of life at which this takes place, varies a good deal according to the vigour of the system, and the general hygienic conditions to which the body is exposed during the early years of life: it coincides in the human female with the appearance of the usual signs of puberty and with the first show of the catamenial discharge. Hence, whatever accelerates or retards the maturation of the Graafian follicles, is observed to accelerate or retard the phenomena in question.

Many medical men-erroneously attributing the many complaints, to which some girls are subject at the epoch of puberty, to the mere efforts of the system to bring on menstruation, endeavour by a variety of means to cause a determination of blood to the sexual organs, with the view, as they imagine, to assist nature. The true cause of the very common unsuccess of such endeavours is what we have mentioned above, viz.: that the Catamenial secretion is not a mere independent discharge of blood to serve any particular purpose, but is in fact the result and consequence of a peculiar process which has gone before it.

Whenever the development of the Graafian follicles is not retarded by any latent cachectic condition of the system, they gradually increase in number and dimensions, while at the same time they approach nearer to the surface of the ovaries. About the period of puberty, we may sometimes count as many as between 30 and 40 in each ovary, and often not a few of them are distinctly visible through the external envelope of this organ.

From the researches of MM. Coste, Carus, Valentin, Wagner and others, it appears that the germ in the human female (as in the females of the lower animals) consists in the presence of an ovum, similar to what is found in the bird. This is a curious fact; for it shows that the law, which regulates the generation of animals, is alike in all. Now the sphere of this law, so to speak, will be most unexpectedly enlarged, if we can shew that, in the females of all mammiferous animals, just as those of birds, fish, reptiles, &c. there is a spontaneous periodic discharge of ova, without the intervention or co-operation of the male sex. Our researches, we think, clearly establish the truth of this curious position.

At each menstrual epoch, a Graafian follicle forms a projection on the surface of the ovary, then becomes the seat of a hæmorrhage, and finally bursts and gives issue to the ovum which it contained.

The catamenial discharge appears to be the result of the sanguineous congestion in the generative organs, which accompanies the last stage of the development of the follicles.

Whenever we have occasion to examine the body of a female who has died very soon after the catamenia have been upon her, we may feel confident that we shall find traces in the ovaries of a 'ponte' (laying of eggs), that has quite recently taken place.

Although M. Negrier had clearly foreseen that such must be the case, he was not able, for want of favourable cases, to demonstrate the perfect truth of this fact. None of the observations, which this eminent physician has published, affords any decisive refutation of the old opinion held by Haller, Graaf, &c., and which is still received in the schools,-viz. that a rupture of the follicles never takes place except during or after coition.

The females of all mammiferous animals are subject to a similar 'ponte,' during the periods of rutting or heat. One or more of the follicles, according as the animal is uniparous or multiparous, then attain their maximum of development, and form a projection on the surface of the ovary. At length they become the seat of a hæmorrhage, are filled with blood, and finally burst and give issue to an ovum. These phenomena are best observed in the sow, in consequence of the position of its follicles, which exhibit the appearance, in some respects, of a cluster of grapes. By attentively examining the ovaries in this animal, we may easily form an idea of what becomes of the follicles, after the discharge of the ova. and how they shrink to such small dimensions soon after

wards, as to be only indistinctly visible-no trace, perhaps, remaining except a minute yellowish or orange-coloured speck.

The escape of ova takes place spontaneously in the lower animals, as it does in the human female, without any intervention of the male. We have ascertained the perfect accuracy of this assertion in swine and in bitches, which had been kept apart from their mates during the whole period of rutting.

It is but justice to admit that Vallisnieri, Malpighi, and Bertrandi had, many years ago, remarked the spontaneous rupture of certain parts of the ovaries in different animals during this period. These physiologists, however, fell into the error of supposing that these bodies, which they called by the name of corpora lutea, or corpora glandulosa, were really distinct organs destined to bring the ova forward to maturation. Now it may be unhesitatingly maintained, that all that has at any time been said of the so-called corpora lutea, &c. is exclusively applicable to the Graafian follicles at a tolerably advanced stage of their formation.

