mucous membrane. It exhibited neither 

 ecchymosis or softening, and contained the articles prescribed in the morning, with 

 but little gas. 



The mucous coat of the small intestines was dotted "with patches of acute 

 inflammation. These spots were of a lively red and very numerous, especially in the 

 jejunum. This latter intestine had its parietes considerably thickened by an infil- 

 tration of serum, and was partially filled with a dark bilious matter. The colon was 

 sound but contracted, and contained at its head some hard fecal excrement. The 

 liver was yellow and enlarged, which was attributed to the habits of the patient." 



M. Pihorel found all the abdominal organs healthy. Sir E. Home describes the 

 stomach in the case of Soaper as turgid with blood. All the other abdominal organs 

 were healthy. In Pihorel's and Home's cases the blood was more or less coagu- 

 lated. In Horner's it was everywhere perfectly fluid. Dr. Horner says that the 

 muscles were of a brownish yellow color throughout the body. 



The local swelling in Dr. Horner's case was due to serous infiltration ; in that of 

 M. Pihorel, but little swelling existed during life after the hgature was removed, 

 and at the post-mortem inspection the tumefaction of the bite between the two 

 metacarpal bones extended only half an inch around it. The bite on the dorsal 

 face of the thumb was not at all swollen. The muscles in these localities were 

 unaltered. Sir E. Home's case presented at the time of death extensive sloughs of 

 skin on the arm and forearm. A large abscess existed on the outside of the arm, 

 elbow, and forearm. The parts in the immediate neighborhood of the bite and in 

 the palm were healthy, except that there was a little extravasated blood in the 



