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as related to organic alterations, from whidmental alienations proceed. It is knownthat the recent works have filled up, at leastin part, this great lacuna, and it is witi:satisfaction that we see the son of M. Pine:

among the number of those who have con-tributed to these important works.The purely descriptive part of the Traitf

*Nl6dico- L Phi losophiqtie on mental alienation,is worthy of all our praises; it bears thestrokes of a master of this art. But it is

principally in relation to therapeutics andhygiene that this work is recommended toour admiration. Honour, eternal gratitudeto him who broke the chains of the unfor-tunate ! who first taught us that the lossof reason ought not to close the bosom of

humanity from these unfortunate persons;who, in the spirit of charity, bestowed onthem the most anxious cares; and lastly,introduced mildness, reason, and philoso-phy, into the cells of the insane, wherehitherto nothing but terror and the demonof chastisement were known, these un-

happy wretches being looked upon morein the light of ferocious beasts than of men.

When all the improvements are con.

sidered, which M. Pinel introduced into thfcondition of the insane, one feels the highestveneration, and cannot help according tc

him a place amongst the benefactors of

suffering humanity. The examples and theinstruction have not had a mere local oi

temporary influence. His deeds of kindnessare spread over the world, and the constantobject of this philanthropist was to coii-

firm and extend them. This was fully exem-plified in his conduct of M. Esquirol.At the head of the most illustrious school

in the world, M. Pinel was in the midst ofhis glory; when, in 1816, the famousExamen des Sustemes appeared, a work full oftruth, and which would have been univer-sally admired, if its author had treated withmore mildness one whose name was reveredthroughout, and who had been M. Pinel’smaster. As it happened, the publication ofthe Examen took the sceptre of medicinefrom the hands of the septuagenarian Pinel.A few years afterwards, the dissolution ofthe school of medicine of Paris took place ;at the end of some months a new faculty wasorganised, and the name of Pinel was in vainsought for among the Professors who hadbeen retained : this illustrious name, sur-rounded by those of Chaussier, Desgenettes,Vauquelin, Dubois, &c., were to he found inthe category of honorary professors, M.

Pinel, educated in the trnest philosophicalprinciples, submitted without a murmur tothis crying injustice. This attempt to dis-grace him appeared to give a new lustre tohis reputation as a man and a philosopher.M. Pinel finished on the 26th of October,1826, at the age of 81, a career entirely de-

I voted to the culture of the sciences, and thepractice of virtue. His mortal remains, ac-companied by a numerous train of friends,eleves, and the poor of Salpétrière, of whomhe might be said to be, in some degree, thefather, were deposited in the cemetery ofPere La Chaise. Orations were pronouncedon his tomb by Geoffory St. Hilaire for the

Institut, by Pariset in the name of the

) Academy of Medicine, Rostan for the phy-sicians of Salpetriere, and Andouard, hiscompatriot, and one of his old disciples.Lastly, Cruveilhier seeing that no one was

present in the name of the Faculte de Aledi.cine, to deplore the loss which it had sus-tained, traversed the multitude, and spokewith warmth and feeling. At this markedconduct of the Faculte, it was remarkedthat they wished to degrade Pinel a secondtime.

ANATOMY.

Microscopic Researches on the intimate Strtect,rre1’the Organic Tissues of Ani.mals. By Dr,MILNE EDWARDS.*

IN every age it has been felt how much theprogress of physiology depended on our

knowledge of anatomy, and at a very earlyperiod the organisation was made the sub-ject of study, first in animals which bearthe strongest resemblance to man, thenin those beings which have the remotestconnexion with him. Swammerdam, Vicq-d’Azyr, and a great number of other investi-gators, have cultivated this branch of naturalscience with as much ardour as success; butit is only within a few years, that, en.

riched by the labours of Hunter, Cuvier,Geoffroy, and several other celebrated na-turalists, that comparative anatomy appearsto answer every thing that was expectedfrom it. The modifications which the most

important organs for the support of life pre-sent in the greater number of animals havebeen studied, and their absence in thosewhich nature has formed on a less compli-cated plan has also been proved; in fact,after having collected an immense numberof facts, an attempt has been made to bringthem under general laws or principles, con-necting them so together as to show therelation which exists between each other.But there is another point of view in whichit is important to consider the organisation.The study of the intimate structure of tl;etissues, is a wide field open to the observer,and appears to me as likely to lead to resultsequally useful to the progress of generalphysiology. If in order to understand the

* Read before the Philomatic Society,Aug. 19, 1826, and published in the Re-pertoire d ’Anatomie. Tom. III. No. 1.

