813 



ASPHYXIA. 



ASPIRATE. 



614 



As the circulation fails and the pxJse sinks, the muscles termed 

 sphincter, that is, muscles placed at the mouths of certain cavities in 

 order to close their passage, that their contents may be retained for a 

 given time, are commonly relaxed ; the rectum and the urinary bladder 

 evacuate their contents ; often violent convulsions now come on, and 

 immediately before the extinction of life the fseces and urine are 

 expelled with great force. 



The phenomena attendant on the state of asphyxia, and which are 

 characteristic of it, are now sufficiently manifest. It is impossible to 

 raise the thorax so as to draw in air, that is, to inspire ; nevertheless, 

 violent though vain efforts are made to accomplish this object ; but 

 although no air can be introduced into the lung, yet a small portion 

 can be expelled from it, so that the lung is ultimately brought to the 

 extreme state of expiration. Complete exclusion of the air is rapidly 

 followed by the abolition of sensation, this by the diminution and the 

 ultimate cessation of the heart's action, together with the diminution 

 and ultimate cessation of the respiratory movements ; and when these 

 changes have terminated in death, the body remains warm for a very 

 long period ; the aspect of the countenance is peculiar ; the face is 

 swollen ; it is either of a reddish violet hue or of a livid colour, and 

 the eyes are clear, bright, and preternaturally prominent. Shakspere's 

 description of this state is physiologically correct : 



" But, sec ! his face is black and full of blood ; 

 His eye-balls farther out than when he lived, 

 Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man. 

 His hair uprear'd ; his nostrils stretch'd with struggling ; 

 His hands abroad display'd, as onetbat grasp'd 

 And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdued." 



As the animal heat is longer retained than is usual in death from 

 other causes, so the coming on of the stiffness consequent on death is 

 longer protracted ; but when it has once come on, it is retained for a 

 proportionally longer period. 



The morbid appearances in the internal organs observable on dis- 

 section are, in the brain, turgescence of the blood-vessels, especially of 

 the veins, which are gorged with blood ; the blood itself is preter- 

 naturally fluid and of an xmusually dark colour. No diseased 

 appearance is commonly found in the cavities of the brain, nor is its 

 substance materially changed from the healthy state. In the respiratory 

 organ*, the mucous or lining membrane of the larynx, trachea, and 

 bronchi are unusually red ; the bronchial divisions are of a violet or 

 reddish-brown tint ; the lungs are of a blackish-brown colour, and 

 when cut into, large drops of a thick fluid and very black blood ooze 

 out. In the oryans tf tin /<//;. ,. the heart is the organ chiefly affected. 

 Its veins are gorged with dark blood ; dark-coloured blood is found 

 both in its right and in its left cavities, but it is invariably accumulated 

 in a larger proportion in its right than in its left cavities ; gene- 

 rally there is at least one-third more in the right than in the left. In 

 the abdominal organs, the liver, the spleen, and the kidneys are gorged 

 with dark and fluid blood. Thus the blood in all the organs of the 

 system is always unnaturally fluid in consistence and dark in colour. 



CAUSES. From what has been stated it is obvious that, whatever is 

 capable of preventing the admission of air to the lungs, or of arresting 

 the chemical action of the air upon the blood, or causing the accumu- 

 lation of carbonic acid in the blood, is capable of producing the state 

 of asphyxia. 



I. Various circumstances are capable of acting in the first mode : 



1. Whatever affords a mechanical obstruction to the action of the 

 respiratory muscles, as a heavy weight resting upon the chest. 



2. Whatever affords a mechanical obstruction to the due expansion of 

 the lungs, while the respiratory muscles still act with the requisite 

 energy, as the accumulation of fluid in the cavity of the chest, or the 

 diminution of the cavity of the chest by the enlargement or displace- 

 ment of the abdominal viscera. 3. Whatever affords a mechanical 

 obstruction to the entrance of the air into the lung, as the application 

 of a ligature around the windpipe, causing strangulation ; the sub- 

 mersion of the body in water, or drowning; the introduction of 

 foreign bodies into the larynx, trachea, or its divisions, the bronchi ; 

 exposure to a too rarefied atmosphere, or to irrespirable gases, such as 

 nitrogen, hydrogen, carburetted hydrogen, carbonic acid gas, Ac. 



II. The circumstances which are capable of producing the state of 

 asphyxia, by arresting the chemical action of the air upon the blood, 

 are either what may be termed mechanical or vital. The mechanical 

 are those which act hi the mode just adverted to, namely, by pre- 

 venting the entrance of air into the lung, as suspension, submersion, 

 and so on. The vital are those which act chiefly through the medium 

 of the nervous system. If injury be done to the organic nerves 

 which supply the lungs, or if from any cause the nerves of this class 

 fail to supply the lungs with the nervous influence which it is their 

 office to afford, the requisite changes in the blood do not take place. 

 Such an injurious effect upon this class of nerves may be brought 

 about gradually and progressively by the long-continued action of 

 bftense cold upon the system, or may be produced instantaneously by 

 a stroke of lightning. The like cause may also act through the ner- 

 vous system upon the respiratory muscles, stopping the action of what 

 may be termed the mechanical portion of the respiratory apparatus, 

 namely, the alternate enlargement and diminution of the thoracic 

 carity. Injury done to the other great division of the nervous system, 



the sentient ; injury or division of the eighth pair of nerves ; injury 

 or pressure upon the upper portion of the spinal cord (the medulla, 

 oblongata) ; injury or pressure xtpon the spinal cord itself, and espe- 

 cially upon that portion of it which is placed in the neck, whether 

 from fracture or from dislocation of the bones of the spinal column, 

 may destroy the contractility of the respiratory muscles, and thus stop 

 the respiratory movements. It often happens that both sets of causes 

 are combined ; the contractility of the muscles of respiration being 

 destroyed by the operation of the same causes which abolish the 

 nervous energy of the lungs. 



There are certain varieties of asphyxia which, on account of their 

 practical importance, being states of continual occurrence from acci- 

 dent and otherwise, require a separate consideration. The more 

 important of these are drowning, hanging, strangulation, and suffo- 

 cation. [RESPIRATION, NAT. HIST. Drv.] 



ASPIRATE, or more properly asperate, a name given to one of the 

 divisions of consonants. Grammarians have generally avoided any 

 formal definition of the principle which characterises this or the other 

 classes of letters ; they have generally deemed it sufficient to enume- 

 rate those letters which belong to each class, and to assign names to 

 these classes without giving any reason for the selection. The subject 

 is confessedly one of difficulty, and it is therefore with much doubt 

 that the following system is proposed. 



In the pronunciation of the letters called tenues namely, k, t, p, the 

 moveable organ, whether tongue or lip, comes into the minimum of con- 

 tact with the organ struck, whether palate, teeth, or lip, and the stroke 

 is rapid. In the pronunciation of the medials y (as in goose), d, b, the 

 surface of contact is greater, the contact iteelf closer, and of longer 

 duration. Lastly, in the utterance of the asperated letters, the organs are 

 brought more or less closely together through the whole breadth of the 

 mouth, so that the vibration of air passes through a long narrow fissure. 

 If the pressure or approximation be of slight intensity, and of short 

 duration, the series of asperates, y, ch (as at the end of German or 

 Scotch words), th as in thing, ph, w are produced. If the pressure be 

 closer and more lasting, there result the asperates yh, th as in this, 

 and r. The former series might perhaps deserve to be called aspe- 

 rated tenues ; the latter, asperated medials. The sibilants again seem 

 to have a claim to be admitted under the genus asperate. If this 

 claim be allowed, as in such, sh (or ch of the French chemin), j as in 

 the French jour, may be called the sibilant tenues ; and s (as in these), 

 ch (as in the English church), j (as in the English journey), are the 

 corresponding medial sibilants. The letter h, which has been omitted 

 in our series, is only a faint ch (as pronounced by the Germans). 

 Indeed, if the pedigree of this letter be traced upwards, it will be 

 found to terminate in the Hebrew cheth. [ALPHABET.] In the com- 

 parison of cognate languages, it is important to bear in mind first, 

 that the asperated letters are often convertible with one another ; and 

 secondly, that they are severally interchangeable with the medials and 

 tenues of the same organ. Thus, 1st, ch of the Greek language often 

 corresponds to h in the Lathi : cheim (x^'H-iov, X f 'p-fpwos), Gr., hicm-ps, 

 Lat., winter; chamai, Gr., humi, Lat., on-the-yround ; cha (xa-axtiv), 

 Gr., hia-re, Lat., to gape. [GUTTURALS.] 2, h in Greek corresponds 

 to s in Latin : hepta, Gr., septem, Lat., eeven ; hex, Gr., sex, Lat., si.r ; 

 huper, Gr., super, Lat., abme (upper). 3, th in ordinary Greek to ph 

 or / in the JEolic dialect and Latin ; ther, ord. Gr., pher, ^Eolic Gr., 

 /TO, Lat., a icild beast ; thlib, ord. Gr., phlib in Homer, press; thura, 

 Gr., a door, fora-s, Lat., out-of-doors ; tharsus (or thrasus), Gr., fortis, 

 Lat., bold; thre, Gr., JU, Lat., bewail. 4, th into , as sior, god, in the 

 Laconian dialect, instead of theos. 5, th in ordinary Greek to ch in 

 other dialects : ornith, ordinary Greek, ornich, Doric, a bird. Hence in 

 the same language ith (iB-iia) and ich (ix-ros) enter into the two forms 

 which signify a step; erch and elth into the two forms of the verb 

 signifying to yo, tpxofuu, (\9uv. Hence too the different forms of the 

 Greek and Latin names for Carthage, Carchedon, Gr., Carthagon, Lat., 

 in which the second interchange of d and g compensates for the inverse 

 change of the asperates ch and th. 6, / in Latin corresponds to A in 

 Spanish, faba, Lat., haba, Sp., a bean; fabula-ri, Lat., habla-r, Sp., 

 to talk; fac-ere, Lat., hac-er, Sp., to do; fata (fatum), Lat., hado, Sp., 

 fate; formoso (formosus), Lat., hermoso, Sp., beautiful. For the rela- 

 lation of sw and w with h, see DIGAMMA. 



Secondly, the s^eral asperates are, as above stated, interchangeable 

 with the medials and tenues of the same organ. Examples of these 

 changes will readily suggest themselves in every language. The most 

 deserving of attention are perhaps those which exist between the 

 English and German : 



initial it, in German, corresponds to cK, sh in English, 

 final g 



final ch 

 final t 

 initial d 

 final d 

 th 



initial z 

 final tz, ss 

 final b 



Pf 



final / 

 initial v 



silent yh, ch, It. 

 th, d, 

 th in think. 

 th in the. 



*>. 



*'/ 



P, 



Pi 



f, 



