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ZOOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

1. A GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM AND MANUAL OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. By Thomas Rymer Jones, F.Z.S. Professor of Comparative Anatomy in King's College, London. Illustrated by numerous Engravings on Wood. Parts X. and XI. Price 2s. 6d. each Part. Van Voorst, London, 1840.

Mr. Jones has arrived at the Vertebrata, and Fishes are served up in the eleventh Part before us. The execution of the work does not flag, no trifling encomium, and the mechanical execution of both letter-press and wood-cuts is admirable. We would reiterate our recommendations to our readers to possess this work.

II. A HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS. By William Yarrell, V.P.Z.S. Illustrated by a Woodcut of each Species and numerous Vignettes. Parts XVIII. and XIX. Van Voorst, London, 1840.

Mr. Yarrell is again here with his delightful sketches of our Native Birds. And a pretty looking volume they will make. The work, we see, verges towards its completion. Had we any fair readers we would press it on them; the doctor's drawing-room table should be furnished with it, even though the shades of Hippocrates should frown it from the sacred shelf devoted to the sad and learned writers on our science.

THE NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. Conducted by Sir Wm. Jardine, Bart. Ichthyology; treating of the Nature, Structure, and Economical Uses of Fishes. By J. S. Bushnan, M.D. pp. 219, with numerous plates. Lizars, Edinburgh. Highley, London, 1840.

In this most interesting volume, Dr. Bushnan has presented us with a highly characteristic portrait of the habitats, anatomy, physiology, and economy of that great class of animated beings which inhabit the "waters under the earth" -which existed perhaps millions of years before MAN was created-and which forms a connecting link between the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. The work is executed with singular care and ability, and does Dr. Bushnan infinite credit. It is preceded by a memoir of Hippolito Salviani, an author probably unknown, even by name, to the majority of our readers, but who cultivated natural history in general, and ichthyology in particular, in a distant age, in troublesome times, and with praiseworthy assiduity. Baron Cuvier and our present author have rescued the venerable name of Salviani from comparative, but unmerited obscurity, and deserve the thanks of all the lovers of God's wonders on this globe. The plates of this volume are admirably executed and beautifully coloured. One other volume on the same subject is promised from the pen of that able and enterprizing traveller, M. Schomburgh, "On the Fishes of the Essequibo, and the Rivers of British Guiana." We shall hail it with great pleasure; in the mean time we return our best thanks to the talented author of the present volume, and wish him long life and that greatest of blessings—

GOOD HEALTH.

EXTRA-LIMITES.

CASE OF DRACUNCULUS OR Guinea-Worm.

(To the Editors of the Medico-Chirurgical Review.)

Kissy Hospital, Sierra Leone, 28th Nov. 1839. GENTLEMEN,-I have the honour to forward you the particulars of a case of Dracunculus or Guinea-worm which came under my care as surgeon to the Liberated African Hospital, at Kissy. Should you deem the same to possess sufficient interest to occupy a place in the columns of your valuable journal, I will feel much indebted by its insertion. I have taken the liberty at the same time of requesting your acceptance of the accompanying morbid preparation, taken from the subject of the case above alluded to.

I have the honor to be,

Your most obedient humble servant,
ROBERT CLARK,

Assistant Surgeon to the Colony of Sierra Leone.

Ogoumini, a liberated African boy, æt. 11, a native of Housu, was admitted to hospital on the 30th of January, 1839, with a worm protruding from inner and inferior third of right thigh; his general health is good. Three inches of the worm was gently drawn out, when two inches was removed with scissors and a thread attached to remainder to prevent its retreating; during its extraction he complained a good deal of pain.

Apply a soft cassada poultice so as to cover the worm.

February 4th.-Up to this date no change has taken place, but this morning the worm was lound lying on poultice; it measured three feet; complains of pain in sole of left foot. On examination, I found a small vesicle, on opening which a small quantity of a milky-like fluid escaped, but no worm could be detected, the little sufferer maintains however, that there is a worm present there.

Immediately apply a large soft cassada poultice.

8th. The poultice has been regularly applied twice a day up to this date, when a worm was observed to present where the vesicle had been opened; four inches of the animal were drawn out, when three inches were removed, the remaining portion being treated as above described, the remainder came away on 11th inst. when it was found to measure one foot and a half.

13th.-Two worms have appeared, one situated on the outer portion of left foot, the other on anterior edge of right ankle; several inches of the former were extracted and about one inch of the latter was drawn out

R. Liniment. Sapon. C. 3ij.

Let the ankle be embrocated with liniment, which is also to be applied over the foot.

14th. To day I gently drew out one and a half inch of worm situated on right ankle-that on left foot I entirely removed-says that he has a tingling sensation over the whole body, accompanied with horripulation.

20th. The sore on left foot from which the worm was extracted has put on an unhealthy appearance, its centre being bloody.

