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died from fracture of the skull soon after admissionto hospital. Her clinical history was unknown. Thespecimen showed :-

Coarctation of aorta just below point of entry of closedductus arteriosus ; calcification at this spot. Largeanomalous vessel arising just above coarctation runningto right, between the spine and the oesophagus, to supplythe place of the innominate, and to form the right sub-clavian. Heart: slight hypertrophy in left ventricle.Aortic valves normal. Slight aortic atheroma. Vessels ofboth thyroid axes were large ; also long thoracic andposterior scapular arteries ; internal mammary arteriesvery large.

Mr. HAROLD EDWARDS showed a case of Hcemo-

lymphangioma of the Tongue in a woman, aged 29.When two years old she had partial glossectomyfor haemolymphangioma of the tongue. The wholetongue and the floor of the mouth are now coveredwith growth which is at present stationary and hasremained unchanged for several years.

Mr. Edwards also showed a case of Carcinoma ofthe Tongue 19 years after Whitehead’s operation.A man, now aged 78, in 1913 had the right half oftongue removed for carcinoma, and 14 days laterthe glands on the right side of the neck removed.The pathological report on the tongue growthwas squamous-celled carcinoma. No microscopicalevidence of secondaries in excised lymphatic glandswas found. Four months after the second operationa recurrent mass was removed from neck. The func-tion of the remaining portion of the tongue was nowexcellent, said Mr. Edwards, and there were no

signs of recurrence.Dr. J. D. ROLLESTON showed a case of Striœ

Atrophiece following Rheumatic Fever in a man,

aged 21, admitted to hospital on Sept. 26th, 1931,suffering from diphtheria, but found after admissionto have rheumatic fever which had become compli-cated by endocarditis, albuminuria, and pleuro-pneumonia.Temperature pursued an irregular course, oscillating

between normal and 1046° F. till Nov. 17th, the fifty-eighthday of disease, when it finally became normal. The striae,which were situated on the back, arms, buttocks, and thighs,were first seen on Oct. 30th, the thirty-seventh day ofdisease. On the back they extended from the level ofthe lower angle of the scapula to that of the lumbar vertebrae,were transverse in direction, pinkish or livid red in colour,depressed below the level of the normal skin, and measuredfrom 1 to 2 in. long and about in. broad. On the leftside they extended lower down than on the right, and passedround to the ventral aspect. On the buttocks and posteriorpart of the thighs their arrangement was longitudinal. Afew faint striae were seen on posterior aspects of both upperarms.

Dr. H. S. LE MARQUAKD showed a case of SuprarenalVirilism (pubertas praecox) in a male child, aged 2years. Pubic hair was first noticed at about the ageof 14 months ; since then the development of thesexual organs and general bodily growth had proceededat an abnormally rapid rate. During the last fewmonths his sexual proclivities had caused trouble.His parents stated that he could not be left alonewith an adult woman because of the obvious sexualadvances which he made ; he was not attracted bysmall girls. These statements had been corroboratedby observation in hospital.On examination, a strong active red-headed boy, who

appears to be between 6 and 7 years old. Height 3 ft. 5 in.,weight 49 lb. (average 2 ft. 112 in. and 30 lb.). Musculardevelopment very pronounced, approaching the infantHercules type. Mental development about that of a childof 2 ; he is exceedingly mischievous. Development ofhair : pubic hair well-marked, with a horizontal upperlimit; hair prominent on forearms and legs below theknee, with a lesser distribution on the back and thighs;no hair in the axillæ. Genital organs : the penis, scrotum,and testicles are well-developed, almost the size of thoseof an adult.

ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL

PATHOLOGISTS.

THE fifth annual meeting of this association washeld in the Bland-Sutton Institute of PathologyMiddlesex Hospital, on Jan. 30th, Dr. L. E. H.WHITBY being in the chair.

ASCHHEIM-ZONDEK TEST.

Dr. A. F. WRIGHT spoke of the value of this reactionin the diagnosis or exclusion of pregnancy long beforethis was possible by any other means ; he producedfigures based on his own observations and those ofothers showing that once pregnancy was establishedthe reaction would, in over 97 per cent. cases, givea definite and correct answer to the question "is thissubject pregnant ?

