vein, before the constriction was completed. When three ounces had flowed, all the accidents ceased, except some degree of embarrassment in the breathing, and certain convulsive twitches or irregular movements of the limbs. The child was applied to the breast, and it seemed to suck without inconvenience. After a few minutes had elapsed, the pseudo-head had become quite cold; and, as it was now completely destitute of feeling, M. Buhring had an opportunity of examining it at leisure. On making a longitudinal incision through the firm hairy scalp, he found a distinct dura mater underneath; and within this membrane a red-coloured medullary hemisphere, in which the great lobes and the crura of the brain were distinctly visible. During all the time of this anatomical exami nation, the infant continued to suck very quietly; and, for two hours afterwards, it did not exhibit the slightest appearance of suffering. The tumor was covered with pledgets dipped in a spirituous lotion, and these were kept on by means of a light bandage. The child lived for 36 hours after the operation.

Dissection left no doubt as to the nature of the monstrosity: it proved to be, beyond all doubt and question, a second head. The true head was completely organized: the connexion that existed between the two was not by any genuine medullary substance, but by nervous cords, blood-vessels, and a prolongation of dura mater. All the other organs were in a normal condition.—Ibid, and Gazette Medicale.

ON THE RE-PRODUCTION OF THE CRYSTALLINE LENS.

The following is a summary of the conclusions to which M. Textor, in his recent dissertation, Ueber die Wiederzeugung der Krystallinse, has arrived.

The extraction or depression of the crystalline Lens is followed by the re-production of a new one that is more or less regular in its configuration, or at least by the formation of a certain portion of the crystalline mass.-This re-production is the work of the investing capsule, provided this remains uninjured.-When the capsule is removed, the lens is not re-produced. The capsule adheres to the new crystalline ring (bourrelet), but not so very closely that they cannot be separated. The newly-formed Lens possesses the same transparency as the old one. The re-production of the Lens requires a certain length of time, which is however very variable in different circumstances.-The new Lens gradually acquires a greater degree of solidity and thickness.-Its form depends much on the extent of lesion of the capsule.-The capsule has, in all cases of re-production of the Lens, been observed to retain its transparency.

MULLER ON ENCHONDROMA.

Professor Muller was the first who described, under the specific appellation of Enchondroma, a variety of morbid growth, which had previously been classed under the general term of Osteosarcoma, or Osteosteotoma, or cancerous degeneration of the bones, &c.

According to Muller, this disease is a fungous tumor of the osseous_structure, and of the surrounding soft parts, as of the glands, for example. Its external appearance resembles a good deal that of a common potatoe; it occasionally acquires the size of the closed fist; the skin over it usually remains intact: the tumor is found on dissection to be formed by an agglomeration of small tubercles that are filled with a substance of the nature of soft cartilage. When such a morbid growth is carefully examined, it is observed to be composed of two substances that are obviously distinct from each other; viz. one that is of a fibro-membranous character, and is formed of cells of different sizes; and ano

ther that is contained within a fibrous envelope, is of a white colour, and has less consistence than cartilage. Microscopic inspection, however, proves that this inclosed substance exhibits all the features of cartilage; viz. cells of a round or irregularly oblong shape, with granulations within. It not unfrequently happens that the substance of an Enchondromatous tumor is, as Cartilage is in the embryo, altogether cellular in structure. The result of chemical examination confirms that of microscopic inspection; for the presence of Chondrine is readily detected in the morbid substance.

Enchondroma presents itself under different aspects. When it affects the soft tissues, it is usually invested with a thin envelope that looks like cellular texture. It does not attack the articular surfaces; and it generally leaves also the muscles and tendons intact. The disease is of much more frequent occurrence in the osseous than in any other tissue: the bones of the metacarpus and of the digital phalanges are especially subject to its development. In some cases it appears as a bony Envelope, the normal osseous network having become softened and being replaced by a mass of Enchondroma; while, in other cases, the morbid growth is without any bony covering, and its surface is then 'bosselée,' and formed by an agglomeration of rounded corpuscles. The first of these forms usually affects the phalanges, and the second the spongy bones of the carpus, &c.

An interesting dissertation, De Encondromate, was published last year at Erlangen by Dr. Jacob Herz.-Gazette Medicale.

THE INSANITY OF DON QUIXOTE.

It is well known that Sydenham, the great physician of the 17th century, recommended the reading of Cervantes' inimitable novel to all his hypochondriacal patients. He might have recommended this marvel of book-writing in a still higher point of view, and for still more important purposes; viz. as teaching, in the most attractive of all ways, that of example, some of the profoundest lessons of Ethics and Philosophy. In his life-like portrait of his hero, Cervantes has left us an admirable picture of one species of Insanity or mental alienation; admirable not less for its scientific accuracy, than for its extraordinary literary excellence. A Spanish physician, Dr. don Antonio Hernandez Morejou, has illustrated this point remarkably well in his curious work, entitled, "Beautés de la Medecine Pratique decouvertes dans l'ingenieux Chevalier de la Manche." The following extracts, from M. Puibusque's recent work on Spanish and French literature, may prove acceptable to our readers.

