525

the slough by poultices, as it could be removed at once withadvantage. He suggested the use of tonics and cod-liver oil.Mr. HIRD said that chloric ether, ammonia, and bark, with

the mineral acids, were most useful in cases of carbuncle. Heshould fear to carry the incisions beyond the sloughing parts,as ever a small loss of blood might be very injurious.Dr. THEOPHILUs THOMPSON made some remarks on the

danger of carrying our views against depletion to an undueextent, and related the case of an old lady of eighty with car-buncle, in whom tonics aggravated the disease, whilst depletionrelieved it.Mr. R. DUNN, jun., had treated carbuncle according to its

type. If inflammatory, he made a crucial incision through thetumour, applied poultices, and administered purgatives. Inthe asthenic carbuncle, stimulants, tonics, and a free incisioninto the tumour, followed by escharotics, to favour the separa-tion of the slough quickly, was the most successful plan.Mr. BISHOP, in reply, said that in one case he had attended,

Sir B. Brodie had advised the carrying of the incisions beyondthe margin of the tumour. The difference in the state of thetumour depended on a difference of constitution and kind ofinflammation in the tumour.

PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

DR. WATSON, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

Dr. BRISTOWE exhibited an illustration of

DISEASE OF THE HEART.

This had occurred in a man forty-one years of age. There hadbeen extensive dulness over the cardiac region, and a ringingcharacter of the sounds of the heart, with signs of disease ofboth sets of valves. There was mitral and aortic disease shownin the specimen, but the most remarkable feature was the un-usual thickness (about half an inch) of the walls of the rightventricle.

Dr. GARROD exhibited an instrument which he had invented,and named

THE " GLUCOMETER," INTENDED TO DETERMINE THE QUANTITYOF SUGAR IN DIABETIC URINE. I

This instrument having been already described in our report ofthe first meeting for this session of the Medical Society of ’,London, it is unnecessary to reintroduce the description here. ilMr. ROBERT TAYLOR presented a specimen of IADHESION OF THE RETINA TO THE CICATRIX FOLLOWING THE

REMOVAL OF THE CORNEA.

The patient, a gentleman about twenty-five years of age, lostthe sight of the left eye when a child, by an explosion of gun- powder. A few years ago the injured eye became inflamed i,and painful; a condition which was not at all relieved bytreatment. The right eye then began to suffer sympathetically, Iand he was completely incapacitated from following his profes- ,,sion-that of an artist. A small portion of the front of the i

injured eye was therefore removed, and part of the humours Ievacuated; but as the wound healed, the irritation in the right eye gradually returned to as great an extent as formerly. Mr. I

Taylor, therefore, removed the injured eyeball by dividing themuscles. On examination, the cause of the failure of the firstoperation was found to be as follows: The retina had beencompletely detached from the choroid, probably long prior tothe operation, and had been washed forwards by the gush ofdissolved vitreous humour when the cornea was removed, soas to fill and plug up the wound. In this position it had be-come firmly fixed and compressed by the subsequent cicatriza,tion, just as happens occasionally to the large nerves afteramputation of a, limb.Dr. MURCHISON exhibited a specimen of

CANCEROUS DEPOSIT IN THE SUPRA-RENAL CAPSULE.

The patient was an aged female, who had died in King’s Col-lege Hospital, October 7th, 1857, from the effects of cancer invarious parts of the body. There were extensive cancerousdeposits in the liver and right lung ; and there was also atumour, the size of a large orange, in the posterior and inferiortriangle of the right side of the neck, which involved the ves-sels of the arm, and also the brachial plexus of nerves; andwhich, during life, had produced intense shooting pains alongthe course of the nerves, and great oedema of the correspondingarm. In the right supra-renal capsule there was a cancerousmass, presenting the usual structure of medullary cancer, and

involving about two-thirds of the organ. The left supra-renalcapsule was of normal size, and apparently healthy. On mi-croscopic examination, the cortical portion was fouud to containan immense quantity of free oily matter, and the cortical cellswere also loaded with oil; but this circumstance Dr. Murchisondid not consider to be abnormal. There was nothing abnormalas to the colour of this woman’s skin, except that it was paleand anasmio.

Dr. OGIER WARD remarked that a case of marked bronzingof the skin had come under his notice, had been submitted toDr. Addison, and considered to be a distinct specimen of thedisease. The patient had now completely recovered, and wasat present in excellent health.

, In answer to a question by the President,

’, Dr. MURCHISON stated that he wished to submit the capsulesto the investigation of the committee of the Society appointedfor’the purpose.

WESTERN MEDICAL AND SURGICAL SOCIETY.NOVEMBER 6TH, 1857.

SAMUEL A. LANE, ESQ., IN THE CHAIR.

AFTER the usual routine of business, Dr. VESALIUS PETTI-GREW read a paper upon

TUMOURS.

The author wished it to be understood that this was a con-tinuation of a paper upon a similar subject that he had broughtunder the notice of the Society three or four years back; andafter making observations upon the difficulty of diagnosis, andshowing a "Table of Tumours," classified according to theirnature, structure, and position, he illustrated each class fromcases that had come under his own treatment within the lastthree years, each case being exhibited either by drawing, cast,preparation, or photograph. Of cutaneous tumours, the caseof Miss D- was related-a keloid tumour arising from thecicatrix in the skin, where an operation had been performedfive years previously. Of mucous tumours, several cases ofpolypus of the uterus, were related: one of a very interestingnature, where the polypus, previous to marriage, had existedin the uterus, but after impregnation had descended into thevagina, and was removed. Cases of successful treatment ofpolypus of the nose, by means of an ointment, composed ofequal parts of sulphate of zinc and lard, were mentioned.Fibrous, fatty, and vascular tumours were then shown ashaving been removed without the slightest pain, under the in-fluence of ice and water, two parts of the former to one of thelatter, or where a more intense cold was required, five of ice,two of salt, and one of sal ammoniæ. Dr. Pettigrew showeda record of ninety-three operations performed by himself, inthe presence of many medical men, since November, 1856,under congelation. Amongst these cases were hernia, nasvus,and cancer; fatty, fibrous, encysted, vascular, and cutaneoustumours; fistula, circumcision, amputation of fingers, super-ficial and deep-seated abscesses, &c., &c. Of these, there werethree failures as to the perfect insensibility of pain; and onecase only where the incisions it required did not unite by thefirst intention. He felt quite satisfied that two-thirds of theoperations performed under the influence of chloroform mightbe as satisfactorily operated upon under the influence of cold.Of osseous tumours, the author related his two cases of partialamputation of the lower jaw, already recorded in the journals.Of cancer, two successful cases of melanotic cancer were shown,as also a rare case of gelatiniform, or colloid cancer of largesize in the breast. Dr. Pettigrew considered these cases as ofa non-malignant character, consisting apparently of lymph andsimple cells. A large fungoid tumour of the tibia was shown,where the limb of a lad had been amputated, the whole weigh-ing a quarter of the weight of the boy himself. The paper wasconcluded by reference to an interesting case of deficiency ofthe symphysis pubis, in a young woman, where the bladderformed a prominent tumour, and from which bladder Dr. Petti-grew removed a large calculus in such a manner that no incon-tinence of urine has since existed.

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.MONDAY, Nov. 2ND, 1857.

DR. BABINGTON, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

THE President, in a short address, congratulated the SocietyI on the interesting and valuable papers read at the meetings of