VOL. XIX.J PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 14Q 



comes that of the low-water, and the converse. So that the whole appearance 

 of these strange tides is naturally deduced from these principles, and is a great 

 argument of the certainty of the whole theory. 



Account of a Child born alive without a Brain. By Dr. Charles Preston. 



N°226, p. 457. 



The account of this extraordinary birth (which Dr. Preston had an oppor- 

 tunity of examining) is taken from the Journal des Progres de la Medecine ; 

 and is related as follows, by Mons. Le Due, sworn surgeon of Paris. 



All the parts of this child were well proportioned, except the head, the 

 hinder part whereof was flat, as if it had been taken off with the stroke of 

 some weapon, even to the os sphenoides ; there was neither brain, cerebellum, 

 nor medulla oblongata ; the cavity which ought to contain these was very 

 superficial ; I found in their place, a black and livid substance, covered with a 

 membrane, which may be the dura and pia mater joined together ; this sub- 

 stance had coloured the os petrosum and other bones of a deep red colour. I 

 thrust a probe into the cavity of the vertebrae, where the medulla spinalis ought 

 to be placed, but found no opposition ; for it was filled with a red stinking 

 liquor, contained in the membranes of the medulla spinalis ; the visage was a 

 little deformed ; it had eyes and ears like a monkey, and all over the body was 

 uncommonly hairy. Instead of the brain, there was nothing but a substance 

 like congealed blood, covered with a membrane; and instead of the optic 

 nerves, there were only some small filaments. 



Mons. Du Verny, Prof, of Anatomy in the Royal Garden at Paris, traced 

 the 8th and Qth pairs of nerves and intercostal : and having cut up the canal 

 of the vertebras, discovered the medulla spinalis all along the cavity, and traced 

 all the vertebral nerves, proceeding from it ; as also the sciatic nerve, which was 

 considerable enough : it is true, the medulla spinalis was not here of that con- 

 sistence as in adult persons : but one could with some pains observe all the four 

 tunics, and the two substances, as in the brain ; viz. the cortical or glandulous 

 substance, and the fibrous or white, but with this ditFerence, that the brown 

 substance is exterior in the brain, but interior in the medulla spinalis, for it is 

 as it were a third brain contained in the canal of the vertebrae, so framed for 

 its defence ; it has meninges, as in the brain, and cavities which may pass for 

 ventricles : but it appears to be more sensible and necessary to life, than the 

 brain itself; for you can take away the brain or cerebellum from an animal, 

 and yet the animal shall live for some time after ; but a wound or compression 

 of the medulla spinalis causes sudden death ; as is confirmed by several anato- 



