the streams traversing them) possess an absorbing power precisely similar to that of the mesenteric veins. And as a portion of the fœtal blood, charged with the albuminous substance there absorbed, after passing through the umbilical vein, circulates in the blood-vessels of the liver, the presence of an albuminous fluid in the hepatic duct, as noticed by Drs. Lee and Prout, is by no means inexplicable. Viewed in this light, the umbilical vein of the fœtus will answer to the mesenteric veins of the adult, while the ramifications of the hepatic duct, in addition to their ordinary functions, may be considered as to a certain extent representing the lacteals.

The source of the peculiar substances found in the stomach of the fœtus still, however, remains to be determined. That they are not secreted by the stomach itself is, I think, rendered almost certain, by the uniformly pale, undeveloped condition of that viscus during fatal life, and by the circumstance of their being occasionally met with in the fauces and mouth of the animal, as in observations 1, 6, and 7. And coupling this latter fact with the negative argument constituted by the impossibility of assigning their productions to any other organs, I am disposed to regard them as the secretion of the salivary glands, between the development of which and the gradual formation of these matters a certain degree of connection has appeared to me to exist.

Having thus briefly mentioned the facts met with in the course of this investigation, and indicated the conclusions which appeared to me to flow most directly from the consideration of those phenomena, I shall for the present abstain from any further inquiries into this department of physiology. But, before concluding this communication, I may be permitted to relate one or two additional observations, which tend to establish an interesting and important relation between two of the chief functions in the animal economy, viz. respiration and diges

tion.

I have before had occasion to corroborate, from my own observation, the statements of other inquirers as to the slight vascularity and torpid condition of the stomach during fatal life. It became, therefore, an interesting problem to trace the gradual development of its digestive power, and to ascertain the precise period at which the effect of this power became perceptible.

The contents of the fatal stomach were, in several of the foregoing observations, tested by litmus paper with very different results, the gastric fluid being in some cases neutral, sometimes alkaline, and in a few instances feebly acid. As the tissues and fluids of the fœtus, however, always manifest a strong tendency to acescent decomposition, and as the indication of acidity was generally noticed in cases where some delay had taken place in the examination of the gastric contents, I am not prepared to deny the possibility of this acescency having been the result of chemical changes taking place after death. A far more satisfactory test of the presence of the proper gastric juice, and consequently of the commencement of its digestive function by the stomach, was, I thought, to be found in the chemical action of that secretion upon albuminous fluids. And, as a liquid readily coagulating

upon the application of all the common tests for 'albumen exists naturally in the stomach of the mature fœtal rabbit, a few observations upon these animals, performed at different periods after birth, promised to throw some light upon the subject.

Observation 11.-Two rabbits from the same litter were examined at the end of thirty hours after birth. In one (which from the appearance of the lungs, had evidently respired, but which was found dead within a few hours after the presumed time of birth,) the stomach, both as regards its vascularity and the nature of its contents, precisely resembled that of the advanced fœtus of the same species. Its coats were pale, and the blood-vessels distributed through them scarcely perceptible; while the substance within exhibited all its usual properties, being the same green, transparent, viscid, semi-fluid, coagulable mass as that invariably met with in the mature fœtus.

But the stomach and its contents in the other rabbit (which, though separated from the doe, had lived up to the moment of examination) presented a very different appearance. Its coats were beautifully injected with innumerable blood-vessels, and their thickness was apparently increased; whilst in its interior was a large flattened coagulum of a greenish-yellow colour, possessed of considerable tenacity, and exhibiting in its substance, when viewed microscopically, several oil globules, similar to those noticed in the uncoagulated matter.

Nothing could be more striking than the difference between these two stomachs; and, from a single positive observation like this, we are, I think, justified in concluding, that the formation of the gastric juice does not take place till the act of respiration has proceeded for a certain length of time, and rendered the oxygenation of the blood tolerably complete. In two other rabbits, killed at the end of twentyfour hours after birth, the albuminous contents of the stomach were similarly coagulated, its coats being also highly vascular, and a portion of the same green coagula being found in the duodenum. All these animals were removed from the doe before any milk could have been swallowed. In the following observation the young animal was allowed to feed with the rest.

