A practical guide for making post-mortem examinations : and for the study of…
A practical guide for making post-mortem examinations : and for the study of… by A. R. Thomas is a medical manual written in the late 19th century. It provides step-by-step instruction for autopsies and the study of morbid anatomy, including medico-legal procedures, embalming, and specimen preservation. Aimed at practitioners and students, it stresses accurate, methodical examination of the head, chest, abdomen, and spine to support sound diagnosis and prognosis. The opening of
the manual states its purpose: to fill a practical gap by teaching physicians how to conduct post-mortems, what to look for, and how to recognize morbid changes. An introduction argues for the clinical and scientific importance of pathology and autopsy—both to refine diagnosis and prognosis and to serve medico-legal needs—followed by clear advice on instruments, room setup, hygiene precautions, timing, note-taking, and obtaining family consent. The preliminary chapter inventories a post-mortem kit and gives pragmatic guidance on protecting surroundings and oneself, then Part I begins with detailed operative procedures for opening the skull, examining the brain and base, removing the ear and eye for inspection, and exposing the spinal cord with minimal disfigurement. Early pathology sections survey skull injuries (including contre-coup fractures), bone disease, meningeal inflammation and effusions, and intracranial hemorrhage, supplemented by brief case vignettes of apoplexy and cerebral congestion. The text then sketches key brain diseases—cerebritis, softening, abscess, induration, hypertrophy, atrophy—common tumors and deposits, vascular obstruction and arterial degeneration, and parallel lesions of the spinal cord and its membranes. It closes this opening portion by initiating the neck and chest operation, describing en bloc removal and inspection of the tongue, larynx, trachea, and esophagus before turning to the thoracic cavity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
A practical guide for making post-mortem examinations : and for the study of morbid anatomy, with directions for embalming the dead, and for the preservation of specimens of morbid anatomy
Original Publication
New York: Boericke & Tafel, 1873.
Credits
Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
