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Dr. ELAM asked how far this idea would correspond tothat commonly entertained with regard to fecundation.

Dr. PRIESTLEY said the facts in nowise militated againstthe ordinary ideas.

PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST, 1871.

MR. JOHN HILTON, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

THE CHAIRMAN wished to recite to the Society the par-ticulars of a case of Epithelioma, which resembled thosebrought forward at the previous meeting by Mr. Hulke, inthe fact that the growth had originated in an old cicatrixmany years after the cicatrix had been formed. The

patient was a gentleman who died a few years since, agedeighty-four. He was much troubled in his youth by abending forwards of his tibiae, which caused an uglydeformity of his legs, and prevented him from appearing toadvantage in the breeches and stockings which were thenin vogue. He sought the advice of Sir Astley Cooper andasked him to remove his deformity. Sir Astley advisedhim to call in the aid of a bone-rasper, and this advice,given half in joke, was implicitly followed by the patient,who got the protuberant portions of his shins rasped off,and was thereby enabled to wear the costume of the periodwithout attracting undue notice. This process of raspingleft, as may be imagined, very ugly cicatrices, and in oneof these there grew, after an interval of half a century, amass of epithelioma which hastened the patient’s death.

Dr. DICKINSON exhibited an Intracranial Aneurism ofthe middle cerebral artery. The patient was an old ladywho was in apparently excellent health, and one day aftereating her dinner (which she had enjoyed) her head droppedforward, and she died without the least sign of any pain orstruggle. The amount of blood extravasated was found atthe post-mortem to be inconsiderable, and not to have in-vaded the fourth ventricle. Dr. Dickinson considered thatthe cause of death was shock acting upon an enfeebled con-stitution. The heart was healthy, there were no vegeta-tions on the valves, and the coronary arteries, as well asthe arteries of the body generally, were free from disease.The arteries of the brain alone exhibited a marked amountof atheromatous degeneration. Dr. Dickinson observedthat death from rupture of a cerebral aneurism wasnot usually so sudden as in the case in question; but heobserved that it not uncommonly occurred immediatelyafter a meal. In answer to Dr. Hughlings Jackson, Dr.Dickinson said that his patient had not been subject toepileptic convulsions.

Dr. BAUMLER exhibited an Aneurism of the InnominateArtery. The aneurism had appeared as a pulsating tumourabove the clavicle, and had compressed the common carotidartery, the trachea, the sympathetic, the pneumogastric,and the recurrent laryngeal nerves. The patient, on ad-mission to the German Hospital, was aphonic, and on at-tempting to speak it was evident he could not close hisglottis. The laryngoscope showed paralysis of both vocalcords, which led to the diagnosis (which was not confirmed)that both recurrent laryngeal nerves would be found com-pressed. There was no hypertrophy of the left ventricle,though the apex of the heart pulsated during life in thesixth interspace, and an inch outside the nipple line.

Mr. BRUDENELL CARTER exhibited, by means of Burke’sdemonstrating ophthalmoscope, the Fundus of the Eye of apatient who was the subject of optic neuritis. The demon-stration was perfectly clear and evident, even to those mostinexperienced in the uses of the ophthalmoscope.

Dr. HUGHLINGS JACKSON considered that the appearanceof the optic disc indicated that a cerebral tumour was verypossibly present.Mr. HULKE considered that this method of diagnosing

the presence of a tumour on the brain might be most usefulto surgeons. It was often a very hazardous thing to inter-fere with tumours of the skull, because of the danger oftheir growing internally as well as externally, and hethought that the ophthalmoscope might possibly in manyinstances give the desired information.

Dr. HAWKES exhibited a Horse-shoe Kidney.Mr. HENRY ARNOTT exhibited the Bones after Excision

, of the Elbow-joint, which he had performed two years pre-viously. At the time of the operation the amount of disease

; was very great, and it was necessary to remove a very largeportion of the bones, especially the humerus. Notwith-standing this, bony tissue had been largely re-formed, andhad taken very much the shape of the original bones. Therewas scarcely any appreciable shortening of the limb, andthe amount of movement was very large. The patient haddied with cerebral symptoms, and in the brain (which wasalso exhibited) were three tumours of a scrofulous (or tuber-culous ?) nature, varying in size from a walnut to a hen’s-egg. Under the microscope these masses exhibited all the

i characters of lymphatic tissue. The patient was typicallyscrofulous, and Mr. Arnott thought that these tumours

: tended to show a link between the scrofulous and tuberculous, diatheses.

