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considerable tumefaction about the lower dorsal vertebra:; and,after carctui exammation, it was found that there was fractureof the tenth dorsal vertebra, with more or less displacement. ’IThe parts below this point were completely paralysed; de- prived alike of motion and sensation; tickling of the soles ofthe feet did not produce the slightest reflex movement; the ,,abdomen was tympanitic, and the lower portion-nates, scro-turn, &c.-entirely void of sensation. There was no priapism. i

He was placed upon his back, with a pillow under the injuredpart, and warm anodyne fomentations were ordered to be ap- plied over the abdomen; and as the bladder and rectum were entirely p paralysed., the house-surgeon was directed to draw off ’,his urine four times in the twenty-four hours. :

After remaining two days at the hospital, he was removed,at his own request, to an hotel in the neighbourhood of Leicester-squareucua c,

For the first month, the treatment consisted in keeping hisbladder empty, attention to his bowels, and rest, preservedstrictly in the horizontal position, the greatest care beingtaken that in turning or shifting him his body was moved as a whole, without any strain upon the injured p:trt. The urine, which at first was slightly acid, became decidedly alkaline inthe course of a week; but there was no mucous deposit untilthree weeks after the injury, when, in spite of attention tocatheterism, which was most skilfully performed by his wife (who tended him throughout with the greatest attention andtalent), it formed in large quantity. This, however, was keptunder by the infusion of buchu with dilute nitric acid, thegood effects of which were undoubted, as the mucous depositdisappeared in a few days after taking it, whilst the urine atthe same time gradually became acid, as shown by the litmus-paper, which was used daily throughout the treatment, andthe dose of the above mixture regulated accordingly. Uponsome two or three occasions, however, he got tired of the medi-cine, and left it off, and the mucus then reappeared in theurine. He therefore continued it regularly until about threeweeks before he left England, when he gradually left it off, asthe deposit ceased.At the expiration of a month, as there still remained con-

siderable tenderness in the neighbourhood of the injury, thepart was painted over with Lugol’s strong tincture of iodine,which was followed by good results, as he began to regain alittle motion of the muscles about his hips, with slight returnof sensation in the abdominal, pudic, and gluteal regions. Hewas also directed to take half a grain of sulphate of zinc, withone-thirtieth part of a grain of strychnia, thrice daily. Thiswas followed by sharp, shooting pains in his legs down to theknees, with increas d power of motion in the hips and thighs,especially in the left; there was also a gradual increase ofsensation from the seat of injury downwards towards the knee,more on the right than left side, for whilst motion returnedmore quickly on the left side, it was the reverse as regardssensation.At the end of two months, as the tenderness, swelling, and

thickening had entirely subsided, a more minute investigationcould be made, and it appeared that the fascia and muscleshad been torn across opposite the tenth dorsal vertebra, whilstthe spinous process and arch of the tenth vertebra could bedistinctly felt projecting backwards nearly a quarter of an inchbeyond the adjacent bones, and twisted somewhat to the leftside, so that in all probability there was transverse fracture ofthe bone, with partial displacement of the arch-a suppositionsupported by the patient’s account of the accident.He is a man of great courage and intelligence, and he said

that he was perfectly aware of what took place at the time ofthe accident, which he described as follows. That in that

particular performance he had to balance his body with theepigastric region upon the horizontal bar of the " trapèze," andto turn a somersault over to the horizontal bar of another

trapeze ; that in turning this somersault something on his beltcaught the bar and prevented the somersault being of sufficientlength, so that he missed the other bar and came to the groundwith his head and knees closely approximated, experiencingall the violence of the fall directly upon the injured part of thespine, which latter was at the time bent forwards to its utmost.He could now (two months afrer the accident), by holding

on the top rail of the French bedstead, turn over in bed with-out assistance. There was considerable shooting pain andstinging down his legs, occasionally accompanied with profusewarm perspiration, during which he could move the legs withmuch greater power and facility; whilst about the same timewas observed another point of some interest : althongh ticklingthe soles of his feet and his toes did not produce the slightestmovement in either leg, when he rubbed himself by the side of

