710 



SOFTENING AND INDURATION. 



rapidly, that, unless perfectly fresh specimens patients and persons whose blood is deficient 



be used, no microscopic structure can be dis- in quantity and altered in quality, containing 



tinguished in the stomachal mucous mem- a great disproportion of serum, the whole 



brane. I have noticed the same thing to stomach appears as if macerated ; it is, in- 



occur in caterpillars : their stomachs, which deed, sometimes infiltrated with serosity, and 



contain both globular and columnar cells, is so completely deprived of blood that no 



after a time become softened and are per- trace of this fluid is perceived except in some 



forated, so., subsequently, is the external of the larger veins. 



cuticle ; nature seems to have taken this ori- Post mortem softening and perforation of 



ginal method of doing away with useless the intestines may occur from the presence of 



an acid fluid, either within them or without, 

 and derived from the stomach ; in the one 



part is generally circular, and if it reaches the case, softening is from within outwards, and, 



peritoneum excites inflammation in the re- in the other, from without inwards. 



organisms. 



In ulceration of the stomach the affected 



flexion contiguous to it ; by this means per- 

 foration is rarely accomplished. Now, in 



Softening of the skin : the skin may be sof- 

 tened wholly, or one or more of its layers only. 



post mortem perforations the softened part, In some skin diseases, especially among scrofu- 

 said by some to be the seat of ulceration, is lous subjects, there is an alteration of the 

 diffuse and the perforation lar^e and irregular, cohesion of the epidermis, which is properly 

 and no part of the neighbouring peritoneum formed by layers of cells, the row nearest the 

 presents the slightest trace of recent inflam- basement being smallest and more liquid than 

 mation ; shreds of muscular tissue and cellular 

 membrane, moreover, form an irregular fringe 

 around the opening, and, by their presence, 



the others, the more distant being dry and 

 united laterally, so as to form a dense integu- 

 ment. Certain defects in the quantity and 



detract greatly from the theory which calls quality of the fluid contained in the newest 



such phenomena pathological and not pseudo- made cells prevent them from progressing, 



morbid. normally, in their development ; they do not 



Generally speaking, the fundus is most fre- become dry, neither is any disposition evinced 



quently the part of the stomach most affected by the basement to secrete other cells ; under 



by the gastric juice ; but every thing depends these circumstances the epidermis is soft, and 



upon its being the most depending part, and the basement tender and red, the tissue be- 



. ' I* . 1 I * * 



upon its containing more or less semi-digested 

 food. 



The solvent matter is secreted by the tubes 

 of the stomach, and consists of pepsin in com- 

 bination with lactic acid and water : it pos- 



neath being visible. 



The cutis may lose its consistence in several 

 manners. When considerable quantities of 

 serum are collected in the subcuticular cellular 

 tissue, the cutis becomes mechanically dis- 



sesses the power of disintegrating all dead tended and remarkably soft ; and sometimes 



is only represented by a thin friable tissue, 

 which breaks down with the least pressure. 

 It may gradually lose its fibrous structure 

 and degenerate into a tissue analogous to that 

 usually found beneath it. 



Softening also occurs as a sequel of acute 



structures, but cannot influence the living 

 tissues. It is not secreted when the stomach 

 is empty, a stimulus to the mucous coat, in 

 the form of some matter foreign to the 

 stomach, is necessary for its production ; it is 

 probably the case, that an ulcer of the mucous 



membrane may act as a stimulus, and that a active local congestion. 



certain quantity of juice may always be present 

 in the stomach ; and that when, by the de- 

 pressing effect of this lesion, the general nutri- 

 tion suffers and the tissues are less able to 



The appendages of the slim, the nails, hairs, 

 and, in the lower animals, horns, undergo 

 softening to a certain extent in diseases of 

 long standing, attended with great emaciation ; 



resist decomposition, the gastric juice may act and softening of the cornea with ulceration is 



locally on the surface of the ulcer, and produce a common symptom of starvation. 



Induration of mucous membranes, is gene- 

 rally caused by long continued sub-acute in- 

 flammatory action ; the sub-basement cellular 



perforation before any peritoneal adhesion is 



formed. Perforation of the coats of the 



stomach sometimes occurs suddenly after a 



meal ; it is produced generally by the giving tissue is generally affected, and thickening of 



way of some small ulcer, the progress of the whole structure, with hypertrophy of the 



which had been enhanced by the presence of 



a large quantity of corroding liquid. 



Post mortem softening may modify and ex- 

 aggerate softening from other causes, and 

 differs in its own appearances under various 

 circumstances. The colour which the soft- 

 ened membrane presents appears to depend 



upon the quantity of blood contained in the 



papillae, where they exist, is found at the 

 same time. Induration with hypertrophy is 

 consequent upon chronic dysentery, and upon 

 chronic inflammation of the bladder. Ulcer- 

 ation of mucous memhrane is generally ac- 

 companied by surrounding thickening and 

 induration, and this last is frequent in the 

 gall-bladder, gall-ducts, uterus, and urethra. 



organ at the time of death; if the quantity be Induration of mucous membranes is generally 



small and natural, the softened parts are of a 

 dull yellow or orange tint ; and this colour 

 increases with the quantity of the blood, and 



accompanied by contraction of their caliber or 

 surface, from the consolidation and subse- 

 quent contraction of lymph effused into the 



is accompanied by a black colour of the vessels, cellular structure. Fatal stricture of the in- 

 In infants and young children, and in anaemic testines is produced in this manner, and so 



