112 



SOUTcI AFRICAN INSTITUTION^. 



Dicetnbfr Atk. — -The Secretary read several interesting Ex* 

 tracts from the Annual Report of the Natural History Society 

 of the Mauritius for 1833, of which an abstract was ordered to 

 be prepared and published. 



Dr. Murray laid upon the table a detailed account of a case 

 of Femoral Aneurism that had lately been treated by Surgeons 

 Bailey, Abercrombie, and himself, and which he stated he 

 considered of such interest as to deserve publication in Europe. 

 It originated from a blow upon the artery below the origin of 

 the Profunda, and had attained a great size before the patient 

 arrived in town. The principal artery which carries the blood 

 to the limb, was tied in the groin, with a view of arresting the 

 circulation in the vessel, but upon the separation of the ligature 

 on the 15th day after the operation, a most violent bleeding 

 took place, which very nearly proved fatal. In consequence, 

 the external Iliac artery was immediately tied (for ihejirst time 

 in this colonyj, and thereby the bleeding was completely re- 

 strained for another fifteen days. At the end of that period it 

 returned in an equally alarming degree, and from the snnie 

 place as bfore, which, it is stated, was very unexpected, as the 

 wound was granulating kindly. On this occasion the applica- 

 tion of a compress and bandage ett'ectually checked the dis- 

 charge of blood, and the patient is at present walking about and 

 doing well, notwithstanding he had nearly twice lost his life 

 from the suddenness and violence of the bleeding. In the de- 

 tails of the case, several interesting Physiological, Pathologi- 

 cal, and Practical facts are mentioned, amongst others — the 

 dependence of the nervous energy of a part upon a due supply 

 of blood, — the greater tendency to and frequency of secondary 

 Aneurismal Haemorrhage from the distal than from the cardiac 

 end of the vessel, — and the danger of tying the crural artery, 

 and the preference which ought be given to the operation of 

 tying the external Iliac in all cases of Femoral Aneurism. In 

 the general remarks which are subjoined to the case, Dr. 

 Murray gives an instructive exposition of the cause of the 

 untoward occurrences, from which he has elicited some im- 

 portant information that will doubtless render his paper very 

 acceptable and highly useful to the Profession. 



Dr. Smith stated, that he had lately discovered that the little 

 animal described by him in the Epitome of African Zoology,* 

 under the name of Macromerus typicns, had been named and 

 described in February last by Mr. Bennet, Secretary to the 

 Zoological Society of London, under the title of Propithecus 

 Diadema, and that, consequently, the latter must be considered 

 its proper designation. 



• South African Quarterly Journal, New Series, No. 1, Part 2. p. 49. 