Observation 12.-A young rabbit being killed the third day after birth, was instantly examined. The coats of the stomach, which was very much distended with food, were highly vascular, so as to assume a rosy tint. It contained a great mass of coagulated milk, in the midst of which, and rendered conspicuous by the snow-white ground on which they were placed, appeared two half-digested coagula, of a dark greenish-brown colour. These were evidently the remains of the fatal secretion; and, in the duodenum of the same animal, at the distance of two inches from the stomach, were several small acicular particles of a fatty nature.-London and Ed. Monthly Journ. Med. Science.

Fungus tumour of the Bones By PROFESSOR Roux.-A man aged thirty-eight, of a strong constitution, was lately admitted into the Hotel Dieu, for the treatment of a tumour, which had formed three

months since in the right knee. At the beginning of the disease he made, on two occasions, a violent effort with the limb, and each time a very painful sense of distention was experienced in the joint. On examination two tumours were distinguished, one on either side of the tuberosity of the tibia; pressure reduced them to a certain degree, and at all times they were the seat of pulsations synchronous to the pulse. The skin had retained its natural colour, and the patient complained only of weakness of the extremity.

After relating the case, the Professor proceeded to state that this tumour should be considered as an aneurismal affection, occupying the spongy texture of the head of the tibia. "This," continued M. Roux," is an uncommon disease, or at least one which authors have seldom described. Fifteen or eighteen cases at most are on record. For my part, during an experience of thirty years of hospital practice, I have met only with three or four, the last of which I observed not more than two years ago; a complete cure was obtained by ligature of the femoral artery."

These tumours are almost constantly found in the bones of the extremities, particularly the lower, and in the parts which contain a greater quantity of spongy texture. The tibia is most usually occupied. An external injury, a blow, or a sprain, seems to have produced it in every instance, although it certainly is not easy to understand what influence external causes can have on the aneurismal developement of the arterial capillaries of a bone; still the fact is one confirmed by too frequent observations to admit of doubt. In a case related by M. Lallemand, a rheumatic or gouty predisposition seemed to have caused the malady; and in a most interesting observation of Scarpa, the same predisposition is stated to have existed. In the present case it was after a violent effort to raise a carriage that the patient first experienced pain in the part, and it was also an effort of the same kind which produced the disorder in the patient he observed about two years ago. In one patient you may remark that the internal layers of the bone have been gradually absorbed, and that the fungous areolar growth lies immediately under the skin, forming irregularities in the outward aspect of the limb. Under the name of "angiectasy" we comprise only the diseases of any part of the vascular system attended with dilatation of the vessels, and this great class may be subdivided according to the seat of the alteration in large vessels or in the capillaries. To the former belongs the history of aneurism; to the latter, the tumours of the nature of that which has occasioned this lecture. Fungous tumours of the capillary vessels may be met with in the soft textures or in the bones, and when they occupy the latter seat, they are not only remarkable on account of their unfrequency, but also by some other circumstances, which we will briefly enumerate. In the first place we observe that sanguineous tumours of the soft parts are generally prognosticated by the presence of nævi, whereas in the bones we have no reason to suppose that the developement of the disease is anything but accidental. A proof that a congenital disposition has little or nothing to do with

the aneurismal dilatation of the osseous capillaries may be found in the fact that in most cases external injuries have been the producing causes. Another material difference resides in the fact, that these tumours occupy indiscriminately the arterial or venous capillaries in the soft parts, and exclusively the arterial system of bones. A cancerous cement not unfrequently is superadded to the vascular transformation, and when this unfortunate complication is observed, the fatal result of organic disease are produced even before abundant hemorrhage could supervene. You are aware gentlemen, that, for the treatment of these erectile tumours of the soft parts, numerous methods are employed, and particularly within the last few years the progress of the art of curing has been, in this respect, truly remarkable. We recollect that twenty-five years ago, amputation was frequently considered as the only resource in cases which now-a-days would obtain relief by a great many plans, differing with circum. stances, and with surgeons. Ligature, pressure, cauterization, puncture-simple, or combined with the application of heat or of electricity such are the principal methods of treatment which would be resorted to.

