356 THE LESIONS INDUCED BY POISONS. 



Opium and Morphin. 



The post-mortem appearances in persons who have died from opium or morphine 

 poisoning are inconstant and not characteristic. Congestion of the brain and its mem- 

 branes, with serous effusion in the membranes and ventricles, and congestion of the 

 lungs, are changes occasionally seen, but they are frequently entirely absent, and when 

 present are not characteristic of death from this poison. 



Poisonous Fungi. 



The action of these substances varies greatly, and the post-mortem appearances are 

 inconstant and not characteristic. In general, when any lesions are present they are 

 those of gastro-intestinal irritation or of. venous congestion, or both. 



Microscopical examination may reveal characteristic fragments of fungi in the con- 

 tents of the alimentary canal. 



Hydrocyanic Acid. 



This poison in fatal doses may destroy life in a very short time. The post-mortem 

 appearances are inconstant and not characteristic. The skin may be livid and the mus- 

 cles contracted. The stomach may be congested or normal. The most frequent internal 

 appearances are those of general venous congestion. Under favorable conditions the 

 odor of prussic acid may be detected in the stomach or blood or brain, or other parts of 

 the body. It may be absent in the stomach and present in other parts of the body. If 

 the patient have lived for some time the odor may be absent altogether. 



Cyanide of potassium may produce the same lesions as hydrocyanic acid, and there 

 is the same inconstancy in their occurrence. 



Nitrobenzol. This substance produces general venous congestion, and the odor of 

 the oil of bitter almonds may be more or less well marked in the body after death. 



Carbolic Acid. 



When this poison is taken into the stomach the mucous membrane of the mouth, 

 oesophagus, and stomach may be white, corrugated, and partially detached in patches, and 

 the edges of the affected parts may be hyperaemic or there may be patches of extrava- 

 sation. Brow r nish, shrunken patches may be present about the mouth. The brain and 

 meninges may be congested. There may be congestion and oedema of the lungs, and 

 congestion of the liver and spleen. The blood is usually dark and fluid. The urine is 

 commonly of a dark or greenish color. The odor of the poison may be evident in the 

 body and in the urine. 



Alcohol. 



The different preparations of alcohol, when taken in concentrated form or in large 

 quantities, sometimes produce sudden coma and death in from half an hour to several 

 hours. In acute poisoning, if death have followed soon after the ingestion of the poison, 

 the body may resist decomposition for an unusual length of time. The stomach and 

 tissues may even have a more or less well-marked alcoholic odor. The stomach, and 

 even the oesophagus and duodenum, may be of a deep-red color. There may be puncti- 

 form ecchymoses in the gastric mucous membrane. In many cases the stomach is ap- 

 parently quite normal. There is apt to be venous congestion in some of the internal 

 organs, but this is not constant. There are frequently congestion, and sometimes extrava- 

 sation of blood in the brain and its membranes, and oedema of the membranes or of the 

 brain substance, or both. There may be a serous effusion in the ventricles of the brain, 

 also chromatolysis of the ganglion cells. 



In chronic alcohol poisoning death may ensue from some other disease, or after a 

 debauch. In the latter case there may be delirium tremens, or the patient dies exhausted 

 and comatose. Chronic alcoholism is not infrequently mistaken clinically for meningi- 



