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herewith submitted, would be more sold did not personsthrough prejudice, as we often find, reject it, and preferthe compound of paint and powder called essence of anchovies.

We remain, Sir, your obedient servants,FREEMAN & Co.

Wigmore-street, Cavendish-square, Nov. 1852.

*.* In the course of our investigations, we have frequentlyhad occasion to refer to the Messrs. Freeman. In the last

Report, on " Potted Meats and Fish," we published the resultsof the analyses of three articles obtained at their establish-ment, and each of which was ascertained to be highlycoloured with the ferruginous oxide, bole Armenian. It was

simply stated in each case that the samples were purchased ofthe Messrs. Freeman, and not that they werethe manufacturersof them. On a close examination of the pots, we find at thebottom of two of them, in very small characters, the namesof Messrs. " Crosse and Blackwell"-evidently intended as aprivate mark. We are well aware, as shown by the Report tcontained in THE LANCET of this week, that a pigment isgenerally employed in the colouring of the sauce called" Essence of Anchovy," but what is the nature of the " powder"used Will Messrs. Freeman be good enough to furnish uswith this information ?

Medical Societies.

ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.

TUESDAY, Nov. 23, 1852.—MR. HODGSON, PRESIDENT.

ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF TORULÆ, IN THE URINE, AND ONTHE RELATION OF THESE FUNGI TO ALBUMINOUS ANDSACCHARINE URINE. By Dr. A. HASSALL.THE author divided the subject into two parts ; the first com-

prising the development of certain fungi in urine containingalbumen, and the second embracing the growth of torulse insaccharine urine. Having quoted from the writings of Drs.Griffith, Owen Rees, and Golding Bird, the several descriptionsgiven by them of torulæ in urine, and which represented theopinions entertained up to this time, he proceeded to quote the Iopinions of Dr. Bence Jones as to the value of the presence oftorulse, who thought that they were by no means diagnostic ofsaccharine urine ; and the author held that a considerable dis-crepancy of opinion existed as to the value of the torulse test asindicative of the presence of sugar in the urine. He then de-scribed the results of his own observations on the development ofthese organic forms in the urine. At different periods a numberof samples of non-saccharine urine were set aside, some acid,some alkaline, and others albuminous. The changes that ensuedwere observed and registered from day to day. In a large pro-portion of the samples, fungi were quickly developed, presentingvery distinct and characteristic conditions of development, all ofwhich were after a time ascertained to belong to one and thesame species. The author described three distinct stages in thegrowth of this plant, and he enumerated these separately, underthe heads of sporules, thallus, and fructification. Of the sporules,two kinds were noticed; the first appeared in a very short space,(regulated much by temperature,) as innumerable minute vesiclesor cells, of a globular form, with bright centres and dark outlines;with a higher magnifying power, the shaded outline disappeared:the cavities of all were occupied by a fluid containing granules.In a short time the sporules multiplied rapidly, forming distinctcircular patches, and ultimately a scum, on the surface of theurine. The elongation of the sporules was not constant, for thedevelopment sometimes ceased with the formation of the globularsporules. When the condition of the urine favoured the growthof the fungus, the sporules then quickly elongated themselves,resembling short threads, having rounded extremities; a furtherelongation took place, and filaments are formed, which consistedof cells placed end to end, and enclosed in a common transparentmembrane. From this condition, which is attained by the secondday, the fungus passes into the higher state of the thallus. Thesecond kind of sporule, the author designated vesicles ; they weremuch larger than the ordinary sporule, they were globular, andfrom each proceeded one, two, or three buds, or shoots, which gra-dually became filaments, at first simple, but ultimately branched,forming, as the sporules did, the thallus. In some urines the growthof the fungus went no further than to producesporules or vesicles;