Mr. MAUNDER thought that the amount of new bone, thrown out in these cases was analogous to callus," and

was due to the movement of the cut ends of the bones beingI encouraged by the surgeon.

Mr. DE MORGAN did not agree with Mr. Maunder’stheory. Re had seen a case of Ricord’s, in which the whole

. of the lower end of the radius had been removed, the ulnabeing left untouched, and the ulna had so increased in size

. as to form a sort of socket for the reception of the carpus.He mentioned also another case, in which (after excision of

. the elbow) the growth of the humerus had been so excessive

.

as to necessitate a second operation for its removal.In reply to Mr. Haward, Mr. ARNOTT stated that no par-

ticular care had been taken to preserve the periosteum.Dr. DICKINSON exhibited the Larynx and Trachea of a

man upon whom laryngotomy had been performed in con-I

sequence of oedema glottidis. He died a fortnight after the.

operation, of acute pneumonia. Dr. Dickinson called par-l ticular attention to the fact that the mucous membrane ofthe air-passages below the artificial opening was intenselyi congested, while above the opening it presented a normal.

appearance. This he attributed to the fact of the patientinhaling air which had not passed through the nostrils, and. was consequently cold and dry. In thirty-six fatal cases of. tracheotomy after croup, an inflammatory condition of the; air-passages below the opening had been found in twenty-. five of them.j Mr. SQUTRim and Dr. WILKS both agreed with Dr. Dickin-

son that the admission of cold and dry air in these cases! was a serious matter, and demanded the greatest care for

its prevention.

Reviews and Notices of Books.A Practical Treatise on Fractures and Dislocations. By

FRANK HASTINGS HAMILTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Professorof the Practice of Surgery with Operations in BellevueHospital Medical College, Surgeon to Bellevue Hospital, &c.Fourth Edition. Revised and improved. Illustrated by322 Woodcuts. Philadelphia: H. C. Lea. London: Trubnerand Co. 1871.-A fourth edition of a book which first sawthe light only in 1860 cannot require much criticism at ourhands, for it is obvious that the work has assumed a positionof its own among the standard authorities of surgery. Thenew edition has evidently received much attention fromthe author, who has incorporated in it much of the valuablematter relating to dislocations of the head of the thigh-bone contained in Dr. Bigelow’s treatise on the subject.These views, though referred to in the last edition of Druitt’sVade Mecum, do not appear to have attracted the attentionthey deserve in this country. Many of Bigelow’s illustra-tions have also been introduced, and many other new onesadded to the work, We take the opportunity of callingthe attention of Mr. Lea, of Philadelphia, the publisher ofthe work, to the fact that no English publisher has everattempted to republish Hamilton’s treatise in this country,though the speculation would doubtless be a profitable one,and the reproduction facile, since a large proportion of thewoodcuts are from English sources. His agents, Messrs.

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Triibner, stamp their names on the title-page, in order thatEnglish purchasers may know where to procure the book,whereby the profits of both author and publisher are in-creased, whilst at the other end of the book appears acatalogue of Mr. H. C. Lea’s piracies from British authors,not one of whom is benefited by the transaction !

St. Andrews Medical Graduates’ Association Transactions, 1870.Edited by LEONARD W. SEDOwicx, M.D., Hon. Sec. London:

J. and A. Churchill. 1871.-The fourth volume of these

Transactions, although very unequal as regards the valueof the papers contained in it, is a good one. Dr. Richardsonleads off with his presidential address on the Future ofPhysic, which we noticed at the time of its being delivered.He is followed by a short paper by Dr. John Whitmore onthe Effects of recent Sanitary Legislation on the Health ofthe Metropolis, and on our present urgent sanitary needs,with the discussion that it provoked. Dr. George Balfour’sarticle on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Aortic Aneurismstrikes us as practically the most valuable article in thevolume. As our readers are probably aware, he speaks inhigh terms, and apparently deservedly so, of the utility ofiodide of potassium in this class of cases, and his accountof the best method of treating internal aneurisms, and ofhis experience with this drug, are decidedly worth reading.There is nothing particular to detain us in Dr. Drysdale’spaper on Syphilis. Of course he does not lose the oppor-tunity of stating his opposition to mercury. Dr. Richard

