After a greater lapse of time we find the peritoneum perforated, and the contents of the stomach in its cavity ; by and by the tissues in the immediate neighbourhood of the stomach begin to suffer, and we see the ab dominal musclts, and the cuticle covering them, eaten through by the gastric juice.
In fish, softening and perforation occur so rapidly, that, unless perfectly fresh specimens be used, no microscopic structure can be dis tinguished in the stomachal mucous mem brane. I have noticed the same thing to occur in caterpillars : their stomachs, which contain both globular and columnar cells, after a time become softened and are per forated, so, subsequently, is the external cuticle ; nature seems to have taken this ori ginal method of doing away with useless organisms.
In ulceration of the stomach the affected part is generally circular, and if it reaches the peritoneum excites inflammation in the re flexion contiguous to it ; by this means per foration is rarely accomplished. Now, in post mortem perforations the softened part, said by some to be the seat of ulceration, is diffuse and the perforation large and irregular, and no part of the neighbouring peritoneum presents the slightest trace of recent inflam mation ; shreds of muscular tissue and cellular membrane moreover, form an irregular fringe around the opening, and, by their presence, detract greatly from the theory which calls such phenomena pathological and not pseudo morbid.
Generally speaking, the fundus is most fre quently the part of the stomach most affected by the gastric juice ; but every thing depends upon its being the most depending.part, and 'upon its containing more or less semi-digested food.
The solvent matter is secreted by the tubes of the stomach, and consists of pepsin in com bination with lactic acid and water : it pos sesses the power of disintegrating all dead structures/ but cannot influence the living tissues. It is not secreted when the stomach is empty, a stimulus to the mucous coat, in the form or some matter foreign to the stomach, is necessary for its production ; it is probably the case, that an ulcer of the mucous membrane may act as a stimulus, and that a certain quantity of juice may always be present in the stomach ; and that when, by the de pressinn- effect of this lesion, the general nutri tion suffers and the tissues are less able to resist decomposition, the gastric juice may act locally on the surface of the ulcer, and produce perforation before any peritoneal adhesion is formed. Perforation of the coats of the
stomach sometimes occurs suddenly after a meal ; it is produced generally by the giving way of some small ulcer, the progress of which had been enhanced by the presence of a large quantity of corroding liquid.
Post mortem softening may modify and ex aggerate softening from other causes, and differs in its own appearances under various circumstances. The colour which the soft ened membrane presents appears to depend upon the quantity of blood contained in the organ at the time of death ; if the quantity be small and natural, the softened parts are of a -dull yellow or orange tint ; and this colour increases with the quantity of the blood, and is accompanied by a black colour of the vessels. ln infants and }ming children, and in anwrnic patients and persons whose blood is deficient in quantity and altered in quality, containing a great disproportion of serum, the whole stomach appears as if macerated ; it is, in deed, sometimes infiltrated with serosity, and is so completely deprived of blood that no trace of this fluid is perceived except in some of the larger veins.
Post mortem softening and perforation of the intestines may occur from the presence of an acid fluid, either within them or without, and derived from the stomach ; in the one case, softening is from within outwards, and, in the other, from without inwards.
Srftening of the skin: the skin may be sof tened wholly, or one or more of its layers only. In some skin diseases, especially among scrofu lous subjects, there is an alteration of the cohesion of the epidermis, which is properly formed by layers of cells, the row nearest the basement being smallest and more liquid than the others, the more distant being dry and united laterally, so as to form a dense integu ment. Certain defects in the quantity and quality of the fluid contained in the newest made cells prevent them from progressing, normally, in their development ; they do not become dry, neither is any disposition evinced by the basement to secrete other cells ; under these circumstances the epidermis is soft, and the basement tender and red, the tissue be neath being visible.