at this point all further development ceased; in others, the growthprogressed to the thallus ; and in others again, to the completestage of aerial fructification. The author minutely described thesestages, and which were rendered interesting and intelligible by anumber of beautifully-executed microscopic drawings of the fungusin its several stages of development. This fungus was developed intwenty-four out of thirty-two samples of urine; in thirteen, thedevelopment did not proceed beyond the stage of sporules; in two,it was arrested in the state of thallus; in the remaining nine itreached the perfect condition of aerial fructification. One of theconditions most favourable to its growth, was a state of acidity ofthe urine; it was not developed in neutral or alkaline urine, but itappeared alike in albuminous and non-albuminous urine, providedthe fluid was acid; and this seemed to be a condition essentialto its production. The author then entered upon the inquiry-whether this fungus was a new species, or was it identical withone already known and described? He came to the conclusionthat it was identical with the well-known Penicilium glaucum,a common fungus, and constantly produced in decaying animaland vegetable matter. The author’s conclusions with respect tothe development of Penicilium glaucum were, that this funguswas frequently developed in urine; that the conditions neces-

sary for its growth were, animal matter, especially but not

exclusively albumen, an acid solution, and oxygen; that it maybe developed at will in a variety of animal substances, as insolution of white of egg, acidified with acetic acid; that althoughthe plant does not make its appearance in neutral or alkalineurine, no matter how much albumen be present, yet that it willquickly become developed in these by acidifying such neutral or _

alkaline solution by acetic, phosphoric, or other acids; that itspresence may, to a certain degree, be accepted as an indication ofacidity of the urine; thatthisfungus isno indication whatever of thepresence of sugar, nor even of albumen; as a normal quantity ofepithelium appears sufficient to induce its growth. -Thesecond part of the paper consisted of an investigation into thedevelopment and growth of torulse in saccharine urine. Allusionwas made to the difference of opinion that prevailed as to thevalue of the torulae test for sugar in the urine, and the authorwas desirous of ascertaining whether the torulæ contained indiabetic urine were not characterized by such peculiarites aswould constitute a satisfactory test for sugar. Samples of dia ’-betic urine were placed in distinct vessels, some of which werewere freely exposed to the air, others in bottles lightly corked,and a third class inclosed in closely-stoppered vessels. A minutedescription of the changes observed was then recorded ; theprincipal of these were turbidity of the clear urine in two orthree hours after being voided, passing into a milky appearance;in twenty-four hours cloudy, gelatinous-looking masses appeared,suspended just below the surface; entangled in these masseswere bubbles of gas, afterwards proved to be carbonic acid, andseparating from time to time, and escaping into the air. By thefifth day the gelatinous masses had disappeared, some havingsubsided to the bottom, while others had merged into a fawn-coloured stratum,’ floating on the surface, and having the con-

sistence and appearance of beer yeast. This stratum increasedin consistence, and formed a coherent layer, presenting onits surface a woolly and filamentous appearance; and, lastly,a crop of delicate, transparent threads became developed on thesurface, bearing on their summits minute spherical heads of ablack colour. These successive changes were visible to the un-assisted eye: but the microscope became necessary to determinewhat the peculiarities might be, appertaining to these severalstages of change. The cloud-like masses were then found to con-sist of the minute sporules of a fungus embedded in a mucoidbase, and these masses constituted the first stage of the develop-ment of the fungus. The author then carefully traced the

growth of this fungus, from its sporule stage to that of thallusand perfect aerial fructification. (This part of the paper wasalso illustrated by numerous very carefully executed drawings ofthe fungus in all its stages of development.) The conclusionderived from this examination of the mode of growth and de-velopment of the fungus of saccharine urine was, that it was avery different species from that treated of as the Peniciliumglaucum; and further, that a comparison of the diabetic funguswith the yeast plant, showed that the two were identical.The author noticed also the fact that in several samples ofurine containing a small quantity of sugar, he had detectedmuch phosphate of lime in a crystallized state. From these

investigations the author was led to the following con-

clusions :-That in saccharine urine, a distinct species offungus was developed, which was identical with the yeast plant;that it passed through three distinct phases of growth, each ofwhich is characteristic of the species: that as it was developedin urine in which the presence of sugar could not be detected

