PKOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 53 



fibrosum." Microscopically the cutis vera was found hypertrophied ; 

 here and there masses of cells between the fibres of the areolar tissue. 

 Epidermis much thickened — hair-follicles normal. Papillfe had 

 grown irregularly and sideways, and not vertically as normal. He 

 considered it simply a case of molluscum fibrosum, not of Cheloid. 

 Engravings of the patient, with specimens of the disease, were exhi- 

 bited. The President inquired if any fungus had been noticed ; it 

 was by some believed to exist in molluscum. Mr. Needham thought 

 this condition of the papillfe normal in the negro. Dr. Pritchard, in 

 reply, had observed no fungus. 



Perivascular Spaces in the Brain. — Mr. Kesteven read a paper on this 

 subject, illustrated by drawings and specimens. These spaces had been 

 considered normal structures, intended to relieve intracranial blood 

 pressure ; but Mr. Kesteven had never seen them in a really healthy 

 brain : had often noticed them associated with chronic cerebral 

 mischief, and hence concluded they were owing to absorption of 

 brain substance by the irregular circulation that goes on in chronic 

 disease : the vessels being at one time full, at another nearly empty. 

 Though the mode of preparation in chromic acid might render these 

 spaces more evident by the shrinking of the blood-vessel, he did not 

 think it suflicient to account entirely for them. He could find in the 

 perivascular spaces no resemblance to normal lymphatic structure, 

 while Dr. Batty Tuke had now abandoned the idea that they denoted 

 a healthy condition of brain. Dr. Pritchard considered them entirely 

 owing to the mode of preparation in chromic acid ; he had never found 

 them in sections made by freezing the brain. Mr. Needham argued 

 their belonging to the lymphatic system, though not strictly speaking 

 " lymphatics." The President explained .them in some cases by the 

 giving way of the capillaries around which tbey were found : he had 

 seen the brain substance stained with hoematin in their vicinity ; 

 hence an explanation, perhaps, for some of the anomalous convulsions 

 of childhood : thought proof was wanting of their connection with 

 the lymphatic system. Mr. Tirrard asked if, in injected brains, these 

 spaces were seen, or were obliterated by the distension of the vessel. 

 In reply, Mr. Golding Bird stated that he had never seen them in 

 injected specimens. Mr. Groves asked if Mr. Kesteven had ever 

 examined the spaces by staining with nitrate of silver. Mr. Kesteven, 

 quoting Dr. Batty Tuke, stated that the spaces had been found in the 

 lower animals (e. g. cats) after strangulation ; and that, though the 

 vessels thus remained full, a sj^ace could be seen beyond. He had 

 never seen anything to warrant the siipposition that they were owing 

 to hemorrhage. He knew of no anatomist having traced these spaces 

 into lymphatics ; they had been injected by His by the puncture 

 method. 



Multiple Cystic Tumour of Heart.— A specimen of this, exhibited 

 by Mr. Needham, seemed to show, from the excess of epithelium 

 in the mammary tubules, and the epithelial infiltration of sur- 

 rounding parts, at once a cystic, an adenomatous, and cancerous nature. 

 Mr. Needham founded his idea of cancer on the arrangement, and not 

 on the intrinsic form of the cells composing it. 



