Proceedings of the Westminster Medical Society. Nos. 1-3 (session 1848-1849).

  • Westminster Medical Society (London, England)
Date:
[1848-1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proceedings of the Westminster Medical Society. Nos. 1-3 (session 1848-1849). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    12/76 (page 12)
    Dr. Ogiei- Ward related a case of sudden death, presenting some unusual post-mortem appearances. Mrs. II., aged fifty-three, stout, but not florid, and liable to convulsive fits, had an attack resembling Angina Pectoris, while walking home. She had had an attack in church three weeks previously. Being taken to a medical man, her face was noticed to be pale, the eyes staring, the neck distended, but the veins not prominent; she complained of pain passing from her heart to her back, and gasped for breath; clear froth flowed from her mouth; she stretched herself out and died, the mouth being drawn to one side. The medical man attempted to bleed her, but from both arms could only get a few tea-spoonfuls of thick black blood. On being laid out, her stays were found so tight that the lace could hardly be cut, but immediately this was done, the distortion of the face ceased, the left arm burst out bleeding, the blood was red and florid, and when, after great difficulty, the flow was stopped, the right arm began to bleed; previously to this a slight flush had been noticed on the cheeks, and the layer-out fancied that the woman's hand closed upon hers; the countenance also became quite placid, so that some doubts were held as to the real occurrence of death. The body was, however, placed in a coffin, where the same ap- pearances continued undiminished, and an inquest was held upon it the second day after death, florid red blood continuing to flow during both days. After the inquest the coffin lid was laid on, which caused the cheeks to become more coloured, and a perspira- tion to appear upon the cheeks and forehead. The right arm was now stiff and cold, but the body had previously remained warm, and the nose and lips never became stiff; frothy mucus continued to flow from her mouth, and blood to trickle from her arms. The coffin-lid was secured and the body buried three days after the inquest. While she lay in the surgery, the medical man listened to the heart's action, but heard no pulsations, nor were any felt by her friends subsequently. November 18, 1848. JOHN WEBSTER, M.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. Mr. Canton gave a detailed account of certain morbid appear- ances which he had met with in the examination of the bodies of three children, two of which had been overlain, and the third, intentionally, suffocated. Each case had been the object of judicial inquiry. The subjects were only a few months old. Exterior of the body: Features placid; lips congested; eyes not unduly prominent; conjunctiva; rather extra-vascular; hands clenched; no blotches of ecchyniosis to be anywhere detected.—