208 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



A vote of thanks having been accorded to Mr. Coupland, the 

 President, Messrs. Power, Cowell, Atkinson, Needham, and Miller 

 joined in the discussion. 



In reply, Mr. Coupland said he had not examined the retina mi- 

 croscopically, but that the ophthalmoscope showed nothing abnormal. 

 The eyes had been removed two hours after death, placed in Miiller's 

 solution for two weeks, thence into a solution of gum acacise, from 

 that to methylated spirit which rendered it horny and fit for embed- 

 ding. The guni was removed from the sections by immersion in 

 water, or by simply placing them direct into the staining fluid. 



There was a short discussion on the subject of Finders, and the 

 Meeting then resolved itself into a conversazione, when several in- 

 teresting preparations were exhibited. 



The meetings for the next three months will be Fridays, April 

 17th, May 15th, June 19th, at the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic 

 Hospital, at 8 p.m. o'clock. 



Liverpool Medical iNSTiTuxionr. — Microscopical 



Section. 



The fifth Session of the Microscopical Section of the Liverpool 

 Medical Institution was inaugurated with a conversazione on 

 October 9th, 1873, given by the President of the Society — Dr. 

 John Cameron. Besides a very attractive exhibition of paintings 

 and works of art, there were exhibited a. number of the most 

 recent physiological instruments, microscopes illustrating various 

 branches of natural science, and a large collection of pharma- 

 ceutical preparations. 



The second meeting w^as held on November 14th, 1873, when 

 Dr. Davidson read a paper on " Tlie Histology of Cancer of the 

 Liver." Basing his remarks on the careful examination of several 

 cases of this disease which had recently been under his care, Dr. 

 Davidson commenced by inquiring — " Do the normal tissues give 

 way before the cancer, or do they take part in its formation ; and 

 if so, which tissues of the liver are converted into cancer, and 

 what part of the cancer do they individually go to form? " In 

 examining sections made from a liver affected secondarily by 

 cancer, showing nodules interspersed here and there, while the 

 hepatic tissue w as also " infiltrated without losing entirely the 

 appearances of normal liver," the author observed the cancer to 

 make its way along the portal canals, and at intervals the lumen 

 of the portal veins was completely occupied by a plug of cancer 

 cells. Passing to the lobules, cancer cells could be detected 

 within the blood-vessels, causing their dilatation, and pressing on 

 the surrounding hepatic substance. Dr. Davioson considers this 

 form of hepatic cancer to be originated either by cancerous 

 emboli being carried into the vessels, or by the epithelium of the 



