Case VI
Mrs. M‘Clench, a washer-woman, forty-eight years of age, of good constitution and regular habits, was attacked, in the summer of 1808, with palpitations of the heart and dyspnœa on going up stairs, severe head-ache, and discharges of blood from the anus. These symptoms did not excite much attention. In the winter of 1808-9, all of them increased, except the palpitations. The inferior extremities and abdomen became distended with water; the region of the liver painful; the skin quite yellow; the pulse was hard, regular, and vibrating; the countenance very florid. Violent cough followed, and blood was profusely discharged from the lungs. This discharge being suppressed, evacuations of blood from the anus ensued, under which she died, in March, 1809.
Dissection
The right cavity of the thorax was filled with water; the left contained none. The lungs were sound, but very dense, full of dark coloured blood, and, on the right side, pressed into the upper part of the thorax. The heart was one half larger than natural; its substance firm, and its anterior part, especially near the apex, covered with coagulated lymph. The right auricle and ventricle were large, and their parietes thin. The parietes of the left auricle and ventricle, particularly of the latter, were much thickened, and their cavities were filled with black coagulum.
The liver was contracted; its coat wrinkled, and marked with appearances of recent inflammation.