SUDDEN DEATH. 49 



nary ; rupture of the aorta, cougeuital narrowness of the aorta, throm- 

 bosis aud embolism of the pulmonary or cerebral arteries. 



Brain haemorrhage, meningitis, abscesses, and tumors. Very slight 

 injuries of various parts of the body have been followed by sudden 

 death, probably through inhibition. Syncope or shock may terminate 

 in death. 



Respiratory System. Foreign bodies lodging at the entrance to the 

 larynx are not infrequently followed by immediate death without evi- 

 dence of asphyxia. (Edema of the glottis, oedema of the lungs, hyper- 

 trophy of the thyroid, mediastinal tumors, pleurisy, and pueumothorax 

 may lead to sudden death. 



Abdominal Viscera. Rupture of visceral abscesses; perforation of 

 ulcers of the gastro-intestiual canal; rupture of the spleen, especially 

 if the latter be enlarged as in malaria; extra-uterine gestation, retro- 

 uterine hsematocele, and rupture of the uterus, are among the lesions not 

 infrequently leading to sudden death. 



Sudden death is frequent in diabetes, in various forms of kidney 

 lesion and in alcoholism, and in association with the so-called lymphatic 

 constitution. ' 



Sudden death in young children is most often associated with disorders 

 of the respiratory system, thus differing from adults, in whom lesions of 

 the circulatory system are of the greatest significance. Brouardel attrib- 

 utes sudden death in children usually to one of five principal causes 

 syncope, convulsions, asphyxia, pulmonary congestion, and intestinal 

 disorders. A large thymus with the lymphatic constitution is frequent 

 in cases of sudden death in young children. 2 



1 See Swing, New York Med. Jour., July 10th, 1897. Bibliog. 



2 For further details on sudden death consult Brouardel, " Death and Sudden Death," 

 English translation, 1897; also Ewing, in Peterson and Haines Text-book of Legal Medi 

 cine, 1908. 

 4 