Whether the rupture of the follicles and the subsequent escape of the ova take place spontaneously, or be the result of copulation, the appearances which they (the follicles) exhibit afterwards, are very much alike: this remark applies to the female of the human subject, as well as of the lower mammiferous animals. Indeed, there seem to be certain cases, where the venereal orgasm alone, during coition, is accompanied with a rupture of the follicles, without any previous preparation on the part of nature; but then, before the 'ponte' can take place, the follicles must pass through all the degrees, so to speak, which they usually undergo about the period of the spontaneous expulsion of the ova. The external envelope of the ovary is swollen, becomes the seat of a hæmorrhage, and afterwards the escape of the ovum takes place. We may observe this phenomenon in rabbits, which copulate at all seasons and do not wait for any particular period.

It thus appears that women, like the females of all the mammiferous animals, are subject to a spontaneous ponte,' which recurs at particular epochs-known in the case of the former as the menstrual, and in that of the latter as the rutting, periods. The process in question is evidently connected with the reproduction of the species. In the majority of animals, there cannot be a doubt on this point; for there are some females which will not allow the approach of the male, until they are prepared by nature for the ponte.' The human female must be placed intermediate between such animals as are subject to periodic rutting, and those which are capable of generating at all seasons. On the whole, however, she approaches more nearly to the first, than to the second, of these classes. One result from our statistical researches-which were made with the greatest exactitude is that, out of 100 pregnant women, not more than six or seven at most became so by sexual connexion at a tolerably distant period after menstruation. In most women, conception may be dated from either a few days before, or a few days after, the menstrual period.

It is well known that mule animals, female as well as male, are incapable of reproduction. What is the cause of this sterility? Most probably the absence of Graafian follicles in the ovaries of the former, and of spermatic animalculæ in the seminal fluid of the latter.-L'Experience.

ON THE ORIGIN OF MILITARY OPHTHALMIA.

A report upon the very instructive researches of Dr. Caffe on the Ophthalmia of armies, and especially on that which is still prevalent throughout Belgium, was recently read before the Historic Institute of France. The following extracts will be read with some interest.

"In examining the question, as to the origin of the ophthalmia in the Belgian army, it deserves especial notice that the disease was not known in it until the year 1814, when it made its appearance among the troops of the 7th battalion, posted at Gand. There cannot be a doubt on this point. Well then, the disease must either have been of indigenous development, or it must have been imported somehow into the country. All testimony is against the first, and in favour of the second, of these suppositions. The old soldiers, who formed, as it were, the nucleus of this battalion, had contracted the disease while they served in the French army. It was from them that it was communicated to the young

recruits.

"Admitting, then, the truth of the fact, that the Belgian army derived the disease from the French army, how shall we explain its first introduction into the latter? All the best authorities trace this to the memorable campaign of our troops in Egypt. This country-which seems to have the dismal prerogative of engendering most of the pestilences which have desolated the world-has an atmosphere so loaded with saline particles that we cannot wonder much that the eyes of the inhabitants are almost continually suffering; more especially when, to this source of irritation, we have to add the dazzling reflection of the sun's rays from the plains of sand everywhere-the true cause, by-the-bye, of that singular phenomenon, the mirage.

Then, too, the winds from the desert-so well known by the poetic appellations of Simoom and Samiel-are so utterly desiccative, that the ground becomes dry almost the very moment after it has been watered, and all vegetation is quickly withered up.

"While these winds blow, the skin feels quite harsh and crisped up, and the whole system is in a state of feverish excitement; the eye, as a matter of course, must suffer in an especial degree. We cannot, therefore, be surprised at the extreme frequency and severity of Ophthalmia in Egypt. The constantly increasing number of miserably blind creatures in that country forms one of the greatest drawbacks to its national prosperity.

