488 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



That the branches of the lumbar and sacral vertebrae are not ab- 

 sent in the region affected, but are more or less everted by the pre- 

 sence of the tumour. 



The researches which Professor Fisher has made on the defective 

 formation of the spinal cord have led him to adopt the following 

 general view regarding the plastic process of that organ : 



That although the spinal cord possesses, like every other organ, a 

 plastic process peculiar to itself, yet that process may be so influ- 

 enced by the anomalous condition of some of the roots of the spinal 

 nerves as to lead to a partial malformation, or even to a partial de- 

 ficiency of the organ *. 



The following are the therapeutical inferences that Professor 

 Fisher has drawn from his investigations of the disease in ques- 

 tion : — 



That as the fluid which the tumour contains is a natural product f, 

 and destined by its pressure to protect the parts with which it is in 

 relation, the removal of it, either by a natural or artificial opening, 

 is to be avoided ; for an opening is not only liable to occasion in- 

 flammation of the lining membrane of the tumour, by the introduc- 

 tion of air and by other causes, but also to allow the continual 

 escape of the fluid, so as to lead to death, either by exhaustion or 

 by depriving the blood of its serous fluid ; for according to an ob- 

 servation recorded by Morgagni, and one made by Professor Fisher 

 himself, the suppression of urinary secretion coincided with the con- 

 stant discharge of the fluid. 



That if, in puncturing the tumour, the operation be performed in 

 the upper and middle part of it, the spinal cord will almost neces- 

 sarily be wounded. 



That if the skin covering the tumour be in a natural state, then 

 an equable pressure, in the application of which regard must be had 

 to the situation of the spinal cord, may be used with advantage ; but 

 if the walls of the tumour be thin and membranous, then astringent 

 lotions, tending to corrugate them, may be applied ; in this case, 

 however, the disease generally proves fatal. 



LXXXIV. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



USE OF SULPHATE OF AMMONIA IN AGRICULTURE^. 



T^OR the full development of the capacity of the soil, and to 

 •*• afford a greater amount of nitrogen 'than what is af- 



* The author has applied the idea involved in this view to the considera- 

 tion of Anencephalus, and it is his intention to communicate, on another 

 occasion, the results of his observations on that subject, and on the de- 

 fective formation of the upper part of the spinal column. 



t The fluid is secreted by the pia mater, but its quantity is probably in- 

 creased by the veins, which often appear unusually distended, a condition 

 that may be owing to the want of resistance in the containing parts. , As 

 regards the author's views on the subject of this secretion, see Phil. Mag. 

 S. 3. vol. x. p. 316. 



X Communicated by the Engineer of the Chartered Gas Company. 