" His own work suggested thepossibility of error in ectopic pregnancies ; absentor weak reaction in a woman known to be pregnantmight serve as a warning of threatened abortion.He described the method of obtaining a quick reactionby precipitating the active principle from the urinewith alcohol and injecting it intravenously into arabbit ; this he had found satisfactory.-Dr. A. G.SHERA asked what was the value of the test in thediagnosis of chorion-epithelioma, whether the reactionwas positive as in other types of malignant disease.-Dr. S. C. DYKE said he had found the test positive inchorion-epithelioma and pointed out that the

persistence of a positive reaction in a woman who hadrecently been confined or had aborted was strongevidence of the presence of growth of this type.-Dr. E. WORDLEY stated that in the absence of

pregnancy he had found the reaction negative in thesubjects of malignant disease, either male or female.-Dr. WRIGHT, in reply, spoke of the necessity of

cutting sections of the ovaries for microscopical exami-nation in all doubtful cases.

BACTERIOLOGY OF NORMAL TEETH.

Dr. J. B. DAVEY remarked on the present tendencyto attribute many rheumatic and other infections toapical infection of teeth, the streptococcus being theorganism usually implicated ; in support of this isadduced the fact that streptococci are practicallyalways to be isolated from the infected apices of suchteeth. He had himself isolated many such strainsand had found that for the most part they were non-hæmolytic and of the type usually found in the mouth,though some might give slight haemolysis of the atype. He described the result of examining 13

healthy teeth and 8 which would have been passedas healthy on any except the most rigorous tests ;all had been removed for cosmetic or other reasonsand not on account of caries or infection. From thetips of 11 of the 13 healthy teeth, and from 7 of the8 teeth not above suspicion he had isolated strepto-cocci. The root canal of the healthy tooth also gavea growth of streptococci.-Dr. F. B. SMITH pointedout that similar findings had resulted from an

investigation made some years ago by the late Prof.E. E. Glynn.

BACTERIOPHAGE IN B. COLI INFECTION.

Dr. WHITBY spoke of the use of bacteriophage in thetreatment of B. coli infection of the urinary tract.In acute cases the phage did not appear in the urineuntil it became alkaline, but it would often do so onthe day following alkalisation, with rapid disappearanceof the infection. In chronic cases the phage failed toappear in the urine at all. He pointed out that

organisms which survived the initial attack of th

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phage were resistant and able to propagate a resistantstrain ; it was therefore necessary to give a largedose of a high-titre strain. Many of the phages onthe market were of low titre and should not be useduntil the titre had been raised by subculture withsusceptible organisms; he regarded crude sewageas the best source of potent phage. Cultivation andincrease of potency of the phage was better carriedout at room than incubator temperature. The

phage could be administered by mouth, hypo-dermically or locally; hypodermically he gave2 c.cm. three times a day for three days.-Dr. DYKEadduced evidence in favour of the belief that so-

called acute pyelitis was always associated with smallabscesses in the cortex of the kidney ; if this wereso local instillation of the phage into the urinarypassages was not a rational method of its employ-ment.—Dr. CUTHBERT DUKES said he had never

been able to find evidence that lesions in the intestineswould permit of the passage of B. coli to the urinarysystem.-Dr. D. EMBLETON stated that bacilluriawas frequently associated with chronic constipation,particularly in habitual users of cascara ; in suchcases when the bacilluria had disappeared it couldbe brought back again by a dose of cascara.-Dr.WHITBY, in replying, agreed that local instillation ofthe phage had little to commend it ; he favouredthe hypodermic route.

CONVALESCENT HUMAN SERUM.

