[ 4Si ] 



had partly diflolved the adjacent fide of the fpleen, 

 and had diflolved the diaphragm quite through ; fo 

 that the contents of the ftomach were found in 

 the cavity of the thorax, and had even affected 

 the lungs in a fmall degree. 



There are very few dead bodies, in which the 

 ftomach is not, at its great end, in fome degree di- 

 gefted j and one who is acquainted with diflecti- 

 ons, can eaiily trace the gradations from the fmalleft 

 to the greateft. 



To be fenlible of this effect, nothing more is 

 neceflary, than to compare the inner furface of the 

 great end of the ftomach, with any other part of 

 the inner furface j what is found, will appear foft, 

 ipongy, and granulated, and without diftinct blood 

 veflels, opaque and thick ; while the other will 

 appear fmooth, thin, and more tranfparent ; and 

 the veflels will be feen ramifying in its fubftance, 

 and upon fqueezing the blood which they contain 

 from the larger branches to the fmaller, it will 

 be found to pafs out at the digefted ends of the 

 veflels, and appear like drops on the inner fur- 

 face. 



Thefe appearances I had often feen, and I do 

 fuppofe that they had been feen by others ; but I 

 was at a lofs to account for them; at firft, I fup- 

 pofed them to have been produced during life, and 

 was therefore difpofed to look upon them as the 

 caufe of death ; but I never found that they had 

 any connection with the fymptoms: and I was 

 ftill more at a lofs to account for thefe appearances 

 when I found that they were molt frequent in 

 thofe who died of violent deaths 9 which made 

 M m m z me 