"This seems, indeed, to have been the case from the earliest times. Herodotus tells us that Cyrus sent a deputation into Egypt to obtain the assistance of a skilful oculist; and we read that Cambyses army, after crossing one of the sandy deserts, returned to their own country in the most miserable plight, in consequence of so many of the poor soldiers having become blind and otherwise diseased. Many of the troops in Alexander's army, that invaded Egypt, suffered terribly in their eyes; and so great was the discontent at one time among his soldiers, that there was every prospect of a general mutiny. The Roman armies, too, had a great aversion to military service in this part of the world. In early French history, we meet with several notices to the same effect. During the reign of Louis IX. many soldiers, who had accompanied an expedition into Egypt, returned either quite blind, or suffering with diseased eyes. It is scarcely necessary to allude to the results, in this respect, of our last expedition under the modern Alexander-who has not however left a city behind him, to proclaim the glory of his name. But as no epidemic ophthalmia had been known in the French army from the time of St. Louis down to the close of last century, the disease, when it was brought back by Buonaparte's troops to France, was regarded as quite novel and unknown in medical history. So severely did our

"The salt is so abundant, that every pit that is dug becomes filled with a saltish water: this is found to be owing to the presence of marine salt, natron, and a little nitre. The surface of the ground, that has been well watered, is often observed to be quite crusted over with a deposit of salt. The natron is formed in great abundance in the different lakes, and large quantities are collected along the track of the Isthmus of Suez."

No. LXXVIII.

LL

poor soldiers suffer, that in Desaix's corps, at El. Laoum, there were not fewer than 800 threatened with complete blindness. During the whole period of occupation, the army suffered terribly from the epidemic. Every now and then it would seem to be disappearing; but again and again it broke forth with as much severity as ever. At length it yielded (or seemed to do so) to an epidemic dysentery; the irritation of the bowels acting as a potent revulsive to that of the organs of vision.

"Let us briefly follow the course of our troops from the time when they left Egypt, in October 1801, until they landed at Toulon and Marseilles.

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Of the whole French fleet, which sailed for Egypt under Admiral Brueis, only two line-of-battle ships (the Guillaume Tell and the Genereux), and two frigates (the Justice and the Diana) escaped after the battle of Aboukir. These vessels, under the command of Admiral Villeneuve, reached Malta. A part of the fleet was burned, destroyed, or carried as prizes to Sicily by Nelson. A number of smaller craft remained at a distance from the scene of action, and escaped at first; but most of them were afterwards captured by the English. One vessel, with 150 wounded and blind on board, reached the shore of Sicily; but the whole crew was barbarously murdered by the inhabitants. The transport, that had Junot, Rigel, Lallemand, &c. on board, was taken by the enemy's cruisers; while that, in which many of the other chief officers had embarked, was driven on shore in the Gulf of Tarentum. In short, with the exception of the squadron which, under the command of Gantheaume, eluded the vigilance of the British and at length landed Napoleon at Frejus in 1800, and of the Lodi which carried General Leclerc to St. Domingo, nothing remained of that fine fleet that, two years before, had carried Cæsar and his fortunes to the East. The rest of our navy subsequently disappeared at Trafalgar in 1805, and at Cadiz in 1808.

"It is evident, therefore, that it was not the French fleet which could have imported the Egyptian ophthalmia; seeing that the fleet itself was destroyed in the East, and its poor remnant went to the West Indies, there to perish of the yellow fever. (The justness of this conclusion is not at all so obvious to us as it seems to be to the writer). Let us now follow the course of the troops, and see whether we can thus obtain any light upon the subject.