Norris, Professor of Physiology in Queen’s College, Bir-mingham, contributes an excellent and well-reasoned articleon the Extrusion of the Morphological Elements of theBlood, which contains plates illustrative of experiments fordemonstrating the passage of bodies through films or

membranes.

Food, Water, and Ai9·. Edited by ARTHUR HILL HASSALL,M.D. London : Wyman and Sons.-A few weeks since wegave a short notice of this publication, but it was of toobrief a character to convey anything like a just notion ofthe importance of the work, which is devoted to the con-sideration and elucidation of three subjects of such para-mount interest as those of food, water, and air. In theeditor of such a work, high and peculiar qualifications arerequired: he must be a chemist and microscopist, andpractically acquainted with the subjects treated of. In all

these respects Dr. Hassall is eminently qualified, the prin-cipal part of his life having, from a special fondness forthem, been devoted to these and other kindred sanitarysubjects. Further, the editor brings to the arduous taskhe has undertaken a thorough conscientiousness ; no

wrong or abuse will ever find in him a defender, his voice

having always hitherto been raised in favour of purity andgenuineness in such questions. Each of the short words

forming the title of the work has a wide significance, andembraces a great variety of subjects. Thus food has to bediscussed and considered in regard to its supply, its pro-perties, its preparation and manufacture, its quality, andits genuineness. Water has to be treated in its many formsand conditions, from the pure water of the spring to thebefouled water of sewage. While, lastly, the air has to bedescribed as affected by respiration, combustion, and decom-position, &c. So that a very extensive range of subjects isembraced, and there is no fear that interest in the workwill fail for want of variety. Were we to cite the titles ofthe several articles in the two numbers already published,abundant proof of thi statement would be afforded. Weregard, therefore, this publication as one of considerableimportance, and we believe that it will render valuableservice to the public.A Systematic Handbook of Volumetric Analysis j or, the

Quantitative Estimation of Chemical Substances by Measure,

applied to Liquids, Solids, and Gases. By FRANCIS SUTTON,F.C.S. Norwich. Second Edition. London: J. and A.Churchill. 1871.-The first edition of this book on

volumetric analysis was well adapted to supply a want inthis country; and its author has evidently spared no painsto render the second edition a thoroughly reliable, easy,and practical guide to the subject. The modern system ofatomic weights has been adopted in the present edition,which is considerably enlarged by the extension of thesections on analysis of gases; and besides the carefulrevision that it has undergone the volume is admirablyillustrated throughout, many of the illustrations being new.The application of volumetric analysis is extending everyyear-a result that is by no means surprising consideringthe large amount of time and labour that is saved by it incomparison with the other method. We are far from

believing, as we have more than once said, that there isany royal road to chemical analysis ; but we hold thatmedical men, pharmaceutical chemists, and others whohave been fairly grounded in the laws of chemical combina-tion and decomposition, will be able, with the aid of Mr.Sutton’s book, to do good and sound work in volumetricanalysis, if they only possess the qualities that are requisitefor any task of the kind. The section on the analysis ofurine appears to us to be very well done, and will be foundsuitable to the wants of the medical student. The authorhas been ably aided by Mr. W. Thorp, F.C.S., principalassistant chemist to the Royal Commission on the Pollu-tion of Rivers ; by Dr. Frankland ; and by Mr. HerbertMcLeod, F.C.S., Professor of Chemistry and ExperimentalScience at the Indian Civil Engineering College. We can

very warmly commend this handbook, for it is excellent inevery way.

