Medical and Physiological Problems, being chiefly Researches for Correct Principles of Treatment in Disputed Points of Practice. By William Griffin, M. D., Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, and by Daniel Griffin, M. D., Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. London, 1845. 8vo. Pp. 58.

Glanders and Farcy in the Horse. By William Percival, M. R. C. S. Part 2d of Vol. III. of the author's Hippo-pathology. London, 1845. 8vo. Pp. 159.

A Treatise on the Diseases and Special Hygiene of Females. By Colombat de L'Isere. Translated from the French with Additions. By Charles D. Meigs, M. D. Philadelphia, 1845. 8vo. Pp. 718.

The Pharmaceutical Latin Grammar; being an Easy Introduction to Medical Latin, the London Pharmacopoeia, and the perusal of Physicians' Prescriptions. By Arnold James Cooley. London, 1845. 12mo. Pp. 132.

A Practical Treatise on Inflammation, Ulceration, and Induration of the Neck of the Uterus. By James Henry Bennet, M. D., Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, &c. London, 1845. Post 8vo. Pp. 212.

The Curative Influence of the Climate of Pau, and the Mineral Waters of the Pyrenees, on Disease, with Descriptive Notices of the Geology, &c. and Topography of the Pyrenees, &c. By Alexander Taylor, M. D., Edinburgh. London, 1845. 8vo. Pp. 342.

The Ocean Flower; a Poem, preceded by an Historical and Descriptive Account of the Island of Madeira. By T. M. Hughes. London, 1845. 12mo. Pp. 309

Dictionary of Practical Medicine. Part X. 8vo. By James Copeland, M. D. &c.

The Medico-Chirurgical Review, and Journal of Practical Medicine. Edited by James Johnson, M. D., &c. New Series, V. No. 85. June 1845.

The British and Foreign Medical Review and Quarterly Journal of Practical Medicine and Surgery. Edited by John Forbes, M. D., &c. No. XXXIX. June 1845.

The London Medical Gazette, Session 1844. London, 1845. New Series, No. 7, 14th June 1845. No. 20. 12th September 1845. The Northern Journal of Medicine, &c. Edited by William Seller, M. D., &c. Nos. XV. XVI. XVII. July, Aug. Sept. 1845.

The American Journal of the Medical Sciences. Edited by Isaac Hays, M. D., &c. No. XIX. New Series. July 1845. Philadelphia, London, Paris.

The Medical Examiner and Record of Medical Science. Edited by Robert M. Huston, M. D., &c., Philadelphia. New Series. No. VI. June, No. VII. July, No. VIII. August 1845.

The New York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences. Edited by Charles A. Lee, M. D. No. XIII. July 1845. New York. The American Journal of Insanity. Edited by the Officers of the New York State Lunatic Asylum, Utica. April 1845. No. IV. Vol. I., and No. I. Vol. II. July 1845. Utica.

Annual Report of the Managers of the State Lunatic Asylum, made to the Legislature, January 18, 1844. Albany, 1844. 8vo. Pp. 66.

Transactions of the New York State Medical Society. Vol. VI., Parti. Albany. 8vo. Pp. 78.

Fifty-Eighth Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, made to the Legislature, March 1, 1845. Albany, 1845. 8vo. Pp. 290.

Weekly Tables of Mortality for the Metropolis. No. XXIV. Saturday, 14th June, No. XXXVI., Saturday, 6th September 1845.

Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal Edited by Robert J. N. Streeten, M. D. No. XXV., Wednesday, 18th June 1845. No. XXXVIII. Wednesday, 17th September.

THE

EDINBURGH

MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL.

1. OCTOBER 1845.

PART I.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

ART. I.-Report of Cases, &c. brought before the Liverpool Pathological Society, Session 1844-45, which were illustrated by Pathological Specimens, Drawings, Casts, &c. With the Secretary's Address.

Address by the Secretary, THOMAS INMAN, M. D. London, Senior Honorary Surgeon to the Liverpool Fever Hospital and Work-house Infirmary.

Mr PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,-In accordance with the twelfth rule of our Society, I beg to lay before you the following summary.

We have great reason for congratulation in the number of interesting cases brought under our notice, in the amount of valuable information elicited by debate, as well as in the continued support given to the main objects of the society, by the regular and full attendance of its members.

In laying before you a succinct account of our proceedings, I shall be compelled to omit many points well worthy of insertion, as I am desirous of not trespassing on your time longer than is necessary to draw an outline of the subjects as they occurred.

At our first meeting this session, a case was detailed, in which three spiculæ of bone had been driven into the brain of a child eighteen months old, where they remained for four months, withVOL. LXIV. No. 165.

T

out producing any symptoms, and whence they were at length expelled, being driven forwards, as it were, by the growth of granulations behind them. Although the brain was exposed and covered with a superficial slough during a great part of this time, the bodily health of the child remained unimpaired, and the recovery was complete.

A case of splenitis, caused by malarious poison on the coast of Africa, has been detailed, the chief interest of which, independent of the pathological appearances, was the fact, that the patient had never suffered from fever of any kind. In this as in other instances where the spleen has been enlarged and its functions impaired, the skin had a remarkably sallow tint.

A coloured drawing, representing the appearance of medullary deposits in the lung, has been exhibited, taken from a patient who died with a large tumour (medullary sarcoma) on one shoulder, and complete metamorphosis of the opposite lung into the same

structure.

