yOI.. XIV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 63 



Tula ac efficax Luis Venerece, s<epe absque Mercurio, ac semper sine Saliva- 

 tione mercuriali, curandte Methodus. Autliore Davide Ahercromby , M. D. 

 Lond. Qvo. l684. N" l60, p. 620. 



Concerning the Porphyry Pillars in Egypt. In a Letter from Dublin, to the 



Editor. N° 161, p. 624. 



There are now extant so many accounts of Egypt, in which these pillars and 

 all other curiosities natural and artificial in that country are described, that the 

 reprinting of this paper is deemed wholly unnecessary. 



Pneclarissimo et Eruditissimo Firo D. Jacobo Sponio Medicines Doctori, et Lug^ 

 dunensi Anatomico accuratissimo. Marcellus Malpighius, S. P. Translated 

 and abridged from the Latin. N° \6i, p. 630. 



In this very long letter the author gives a minute description of the uterus of 

 a cow, which, he thinks, may serve to illustrate the structure of this viscus in 

 the human subject ; the various parts of which he observes are so contracted 

 and confused in the unimpregnated state, as to be scarcely distinguishable. 



He describes first the thick outer membrane of the uterus ; then the fleshy 

 fibres which run, some longitudinally, others horizontally; some in other direc- 

 tions, being crossed and intermixed towards the [Fallopian] tubes; and near the 

 ovaria they are formed into fasciculi :* the lymphatic vessels next appear (in the 

 order of dissection) turgid with their contained fluid; beneath these, the veins 

 and arteries, forming an elegant net- work, each artery being generally accom- 

 panied with two veins. Among these are distributed the nerves, which pervade 

 the whole substance of the uterus. " I have (says the author) discovered, 

 especially during pregnancy, other vessels or ducts, which are peculiar to the 

 utenis, and are large and conspicuous. Their situation and course are various ; 

 some of them emerging out of the substance of the uterus, others lying buried 

 within it ; so that to trace their progress has given me no little trouble. There 

 are two sets of them, one of which goes to the sides of the uterus and vagina, 

 especially in that part where the uterus faces and touches the bladder. And 



pungent, odorous efHuvia or vapours (which this author calls " spirit") according to the degree of 

 temperature, in which the commixture or trituration is made. 



* To trace the arrangement of the fleshy or muscular fibres of the uterus is extremely difficult. 

 The late Dr. W. Hunter states, that he took particular pains in this investigation j but that, except 

 upon the inner surface of this viscus, he observed nothing but irregularity and confusion. In an 

 examination made 7 days after delivery, the muscular fasciculi were clearly seen in the inner surface, 

 freed from the decidua. In the body of the uterus the fibres were circular. The fundus was made 

 up of 2 concentric circular planes of fibres. See this celebrated anatomist's description of the uterus 

 hereafter quoted. 



