INTESTINAL CONCRETIONS. 269 



infesting the bodies of man and animals, I beg to add the details of the 

 analogous formation which I have just had the honour of describing to the 

 Society." 



in. 



" The Microscope as a means of Diagnosis. Singular case of In- 

 testinal Concretions. By H. MONROE, M.D., Hull. 



(' Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,' No. 18.) 



" The value of the microscope as a means of diagnosis is now universally 

 acknowledged by every medical man. Many are the instances I could 

 enumerate, in which, without its assistance, no clear or definite opinion 

 could be arrived at. Among the many cases which have come under my 

 observation, the following one may not be uninteresting, as I know of no 

 other similar case, save one mentioned by our esteemed friend, Mr. Quekett, 

 in his first volume on ' Histology.' I give you the history of the case as 

 detailed to me by Dr. Wilkinson, of Manchester, under whose care 

 the patient was placed, and to whose kindness I am indebted for the 

 account. 



" B. L , set. 52 years, a power-loom weaver, has never been the subject 

 of any ailment until four years ago ; in fact, he does not remember ever 

 having had a day's illness. At that time he suffered slightly from indi- 

 gestion, felt some uneasiness at the pit of the stomach, with at times, 

 though rarely, actual pain. The food taken frequently returned at inter- 

 vals, varying from ten minutes to two or even four hours after ingestion. 

 The vomit, if retained for some hours, presented the appearance of butter- 

 milk and treacle. He never vomited except when the stomach contained 

 food ; but he was subject to frequent eructations of a small quantity of clear 

 fluid, intensely acid ; sufficiently so to set the teeth on edge, and to produce 

 even a shudder at the recollection. About this time he perceived a hard 

 body directly below the ensiform cartilage, but somewhat to the right side, 

 lying as it were between the depending point of the cartilage and the right 

 costal cartilages. He judged that the lump he felt was a hard substance 

 about the size of a hen's egg. He felt this lump pass down along the 

 course of the duodenum and intestines, until it arrived in the left hypo- 

 chondriac region. A short time after this it was passed by stool, being 

 several weeks after he had first noticed it. The whole of the time he had 

 severe and continued pain ; and after it had passed, per rectum, he suffered 

 for thirteen hours severely. Sixteen days afterwards another concretion 

 was passed ; and at the end of sixteen days more one still larger. There 

 were no other concretions passed for two years, and then another of a 

 smaller size. 



" He then felt a hard tumour in the abdomen on the right of the 

 umbilicus, which has since gradually increased ; continuing hard, moveable, 

 and somewhat changes its position, but does not seem to move along the 

 canal. 



" The concretions which have been passed have not varied greatly in 