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mechanism of locomotion, for instance, it !be necessary to understand the dispositionof ’the muscles which serve as movingipowers, and that of the bones or other hardparts which furnish them points of supportand play also the part of levers ; it is evidentthat.in order to acquire some exact data on nutrition, and a multitude of other phenomena Istill unknown in their nature, we must firstexamine the intimate texture of all the partsendowed with life, and do for each part ofthe organisation what has been done for thebeing in general.

This delicate part of anatomy has, how-ever, remained a long time behind the othernatural sciences, and since the first attemptsof Lewenhoeck, it has not been recalledto the recollection of physiologists but atlong intervals, and by observations too fewto excite all the interest of which it is

susceptible. Investigations of this naturepresent indeed great difficulties, and wouldbe impracticable if we could not, by meansof the microscope, make the objects of ourinvestigation a hundred times larger thanthey really are. But assisted by this instru-ment, which has been used with so muchadvantage in the study of the organisationof vegetables, the intimate structure of ani-mals ought not to escape our researches,and I am at a loss to know why discredithas been thrown on these kind of obser-vations, whilst the results which have beenobtained by analogous means in the othersciences have been admitted.

I think then that by studying the structureof the different parts, which by their reunionconstitute the different bodies of animals, Imay obtain interesting results, and that bymeans of the microscope, the observationswhich I have made will be sufficientlyprecise for getting at the truth.

In a former paper, published about threeyears ago,* I related the result which theexamination of most of the organic tissuesof vertebrated animals furnished me, resultswhich have been confirmed in the most es-sential points by my later observations.The cellular tissue is, of all the parts of theanimal economy, the most extensive andmost simple, and has been regarded byseveral anatomists as the generative elementof all the other tissues, and nevertheless isthat which has been the least studied. ;Fontana is the only one who, to my know- )ledge, has attempted to determined, by micro- i

scopic observations, the Hrrangement of’these elementary parts. His researches led Ihim to look on this tissue as formed by theassemblage of tortuous cylinders of extreme

* Memoire sur la Structure Elementaire :des Principaux Tissus Organiques des Ani-

.

maux. In 10. Paris, 1823. ,

delicacy : it is exactly the appearance whichthe cellular element presents, when ex-

i amined with a lens of about 200 magnifyingpower. But on using instruments still morepowerful, I found that these cylinders, thenature of which Fontana was unable to de-termine, are themselves formed of globularcorpuscles, disposed in irregular series,and whose diameter is about . of ti milli-meter. I will not refer here to the otherfacts, which the examination of the cellulartissue has afforded me ; it is only necessaryto say, that its intimate structure appears tome identical, and that its elementary glo-bules appear similar in form and diameterto those which float in pus, milk, &c., andto the nucleus of the globules of the blood.The accurate observer I have already

quoted, has also submitted to microscopicinvestigation serous and mucous membranes,and their texture did not appear to him todiffer from that of cellular texture. Anala-gous observations have afforded me the sameresults; for I have stated that the tortuouscylinders discovered by Fontana in thesemembranes, are formed of globules similarin appearance, size, and arrangement, tothose which constitute cellular tissue. The

corpuscules have appeared to me the samewhenever I have examined them, in man,in the dog, ox, rabbit,. cock, sparrow, frog,&c. On this account I have thought moreextensive observations unnecessary to con-firm the opinion which these investiga-tions had suggested ; and that I was entitled,from analogy, to conclude that in all the ver-tebrated animals at least, these differenttissues have a common texture, and that theglobules of which they are composed pre-sent uniformly the same physical character.The microscopic examination of the mem-

branes which line the interior of arteriesand veins, has furnished new proofs in sup-port of the opinion of those physiologistswho consider vessels as composed entirelyof cellular tissue, modified so as to formcanals instead of being divided into irre-

gular cells and lacun<e, as is generally thecase, and have found these tunics composedof globules about so, of a millimeter in dia-meter, and united into series of different

lengths, sometimes straight or slightly curv-ed, sometimes more or less tortuous therelative direction and situation of thesefibres varies in almost every instance ;finally, their essential character is to have noconstant relation between themselves.According to the investigations of Fon-

tana, the tendons appear to be composed oflittle bnndle;, which may be resolved intoextremely fine filaments, resembling eachother, and running parallel and forming ir-regular undulations ; but in this case alsothe use of more powerful and better con-structed optical instruments have enabled