Two specimens of urine, coloured by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen, have been shown, taken from a woman who had been using large quantities of mercury without any effects upon the gums. One that had been tested while she was taking the mineral showed an intensely black deposit. The other tested ten days after was much less dense, and stood six hours before the effects of the reagent were perceptible.

At the same time a specimen was presented to the museum, of a most remarkable and curious form of internal strangulation, produced by the ileum encircling the sigmoid flexure of the colon in such a manner as to produce the first tie of a knot. This gave rise to a discussion upon the propriety of recommending an operation, where the evidence of internal strangulation was conclusive; the majority considering it as unjustifiable, more especially as in the case before us, such was the character of the obstruction that it could not be discovered on the dead subject till after minute examination.

A rectum and colon have been presented to our notice, from which proceeded a number of appendices, appearing externally like fibrous tumours, hanging by small pedicles, but which, on slitting up the gut, were found to be hernia of the mucous membrane through the muscular coat, each being filled with fecal matter. It was not known whether the patient had been subject to constipation.

A fatal case of hemorrhage from the intestinal mucous membrane has been detailed, affording conclusive evidence that an effusion of blood sufficient to destroy life may occur without any solution of continuity.

A rare preparation of hemorrhage into the Pons Varolii has been

presented to our museum, the value of which has been greatly enhanced by the full history of the case being given with it.

A case of partial softening of the Pons Varolii occurring in a robust young man who had previously suffered from painters' colic, has been detailed,-a great point of interest being the existence of lead in the cerebellum, in quantity sufficient to make a very evident deposit upon zinc wire.

An instance of inflammatory softening of the spinal chord, the result of external violence, has been recorded, which was remarkable for the rapidity of its progress and the circumscribed character of the disease-no marks of inflammation being perceptible in any of the meninges.

Two cases of tumours attached to nerves have been related, one occurring near the knee joint, where, after four years of aggravated suffering, a nervous filament was cut through, and a tumour the size of a small pea removed. The other was situated in the neck, in close connection with three nerves of the brachial plexus, and on being pressed between the fingers, or cut into, produced great pain, leading one to infer that it was absolutely composed of neurine.

We have, during the present session, been greatly favoured with the inspection of an uterus, taken from a woman who died of pneumonia at the eighth month of pregnancy, containing the foetus and its appendages entire, as well as with the examination of others after abortion at various periods.

A large polypus, of a fibrous character, has been shown, which had been expelled from the uterus by contractions produced by the ergot of rye,-the case being recorded at great length in the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal.

An instance of ovarian dropsy proving rapidly fatal, by bursting into the peritoneum, has been brought under our notice; and two ovaries containing large serous sacs, probably in the first stage of enlargement.

A large concretion composed of human hair, taken from the stomach of a lady of weak intellect, has been exhibited, the chief interest connected with which was the long time it had withstood the solvent power of the gastric juice-each individual hair being quite perfect; its form was singular, having been moulded by the action of the muscular coat.

A case strongly supporting the views of the modern humoralists has been detailed, where, from the supposed existence of the poison of rheumatic fever, the patient had arachnitis, endocarditis, and synovitis. Here, though different parts were affected in succession, we can scarcely say there was metastasis, since the disease did not abate in one part as it advanced in another.

Our associate chemist has, during the past session, favoured

us with the account of a new and useful test for arsenic (Reinsch's,) by which he was able readily to detect the presence of that mineral in the mamma, liver, spleen, stomach, &c. of a patient who died from its application to the skin of the breast in the form of a plaster for the cure of a supposed cancer.

The pleura and lung, a mass of diseased bronchial glands, and a scirrhous tumour of the uterus from a patient who died three years subsequently to the removal of a scirrhous mamma, have been added to our museum.

Two cases of granular degeneration of the kidney have been brought before us, one complicated with enormous cerebral hæmorrhage, the other with enlargement of the heart, and regurgitation through the tricuspid valve.

An ulcerated bladder in connection with both kidneys tubercularly diseased, and another affected with carcinoma reticulare, the disease spreading along the mucous membrane of the ureters to the kidneys, have been exhibited to the society.

Several cases of fracture of the skull, terminating fatally, have been brought under our observation, which were remarkable for the variety and obscurity of their symptoms, and the difficulty of explaining those present, when the extent of injury was discovered.

We have had to record a melancholy instance of sudden death from perforating ulcer of the stomach, where the patient, however, lived for three days; and another where death took place in thirty-eight hours from rupture of the intestine by external violence.

A coloured drawing of a sloughing ulcer of the umbilicus, occurring ten days after birth in a female child, and proving fatal in four days, has been exhibited.

We have had before us two specimens of aneurism of the aorta, one of which was attended by circumstances of unusual interest. An individual was likewise introduced to the society who for six months had presented a distinct thrilling at the upper part of the sternum, with loud grating aneurismal murmur. With the exception of a slight bronchial attack, which was easily subdued, his general health had been good, the only symptom being occasional shortness of breath on exertion.

Eight cases of disease of the heart have been recorded, occurring in different classes of people, and attended by various complications. The duration of the disease has varied from ten days to several years. The term of life the patients have attained has been from twelve to fifty years. In three out of the six cases where a history has been given, the deaths have been sudden and unexpected. In one case the disease was confined to the tricuspid valve; in another, enlargement of the right ventricle was ac