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 dyspnoea 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.