POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION.
The dead body exhibits appearances quite characteristic.
Emaciation is very marked and sometimes reaches an extraordinary degree, surpassing that of prolonged and wasting diseases.
In extreme cases the fat entirely disappears throughout the body; the omentum and mesentery are entirely devoid of it, as well as the subcutaneous and intermuscular cellular tissue. The muscles are atrophied and the heart is sometimes considerably reduced in size; the liver and kidneys in some cases show great reduction of volume. The spleen also is small and often softened.
The stomach and intestines usually display an extensive thinning of their walls, so much so that their contents may be distinguished through them; their calibre also is frequently found to be diminished, though occasionally they may be distended with gas. Usually they are empty, or contain only a small quantity of bile and fecal matter. In some cases various foreign substances which have been swallowed by the victims to appease hunger have been found in them.
The thinning of the walls, so constantly noted, has been considered as a specially characteristic symptom of starvation.[965]
The congestion, softening, and ulcerations which have been observed in some cases cannot be considered as evidences of starvation or as its results, but rather as being due to an enteritis induced by the ingestion of improper substances.
The gall bladder is usually found filled with dark and inspissated bile. In death by starvation the entire organs of the body exhibit no specific form of disease. Evidences of the existence of an organic affection observed in the post-mortem examination at once raise the question: