FIFTH REPORT— 1835. 
29A 
generally, seen in cases of poisoning by the swallowing of 
arsenic. 
The character of the secretion upon the surface of the mu¬ 
cous membrane will sometimes throw considerable light on the 
condition of the membrane before death. In the case of the 
dog which had received boiling water, we have seen that a large 
quantity of fluid was secreted, since the stomach was found 
distended with it, and a considerable quantity had also been 
rejected by repeated vomiting. Not only the quantity but the 
quality of the secretion was altered, for besides the clear and 
glairy fluid, there was also some opake and partially coagu¬ 
lated matter, which appeared to consist of lymph. The fact 
that none of this was found in the stomach after death shows 
that it did not attach itself to the lining membrane in the form 
of a false membrane;—the abundance of the fluid secretion, 
combined with the continued and forcible action of the contrac¬ 
tile fibrous coat, having probably been the cause which pre¬ 
vented its doing so. In other instances, when the irritating 
cause is very active and remains applied to particular spots, the 
secretion is rather lymph than mucus, and remains attached to 
the lining membrane, except under particular circumstances, 
which I shall have to notice in one of the cases 1 am about to 
relate. 
The presence of a small quantity of blood in the matter 
secreted is equally worthy of attention with the production of 
lymph instead of ordinary mucus. In whatever way the es¬ 
cape of this blood is brought about, it is an evidence of the 
violence of the injury which the mucous membrane has re¬ 
ceived. It would appear, however, that it takes place in two 
modes, which deserve particular attention. In the one case the 
vessels seem to give way under the immediate influence of the 
violence which they receive, as well as from considerable and 
sudden injection. The haemorrhage in this case resembles that 
which takes place from mechanical injury, or more closely that 
from the Schneiderian membrane which occasionally takes 
place under violent exertion. In the other case to which I 
allude, the escape of blood is the result of a more slow and 
gradual process. It appears to be brought about by the alter¬ 
ation of structure which takes place as the result of the inflam¬ 
mation which the irritating cause has created. The blood es¬ 
capes from numerous minute points at which the redness is most 
intense, the substance of the membrane having become soft and 
tender, though somewhat thickened. 
It is this softening of the texture, the result of inflammation, 