266

me to advance farther than this able ob-server who preceded me. I have found thatthese elementary nbrillae are formed of glo-bules of about .$. of’ a millimeter in dia-meter. These globules are similar to thosewhich we have as yet found in the differenttissues, only the disposition which theyassume in their arrangement is not alto-gether the same ; they lie nearly parallel,and exhibit nearly regular undulations, andthe intimate texture of aponeuroses, fasciae,of dermis, and of the middle coat of arte-ries, have a great similarity to those of theother fibrous parts, and it is of consequenceto remark, that in exercising a strong trac-tion in one direction, on the lamina; ofcellular tissue, we sometimes succeed inproducing an appearance similar to thatwhich we have described. This result agreesperfectly with the facts already known ; forit is a frequent occurrence to see in manthe cellular tissue conducted so as to formmembranes, of which the albugineous aspectinduces us to regard them as true aponeu-roses, and this change takes place chieflyin those places where the pressure has beenstrongest and most continued ; we also seefriction change the cellular tissue into syno-vial burs&aelig;.The globular structure of the ultimate

fibres of muscle was recognised by RobertHooke and by Lewenhoeck, about the mid-dle of the seventeenth century, and thislast observer has said expressly, and inmany different letters, that these fibres areformed of extremely minute globules. Cow-per thought that the substance of the fleshyfibres is composed of separate and distinctcells. Muys has found . these slenderfibres sometimes cylindrical, sometimesknotted. Fontana has described them as so

many solid cylinders, equal to each other,and marked at equal distances by little,lines, like diaphragms or folds, causing aglobular appearance ; but he adds, that ashis observations did not extend any further,he could not decide as to their true nature.Swammerdam, Stuart, and Prochaska, onthe other hand, have seen them composedof little globules. The observations of theolder writers on the texture of muscles,differ but little among themselves as to themost essential points, and the details alreadygiven will communicate very just ideas inthis respect ; and the recent investigationsof Bauer and of Messrs. Pr&eacute;vost and Dumas,confirm the opinions of Hooke, Swammer-dam, &c., and leave no doubt as to the glo-bular form of the elements of the musculartissue. The curious observations of theselast-named physiologists are too generallyknown to be mentioned here in all their

details ; it will be sufficient to say that theyfound the elementary fibres of muscle iden-tical in form, disposition, and in the dia-

meter of their globules, in whatever animalthey are examined ; and, finally, that the

physical properties of these globules differin no respect from the muscles of the san.guineous globules, or from the globules of

pus, milk, &c. The results of my obser.vations agree perfectly with those stated

by these philosophers ; in truth, the nu.merous examples taken indiscriminatelyfrom not only among vertebrated animals,but also from the less elevated classes, haveinvariably presented the elementary muscu-lar tissue, such as it has been described. Ihave carefully measured the diameter of theglobules which, by their union into linear

* series, form the primitive muscular fibres,and I have always found them of about-.L-, of a millimeter in diameter, and of con.i sequence similar in this respect to thosewhich compose the cellular tissue, the mu-cous, serous textures, the tunics of vessels,tendons, aponeuroses and dermis, and tothose which we find suspended in pus,milk, and finally to the globules of blood,when they are deprived of their envelope ofcolouring matter.The substance of the brain has been

equally studied by the older observers, andhere still we are far from finding those dif-ferencesof opinion which are usually thoughtto exist, provided we attend to the principalfacts, and not to the speculative ideas whichthey have engrafted on them. Thus it is oflittle importance that Della Forre has snp-posed the globules, of which he has seen themedullary tissue composed, to be in motionin a clear and viscid fluid, or that these glo-bules are cells containing the nervous mat-ter, as the Wenzels have maintained. It is

sufficient to know, that the globular tex-ture of the brain had been recognized byLewenhoeck, Della Torre, Prochaska,Wenzel, Bauer. This structure I have

proved to exist in the four vertebrated or-ders ; and the globules, which are, we maysay, the organic elements of this part, donot exhibit in their physical characters

any difference from those of which we havespoken so often. The same remarks applyto the spinal marrow and the nerves.

After this recapitulation, we see that theglobular texture of the brain and muscleshas been known for a long time, and hasbeen proved to exist in the other organictissues of animals. It results, also, fromthe investigations which I have related, thatthe elementary globules of these different

parts do not differ sensibly from each other,either with respect to aspect or volume. Ihave always found them similar; and I aminclined to believe that the solid and orga-nised animal molecules, always aifect a con-stant and determined primitive form, thatof globules of about of millimeters indiameter.

