Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris. 149 



Lithotrity. On the 18th of April, Dr. Civiale read a memoir on 

 the diseases of the bladder, in which, after arguing on the general 

 advantages of lithotrity, he expressed his opinion that, in cases where 

 that mode of operation is absolutely impracticable, and it therefore 

 becomes necessary to cut into the bladder, the hypogastric operation, 

 as now simplified, is generally preferable to those by the rectum or 

 the perina?um. He detailed at great length the particulars of a. 

 case in which he had successfully operated in that manner on a 

 Russian nobleman, who had been suffering the most intense agony 

 for more than eight years. The irritation and inflammation of the 

 parts were so great as to render lithotrity impossible, and even 

 excision quite a forlorn hope. The operation was, however, per- 

 formed, and the patient perfectly cured in twenty-eight days. From 

 the details of this case he draws the conclusions that the cysto- 

 tomie sus-pubienne may be performed in cases which at first sight 

 appear most opposed to it ; and that the passage of urine through 

 the wound is no serious obstacle to its cicatrisation. He also takes 

 occasion particularly to advise all medical men to carefully examine, 

 in each case submitted to them, whether the inflammation of the 

 urethra be the result of local irritation of the urethra itself, or sym- 

 pathetic, and arising from the diseased state of the bladder, as in 

 the latter case nothing can be done to relieve it until the primary 

 cause is removed by the abstraction of the stone. At the meeting 

 on the 25th of April, M. Larrey read a report on a memoir sent to 

 the Academy some time since by Dr. Civiale, in which he gave the 

 latter great credit for his perseverance in bringing lithotrity to per- 

 fection, but regretted that his anxiety to support his favourite theory 

 had induced him to record only the favourable cases, and remain 

 silent on those in which the operation had terminated unfavourably. 

 The reporter said that the official reports of the hospitals proved 

 that the number of patients who have died after being operated on by 

 lithotrity is, in proportion, as great as that of those who have not 

 survived the operation of cutting out the stone. At the subsequent 

 meeting, Dr. Civiale questioned the correctness of this report, and 

 repeated, that, in 1 52 cases, lithotrity had been successful. M. Lar- 

 rey's documents were, however, official ; and the real comparative 

 merit of the operations must still be considered as undecided. 



New Surgical Instrument. On the 2d of May, Dr. Tilhol pre- 

 sented to the Academy a new intrument for the purpose of making 

 injections into the cavities of the mucous membranes, and abstract- 

 ing the liquid contained in those cavities. 



Temperature of the Blood. On the 9th of May, a memoir on this 

 subject, by M. Collard de Montigny, was read to the Academy. It 

 maintains that the temperature varies in the course of circulation, 

 and that (contrary to the received opinion) it is lower when the blood 



