The body was not opened till the fifth day after his death. It was then sound, except that a degree of mortification, not very considerable, had taken place on a part of the colon; which, with the whole of the omentum, of a very enlarged size, had descended into the scrotum, forming a bag that hung down nearly as low as the knee. Since that part had been inflamed and ulcerated, Mr. Gibbon could not bear a truss; and when the last six quarts of fluid were discharged, the colon and omentum descending lower, they, by their weight, drew the lower mouth of the stomach downwards to the os pubis, and this probably was the immediate cause of his death.
The following is the account of the appearance of the body, given by an eminent surgeon who opened it:
Aperto tumore, qui ab inguine usque ad genu se extenderat, observatum est partem eius inferiorem constare ex tunica vaginali testis continenti duas quasi libras liquoris serosi tincti sanguine. Ea autem fuit sacci illius amplitudo ut portioni liquoris longe maiori capiendae sufficeret. In posteriori parte huius sacci testis situs fuit. Hunc omnino sanum invenimus.
Partem tumoris superiorem occupaverant integrum fere omentum et maior pars intestini coli. Hae partes, sacco sibi proprio inclusae, sibi invicem et sacco suo adeo arcte adhaeserunt ut coivisse viderentur in massam unam solidam et irregularem; cuius a tergo chorda spermatica sedem suam obtinuerat.
In omento et in intestino colo haud dubia recentis inflammationis signa vidimus, necnon maculas nonnullas lividi coloris hinc inde sparsas.
Aperto abdomine, ventriculum invenimus a naturali suo situ detractum usque ad annulum musculi obliqui externi. Pylorum retrorsum et quasi sursum a duodeno retractum. In hepate ingentem numerum parvorum tuberculorum. Vesicam felleam bile admodum diatentam. In caeteris visceribus, examini anatomico subjectis, nulla morbi vestigia extiterunt.