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On the Effects of Acrid Poisons, By Thomas Hodgkin, M.D. 
The British Association for the Promotion of Science having 
requested Dr. Roupell and myself to prepare a description, ac¬ 
companied with delineations, of the effects of acrid poisons, 
we have both of us been desirous of complying with the wishes 
of the Society, but circumstances have retarded the production 
of our Report. Our researches have for mutual convenience 
been conducted separately, but the results have been submitted 
to and approved by each of us. Apart of the Report now printed 
was presented to the Medical Section at the meeting in Edin¬ 
burgh i the remainder was communicated to the Session in 
Dublin. 
The object which the Association had more particularly in 
view in calling for this report was, I conceive, to facilitate the re¬ 
cognition of the effects of acrid poisons, with a view to aid in 
judicial inquiries of a very serious nature, and also to obtain a 
contribution to our knowledge of pathological anatomy, on a 
point which, though it has engaged the special attention of several 
able and acute observers, still demands further elucidation, viz. 
the pathological appearances of the mucous membrane of the 
alimentary canal. As a preparation for an exact knowledge of 
the appearances which may be produced in the mucous mem¬ 
brane of this canal by acrid poisons and other irritants, a cor¬ 
rect knowledge of this membrane in its healthy state is essential ; 
but here, on the very threshold of our injury we are met with a 
serious difficulty common to it, and every attempt to elucidate 
the morbid anatomy of the alimentary canal, the want of this accu¬ 
rate and definite knowledge of the different parts of the canal and of 
the different appearances which may be presented by each part with¬ 
in the limits compatible with health. If any proof of this assertion 
were wanting it might be found in the various statements made by 
anatomists respecting the colour of the mucous membrane in its 
healthy state. The youthful but able pathologist Billard, whose 
premature death has deprived our profession of one of its most pro¬ 
mising cultivators, devoted great pains to the elucidation of this 
subject, and has pointed out the differences which arise when 
digestion is actually going forward and when it is not. Other 
differences doubtless proceed from circumstances connected with 
the mode of death, even when it has influenced the stomach 
merely indirectly. A wide range of appearances depends on this 
single cause. The blood may leave the vessels of the stomach, 
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