OP Borah 
XI. Case of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Internus. By 
~Joun Taunton, Esq. Surgeon to the City and Finsbury 
Dispensaries, and to the City of London Truss Society, 
Lecturer on Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology, @c. &c. 
Mas. Harrtson of Grange Court, Carev Street, consulted 
we concerning her son, aged three months, on account of 
a tumour upon his loins, which was observed at his birth. 
It was acase of spina bifida. The tumour was about 
the size of an orange, and was situated over the lumbar 
vertebrze, and the contained fluid was very evident. The 
sac seemed to be thin; but the surrounding integuments as’ 
well as those covering the tumour were perfectly free from 
inflammation, and the child had nv symptoms of general 
disease. 
In this favourable state of the infant’s health, it was 
thought advisable to puncture the tumour in the manner 
recommended by Mr. Astley Cooper in the Medical and: 
Chirurgical Transactions. Accordingly g puncture was 
made with a needle ia three different places. The fluid 
discharged was transparent, thouch not very limpid, and’ 
the discharge continued for some days, when the punctures 
closed. By this treatment the tumour was reduced in size, 
and no inflammation, took place; neither was there any 
unfavourable change in the infant’s health. 
The operation. was repeated in a similar manner, and 
with similar results, excepting that the fluid discharged was 
thinner and more like serum. . 
The operation was repeated seven times in the course of 
five months, and during this period a very great quantity of 
fluid was discharged. About two weeks before the infant’s 
death one part of the sae had become very thin and trans- 
parent; another part partially ulcerated, and thus the con- 
tained fluid was more freely discha-ged. 
About two weeks also before his death, he was seized 
with occasional startings ; his forehead projected; his eves 
seemed small; and his eyes and eye-brows expressed a pe- 
culiar frown. The head continued to enlarge rapidly, and 
the general health became worse and worse, though he 
seemed to suffer from no particular symptom. The bowels 
were regular and the stools natural during the whole pro- 
gress of the disease ; and it was not suspected that the child 
had any affection of the head till a very short time before 
_his death, which took -place rather suddenly under convul- 
sions, as soon as the whole of the fluid was discharged from 
the spine. 
Examination 