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Since that epoch, many philosophers havepublished analogous researches regardingthe intimate texture of animals ; but avoid-ing the fault ibr which I have censuredthe older observers, I will compare theirobservations with mine, before relating mylater investigations. In a memoir on the aphenomena which accompany the contrac-tion of muscular fibre, read before the In-stitut, in August, 1823, MM. Prevost andDumot return to the intimate texture ofmuscles, and confirm the results which Ihave related above. It is the same with re- Ispect to the observations which these phy-siologists have made on the nervous fibres;on this point, as on the subject of the tis-sue of muscles, the investigations of thesephilosophers are entirely in accordance withwhat I have advanced from the result ofsimilar observations.M. Dutrochet, in a work rich in numerous

important physiological facts, has also treatedof the intimate textures of animals, and con-firmed the opinion which I have emitted,with regard to the globular structure of thetissues which enter into the composition ofthese beings. He has verified the accuracyof my observations, in having found, in allthe organs of animals, globular corpuscules,sometimes united into linear and longitudinalseries, sometimes agglomerated in a confusedmanner. It is under this last respect, hesays, that these globular corpuscules are

present in the secretory organs, as theliver, kidneys, salivary glands, and testicles.,The spleen and ovaries do not present a Idifferent tissue, and this fundamental simili- I,tude of the texture of all the parenchymatous,organs is such, that in the frog it is almostimpossible to distinguish one from another.When under the microscope, the tissues ofthe brain, the liver, the kidneys, or the

tpleen, we perceive nothing but globularbodies, agglomerated in a confused manner,and constituting by their assemblage thetissue of the organ.*From the passage which I have just

quoted, it will be seen that the observationsof M. Dutrochet completely coincide withmy own. He was equally struck with my-self by the great uniformity which is to befound in the intimate texture of the mostdifferent part of aaimals, and he recognisedthroughout the globular forms which may becalled the organic element of these tissues.The labours of this physiologist fully con-firm the only point which I wish to es-

tablish at this moment, that the elementaryglobules form in nerves, fibres united intobundles or cylinders, the interior of which ishollow.&mdash;(To Le concluded in our nt,,,tt.)

Recherches Anatomiques et Physiolo-giques sur la structure intime des Animauxet des Yegetaux, et sur leur Myotite, p.201.

WARDROP ON N&AElig;VUS MATERNUS.

JAMES WARDROP.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.SIR,&mdash;As the following case illustrates a

mode of treatment which I am not awarehas yet been successfully employed for thecare of n&oelig;vus, may I beg you will do me thefavour to insert it in THE LANCET, a Journalfrom which both science and humanity have,in my opinion, derived essential benent,! I am, Sir,! Your obedient servant,

Charles-street, St. James’s-square,May 26, 1827.

Case of’ N&oelig;vus on the Face successfully treated,by tying the Carotid Artery. By JAMESWARDROP, Esq. Surgeon to the King.

In a paper on the structure and treatmentof that species of tumour called ncevus mater-rzus, which was published some years ago inthe Transactions of the Medico-ChirurgicalSociety, I gave an account of a large tumourof that description on the face of a child,wherein I attempted to cure the disease, bytying the carotid artery ; and though, inthat instance, the operation was unsuccess-ful, still its effects were such as to impresson my mind the great probability of successin similar cases, if the operation were re-

sorted to under more favourable circum-stances ; I have now to narrate an exampleof a N&aelig;vus on the face, which has been suc-cessfully treated by tying the trunk of thatvessel.

-

Before, however, stating the particulars ofthis case, I may observe, that the structureof such swellings made it appear a plausiblemethod of treatment, and that such a modeof cure might have been calculated upon,

consistently with well-established patho-logical doctrines.

1 had demonstrated by dissections, in thepaper already alluded to, that the Subcuta-neous Naevus, properly so called, is a tumourcomposed of a congeries of cells, which areeither the continuations of, or have a directcommunication with veins, so that venousblood circulates through the cells, in likerounner as in the anastamosing aneurism de-scribed by the ingenious Mr. John Bell, thecells of which are filled with arterial blood.Now it having been unquestionably ascer-

tained that tying the arterial trunk, whichsupplies an anastamosing aneurism, cures

, that disease, it seemed to me rational to

conceive, that if the current of blood througha nsevus were arrested by tying the arterialtrunk supplying it, the blood contained inthe cells, or what may be considered as theparenchyma of the tumour, would be put at

rest, and undergo a process of coagulation,