50 PROOEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



ditions in which this degeneration is met with, he deemed the solution 

 of the problem impossible with our present amount of knowledge in 

 neuro-pathology. 



Dr. Payne asked whether Mr. Kesteven had found miliary scle- 

 rosis in a spinal cord or brain, otherwise quite healthy, and discussed 

 the question as to whether the changes described might not be the 

 commencement of secondary degenerations of nerves, as is seen to 

 result from inactivity of a nerve arising from any cause ; or of the 

 wasting of certain nerve fibres, that might go on to worse changes. 



Mr. Schafer took exception to the name, as giving the idea of 

 fibrous or cecatricial tissue, whereas what had been described was 

 rather colloid in nature ; for at times it could be stained intensely. 

 He had seen " miliary sclerosis " in the brain of a supposed healthy 

 dog, that had been hardened in chromic acid ; and from this he con- 

 cluded that the alcohol used to prepare the specimens could not be 

 the cause of the " sclerosis," as had been alleged, seeing that he had 

 used none. As the disease followed no special tracts, he considered 

 it could not be simply degeneration of nerve fibres. 



Dr. Matthews asked whether coincident disease — as atheroma — of 

 the vessels of the brain had been noticed. 



The President had seen miliary sclerosis accompanied by calca- 

 reous change in the vessels, and in a case where death resulted from 

 cerebral hemorrhage ; also in preparations of brain made by Dr. Crisp 

 from the lower animals, and hardened in chromic acid. 



Mr. Kesteven, in reply, considered the term " sclerosis " more 

 applicable to the cases where the disease occurs en plaques. There 

 was nothing of fibrous nature in the condition he had been describing ; 

 still. Dr. Tuke had given the name originally. He did not consider 

 the alteration colloid, though at first sight resembling it ; nor had he 

 noticed the change in connection with atheromatous vessels, though at 

 times the bodies described were calcareous and gritty (" brain sand "), 

 Agreed with Mr. Schafer in not considering the condition as one of 

 nerve fibre degeneration, and was in fact still seeking an explanation. 



With a vote of thanks to Mr. Kesteven, by the President, the 

 election of new members, and an announcement of a gift of slides to 

 the Society's cabinet, the proceedings terminated. 



The principal specimens exhibited under microscopes during the 

 evening were in illustration of the papers read. 



At the meeting of this Society, on April 18th, Jabez Hogg, 

 Esq., President, in the chair, Dr. Greenfield read a paper upon 

 " Diphtheria." 



In this paper, which was founded upon the microscopical exami- 

 nation of specimens from five cases of diphtheria, which was illus- 

 trated by preparations, the author, in remarking upon the obscurity 

 and doubt which still seemed to exist upon the origin and structure of 

 the diphtheritic false membrane, stated his belief that this arose in 

 part from the confusion in the nomenclature in common use, espe- 

 cially the fact that " croupous" and " dii)htheritic " were terms used 

 in different senses, clinically and histologically. 



An examination of his cases showed in all, in the larynx and 



