432 ONE OF THE CAUSES OF DEATH UNDER CIILOROFOR>.r. 



full lip to the level of the heart. Usually tlie vena cava and 

 veins of the intestines are kept in a state of seniicontraction or 

 tone by the vaso-motor nervea, but now they had become com- 

 pletely relaxed : so that the blood which usually would have 

 filled them completely up to the heart was not sufficient, and so 

 they were only about half full. On laying the frog in a» 

 horizontal position, the blood ran towards the heart. It wa& 

 thus evident that the blow on the intestines had done somethino: 

 more than stop the heart. It had also stopped the usual action 

 of the vaso-motor centre ; so that the veins, instead of remain- 

 ing in a state of tonic contraction, became widely dilated. 

 And, be it noticed, this dilatation of the veins in Goltz's experi- 

 ments was more permanent than the steppage of tho heart, and 

 continued after the cardiac pulsations had recommenced. But 

 all frogs are not alike ; for sometimes a blow on the intestines- 

 will stop the heart wiihout having much effect on the veins ; 

 and sometimes it will cause the veins to dilate, and will not stop 

 the heart, although very often, as I have already said, it will do- 

 both. The same effects seem to follow blows on the abdomen 

 in man and in 'the frog, but with this difference: in the frog, 

 the heart may stop for some time, and again go on without 

 much injury to the animal ; in man, the stoppage of the heart 

 produces death in not many seconds. A good example of this 

 is to be found in Sir Astley Cooper's Lectures on Surgery^ 

 where he relates that a healthy labourer belonging to the India 

 House was attempting to lift a heavy weight, when another 

 labourer came up and said, " Stand on one side ; let an abler 

 man try." At the same time, he gave the former a slight blow 

 on the region of the stomach, wdien the poor fellow immediately 

 dropped down and expired. On examination of his body, there- 

 was not any mark of violence discovered. Here, no doubt, the 

 blow in the abdomen stopped the man's heart, just as it does in 

 the frog ; and death occurred before the organ had time to 

 recover from the shock. In another case., described by Pro- 

 fessor Fischer, a young man was struck in the abdomen by a 

 carriage-pole ; and, after the accident, lay pale and motionless, 

 with a feeble pulse, empty arteries, deep sighing resj)iraticns, 

 and a livid tinge on his hands and lips. In this instance, the- 