B. Acet. plumb. gr. vi.

Ps. opii. gr. iss.
Aquæ font. 3j. M.

Ft. Solutio.

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The lotion to be applied to sore, after which let it be covered with a poultice. 23rd. The centre of ulcer is nearly filled up with healthy granulations. During the night he was attacked with bilious diarrhoea.

B. Ol. ricini. 3ss.
Sub-mur. hyd. gr. ij.
Aquæ font. i. M.

Ft. haustus, stat. sumend.

Continue lotion and dress the sore with simple cerate.

26th.-Diarrhoea has continued in spite of the administration, every three hours, of the Mist. creta. c. opio. combined with catchu, which he has taken since the 24th inst. Skin clammy-tongue red at tip-eyes are sunk in and glossy great prostration of strength with sinking of abdominal parietes towards vertebral column, evacuations are now mixed with frothy mucus and undigested aliment-he is much emaciated. To-day a worm has appeared on the right foot, close to tarsal metatarsal articulation—it has resisted every effort made for its removal.

Continue poultices and dressing to sore on left foot, which is almost healed up. Discontinue chalk mixture.

R. Sub-mur. hyd.

ij.

Ps. opii, gr. iij. M.

Ft. mass. et divide in pil. No. xij.

One of the pills to be taken every three or four hours.

His common drink to consist solely of rice water.

Let the abdomen be cir

cled with a flannel bandage, which is to be moderately tightened. To be allowed a small quantity of wine with well-boiled arrow-root.

28th. The treatment last mentioned was regularly continued, but proved ineffectual in suppressing the evacuations, for he rapidly sunk and died on the morning of the 29th inst.

Post-mortem Examination.—Head-Brain healthy.

Thorax-Lung of left side adherent to the walls of chest. Pericardium contained about a drachm of serous fluid; on removing the heart and making a section through right auricle and ventricle, an organized substance of a dirtywhite colour and nearly globular in form was found to fill up the auricular cavity; a band of similar colour proceeded from the tumor into the right ventricle, where it became attached to the walls of heart; the upper surface of tumor was connected to the fleshy columns of auricular portion: proceeding from inferior portion of band there was a loose process, descending into the ventricle.

Abdomen-Peritoneum contracted; stomach and intestinal canal filled with fluids of a dark green colour; the other organs were normal,

AN ACCOUNT OF A REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF RUPTUre of the DuodeNUM; AND OF some other rare or interesTING CASES, (read at the last meeting of the British Association.) By Sir David J. H. Dickson, F.R.S.E. F.L.S. Physician of Plymouth Hospital.

RICHARD HAWKINS, marine, æt. 40, who had been complaining for some days, but was not considered seriously ill, at 4 a.m. on Sunday the 4th of March, whilst straining at stool, was seized with excruciating pain in the right hypochondrium. He was admitted into this hospital from H. M. S. Royal Adelaide at 3 p.m. and died before midnight. The symptoms were, severe pain in the region of the cæcum and ascending colon, which he attributed to flatulence; a hurried, rest. less, and impatient manner; pale, haggard, and anxious countenance, expressive

of great distress; short, hurried respiration; and a very weak, quick, and irregular pulse. General depletion had been freely resorted to previously to his admission, followed by aperients, without relief; and as he attributed all his suffering to flatus, warm purgatives, assisted by turpentine enemata, carminatives, &c. were administered; followed, as the pain continued unabated, by leeching, and assiduous fomentations, but without any relief, and he sank at half-past 11 I afterwards ascertained that he had been reduced to the ranks for fighting and drinking three days previously; and while wrestling was thrown with violence backwards, on the breech of a gun.

P.M.

Sectio cadaveris, 40 hours P.M.-The stomach and bowels were distended with flatus, and there was also some gas in the abdominal cavity. The vessels of portions of the intestines were congested; the cæcum and ascending colon were normal, but the transverse and descending portions of the gut were signally contracted. On cautiously raising the bowels, a quantity of ingesta was found to have escaped from the duodenum, which was ruptured or perforated in four different places, within an inch and a half of the jejunum. Its attenuated and pellucid appearance, especially near to its termination, rendered it probable that the mucous and muscular coats had previously undergone ramollissement and absorption, and that the peritoneal coat had afterwards given way from mechanical violence or distention. There was no redness nor congestion in the neighbourhood of the apertures; three of which were large enough to admit the end of the finger; and from one to two inches apart: nor did the intestines appear to have been otherwise diseased; but the internal surface of the stomach exhibited some dark red patches, from venous congestion, so well described by Dr. Yelloly in the Medical and Chirurgical Transactions. I have already alluded to the soft attenuated state of the ruptured coats of the duodenum, which was the more marked from the thick appearance of the jejunum caused by the rugæ of the valvulæ conniventes,-but there are not sufficient data from which we can fairly infer how long these lesions had preceded death; although the probability is, that they happened when the patient felt the excruciating pain while straining at stool; or whether they occurred simultaneously, or consecutively-but the situation of the openings, and the manner in which the gut is enveloped by the peritoneal reflexions, may explain why not more of its contents had escaped, in this instance; and hence persons may survive such accidents for several days, or only a few hours, according to circumstances. Looking to its very peculiar course, and the manner in which the duodenum is bound down, it does not appear to me improbable, that it should be more liable to injury from particular causes than the more free and floating intestines. I allude to violent muscular exertions, and contortions,—especially such as are accomplished by retroversion, or bending the body backwards, as in wrestling, tumbling, certain feats of horsemanship, &c. Such persons often die suddenly and without cadaveric inspection-or, should there be any examination p. m., if superficially conducted, the cause of death (as might have happened in the present case) would probably escape detection. Hence the same remark is applicable here which I made in my paper on Rupture of the Recti Abdominis and other Muscles,-read at a former meeting of the British Association,-viz. that, in all probability, death arises much oftener from such accidents than is generally imagined.