As to fungous tumours of the bones, we know only of three operations by which a cure can be obtained :-ligature of the main artery of the limb, amputation of the extremity, and, in some few instances, resection of the portion of bone occupied by the malady. Ligature we prefer, in the present instance, for reasons which we will expose in another lecture.-London Medical Times.

Two Cases of Rupture of the Uterus-Recovery of One.-M. Robiquet was called to attend, in labour, a female, ætat. 32, who had previously had one child, and had never suffered under any symptoms of uterine disease; the present, her second pregnancy, had gone on favourably until about two hours before M. R.'s visit, when during a strong uterine contraction she felt something suddenly give way within her. It seemed to her as if her bowels had been torn, but soon an apparent calm succeeded this painful sensation.

On M. R.'s entrance he found the patient's countenance flushed, her skin moist, pulse 90, small and thready, respiration slow but regular; she had acute pain in the abdomen, with the sensation as of a weight rolling about in the middle of the belly and crushing the intestines, the uterine contractions were few and transient. The abdomen, depressed and irregular, had lost its rounded form, and permitted the limbs of the fœtus to be distinctly felt, and easily laid hold of through its parietes; and the child swayed from right to left, according to the movements of the patient. On vaginal examination, the head of the fœtus was felt at the uterine orifice. This latter circumstance induced M. R. to wait a short time, but finding that the powers of the mother were being rapidly exhausted, he applied forceps and extracted a female child, which lived only a few minutes. Scarcely was the fœtus expelled, when a soft rose-coloured slightly inflamed mass projected from the vagina and hung down between the thighs

of the patient; this was at once recognized as part of the small intestine and the epiploon. M. R. at once returned the intestinal mass into the vagina, and gently pushed it onward to the fundus of the uterus, in which, rather to the right side of that organ, he found an opening large enough to admit his hand to pass through easily. Having at length with some difficulty returned the whole intestinal mass through the wound, he passed his right hand through the laceration so as to cover its aperture, while with his left, externally, he used frictions over the hypogastric region, with a view of inducing uterine contraction, and for the same object fifteen grains of ergot were administered. After a lapse of two or three minutes, M. R. felt the edges of the wound to approach, and the body of the uterus to make some efforts at contraction. After a second contraction had considerably diminished the diameter of the laceration, M. R. gently drew his hand out of the wound into the cavity of the uterus, and applied it to the inner surface of the rupture, to prevent any projection of the intestines through the opening. A second dose of ergot had been previously administered, and in a short time the uterus contracted so powerfully that he was compelled to withdraw his hand from its cavity. A dangerous attack of metro-peritonitis followed, which was successfully treated in the usual manner. Symptoms of inflammation of the uterus continuing on the second day after delivery, M. R. introduced two fingers into its cavity, and finding a small knuckle of intestine protruding, he successfully effected its reduction. From this time the patient gradually improved, and was at length restored to complete health.

Second Case.-The following recently came under the notice of M. Dubois at the Clinique d'Accouchements :-The patient, ætat. 32, arrived at the termination of her third pregnancy, without any unfavourable symptoms. On the 9th June labour set in with pains, feeble, and recurring at long intervals. On the following day the membranes ruptured, accompanied with trifling hemorrhage; the labour pains ceased, and were replaced by continued and intermitting pain. The medical attendants, being ignorant of the true cause of the cessation of uterine contractions, administered ergot, in order to restore them. At noon of the same day the os uteri was completely dilated, the fœtal head resting at the brim, but no attempt was made at artificial delivery; at six in the evening she was carried to the Clinique in the following condition :-There was general lividity of the surface of the body; the features were contracted, and the radial pulse imperceptible. M. Dubois was called, and at first supposed that the patient laboured under cholera; but, having heard an account of the case, immediately recognized it as an example of rupture of the uterus. On applying the stethoscope the child was found to be dead; forceps might have been applied, but M. Dubois declined to interfere under the circumstances of the case, on the ground that any interference would have hastened the patient's dissolution, and would uselessly compromise the obstetrical art in the eyes of the public, who are always disposed to judge wrongly: the patient died in a few minutes.