"Cervantes has read alike the head and heart of man; he is one of those torches of Science which throw light on all the aspects of the human mind; one of those anatomists of thought who have seized and revealed the most hidden secrets of the intellectual organism. The monomania of Don Quixote is not a fictitious and fanciful insanity; it is complete and perfect in all its parts; it is a portrait drawn not by the imagination, but from strict and most accurate observation, having all its traits combined and blended together most faithfully, according to the laws of Nature: in a word, no madness could be more normal." The most striking features of the Don's insanity, in reference to its exciting causes, are well exhibited in the following table.

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Temperament bilious and melancholic.-Don Quixote was tall, meagre, dry, hairy, of a yellowish complexion, and sombre in his character.

"Age mature; crisis of manhood.—The Don was nearly 50 years of age. "Culture and fertility of the understanding.-He was full of esprit, had an excellent memory, and his acquirements were so various, as to embrace a knowledge of almost every subject.

"Pride of blood and vain glory.-Don Quixote was an hidalgo, a descendant in the direct line from Varon de la Alcurnia, of Guttiere Quijada, conqueror of the sons of the Count St. Paul.

"Laborious and violent bodily exercise. He was a keen sportsman, and especially fond of coursing.

"Sudden transition from activity to inertia.-The Don began to forget, from day to day, the management of his affairs, and even to lose his passion for the chase.

"Diet of heating, viscid, and not very nutritious food.-On gras days, he usually lived on cold minced meat, strongly spiced; supped on lentiles every Friday and Saturday; and added a pigeon to the repast on Sundays.

"The summer solstice, and autumnal equinox.-Don Quixote's worst attacks were on the 23rd of July, the 17th of August, and the 3rd of October.

"Amorous feelings.-The Don was ever so much under the influence of the tender passion that he needed not to see his inamorata to adore her, as the very perfection of all that was admirable.

"Excess of reading.-He sold all his property to purchase books of chivalry and romance.

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Long and repeated watchings.-After reading a whole night, by the mere light of the moon, he never thought of taking rest by day; and thus it was that, by reading much and sleeping little, he so scorched and dried his brain that at length he lost his reason.'

From the enumeration of the causes, the conscientious doctor passes on to point out the symptoms of the case in these words:

"The term insanity is generic, and comprises several species, each of which again exhibits more or fewer varieties. The symptoms are correlative in their nature, and correspond with the diversity of the causes which produce them. Don Quixote, in losing his judgment, had lost the power of distinguishing falsehood from truth; he was now governed solely and entirely by his imagination, and he believed everything that he had read of in his books of romance; he dreamed of nothing else but adventures of chivalry and protestations of love; all these dreams were regarded by him as so many realities, which could only be pursued by his becoming a knight-errant. Therein consists the special and distinctive character of this strange hallucination; the ensemble of the attacks, and of all the circumstances connected with them, constitutes what medical men have called the Syndrome symptomatologique. The disease of Don Quixote does not for a moment escape the eye of the diligent observer; even in the apparent disorder of its phenomena, it will be found to follow the necessary course of its nature, whether this be manifested by a transport of fury, by a fantastic impulse of arrogance, by warlike enthusiasm, or by amorous gaiety. We perceive that, in every paroxysm, the external objects which are brought into contact with the senses of the patient, instead of producing normal sensations and regular images, disturb his judgment, and are presented to his imagination only under an aspect that is comformable to the internal disposition of his excited brain."

"When the poor knight has reached the very acme of his madness, at the time when he has determined to remain alone and in complete nudity in the Sierra-Morena, what is the expedient resorted to by his friends to draw him out and bring him home?

"They appeal to and accuse the illusions of his mind by strange and most droll travestissements. The curate and barber, disguised in the most ridiculous attire, and the beautiful and unfortunate Dorothea conspire together in the most amusing manner; and every one knows how well the plot succeeded. The latter, falling down at the feet of the Knight, tells him that she is the Princess Micomicona, relates in the most touching mood all her troubles and distresses, and implores him to avenge her griefs. Deceived by this stratagem, the Don leaves

his wild retreat, and allows them to bring him along to an inn, where a deep sleep, interrupted only by somnambulism, arrests the progress of his delirium. Soon he falls into a state of profound atony; he is easily mastered, and now we see him carried along to his home in a common cart or waggon, his eyes fixed, his mouth closed, and his head bent down, like a man who has not yet recovered the bewilderment of a frightful dream. Nothing could be more prudent than the resolution of the curate and barber not to visit their friend for a month afterwards, in case their presence might awaken any former associations."

"The moral phenomena, which mark the return of Don Quixote to reason, follow each other in so exact a succession, and are described with such wonderful fidelity that, as Dr. Morejon remarks, we might suppose that the Spanish romancer had stolen the pencil of the old man of Cappadocia; and indeed the description given by Cervantes has this great advantage over that of Hippocrates, that it represents to our minds an action and not a mere definition: in place of there being only a cold lifeless object of the intellect, we have exhibited before us a most amusing personage, with whom we may converse; who diverts us with his drollery, and fascinates us with his talk."

