192 Dr. J. Murie on the Anatomy of the Girajfe. 



The following appearances were noted on examination of 

 the dead bodies of the two animals sixteen hours after the 

 accident. 



In the old female, during the short interval which had 

 elapsed after death, the abdomen had become immensely 

 swollen, in fact almost incredibly distended, by the evolution 

 of gaseous material. The tongue protruded considerably out 

 of the mouth, and was partially discoloured by fragments of 

 charred straw. The eyeballs appeared- as if starting out of 

 their sockets, and were intensely bloodshot. There was pro- 

 trusion and puffiness of the rectum and external organs of 

 generation ; and these parts exhibited signs of incipient de- 

 composition, although the weather was agreeable and cool. 



The hair on the right side of the body, that on which the 

 animal had fallen, was slightly singed. All four limbs were 

 in a similar condition ; but the main part of the left side of 

 the body and the neck Avere scarcely superhcially injured. 



On making an incision into the abdomen, an enormous vo- 

 lume of horribly smelling foetid gas escaped : this came partly 

 from the general visceral cavity, and partly from the paunch, 

 which latter was perforated when the outer parietes were 

 transfixed. 



All the digestive cavities contained more or less semidigested 

 food ; and the intestines were also abundantly filled with faecal 

 substances. The animal had consumed its evening meal just 

 previously to the fatal accident ; and this circumstance, along 

 with tlie manner of death, sufficiently accounted for the rapid, 

 decomposition of the tissues. 



The liver and spleen were gorged with blood ; both were dark- 

 coloured and unusually soft. Decomposition of their tissues 

 had already commenced. Though firmer than the above, the 

 kidneys were far softer than natural, and intensely congested. 

 The right cavities of the heart and the great veins leading 

 thereto were all distended with black sanguineous clots. 

 Lungs filled with bloody fluid and much bad-smelling gas. 

 The submucous tissue of the bronchi and trachea were every- 

 where injected ; but the latter organ, at its upper end and all 

 around the region of the glottis, was very much infiltrated 

 with discoloured bloody-tinged fluid. 



The entire venous system was unnaturally injected ; but on 

 the skin being taken oflf, a still more remarkable feature was 

 noticed, viz. the surface of the flesh streamed with blood 

 oozing everywhere from the lacerated venous oscula. 



In the young male, whilst the body exteriorly had suflfered 

 greater damage from the burning straw, the death-throes had 

 evidently been of a less violent kind. The skin of the body 