532

by chemical re-agents, it thus became an important means ofdiagnosing diabetes in its earliest stage. The conditions necessaryfor its development were, free exposure to the nir, an acid liquid,nitrogenous matter, grape sugar or glucose, and a moderate tem-perature. By exclusion of air the fungus was not developed,and a limited exposure insured an incomplete growth. Sugarmight even be present in some cases, and yet, from defective

acidity, the fungus would not be fully developed; and in suchcases the growth of the fungus might be insured by the additionof phosphoric, or even of a solution containing carbonic acid.The presence of this fungus indicated the vinous fermentation,and this transformation of the sugar into alcohol was limited tothe period of the sporule stage: the thallus and aerial fructificationexercised little or no influence in promoting this change. In thosecases in which the fungus was only partially developed in conse-quence of imperfect access of air, the sugar was converted chieflyinto acetic, and a portion sometimes into oxalic acid: and thatwhen the fungus was not developed from exclusion of air, the sugarwas converted into lactic, acetic, and butyric acids, and also pro-bably aldehyde. The Penicilinm glaucum was not unfrequpntlyassociated with the sugar fungus, as the conditions requisitefor its development are generally present in saccharine urine;and lastly, that in very many of the specimens of urine ina case of incipient diabetes, large quanties of crystallized phos-phate of lime were detected.

The PRESIDENT, after paying a high compliment to the authorof the paper, inquired whether the same formations as thosedescribed by him had been found in other fluids ; but more

particularly if they had been detected in the secretions of thestomach? He had been informed that they had been found inthese secretions.

Dr. DicKSON did not rise to answer the question just pro-pounded by the President, but to express his admiration of theauthor for the great pains and labour he had bestowed upon thesubject of his inquiry. He (Dr. Dickson) was anxious to bearhis testimony on one point which had been discussed in thepaper-viz. the necessity of an acid condition of the urine todevelop one of the kinds of fungi described. It was well knownthat before vinous fermentation could take place, it was necessarythat the fluid should be acid, and that the fermentative processcould be interfered with or arrested by the addition of a salt suchas carbonate of soda to the fluid. The development of the firstbody described in the urine examined was a satisfactory proofthat the urine had been acid, as the fungus would not arise unlessthe urine was in this condition. He regarded the paper as amost valuable and instructive one.The PRESIDENT having repeated his question,Dr. BASHAM remarked that the investigations of the author

were particularly interesting in relation to the subject of sporulesin the urine, which a year or two since had attracted unusualattention. The author, in his paper, had referred to a communi-cation made by him (Dr. Basham) to the Medical Gazette, in1849, when the subject of cholera sporules excited so muchnotice. While examining the urine of a dyspeptic patient, inwhich oxalate of lime was present, sporules of a form not unlikethose of the early stage of Penicili2cm glaucum were detected.Similar forms were seen in the fluids of cholera patients exa-mined at the same time. The author was of opinion, from thedescription in the jKe(ZM6 ’Gazette, that those in the urine werethe sporules of the sugar fungus. But similar sporular bodieshad been noticed and figured by Henle as appearing in the urineof fever patients. Dr. Basham thought that these organic formswere present more or less in all animal fluids, more quickly de-veloped in some seasons than in others, and belonging to thespecies Penicilium glaucum, the development of which had beenso minutely and successfully investigated by Dr. Hassall.

Dr. THEOPHILUS ThoMPSoN desired to express his thanks tothe author of the paper, and would throw oat one or two questions,perhaps of a somewhat vague character, but such as mightpossibly produce discussion. He would inquire first, if the in-formation contained in the paper tended to explain the ill effectsof certain sub-acid fruits in diabetes? He recollected a case of apatient labouring under that disease, who was getting better, theurine decreasing considerably in quantity, and its specific gravitybecoming less, in whom the ingestion of an apple, or even half aone, immediately increased the quantity of urine and the height,of its gravity, and this to a very great extent. Had other gentle-men observed similar cases? He would refer to another point-the marked difference which was produced in certain dyspepticsubjects by fruits which in most respects were not unlike. Forinstance, a person might eat oranges, apples, or pears withimpunity, but grapes would be followed by diarrhoea and othersymptoms, showing their injurious tendency. He would inquirewhether these effects from grapes gave us any indication of the

threatening of diabetes; or were they suggestive of any remedyfor the disease?