ON THE TRAUMATIC CURVATURE AND INCOMPLETE FRACTURE OF THE LONG BONES IN CHILDHOOD.

This subject has hitherto not been examined with the attention which it deserves. M. Thore, after alluding to the cases which have been published by MM. Thierry, Villaume, Gulliver, Mondiere, &c. relates the particulars of three, which have occurred under his own observation. In the first of these, a child, eight years of age, had the fore-arm bent considerably forwards, in consequence of a fall. In another case, the curvature of the fore-arm was backwards: it occurred in a child three years old, and, from having been neglected, the deformity remained uncured. The third case-some of the details of which we now give-exhibits an instance of a curvature and an incomplete fracture taking place at the same time.

Case. A child, six years and a half old, fell down a stair-case. When visited, the fore-arm was found to be tense, swollen, and very painful on the slightest pressure. The surgeon, that was called, fancied that either the radius or the ulna was fractured: but no crepitus could be perceived upon the most attentive examination. The fore-arm was obviously curvated, the concavity being directed forwards; there was also a notable prominence at the posterior and inner side of the limb. By keeping up extension for a few minutes, the curvature was observed to be considerably lessened for the time; but, in consequence of the great pain induced, nothing more could be then done than merely to apply leeches and a lotion.

M. Thore did not see his patient again for five months; at which time there was still a slight curvature at the seat of the injury. Moreover, immediately above the middle third of the ulna, and more especially at its inner part, a rounded projection-that was evidently caused by deposited callus--could be distinctly felt. The radius appeared to be quite intact.

Most of the cases of curvature and incomplete fracture have occurred in the fore-arm. Three instances have been observed in the leg, and, in one, the arm or humerus was the bone that was injured.

From a good many experiments, which M. Thore has performed on the bones of infants and young children after death, he infers that the tendency to curvaNo. LXXXII. К к

ture and incomplete fracture is greatest about the second year of life. After the 12th or 14th year, these accidents are of very rare occurrence indeed.

In most cases, the deformity will gradually yield to the application of moderate pressure upon the convexity of the injured bone. Occasionally, indeed, no inconsiderable force has been found necessary to straighten the curvature.Archives Generales.

ON THE MECHANISM OR NATURE OF ATROPHY.

The following extract, from a standard work of medical literature on the Continent, is a tolerably fair sample of the spirit of abstruse and fanciful speculation, if not of the philosophic clairvoyance, that characterises so many of the writings of the German physiologists.

"Every act of nutritive crystallisation takes place on the outside of the capillary vessels, in a fluid derived from the blood (plasma, vel cysto-blastema.) The ele ment of formation is the cellule. This possesses a proper individual life, in virtue of which it is developed (plastic force); moreover, it has the faculty of inducing peculiar chemical changes in the materials which it derives from the cysto-blastema by its inner and outer surfaces (metabolic force). Atrophy may be caused, 1, either by the general nutritive fluid ceasing to circulate in the minute vessels, and by the consequent desiccation of the organ; 2, or from the plasma being deficient in the formative materials; 3, or from a morbid condition of the cellule itself, rendering it unfit to fulfil its functions; or 4, from some peculiarity in the state of the nervous influence. The cause of atrophy may also reside in the work of decomposition-which consists in the return to a liquid state of the materials that are expelled from the cellule, and absorbed into the torrent of the circulation; or from an excessive tendency of the organised matter to become liquified; or from a morbid predominance of the excretory process attracting all the organic matter within its reach." Having laid down these principles, Dr. Caustall proceeds to examine the internal and external influences, which are apt to induce the state of Atrophy in any part.-Handworterbuck der Physiologie, art. Atrophie.

FATAL CASE OF GLANDERS, WITH REMARKS.

A man, 55 years of age, was accidentally wounded in the cheek by one of the upper-jaw teeth of a glandered horse, while he was attempting to give the animal drink. The wound bled a good deal at the time; it was bathed first with salt and water, and then with flowers steeped in brandy. He remained quite well until the next afternoon, when he was seized with shivering and general malaise. He was hot and restless during this (the second) night and complained much of headache, pains in different parts of the body, more especially in the seat of the wound. The face became affected with Erysipelas; the edges of the wound looked of a blueish cast, and were covered with phlyctenæ; there was exceeding prostration of strength and spirits; the breathing was hurried and oppressed, and the pulse very rapid and small. The pains in the joints, especially in the left hip, right knee, and lower part of the leg on this side, immediately above the ankle, were exceedingly severe.

For two or three days, the symptoms appeared to become mitigated under the treatment that was adopted; but on the seventh day we read that, in addition to the symptoms already enumerated, there was a sanious discharge from the right nostril, and petechial spots scattered over the surface of the body. The patient,