82 REPORT—1845. 
infusion arose from the old fallacy of the Celts and Goths being radically alien; 
whereas one family of languages extended from the Caspian Sea to Ireland and Por- 
tugal on the west, and to the extreme of India on the east. Certain peculiarities in 
the Celtic and Cumraic arose from the very early date at which they successively 
broke off from the pre-Sanscrit stock. 
Sir R. Schomburgk gave a verbal account of the superstitious and astronomical 
knowledge of the Indians of Guiana, which agreed with the same kind of knowledge 
current amongst the rest of the uncivilized portion of the globe. 
On the Ancient T'umuli in the Yorkshire Wolds. By the Rev. T. Ranxin. 
MEDICAL SCIENCE. 
Results of Researches on the Scrofulous Tubercle* which had reference to its 
. Vascularity. By Dr. Fisuer. 
Att the cases which the author brought forward were illustrated by coloured drawings. 
He treated of two kinds of tubercle: the one developed in the subserous cellular tissue, 
as for instance between the lamine of the mesentery, or between the peritoneum and 
the muscular coat of the intestine ; the other formed at the expense of the parenchyma 
of an organ, as for instance the lung, a lymphatic gland, &c. In the first case, ac- 
cording to Dr. Fisher’s observations, the morbid product would seem, at a certain 
period of its development, to become surrounded by blood-vessels comparatively large 
in calibre, and apparently of a new order, which converge towards the tubercle, some- 
what after the fashion in which the spokes of a wheel are directed towards its nave. 
In the second case, where, for instance, the tubercle is seated in the lung, the nutri- 
tive vessels of that organ, i. e, the bronchial arteries, would appear to assume around 
the morbid product an increase not only in size, but also in number. The semi- 
transparent form of tubercle, especially as it is found in lymphatic glands, would ap- 
pear to be the one most richly endowed with vessels: the latter are much less fre- 
quently met with in the opake caseous form; still, in several instances, vessels arti- 
ficially injected were shown to enter the caseous tubercle, towards the centre of which 
they appeared to tend. 
On a peculiar form of Epidemic affecting the Teeth and Gums of young: 
Children, observed in Dublin in the Winter of 1844-45. By James F, 
Duncan, A.M, MB, FCP. in Ireland, §e. 
This peculiar disease was observed among the children of the North Dublin Union 
Workhouse, an institution containing nearly 2000 inmates of all classes, and averaging 
usually from sixty to eighty infants under two years of age, to which the author has 
been physician since its opening, five years ago. Until last winter he had never ob- 
served anything approaching in character to the present affection, of which he met 
with eight or nine cases. The attack was ushered in by considerable fever, and after 
an interval of some days the gums were found to be partially ulcerated at the inser- 
tion of the teeth, the fangs being exposed; they became also swollen, red and spongy, 
and exhibited a considerable tendency to bleed, insomuch that heemoptoe occasionally 
resulted from this cause. The disease was very severe, and in most cases, either dis 
rectly or in consequence of a relapse, terminated fatally. It seemed to be essentially 
only a part of a deeper-seated affection, namely, an enteritis of'a most extensive and 
severe kind. Its importance however, in a pathological point of view, arose from the 
liability to confound it with that ulceration of the gums which is the consequence of 
the administration of mercury. In some of these cases no mercury whatever had 
* The presence of this tubercle in the lungs is the chief cause of the pulmonary symptoms 
in consumption. Dr. Fisher read a paper before the Cambridge Philosophical Society on 
this subject in 1835. 
