small quantity of semi-fluid carbon,
resembling thick blacking, with the superior divisions of the left
bronchus opening abruptly into it. Many large blood-vessels crossed from
one side of the cavity to the other, to which shreds of parenchymatous
substance were attached. The inferior lobe was fully saturated with the
thick black fluid, and it felt solid under the knife, and several small
cysts containing the carbon in a more fluid state were dispersed
throughout its substance, in which minute bronchial branches terminated,
and by which this fluid was conveyed to the upper lobe, and thence to
the trachea. In examining the right lung, the upper, and part of the
middle lobe were pervious to air, and carried on, though defectively,
the function of respiration, while the interlobular cellular tissue
contained the infiltrated carbon. The inferior portion of the middle and
almost the whole of the under lobe were densely impacted, so that on a
small portion being detached, it sank in water. Both lungs represented,
in fact, a mass of moist soot, and how almost any blood could be brought
under the influence of the oxygen, and the vital principle be so long
maintained in a state of such disorganization, is a question of
difficult solution.

In tracing the various divisions of the bronchi, particularly in the
inferior lobes, some of the considerable branches were found completely
plugged up with solid carbon; and in prosecuting the investigation still
farther, with the aid of a powerful magnifier, the smaller twigs, with
the more minute structure of cells, were ascertained to contain the same
substance, forming the most perfect _racemes_, some of them extending to
the surface of the lung, and to be felt through the pleura. The lining
membrane of the permeable bronchial ramifications, when washed and freed
from the black matter, exposed an irritated and softened mucous surface,
which was easily torn from the cartilaginous laminae. The interior of the
trachea and its divisions gave evidence of chronic inflammatory action
of long standing which extended from about midway between the thyroid
cartilage and bifurcation to the root of the lungs. A considerable
number of lymphatic glands, filled with--to all appearance--the carbon,
were situated along the sides, and particularly at the back part of the
trachea; which, from their size, must have interfered by pressure both
with respiration and expectoration. The mucous membrane of the left