PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 31 



filaments of any inelastic material, whether vegetable or animal, wonlcl 

 fray out, as it were, and present to the eye a more or less obscurely 

 pointed appearance. Further observation proved my hypothesis to be 

 correct in numerous instances ; and I believe that this characteristic 

 of abruptly broken fibres will be found one of the most useful means 

 yet suggested for the recognition of pulmonary tissue in sputima." 

 In conclusion, he remarks that this plan for the early detection of 

 phthisis is especially useful in confirming the diagnosis of obscure 

 and otherwise doubtful cases; in distinguishing examples of bronchitis 

 in the upper lobes of the hmgs, where the physical signs simulate 

 those of tubercular deposit ; and, according to his own observations, 

 in recognizing those masked cases of acute phthisis which at first so 

 closely resemble enteric (typhoid) fever, that they have hitherto 

 often misled for a time even the most astute practitioners. 



Cancer of the Lymphatics. — Microscopical Appearances. — In the 

 ' New York Medical Journal ' for November, Dr. Whitall says that 

 most of the lymphatic glands, the left breast, and the surrounding 

 indurated tissue, contained an abundance of fibrous tissue, in which 

 were imbedded li-ee nuclei and nucleated cells of various shapes and 

 sizes. In some of the glands, and in a portion of the pancreas, the 

 cells predominated over the fibrous stroma. The central portion of 

 the various growths was in an advanced state of fatty degeneration ; 

 in some places scarcely anything but fat was discovered ; in others the 

 cancer-cells were more or less filled with oil-globules. Portions 

 of the pectoral muscles were reduced to mere fibres infiltrated with 

 cancer-cells, but contained little fat. No suspicious elements were 

 found in the stomach or in the nodule of the sj)leen. The liver-cells 

 were large, many of them hyaKne and without a nucleus, others nearly 

 normal. A good deal of free oil. but not an abnormal amount, in the 

 cells ; no excess of fibrous tissue. Some of the tubes of the kidney 

 were infarcted with granular and fatty ei:>itheliimi ; many of them 

 healthy. No abnormality noticed in the tufts. There was a con- 

 siderable excess of fibrous tissue. 



Embryology of Limulus Polyphemus. — In a recent number (vol. iv.) 

 of the ' American Naturalist,' there is given with many illustrations a 

 most valuable paper on the above subject, by Dr. A. S. Packard, jun. 

 The paper is of considerable length, but we can give an abstract to our 

 readers. The eggs are laid in great numbers loose in the sand, the male 

 fertilizing them after they are dropped. This is an exception to the 

 usual mode of oviposition in Crustacea ; Squilla and a species of Gecar- 

 cinus being the only exception known to the author to the law that the 

 Crustacea bear their eggs about with them. Besides the structureless, 

 dense, irregularly laminated chorion, there is an inner egg membrane 

 composed of rudely hexagonal cells ; this membrane increases in size 

 with the growth of the embryo, the chorion splitting and being thrown 

 off during the latter part of embryonic life. Unlike the Crustacea 

 generally, the primitive band is confined to a minute area, and rests on 

 top of the yolk, as in the spiders and scorpions, and certain Crustacea, 

 i. e. Eriphia spinifrons, Astacus fluviatilis, Palcemon adspersus, and 



VOL. V. D 



