[ 45 ! ] 
had partly diflolved the adjacent fide of the fpleen, 
and had diffolved the diaphragm quite through; fo 
that the contents of the ftomach were found in 
the cavity of the thorax , and had even affedted 
the lungs in a final! degree. 
There are very few dead bodies, in which the 
ftomach is not, at its great end, in home degree di- 
gefted ; and one who is acquainted with difleCti- 
ons, can eaiily trace the gradations from the fmalleft 
to the greateft. 
To be fenlible of this effedt, nothing more is 
neceffary, than to compare the inner furface of the 
great end of the ftomach, with any other part of 
the inner furface ; what is found, will appear foft, 
fpongy, 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, which made 
M m m % me 