Dr. A. G. SIGNY described his experiences in theproduction of immunity with convalescent humanserum, with particular reference to measles. Herecommended collection of blood from 10 to 14 daysafter defervescence, the serum being pipetted offthe following day. This was tested by means of theWassermann reaction and for sterility ; all sera werethen pooled and put up in ampoules with 0.5 percent. carbolic. Such serum would maintain its

potency if kept in the ice-chest for at least a year.Injection of serum within five days of exposure wouldprevent the disease appearing ; up to the ninth dayfrom exposure it would result in an abortive attack;thereafter it was ineffective. He drew attention tothe advantages accruing from an abortive attack inthe development of active immunity. Such attackswere usually so mild as not to necessitate confine-ment to bed. He described a method of producingan active immunity without an actual attack of thedisease by injecting first a large dose of immuneserum, followed 24 hours later by 1 c.cm. of bloodfrom a case in the infective stage. He recommendeda dose of 7 c.cm. for children up to 3 years of age ;10 c.cm. for older children. He drew attention to thevalue of convalescent serum in poliomyelitis, addingthat the opportunity for its use seldom arose in thiscountry.-Dr. J. G. GREENFIELD described themethods in use in the early treatment of poliomyelitisin Australia. Polymorph cells, he said, appear inthe cerebro-spinal fluid in the early stages of theinfection and before paralytic symptoms appear;they become progressively fewer as the disease declaresitself. Australian experience had shown the dosageof serum was in inverse proportion to the number ofthese cells in the cerebro-spinal fluid.

UREA CLEARANCE.

Dr. E. WORDLEY described the Van Slyke ureaclearance test of renal efficiency. This test he pointedout was regarded by its originators as an indication ofthe rate of clearance per unit of time of urea from the

blood. It was calculated from the formulawhere U represents the urea in the urine, B that in

t the blood, and V the volume of urine secreted perminute over one hour. Where the rate of excretion

of urine was high the formula must be used.

1 For the first formula a normal clearance figure was anything over 54, for the second, anything over 75.

The speaker stated that he had determined theclearance figure in a number of cases and had found itto give results accurately according with the clinical

- condition and with the results of other tests of renalfunction.

Dr. GREENFIELD gave an address on the micro-- scopical differentiation of cerebral tumours, showing

specimens and slides illustrating many typesof cerebral tumour. He drew attention to the

, clinical and histological differences between those of. gliomatous and ependymal origin and described a.

classification considerably simpler than that of: Cushing, but which appeared to cover all types met

with. A relatively benign and slow-growing tumour, was the oligo-dendroglioma.-Prof. J. McINTOSH, expressed the hope that simplification might be

carried even further.

HARVEIAN SOCIETY.

A MEETING of this society on Feb. llth, with Mr.C. P. G. WAKELEY, the President, in the chair,was devoted to a discussion on

Endoscopic Methods.Mr. V. E. NEGUS said that the usual view was that

the bronchoscope was useful only for the removal offoreign bodies, but this was no longer the mainfield in which it was employed at King’s CollegeHospital. Since 1924 the total number of patientsexamined by the bronchoscope for foreign body hadbeen 21, while in the same period no less than 365bronchoscopic examinations had been made, on a

total of 95 patients, for other conditions. Mr.

Negus found that the ordinary bronchoscope withdistal illumination served all his purposes, and he didnot agree with the view of some observers that thelumen was too small. The small diameter of thetube made it mobile and easy to insert ; in cases ofcarcinoma it might be difficult to see the distal

parts of the growth, but for these cases he employed amodification of the instrument in which the light wasthrown ahead and not shielded. In laryngoscopyhe used a similar type of light. In Chevalier Jackson’sclinic two or three skilled assistants were requiredat a bronchoscopic examination, and it had been

suggested that bronchoscopy could never become

popular in England because the regular changes inthe staff of resident hospital officers would makethe training of such skilled assistants impracticable.By the aid of the Haslinger head-rest, however, thesurgeon could now perform the examination single-handed, and without the services of an anaesthetist.Bronchoscopy was therefore the more valuable incases where a general anæsthetic was contra-indicated.Where a foreign body was lodged in the larynx thepatient should be examined lying on an inclined

plane with his feet higher than his head ; in this

position there was no danger that the foreign bodywould fall into the trachea or bronchi when it was

dislodged. In children indirect examination was

often difficult, and laryngoscopy was to be preferred,for example, in examining a child for papilloma ofthe larynx. Laryngeal growths of all kinds could bestudied by this method, and if necessary a portion