the scrotum over the front of the descending ramus of the pubesthe toes of the corresponding foot were thrown into spasmodicaction.At the end of three months he had no sensation below his

knees, but a very fair amount from the hips to the knees. Hecould move Lie thighs and legs, but not his feet. Lying on hisback, he could, by the muscles of his hip and thigh, raise oneleg from the bed, and cross it over the other leg. He couldalso turn himself over in bed, raise himself upon his bauds andknees, and move about in that posture up and down his bed.

During the preceding month there had been gradual im-provemeut in the vitality of the lower bowels, at first manifested by being conscious when the faeces passed, and subse.quently by his gradually becoming aware when the bowels wereabout to act, until by degrees he acquired the power of con-trolling the action of the bowels so as to enable him to use thenight chair. He now (three months) began to pass his urinewithout the aid of a catheter; the first time he did so was

during the act of defecation. He then passed it at other times,and, as it was ascertained by the introduction of a catheter onvarious occasions immediately after micturition that he hadcompletely emptied the bladder, the continuous use of thecatheter was dispensed with, and it was subsequently employedas a matter of precaution only. His sexual powers also re-

turned. He continued to improve until the 28th September,when he left London for America. He had now recovered acertain amount of sensation down to and in his feet, and hecould move his toes, though but slightly. As he had for someweeks been able to move about upon his hands and knees, hewas anxious to try whether he could manage to walk by theaid of instruments. A long splint was therefore applied at theback of each leg and thigh, to prevent the knee bending, andhe was then able to stand upright, and to walk round th&room, holding by his wife and a friend.The dose of strychnia, which was continued to the time he

left England, never exceeded one-thirtieth of a grain, takenthrice daily ; but the sulphate of zinc, given in combination,was gradually increased from half a grain to two grains.

Medical Societies.ROYAL MEDICAL & CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11TH.

DR. BABINGTON, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE TACTILE SENSIBILITY OF THE HAND.

BY EDWARD BALLARD, M.D. LOND., M.R.C.P.,MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR ISLINGTON.

THE author, not being acquainted with any very extendedresearches into the tactile sensibility of the surface of the body,submits to the Society this paper, as the first of a series uponthe subject. The method he has employed for ascertaining thesensibility of the parts examined was that known as Weber’s;but inasmuch as the results of this method vary according asthe points of the compasses are laid in the direction of the longaxis of a part or transversely to it, he employs the sum of thenumbers obtained by an observation in each direction as repre-senting the true sensibility of any part. The numbers are

given in English inches and decimals. He considers that the

hand, being Par excellence the organ of touch, and possessingon the whole the highest amount of sensibility, and giving thusreadily a standard for comparison of subjective impressionsmade elsewhere, it is important that it should be the organfirst examined. The paper is based upon the results of ob-servations made upon 14:.: points upon the surfaces and bordersof the author’s own hand and fingers—in all, therefore, of 284separate observations- It consists mainly of elaborate tables,from which the author decluce-3 in due order the general sensi-bility of the hand and its surfaces and bnrders; and, sepa-rately, of the metacarpal portion, fingers and thumb. He notonly compares these several parts between themselves, butpoints out the relative sensibility of the lateral halves of thehand, these being related to the freer motion imparted to theradial half; and of the centre to the sides, as showing at whatparts of the hand the sensibility is highest at any given dis-tance from the wrist. The following are some of the moreimportant deductions. The most sensitive spot of all he findsto be the tip of the index finger, in which he differs fromWeber, but agrees with Valentin. The sensibility of this spot

