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The liquor amnii was clear, almost colourless, and, though somewhat viscid, did not with the usual tests afford any indication of albumen, being coagulated only by acetate of lead and proto-nitrate of mercury. It contained none of the matters which constituted the coagula found in the stomachic fluid.*

Observation 7. The stomachs of two newly born kittens contained a brown, semi-transparent, viscid substance, which, on the application of heat or nitric acid, evinced the presence in it of a considerable quantity of albumen, but did not wholly coagulate. The portion which retained its transparency did not, however, manifest any disposition to dissolve in the boiling water. The contents of the small intestine were also albuminous.

In the œsophagus and fauces of one of these animals was found some of the same brown, viscid, semi-albuminous substances; and it may also be worthy of mention, that the quantity present in the stomach of this animal (which had lived a few hours after birth) was much less than in the other case.

Observation 8.-In each of two puppies, drowned immediately after birth, the stomach contained about half an ounce of a transparent, slightly viscid fluid, suspended in which were several large flakes of a light yellow or lemon colour, each flake being surrounded by an extremely tenacious gelatinous substance. On testing the clear supernatant liquid, it was found to be distinctly albuminous, an opaque stratum of coagula being deposited on the application of heat and nitric acid. A portion of one of the flakes and the adjacent mucus being examined under a high magnifying power, presented, in addition to epithelial scales and some oil globules, several minute particles of dif ferent shapes, a few appearing as perfect circles or rings, others of a crescentic form, and the remainder as rhomboidal and linear particles.

Observation 9.-The stomach of a human fœtus of about the fifth month, examined thirty hours after birth, was found moderately distended. On laying it open, a reddish coloured fluid escaped, and this was followed by three or four semi-transparent gelatinous masses. The largest of these was then placed in a watch-glass containing distilled water, and heat applied. As the temperature of the water approached the boiling point, numerous flakes were seen to radiate from the floating body; and as the process of ebullition proceeded, this latter became throughout its whole substance, firm and opaque, so as to constitute a perfect coagulum. Another mass was treated with nitric acid, and wherever the latter came in contact with it, an instantaneous coagulation took place. The contents of the small intestines were

A quantity of the peculiar milky fluid, secreted by the spongy structures which receive the highly vascular foetal cotyledons, and collected from them by pressure, on being heated, instantly coagulated into a firm mass. With the single exception of its colour being rather that of cream, than a distinct yellow, this substance precisely resembled the coagulum obtained by heating the contents of the stomach, of the mature fœtal rabbit. And in its chemical and nutritive properties this secretion presents a striking analogy to the colostrum furnished to the animal immediately after birth. The secretion of these structures was, in the mature foetal lamb, also found to possess a similar property.

arranged in separate portions, in the order of their proximity to the stomach; and the liquid pervading them, on the addition of the same test, also evinced the presence of albumen, the relative quantity of this principle gradually decreasing as the chymous mass assumed the properties of meconium. My friend Dr. Glover was present at this observation, and kindly assisted me in its performance.

Observation 10.--The stomach of an infant, supposed to have died immediately after birth, but which was not examined till about forty hours afterwards, contained half an ounce of a remarkably viscid, reddish, semifluid substance, for the most part transparent, but presenting in its interior and on its surface, several opaque white striæ. On boiling a portion in distilled water, it became uniformly opaque, but did not acquire much additional firmness. Heated with strong nitric acid, a clear solution was obtained, from which, on its neutralization by liquor ammoniæ, a copious flaky deposit took place; and the same circumstance occurred with an alkaline solution, when rendered neutral by the addition of nitric acid. The white striæ were of a fatty nature, as evinced both by their chemical properties and microscopical appearance, being chiefly constituted of fat cells. A transparent viscid substance contained epithelial scales, oval nucleated cells, and a dif fused granular matter. This substance could be traced into the duodenum, where it gradually became more opaque, and evidently constituted the material for chymification.

From all these facts, we may, I think, draw the following general conclusions:

1. That the stomach of the fœtus, during the latter period of its uterine existence, invariably contains a peculiar substance, differing from the liquor amnii, and generally of a nutritious nature.

2. That in its physical and chemical properties, this substance varies very much in different animals, being in no two species precisely similar.

3. That in each foetal animal the contents of the stomach vary much at different periods; in the earlier stages of its development, consisting chiefly of liquor amnii, to which the other peculiar matters are gradually added.

4. That the liquor amnii continues to be swallowed by the fœtus up to the time of birth; and consequently after the formation of those matters, and their appearance in the stomach.

5. That the mixture of this more solid and nutritious substance with the liquor amnii constitutes the material submitted to the process of chymification in the fœtal intestines.

The opinion that the fœtal chyle is principally formed from these matters, however, by no means implies a supposition that the nutrition of the fœtus is thus accomplished. For the actions which proceed in the chylopoietic viscera of the foetus are, I imagine, chiefly useful from their gradually preparing the different organs for the important functions assigned to them in the economy of the mature animal. Whereas the nutrition of the fœtus is undoubtedly effected by its placental vessels, the venous capillaries of which (or to speak more correctly,

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 fœtal 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 digestion.

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 fœtal 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 fœtal 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 animal was allowed to feed with the rest.

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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.'

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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

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