glycerine, for then the quills will not dry, and the charge will be very liable to be accidentally rubbed off. And do not use too much water, otherwise the paste will be too thin, and putrefaction will take place before drying is complete, in which case very disastrous results may be produced. Well prepared, a quilled crust will retain its energy as long as quilled lymph, but this proceeding should be adopted only by those who have had considerable experience in the practical details of vaccination. The quills thus charged are to be used in the same manner as quills charged with lymph, and, equally with these latter, should be kept dry and cool until used.

Whichever of the above-described methods of operating be chosen, after the operation is finished the arm should be kept perfectly bare, and in such a position that the exuded blood may dry without trickling away, for a sufficient length of time to allow of absorption (generally about fifteen minutes), before the arm is covered. No sticking-plaster or any thing of the sort should be applied, as whatever goes on must come off on the eighth day, to allow of inspection, and the process of tearing off a piece of plaster from a vaccinial vesicle is any thing but agreeable, to say nothing of the risk of injuring the vesicle. Even if removed at an earlier period, erythema will, very likely, have been produced.

On the eighth day the arm should be inspected, and, if no appearance of success be found, the operation should be repeated on the same arm, but not at precisely the same points. But there may be presented at this time an imperfectly developed efflorescence, not

sufficient in amount to confer the maximum of protec-. tion against small-pox, but enough to have exhausted the local receptivity.* Under these circumstances, it seems advisable to repeat the operation on the opposite

arm.

TERATOLOGICAL.

AGENESIS URETHRÆ, ETC., CYSTECTASIS, REN UNGULIFORMIS, ETC.,

ABORTUS, DYSTOCIA.

Being the Report of the Section on Obstetrics, Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, on the Specimen Referred.

Prepared and read by JAMES T. WHITTAKER, A. M., M. D.,

Prof. of Physiology, Medical College of Ohio; Member of the Obstetric Section, Academy of Medicine.

THE case occurred in the practice of Dr. J. D. Steabler. Its narration is recorded in the minutes as follows:

"On last Thursday morning I was called to a case of abortion at the sixth month. No dilatation being

* The existence of a local, as contradistinguished from a systemic, vaccinial receptivity, is not fully proved, and the matter needs further study. The conjecture is founded on a presumed analogy with what the practice of so-called syphilization has shown to be true in regard to the receptivity of the virus made use of in that practice. It can do no harm, and may be of great benefit, to act in accordance with the advice given in the text.

· present, an anodyne was administered. At 5 P. M. the cord was found prolapsed in the vagina, with a presentation of the hand, foot, and vertex. On making traction upon the foot to which a fillet had been applied, the member detached from the leg. The other foot behaved similarly. By a fillet to the knee, version was easily effected. Extraction beyond the breech being impossible, Dr. S. P. Bonner was called in consultation. A smooth tumor was detected in the pelvic cavity it was recognized as the distended abdomen of the child. This was ruptured with the finger over the right groin, a large quantity, perhaps a gallon, of fluid evacuated, and delivery readily effected. The child had evidently been dead for a long time. No cause of the abortion could be ascertained. Dr. Bonner added that it was nearly half an hour before the diagnosis was clearly established. The tumor bore a striking resemblance to the distended membranes of another child. There was no pulsation on the prolapsed cord. The child had probably been dead ten days."

On motion the specimen is referred to the Section on Obstetrics for examination and report.

Your Committee begs leave to submit the following:* The foetus is in the sixth month of intra-uterine life. This is recognized by the presence of the membrana pupillaris, and by the existence of ossific

*The author would express his acknowledgments to Drs. J. J. Quinn, Chairman of the Section on Obstetrics, P. S. Conner, of the Section ou Urinary Diseases, and J. C. Mackenzie, of the Section on Microscopy, for valuable assistance throughout the protracted examination.

deposits in the axis as well as by the stage of general development. It is in the condition technically known as maceration.* The skin is universally miscolored, the epidermis detached in places and everywhere easily separable. The cranial bones are loose and extremely movable; the scalp is flabby and dependent; the brain mushy. All internal organs are softened and more moistened by the fluid which permeates and infiltrates their structure. All the serous membranes are of a dirty reddish or brownish color from imbibition of the disorganized blood, which fluid discolors also the serum present in the various cavities. The body emits a faint sweetish odor.

*When the foetus is retained in utero after death, it is subjected to one of the three following changes: mummification, maceration, putrefaction. For the first two it is necessary that air be excluded, otherwise the third ensues. This exclusion of air in the cavity of the uterus is most effectual when the membranes about the inclosed embryo remain intact, and consequently the liquor amnii undischarged. In the first process, that of mummification, the water of composition of the various tissues is either absorbed, as in extra-uterine pregnancy (where this change is not infrequent), or exosmoses as in utero, so that the whole organization shrivels to a dense hard mass like the Egyptian mummy, whence the name is derived. Except this loss of water in mummification, there are no other morphologic changes, and the body may remain in this condition for years; thus Virchow and others mention that they have found muscular and connective tissues and vessels in the extrauterine fœtus perfectly unchanged years after their development. A mummified extra-uterine foetus has been carried for fifty-six years. Most remarkable subdivisions of this form are the processes of calcification (lithopædion), and of conversion into adipocere. Although of no particular relevance to the subject under discussion, this latter process of saponification is mentioned because it contains a hint of practical interest. As suggested by Beale, it may be artificially induced by the addition of a small quantity of liquor soda, to a definite proportion of alcohol and water. After the second day of immersion, the whole body becomes translucent, so as to exhibit every ossific centre. As the exact age may thus be determined, it must be of no little forensic importance. The author possesses such a specimen at the fourth month. The process of maceration is described in the report. That of putrefaction is familiar to all.

The feature of most marked interest in the specimen is, the immense distention of the abdomen, the collapsed and flabby parietes of which depend below the lower extremities. Its integument is marked, too, by the striæ of dermatic distention. Two and a half quarts of water could be forced into the orifice of rupture by means of Davidson's syringe. On laying open its cavity and removing the anterior thorax, it was observed that the four lower ribs were forced outwards by the fluid below. The diaphragm was likewise pushed upwards, so that the solidified lungs (capable, however, of inflation) occupied the upper and posterior portion of the thoracic cavity. The heart was perfectly normal. The liver was found in situ; the intestines, large and small, occupied the left hypochondriac region, where the ilio-cocal valve was detected. From this point the ascending transverse and descending colon (folded upon themselves) were traced down to the sigmoid flexure in the left lumbar region. Here the rectum commenced, but instead of passing down the hollow of the sacrum to terminate normally, it swept over upon the side of the enormously distended bladder, in which its orifice was afterwards found. All the intestines were empty except the rectum. This was filled to its utmost capacity, measuring 23 inches in circumference at its centre, 2 a few lines beyond the sharp turn of the sigmoid flexure. It was apparently attached to the bladder at its vesical extremity by a solid cord of 2 lines thickness: during manipulation, however, the rectum was found to diminish somewhat in size, and on subsequent inspection a well-marked orifice was detected upon the corre