690 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1702. 



bone, whence the toe was taken off, lying bare. In this condition I found the 

 left foot and leg of this gentleman, and finding the leg very chilly, the neces- 

 sity of parting with it was too evident; on the abscision, which was about 5 or 

 6 inches below the knee, I was surprised to see so little blood come from the 

 arteries ; having examined the ends of the arteries in the leg, I endeavoured 

 to pass my probe into one of them, but meeting with some opposition, I sus- 

 pected I had mistaken the vein for the artery, and that the valves opposed the 

 passing of the probe that way ; but on further dissection I cleared the trunks of 

 both those blood-vessels, and found the veins in their natural state : but the 

 sides of the arteries were grown bony or stony ; having cleared two of their 

 trunks, I left one of them at Salisbury, the other I brought to town, and is here 

 figured ; A is the upper part of the artery, cut off in the amputation of the leg ; 

 from A to B the trunk of the artery, distended and dried to show its canal ; c 

 that part of the trunk of the artery which was so contracted by the petrifaction 

 or ossification, that a probe would not pass its canal ; from c to d the trunk of 

 the artery opened and expanded ; e e the petrifications or ossifications in the 

 sides of the artery ; p f their specks in the lower part of the artery, not so large 

 as in the upper part, and placed at greater distances; a a &c. the branches aris- 

 ing from the trunk of the artery ; g a portion of the trunk of the artery of the 

 arm above-mentioned ; h the sides of the artery very much thickened, by which 

 the diameter of its canal was so diminished that the probe, i, would not 

 pass it. 



The ossifications in the coats of arteries have been frequently observed, espe- 

 cially in their large trunks within the cavities of the thorax and abdomen, but 

 I do not remember that the like has been noticed in the limbs ; or that such 

 impediments in their canals have been found the cause of mortifications of par- 

 ticular parts, as in the instance above-mentioned, though I doubt not, but the 

 like has often happened in aged people, especially where we find the progress 

 of the gangrene not very swift, and its beginning from no external cause ; the 

 consequences of which are commonly found fatal. When the arteries of one 

 leg, or of any other limb, are so aflfected, we may well suspect the like in those 

 of other parts, which probably happened in the instance I now mentioned ; for 

 though no gangrene came on the stump, yet the other foot and toes began to 

 mortify about 6 weeks after the amputation, as did the parts about the hips, 

 which were compressed in lying or sitting, before he expired. 



Fig. 4 represents the extremities of the blood-vessels, as they appear while 

 the blood is passing them in the omentum of a live dog, viewed with a micro- 

 scope. A A are the branches of arteries : and b b the veins which associate ; 



