190 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. X.
post-mortem examination was conducted immediately it had occurred. The
results of this were as follows, in so far as mere casual naked-eye inspection goes;
for I have already pointed out the detailed histological examination of the con-
dition of the various organs and tissues is a matter not of a few hours, but of
many weeks' work; so that it has been impossible for me to carry it out and at
the same time to meet the wish of the Commission for the immediate submission
of a report. Specimens of all the more important organs have, however, been
carefully preserved, and will form the subjects of detailed histological examination
hereafter.
"Results of post-mortem examination of the animal.—The body weighed
13 lbs. 7 oz., indicating a loss in weight of 2 lbs. 9 oz. during the eight months of
treatment. This, or at all events the whole of this, loss is certainly not fairly
creditable to the treatment, seeing that for a considerable period not long before
the close of the experiment the animal had been subject to an attack of dysentery,
which alone would have been sufficient to occasion considerable loss of weight.
"On laying the body open, the phenomenon which at once attracted atten-
tion, as unlike any ordinarily present in those of caged monkeys, was the great
amount of fat accumulated in the omentum, the mesentery, and the visceral and
parietal pericardium. This was specially noteworthy in connection with the
markedly diminished ingestion of food which had characterised the subject of the
experiment during the greater part of its course, and with the coincident consider-
able reduction in body weight which had occurred. The body generally appeared
to be fairly well nourished, and a considerable amount of subcutaneous fat was
present.
"The lungs were quite exceptionally healthy for a caged monkey, neither
of them being in the least degree adherent to the thoracic walls; the left one
being apparently perfectly healthy, and the right merely showing a few patches
of deep congestion towards the base. Under the influence of the osmic acid con-
tained in the fixing solution in which specimens of it were immersed, the muscu-
lar tissue of the heart shewed unequivocal signs of the presence of a certain
amount of interstitial fat. Whether, however, these were due to true fatty de-
generation of the muscular elements proper, or, as is more probably the case, to
mere fatty accumulation in the connective tissues, must remain an open question
until the detailed histological examination of the tissues has been carried out.
"The liver, spleen, and pancreas appeared to be perfectly normal, save that,
as in the case of the cardiac muscle, a slight excess of interstitial fat made its
appearance under the influence of osmic acid. The kidneys, the stomach, the
large and small intestines, and the cerebro-spinal nervous centres were all
apparently perfectly healthy.
"The only peculiar features in the body then which could in any way be
rationally regarded as connected with the treatment to which the animal had
been exposed were the excessive accumulation of fat in the tissue of the omentum,
peritoneum, and pericardium, and the tendency to the establishment of a similar
accumulation in the cardiac muscle, the liver, the pancreas, and the spleen.
"But the only persistent symptom attending the treatment during life was
a considerable diminution in appetite for food, so that, in so far as the results of