Case of Ileus, in which, from enormous distention, the Cœcum occupied the
Situation of the Transverse Colon.

Richard Hoar, S. æt. 50, was admitted from the San Josef on the 26th, with obstinate constipation of five days' standing, singultus, stercoraceous vomiting, &c. and died on the 22nd of May 1839.

Sectio cadaveris 21 hours P. M.-The abdomen was very much swollen and tympanitic, from its peritoneal cavity, containing a large quantity of serum, and the small intestines being much distended with flatus. Within two inches of

the extremity of the ileum, a strong membranous band, probably the product of former inflammation, extended across the gut, from the lateral wall to the mesocolon, to which it was firmly attached; yet notwithstanding the lower portion of the ileum together with the cæcum, had been forced upwards into the epigastrium, so as to occupy the situation of, and during life to be mistaken for the transverse colon, the ileo-cæcal valve was much thickened and diseased, and nearly as hard as cartilage; and the cæcum had a black sphacelated appearance; and was enormously distended with fæces and gas, thus producing all the effects of a double strangulation. The serous and muscular tunics still retained some tenacity, but the mucous coat was quite disorganized. The stomach, liver, and also the contents of the chest were healthy, but much encroached upon by the diaphragm, pressed upwards by the unnatural position of the cæcum.

Case of Intermittent Coma, from Diseased Brain, and Rupture of the Anterior Artery of the Cerebellum.

John Richards, S. æt. 50, after having been, according to the case, in a coma. tose state for three days, from which every effort to rouse him had failed, exhibited symptoms of re-action, and subacute meningitis; in which condition he was admitted on the 17th and died on the 23d May, 1839. The alternations of torpor and excitement in this, as well as other cases, though the cause was organic, and progression was very remarkable: the patient, at one time lying in a low, muttering, or almost insensible state-with tremors, or alternate extension and retraction of the left limb-and apparently in extremis ;—and at another period lying so much revived as to be able to swallow, protrude the tongue, and answer questions, though frequently incorrectly, as that he was very well"-and to notice those around him. The similar conditions of the above artery, and of the aorta, from the deposition of osseous matter, as developed by dissection, is worthy of attention.

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Sectio cadaveris, 18 hours P.M. The arachnoid membrane, on exposing the surface of the brain, appeared opake and milky, and was raised from its convolutions by gelatinous effusion. A considerable quantity of a bloody fluid, with semi-coagulated clots, found at the base of the brain, which further examination proved to have proceeded from the rupture of a small true aneurism of the size of a quill, and filled with colourless clots of the anterior artery of the cerebellum, about three-quarters of an inch of its origin from the basilar artery; a perforation sufficient to admit the probe having taken place in its anterior aspect. The coats of the artery presented distinct ossific deposits, feeling gritty internally; the left side of the cerebellum was wasted, soft and diffluent, and resembled the appearance of curdy pus; particularly over the seat of the arterial disease, which may probably be attributed to the pressure of the effused blood. The lateral ventricles were distended with bloody serum; but the brain was in this case natural. The lungs were healthy-the heart slightly dilated. The aorta was sacculated, and its elasticity impaired by extensive ossific deposition, presenting bony scales, as large as a sixpence, and easily detached. The tricuspid valves were thickened, but the rest of the vascular system, as far as examined, appeared to be normal. The abdomen did not present any change worthy of notice.

Joseph Rowe, was another case of arachnitis, during last quarter, which besides congestion, subarachnoid effusion, serum in the ventricles, &c. exhibited a very extensive deposit of little semi-cartilaginous bodies, in the sub-serous cellular tissues of the diaphragm, stomach, spleen, mesocolon, &c. ; they formed small, generally round, well-defined spots, or patches, and were confluent like small-pox all over the surface of these organs. While on this subject, I may briefly notice that in a patient named Malcolm Marshall, recently under surgical treatment, for an abscess of the thigh, nearly well-and who had not betrayed any previous

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