273 



anti 8bs!traft from dfomgn 

 [From the Reports of the Berlin Academy, 1842.] 



Muller and Retzius' Anatomico-pathological observations upon certain 

 Parasitic Growths. When engaged in the dissection of various marine 

 animals, in the month of August, M. M. Muller and Retzius examined 

 a haddock with a slender tail, and which, according to the fishermen, 

 was diseased, and consequently unfit for food. 



The disease was seated in the air-bladder, which contained a large 

 quantity of a yellowish, greasy, inodorous substance. Under the micro- 

 scope this substance proved to be very peculiar, containing corpuscles 

 about 0.00058 0.00068" long, and which resembled in form a smooth 

 Navicula or the Frustulia coffeoeformis of Agardh. They were constituted 

 of two scales, connected by a granular matter. The corpuscles were 

 at first closed, but afterwards opened longitudinally, being held together 

 by the granular matter, and finally became separated. They were 

 formed in cells, each of which contained several individuals. By this 

 circumstance, and by the want of silica in the shell, these bodies are 

 clearly distinguished from Naviculce and similar Infusoria. They would 

 appear to be more properly arranged together with the Psorospermia of 

 fishes, in a distinct division of parasitic, merely vegetating, organic 

 growths of specific structure, 



The authors had also made further observations on the development 

 of mould in the lungs and air passages of birds. These observations 

 do not refer to the mould described b) T Mayer, Jager, Heusinger, Theile, 

 and more lately by M. Deslongchamps, as found in the lungs of birds 

 soon after death, but to a fungoid growth, consisting of flattened 

 masses of a firm and remarkably tough substance. This growth was 

 noticed by M. Deslongchamps, as forming the substratum of the fila- 

 mentous mouldiness discovered by him in the lungs and air passages of 

 an Eider duck, which was sick and affected in its breathing ; but its 

 real nature, as it would appear, was overlooked by him, since he mis- 

 took this vegetation for an albuminous exudation. The fungoid 

 masses have been observed, once in Stockholm and once] in Berlin, 

 under circumstances altogether alike. The former instance was that of 

 a Stryx nyctea, which had been brought from Lapland, and had lived 

 part of the winter in Stockholm, but was always unwell and short 

 breathed. The dissection was made by Prof. Retzius, and the prepara- 

 tion has been for a long time in the Anatomical Museum at Stockholm. 

 The lungs and thoracic cavities were found to be universally covered 

 with mushroom-like, flat-rounded bodies of yellowish-white colour, 

 slightly depressed in the centre (or cup-like), and having their surface 

 marked with concentric rings ; they were of various sizes, from very 

 small to that of a diameter of 1 or 2 lines or more. They were very 

 closely attached, but could be detached without injury to the mucous 

 membrane. Several neighbouring patches ran together, and had their 



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