PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 87 



glass, and were then covered witli balsam so as to increase the trans- 

 parency and enable them to be shown by a lantern. 



The Secretary said they had received a further communication 

 from Mr. Dallinger, in which he described the effect of temperature 

 upon the very minute organisms which he had previously written 

 about. The paper was of much interest, and would be published in 

 the Journal, but, owing to the pressure of other matter, it would be 

 taken as read. 



Mr. Charles Stewart, Secretary, said that they had also received a 

 highly interesting paper "On the Origin and Development of the 

 Eed Blood Corpuscles in the Human Ovum," by Dr. H. D. Schmidt, 

 of New Orleans. The paper was illustrated by some of the most 

 beautifully-executed pencil drawings he had ever seen, which would 

 be printed in the Journal, where they would have the opportunity 

 of reading the paper in extenso. It would not be possible to read 

 the whole of it to the meeting, in consequence of there being other 

 matters to occupy their time, but he would endeavour to give them an 

 outline of its contents, and just roughly draw some of the illustrations 

 on the board, and then he should refer them to the Journal for the 

 more minute details. 



Dr. Matthews inquired what was the presumed age of the ovum ? 



Mr. Charles Stewart said that the exact age was not named, but it 

 was stated that the woman had not menstruated for two or three months, 

 but the signs of pregnancy had only been for three weeks ; the size of 

 the ovum was given as 2^ centimetres. 



Dr. Matthews said he had asked the question because he had with 

 him an ovum the exact age of which he knew positively. The patient 

 from whom it came had gone to the end of an ordinary pregnancy, 

 and was delivered of a child, which died. The usual consequences 

 of labour were passed through, and lasted the ordinary period ; at 

 the end of the month she menstruated, and at the end of another 

 month she aborted, and the ovum which he produced was the result, 

 so that he believed there could be no doubt as to its being a month 

 old. He could positively say that there never was any appearance of 

 blood at all either in the placenta or in the vesicle. 



Mr. Stewart said that in the case described by Dr. Schmidt the 

 blood was contained in the walls of the vesicle. 



The President thought that the specimen exhibited by Dr. 

 Matthews must be a much more developed ovum, the size of the 

 embryo being nearly half an inch. 



Dr. Matthews said he had mentioned the specimen shown by him 

 because there certainly never was any more appearance of blood in it 

 than it showed at the present time, and he obtained it within three 

 hours of the time when it was extruded. 



The President thought it quite likely that the circumstances re- 

 ferred to in the paper were the result of abnormal development, and 

 that as this went on some red blood corpuscles might have been pro- 

 duced. It was quite possible that where one condition was abnormal 

 all the rest might be so too ; so that, supposing it to be a case of 

 abnormal development, a small sac of blood disks might have been 