"Just before the capitulation of the army, the Ophthalmia (as already mentioned), which had shortly before broke out with great severity, had begun to abate under the influence of a scorbutic dysentery. Still there were very many of the soldiers grievously affected with it, when they embarked on board the British flotilla. Ultimately they were all landed at Marseilles. The troops, which a twelvemonth before had arrived with Buonaparte at Frejus, had unquestionably first brought over the germs of the disease, as a good many of the men (belonging to the small division that was known as the Hussars of Argento) were suffering from it at the time of their debarkation. Part of these were incorporated with the corps of the Mamelukes, and with them stationed at Melun-where the disease was not long of breaking out with violence among the young recruits. About the same time, the troops that had formed the garrison of Cairo, under the command of Belliard, returned to France in British transports; and Samuel Cooper tells us that, happening to be at Marseilles in the year 1802, he himself saw many of the French soldiers affected with the ophthalmia, which they had brought with them from Egypt.

"It was by the sick on board the first English transport after the capitulation of Alexandria, and by the hussars of Argento, and the garrison of Cairo-these brave fellows becoming gradually dispersed over almost every part of Europe— that the infection was introduced into France, Italy, Holland, Germany, and Belgium. The latter country alone retains in the present day this ill-starred gift of the conquerors of the Pyramids to the Grand Army. Such is the origin

of the Belgian ophthalmia-a living branch, so to speak, of a poison tree that grows in the plains of Egypt."

At the same time we must admit that it is far from easy to explain satisfactorily why the disease should of late years have been confined to one country only of Europe, while others, that were originally infected, are now quite exempt from it. How far the following explanation will suffice, may seem doubtful; but it deserves notice." If we except the Mamelukes, who formed a distinct corps to the close of the Empire, all the regiments of the Egyptian army were dissolved, and their men incorporated with other regiments that eventually became dispersed over almost every country in Europe. Engaged in incessant marchings or constantlyrenewed combats, one day encamped in one place and next day in another, they seldom remained for any considerable time in barracks. Now it has been proved that the frequent change of air, and not crowding the sick too much together, are two of the most efficient means to check the progress of military ophthalmia. The disease was thus restricted to the actually existing cases, and was scarcely at all communicated to others. In consequence of this, fresh cases were of rare occurrence, and the extent of the mischief was gradually becoming more and more contracted. As a matter of course, the greater number of the poor fellows, who were afflicted with it, were killed in some one of the murderous battles that were every now and then fought. Thus it was that, in 1814 and 1815, when France was over-run with hostile armies, not above a very few hundred cases were to be found in all the hospitals put together. The foreign soldiers in the French army being then sent back to their respective countries, it so happened that a battalion, that had been formed at Gand in 1814, received into its ranks a good many men that were affected at the time with ophthalmia. From this focus, at first of a very limited extent, there was gradually diffused the baleful evil, which has ultimately extended itself to the entire Belgian army.

"Such is the opinion which we have formed upon the subject; and we may therefore sum up our observations by saying that the ophthalmia of armies,-the offspring of that ophthalmia which from time immemorial has been known to prevail in Egypt, after afflicting every country in Europe (England not excepted)has remained contagious and epidemic in Belgium alone, where a single exceptional circumstance has caused it to survive, while in every other country it has become extinct and unknown."-L'Examinateur Medical.

M. RAYER ON TYPHUS IN THE LOWER ANIMALS.

How far the following communication, from the pen of this eminent physician, may prove satisfactory to the majority of readers on this side of the Channel we shall not take upon ourselves just now to decide, but append a few remarks at the close of it. It was sent to the Royal Academy of Medicine in the form of a letter addressed to the secretary.

"For the last twenty years, the subject of entero-mesenteric or typhoid fever has excited the most lively attention among the medical men of all countries. We cannot be much surprised at this when we consider the very great frequency, and the, alas! too common danger, of the disease.

"The comparative study of man and of the lower animals naturally leads us to enquire if a malady, that is of such frequent occurrence in the former, is ever met with in the latter, and to ask ourselves whether the silence of veterinary writers on the subject is to be regarded as a sufficient warrant to negative this proposition, or merely as shewing that the intestinal lesion, which constitutes the most positive anatomical character of this disease, may have hitherto been overlooked in the case of the lower animals, just as it was in the human subject, before the researches of MM. Petit and Serres came to be generally known.