Dr. BASHAM remarked that the author of the paper had, inhis present communication, confined his observations to the con-’stitution of urine, and had not entered into the question of treat-ment.

Dr. T. THOMPSON inquired whether, if a person had the oxalatediathesis, it would be possible to give him diabetes by feeding himupon grapes?

Dr. BASHAM reminded Dr. Thompson that sugar in minutequantities might be present transiently in the urine, and yet thecase not be one of diabetes. In such cases, the torulæ test mightbe useful to determine the presence of sugar, if chemical testsfailed to detect it.

Mr. BROOKE remembered the case of a gentleman who, havingspent some weeks on the banks of the Rhine, where he ate freelyof grapes, suffered from diabetes, from which he never recovered.The next meeting will be held on the 14th of December.

MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1852.—MR. BISHOP, PRESIDENT.i

-

MR. B. W. RICHARDSON drew the attention of the Society to anew styptic which had lately been introduced tQ, the,notice of £the profession by Signor Pagliare of Rome, and which hadreceived an extensive notoriety, general as well as professional.The styptic had been first alluded to in this country by the Londoncorrespondent of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Jowrnal.The composition of it was as follows :-Gnm benzoin, eightounces; alum, a pound; water, ten pints. The alum and ben-zoin were boiled for eight hours in the water: fresh water beingadded to make up for loss by boiling. The supernatant liquor wasthe styptic in question, the virtues of which were said to be suchthat if one drop of it were added to a basin of blood, the wholewould instantly coagulate. On reading this description of thestyptic, Mr. Richardson thought it would be of great service tobring the matter to a fair trial; he had, he thought, done so, andhe now wonid lay the results of his experiments before theSociety. The solution employed had been carefully made in thelaboratory of the Messrs. Taylor Brothers, of Vere-street. Asmall bott’e of it was presented for the inspection of fellows.The experiments that had been performed, were made both onthe human body and on inferior animals. The first had referenceto freshly-drawn blood. Two basins of mixed blood, drawnrapidly from the neck of a sheep, were placed side by side in theopen air, the day being rather cold; into one of the basins a fewdrops of the solution were dropped; at the end of two minutesthe blood in both basins was firmly coagulated, that with whichthe solution had been mixed coagulating but three or fourseconds at most, previous to the other; indeed, it required theclosest observation to observe any difference. This experimentwas repeated five times with the same results. On examiningthe blood in the basins after separation into clot and serum hadtaken place, those clots were found to be darkest to which thesolution had been added. It was found, also, that the serum ofthat blood which had received none of the solution yielded on theapplication of heat, small white albuminous flakes, which didnot happen with the serum of that blood which had received thestyptic. Secondly, the ear of a living sheep was slit up from thebase to the apex, and the solution was applied to the incisedparts. The application certainly did produce considerablearrest to the haemorrhage, but not in a degree greater thanwould have been expected from the use of other powerfulstyptics. This experiment was repeated with similar results.In a patient belonging to Lr. Willis, of Barnes, in whom profuseheamorrhage was taking place from the rectum, the styptic solu-tion was used as an injection, at the suggestion of the speaker.The hæmorrhage was effectually checked. It was right, how-ever, to state that the patient was at the same time taking gallicacid in liberal doses. Lastly, he (Mr. Richardson) had recentlyhad an excellent opportunity of testing the effects of this newstyptic in comparison with old ones. Six leeches had beenapplied to the chest of a child under his care, and the friendshad summoned him in great haste to check the bleeding, whichwas most profuse. There were three points from which theblood flowed; to one of these points the new styptic was freelyapplied, to another a saturated solution of alum, and the thirdwas touched over with lunar caustic. In all three instances thestyptics were only partially successful. The caustic, however,was most efficient, the alum solution next so, and Pagliare’s’solution least of all. They were all tried as long as was com-