Manual of Anthropology, or Science of Man, based onModern Research. By CxAR,LES BRAY, Author of H Philo-

sophy of Necessity," 11 Force and its Mental Correlates,"The Education of Feelings," &c. London: Longmans,Green, Reader, and Dyer. 1871.-This work covers a verywide field, and discusses those difficult problems whichhave never failed to stimulate the curiosity and puzzle theheads of subtle and philosophical thinkers of every age.That many of them are, by their nature, likely to remainunsolved we feel confident; but we have little doubt thatthe beginning of our task must consist, as Dr. HenryMaudsley says, in breaking down the barrier set up betweenpsychical and physical nature. We cannot do more thanbriefly notice this volume. The writer has, we think, sethimself a task beyond his powers. He has read more thanhe has digested, and his reading has, we take it, been of asomewhat discursive, desultory character; but he writes

smartly, and has unbounded confidence that the light ofmodern discovery will prove a true light.A Manual of Scientific Inquiry, prepared for the Use of

Officers in Her Majesty’s Navy and Travellers in General.

Originally edited by Sir JOHN F. W. HERSCHEL, Bart.

Fourth Edition, superintended by Rev. ROBERT MAIN, M.A.,F.R.S., &e. London: Murray. 1871. - We do not thinkthat this admirable manual is anything like so well knownas it deserves to be to army, navy, and colonial medicalofficers, and travellers generally. The first edition was

published in 1849; and the fourth during the presentyear. The work was originally made up of contributionsby the most eminent men of science in this country; andthe necessary revisions and additions have been undertakenfrom time to time by others of equal authority in their re-spective spheres. We remember how useful a copy of themanual proved to ourselves during a voyage and residenceabroad. The articles on Zoology, Botany, Geology, andSemeiology are full of information of the right kind; and

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those on Meteorology, by Sir J. F. W. Herschel; MedicalStatistics, by the late Dr. Bryson, revised by Dr. Aitken;and Ethnology, by the late Dr. Prichard, revised by Mr.E. B. Tylor,-are of special interest to medical men.

Granular Ophthalmia. By Assistant-Surgeon WELCH,F.R.C.S., 22nd Regiment. -A reprint from the Army Me-dical Reports upon a form of ophthalmia that is very pre-valent in armies, although not by any means exclusively ifconfined to soldiers, or even to human beings. It consistsin an affection of the small follicular structures present inthe tarsal conjunctiva, of the lower lid especially, manifestedin its initial stage by the appearance of numerous smallsago-grain or grey granulation bodies in that membrane.Military ophthalmia, as it has been somewhat incorrectlytermed, has received a great deal of attention from Con-tinental observers. Drs. Frank and Marston in this country,and still more recently Dr. Leith Adams and Mr. Welch,have all written papers on the subject at different times.We know of no better test of the hygienic condition of abody of men than the state of the palpebral conjunctiva.Overcrowding and defective ventilation, especially in hotclimates, are very powerful agencies in the development ofthose little morbid structures which ultimately lead to

chronic granular ophthalmia. The present, as well as aformer paper by Mr. Welch on the same subject, are wellworthy of attention.

Greenwich Hospital for a National Technical University. Aletter to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., from theExecutive Committee of the Proposed National Universityfor Technical and Industrial Training. London : Simpkin,Marshall, and Co. 1871.-This letter contains nothing thatrelates to matters medical, but we are glad to give to it apassing notice, because it indicates a worthy occupancy ofthe Royal Hospital at Greenwich. The book is worth

reading because it shows concisely what a vast amount ofmoney, originally intended for educational purposes, is, atthe present time, lying fallow, or is grossly misappropriated.The contents may be easily conned over in less than a coupleof hours, and the reader will discover that an enthusiasticadvocate of technical education may occasionally exhibit,by the style and manner of his own composition, a want ofthe sort of information that he is desirous of imparting toothers.

Value of Vaccination: being a Précis or Digest of Evidencetaken viva. voce (1871) before a Committee of the House of Com-mons on the Vaccination Act (1867). By T. BAKER, Esq., ofthe Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, &c. London: Shawand Sons.-The author of this pamphlet is well known as aprécis writer, and he deserves the hearty thanks of the pro-fession and the public for the way in which he shortenstheir labours. The ponderous Blue-book, as he remarks,finds its way, as a rule, to the butter-shop-unpurchased,unopened, and unread. For sixpence anyone may put him-self in possession of the facts and opinions elicited from thewitnesses, stripped of all verbiage and circumlocution.

