INDIA. 255 



PATHOLOGIC MUSEUM. 



The pathologic museum of Grant Medical College 

 contains a very large amount of material illustrative 

 of tropical diseases. It is the result of accumulation 

 of specimens for 60 years and should contain more than 

 it does, but the opposition to postmortem examinations 

 is so violent and persistent that permission is only 

 seldom obtained. No Parsee corpse has ever been 

 touched by a pathologist except under medico-legal 

 pressure. Not many years ago a postmortem was made 

 on a Mohammedan and when the fact became known it 

 gave rise to a riot in the hospital grounds, which it 

 was found difficult to suppress. Since that time the 

 Mohammedans employ a salaried guard, who watches 

 the approach of grim death in the hospital, and, if the 

 patient is a Mohammedan, he sees to it that the corpse 

 escapes the postmortem knife. The Hindus furnish the 

 material for the museum almost exclusively. 



This unreasonable objection to postmortem examina- 

 tions by a large proportion of the population of Bom- 

 bay has seriously interfered in collecting a larger ma- 

 terial. A catalogue of specimens in the Pathologic Mu- 

 seum was prepared by Capt. G. F. Gordon, I.M.S., in 

 1903, and was published by the government in the form 

 of a well bound and well printed book of 247 pages. 

 I will quote here a description of only a few of the most 

 interesting specimens : 



Pneumonic Plague. — The lung is solid throughout, 

 greatly enlarged, and the visceral pleura covered with 

 slate-colored blotches, which are subserous hemorrhages. 

 This specimen was from a patient aged 26, who was ill 

 about three days. One section of the lung was filled 

 with light colored masses, which were surrounded by 

 areas of acute congestion. The lower were more mark- 

 edly affected by consolidation than the upper lobe. 

 There were several hemorrhages in the cellular tissue of 

 the posterior mediastinum, and the other viscera were 

 acutely congested. 



