Liverpool veterinary medical association. 573 
there being only one small portion of the omentum where any 
could be said to exist, and this was of a dirty yellow colour and 
very brittle, being more like bees' wax. 
The rumen contained a large quantity of food, which was moist, 
having the consistency of wet provender. The epithelial covering 
of the mucous coat peeled with ease, completely and perfectly, in 
fact, it adhered with greater firmness to the food than the tissue; 
but in neither the tissue of the rumen nor its mucous coat was 
there any appearance of disorganization or of inflammation. It was, 
perhaps, a little whiter than normal. The second and third stomachs 
showed nothing particular, except the fulness of the blood-vessels. 
The abomasum contained about a pound of semifluid matter. 
The mucous membrane was thickened and softened, and in 
places where the superphosphate was found adhering, there were 
patches in which it was removed, and in one spot the coats were 
so thin that the organ was almost perforated; there were other 
places where the lining membrane was absent, although I could see 
no superphosphate. 
The bladder and intestines were quite empty of solids or fluids. 
A remarkable feature in the case was the peculiar condition of 
the blood; this was coagulated, and appeared as if the poison 
had a specific action on the fibrine. When the blood was removed 
from the body and put into a glass, on standing a short time a 
slimy deposit was found, which, on agitation, was diffused through 
the mass and again deposited. 
The blood had an offensive odour, as though decomposition 
had set in. It was alkaline to test-paper, and contained an 
appreciable quantity of lime, and a very large excess of phos¬ 
phoric acid. Examined under the microscope, I found that the 
red corpuscles had nearly disappeared. The white corpuscles 
were very transparent, and there was a large quantity of small 
masses of fibrous-looking material. 
The most remarkable feature was the presence of crystals of 
phosphate of ammonia and magnesia in the blood. 
When fibrine is decomposed it yields carbonic acid, water and 
ammonia, which was evidently the case in this instance. 
It is a rare thing to find ammonia in blood; but here we must 
have had a large amount, because phosphate of ammonia and 
magnesia are only formed when a quantity of ammonia is present, 
and it is not surprising that where we find the fibrine so much 
acted upon that the corpuscles should also have been broken up, 
the enclosing membrane of which is apparently composed of 
coagulated fibrine, or albumen, or some similar body. 
Dr. Taylor says there are few physiologists who doubt that all 
absorbed poisons act through the blood, and that they alter its 
physical or its chemical character, sometimes manifested by 
