Gangrene

(gang'green.) [From Gr. gang rani a, a gnaw-| ing.] (Med.) The lo of vitality in a part of the living body,whether external or internal, the part becoming often, in the first instance, more or le red, hot, and painful, then livid, and finally dark and discolored, black or olive-green, according to circumstances, and putrescent; after which a separation takes place gradually between the living and dead parts, and if the patient survive, the disorganized and lifele texture is thrown off, and the part heals by the formation of a cicatrix or scar, indicating the lo of substance. G. is an occasional consequence of inflammation, but is often also determined by more specific causes, such as typhus fever or erysipelas; sometimes, also, by the action of poisons on the system, and not un frequently by disease or obstruction of the arteries of a part. This last is especially the case in the form called senile gangrene. G. admits only to a slight extent of medical treatment. Gangue, (gang.) [Ger. gang, vein.] (Mining.) The mineral substances in which is contained the ore of a metal, or which are intermixed with it without chemical combination. [s. 395]