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is represented by the number ’3.5 in. The spot where he foundthe lowest sensibility (5.0 in.) was on the dorsum of the hand,opposite the base of the fifth metacarpal bone. The palmarsurface of the hand was in all parts more sensitive than thedorsum; but this was not the most sensitive part, for next tothe tips of the fingers stood in order the two borders, theradial border being more sensitive than the ulnar. As pointedout by Weber, he also found that the sensibility of the handincreases from the base towards the extremity ; but the authorexhibits this fact by accurate numbers, and demonstrates notonly the increase but also the rate of increase on each surfaceand border of the hand and of each finger separately. He findsthe most rapid increase in sensibility to take place at the spotwhere the fingers actually commence, not where they appa-rently commence, and thus not at the clefts, but opposite the metacarpo-phahl1geêtl articulations, and again at the middle ofthe last phalanges on approaching the tips of the fingers.Perhaps the most interesting and important demonstration ofall is that which relates to the fingers ancl their several surfaces.On the whole, the most sensitive finger is the index, and thesensitiveness shades off towards the ulnar side of the hand; andthe most sensitive portion of the index, next to the tip, he nodsto be its radial side. Of the little finger, the most sensitivepart is the ulnar side, and he connects these two facts withthose parts entering into the constitution of the borders of thehand at large. Of the palmar surfaces of the fingers, that ofthe index is the most sensitive; of the dorsal surfaces, that ofthe ring finger is the least sensitive. As respects the radialsides of the lingers, he finds the radial side of the index to bethe most sensitive, and that the sensibility shades off as thefingers are further removed from the radial side of the hand,till it becomes least upon the little tinker. As respects theulnar sides, he finds that that of the little finger is the mostsensitive, and that the sensibility becomes less as the ulnarside of the hand is distanced; with this remarkable exception,however, that the high sensibility of the index is provided forby its ulnar side standing next in rank to that of the littleSnser. Of the three intervals between the fingers. that whoseapproximating surfaces possess the highest sensibility is theinterval between the index and middle lingers. The thumb is,for the sake of convenience and simplicity, considered sepa-rately,—and is regarded, from its carpal attachment onwards, as a finger not having a metacarpal element. It is thus com-

pared in the paper with the fingers, from their metacarpo-phalangeal joints onwards. Appended to the paper are tablesexhibiting the observed sensibility in each direction at theseveral spots examined, and four photographs on which aremarked the sums of the observations at each spot. The authorreserves the consideration of the differences of result accordingto the direction in which the compasses are placed for a futurecommunication.The PRESIDENT remarked on the great value of the facts

contained in the paper.Dr. BALLARD, in reply to the President, stated that he had

used compasses tipped with cork in making his experiments.Dr. KIDD said that the plan of ascertaining the amount of

sensibility by means of compasses had been extensively triedby the late Dr. Tocid, and the results obtained were often veryvaluable. The hand and forearm were, Dr. Kidd said, moresensitive than other parts of the body, and hence he had foundthat dashing cold water on these parts was more efficient inrousing a person from the efffects of chloroform than throwingcold water on the face. It might be, he said, on account ofthe more intimate connexion the nerves of the brachial plexushad with the nerves of the thoracic viscera.

Dr. BALLARD said that the paper was physiological, and re-ferred only to the hand. He had made experiments on thesensibility of other parts of the body.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENTS ON THE POISONOUS EFFECTS OFCOAL-GAS UPON THE ANIMAL SYSTEM.

BY C. J. B. ALDIS, M.D.,MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR ST. GEORGE’S, HANOVER-SQUARE.

In the paper which the author brought under the notice ofthe Society a short time ago upon this subject, the experimentswere made with the gas a-< it issued from the main, but in thosenow to be related common gas. diluted with atmospheric air indifferent proportions, was used. The experiments were madewith Mr. Henry Banister, at the works in Horseferry-road, onthe 7th and 14th of February, 1862.