The Clinical Thermometer: its lessons and teachings tenta-tively expressed in numbers. By Z. E. McELROY, M.D.,Zanesville, 0. New York : William Baldwin and Co.-Wehave read this little pamphlet-reprinted from the MedicalWorld of October last-with considerable interest. It iswell written, and deals with the subject from an originalpoint of view.

-

Du Drainage-dans les Plaies par Armes de Guerre. Parle Docteur F. C]ARISTOT, ex-Chirurgien en Chef de la 3eAmbulance Lyonnaise, &c. Paris: J. B. Baillière et Fils.London: Bailliere, Tindal, and Cox. 1871.-This brochure

gives good directions for using drainage tubes, and dividesthe cases in which this method of treatment may be

adopted into wounds of soft parts and injuries in whicht

bones or joints are involved. Numerous cases are given ofboth, but many of the latter died. The use of drainagetubes does not seem to be very suitable for gunshotfractures.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IN WORKHOUSES.

IT is quite necessary that the attention of Poor-lawmedical officers should be drawn to the increasing use ofwine, beer, and spirits in workhouses, and to the remark-able difference of opinion which seems to prevail as totheir necessity.From a return published not long ago we find that the

cost of alcoholic beverages in the workhouses of the me-

tropolis was nearly .630,000 per annum, of which .820,167was spent in beer, .63415 in wine, C3326 in brandy, and.63326 in gin. There were at the date of the report 21,000adult inmates in these workhouses, so that the cost of

alcoholic beverages amounted to no less than Xl 8s. perhead. A very brief examination will show the extraordinarydifferences which prevail. Thus, whilst the 825 inmatesof the Whitechapel workhouse cost only .8503, the 336 in-mates of Paddington cost .8678; and whilst the 968 inmatesof Shoreditch cost only .6738, the 768 in the City of Londoncost .81033. The Bethnal-green 1121 inmates cost .8880,whilst the 518 in Camberwell cost .6909. The medicalofficer in Bermondsey apparently orders neither brandy,gin, nor whisky, the bill for spirits being only .S208, whilstthe cost of brandy alone at Kennington was .6338 9s. Wehave no wish to curb the discretionary power of medicalofficers, but it is most desirable that some better under-

, standing should be come to on the subject. It might be aswell to remember that the medical officers of many work-

, houses in Ireland do not recommend stimulants at all, andeven in Edinburgh the annual consumption is not more than

- 5d. per head. In Glasgow milk is found to answer the,

purpose of a restorative better than alcoholic drinks, and; the consumption of the latter has been reduced to 9d. perhead per annum.The West Derby guardians have recently drawn attention

’ to the great anomalies which prevail, and the Liverpoolpapers remark with truth that the medical profession actsupon no fixed principle, some practitioners being in the

, habit of saturating their patients with intoxicants, and,

others giving none at all.,

The mode of remunerating pauper helpers by means ofextra beer is also open to very great objection. Week after

i week the workhouse medical officer is called upon to signbeer lists for washerwomen, scrubbers, cooks, and helpers.This is generally done at the dictation of the master, and

- certainly without any definite knowledge of what he isabout. The whole system is a sort of education in beer-

, drinking, calculated to make the workhouse very attractive,for we do not believe that such luxuries are within the reach

: of the independent aged poor outside.The Local Government Board might direct their attention

to the evil with great advantage and satisfaction to thepublic, and the Poor-law Medical Officers’ Association mightrender great service by bringing about a better under-standing as to how far the use of alcoholic beverages itsreally necessary.

Foreign Cleanings. SYPHILITIC AMBLYOPIA AND AMAUROSIS.

M. GALEZOWSKI has published in the Arch. Gin. de 3fe.of Paris (first three months of 1871) an essay on this

subject, the deductions of which are as follows :-1. Syphiliticretinitis and neuritis may exist without any alteration ofthe choroid, and are mostly constituted by an apoplectic

! retinitis with exudation. 2. Syphilitic retinitis presents no: pathognomonic symptoms by which it may be distinguished

I from other kinds of retinitis. 3. But when retinitis or, optic neuritis is accompanied by iritis or choroiditis, with