In the first experiment, common gas and atmospheric air, in.equal proportions, were administered to a rat placed under aglass vessel. The head dropped in one minute, and it became

insensible, with slight convulsion, in one m nnte and a quarter; ithe respiration was hurried, the eyes staring, spasmodic jerkingof the body, followed by death in two minutes and a half. Thepost-mortem appearances were similar to those already de-scribed, except a darkish patch on the anterior part of thepleura of the right lung, like that produced by smoke.The second experiment was made with one-fourth common

gas and three-fourths atmospheric air. The respiration of theanimal became hurried in three minutes, the head dropped infive minutes, and death occurred in eleven minutes. Duringthe autopsy, a smoky-looking spot was seen on the pleura.

’

In the third and fourth experiments, the proportion of gasto air was one.fifteenthThe former experiment was not sufficiently prolonged to

show the deadly inflaence of the gas in this diminishedqu.ntity; but in the latter the rat soon began to pant, and thehead fell in ten minutes, springing of the body was observed,

with twitching of the ear, followed by coma in seventeen

minutes. The eyes were open, the respiration became laboriousin forty-one minuses, when death ensued. The surface of theskull was intensely red; the brain congested; the blood veryfluid and bright-coloured; the pleura, of a bright-red colour,and the right side of the heart distended with darkish blood.

Dr. HoDGKin s-aid that he supposed tha experiments hadbeen made in reference to the condition of miners, and as faras they are concerned the experiments were very proper.There was, however, a manner iRt which ;hey might advan-tageously be modified. He said that the late Mr. WilliamAllen, in studying the phenomena of respiration, made amixture of hydrogen and oxygen, and placed animals in it.The mixture differed from atmospheric air in that it containedhydrogen instead of nitrogen, but the same proportionalquantity of oxygen. It was found in this case that the.animals died, but death was not due to the presence ofhydrogen or to the absence of nitrogen, but because the oxygenwas consumed, and carbonic acid resulted, the result of respira&middot;tion

Dr. WYNN WILLIAMS said that in 1857 he had under hiscare two cases of poisoning by coal gas. Two old women wentto bed between the hours of eight and nine. Next morningthey were both found unconscious. One of them died. Theother said that in the night she heard her sister get up, but sheremembered nothing more, as she then fell back insensible.The patient who died remained for forty-eight hours un-

conscious, and then became partially conscious; but in three orfour days she again became comatose, and occasionally violent,and ultimately died. Tne one who recovered suffered frompain exactly like muscular rheumatism, and after recovery toa certain extent she had an attack of acute rheumatism. At a

previous meeting, he (Dr. Williams) understood that Dr. Kiddbelieved that the effects of chloroform and of coal-gas wereanalogous. He (Dr. Williams) did not find that the symptomsin his cases were at all like those produced by chloroform.

Dr. KIDD said that all he intended to say was, that chloro.form and carburetted hydrogen were both anaesthetics, andnot that their action was identical. The experiments of Perrin,Lallemand, and Duroy had shown that anaesthetics differed verymuch in their special actions.

OBSTETRICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.MARCH 5TH, 1862.

DR. TYLER SMITH, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

ON OVARIOTOMY; THE MODE OF ITS PERFORMANCE, AND THERESULTS OBTAINED AT THE LONDON SURGICAL HOME.

BY I. B. BROWN, ESQ., F. R. C. S.,SENIOR SURGEON TO THE LONDON SURGICAL HOME.

AFTER some preliminary observations upon the operation of &pound;ovariotomy, its now recognised character, and the mortalityfrom it being much less th.m that from many other capital opera-tions, the author alluded to the statistics of Mr. Clay, of Birmingham. He believed that, highly favourable as were the re-sults given, there was good reason for supposing that they wouldbecome still more so when the statistics were hereafter coilected,subsequently to the period to which Mr. Clay’s cases extend-namely, February, 1860. The conditions rendering the opera-tion jlistiiiable were next dwelt upon. The difficulty of diagnosiswas shown, especially in cases complicated with cancer. Muchwould, however, depend upon the history of the patient andher family, in arriving at a correct conclusior. Adhesions at