TOL. XLIV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 275 



On exposing the body naked on the table, there appeared a very large and hard 

 swelling in the hypogastric region, which was supposed at first view to be a child, 

 and the more so, as the woman had never made any complaint of an uneasiness 

 in those parts. Having opened the body, it was found to be a swelling of the 

 uterus, which was greatly enlarged, and extremely hard. Besides the whole body 

 of the uterus being thus enlarged and hardened, there were 2 large protuberances 

 distinct from each other, that grew prominent out of the upper surface of the 

 uterus, and were each of them of the size of a large egg. There was likewise 

 a third protuberance on the opposite side, but much smaller than the other two ; 

 and another that seemed to be but just budding. The operators cut down directly 

 through one of the large protuberances into the very body of the uterus, and 

 found nothing but a solid mass of a cartilaginous substance. The texture in- 

 deed of the protuberance was somewhat laxer than of the body of the uterus. 

 They then introduced a probe from the os tincse, to examine if there was any 

 cavity in the uterus; and found a small one reaching to the fundus, and barely 

 large enough to admit the probe. The ovaria and Fallopian tubes were in their 

 natural state ; except a small deviation of the Fallopian tube on the right side. 



Dr. T. knows no writer that has taken notice of a similar appearance in the 

 uterus, but Ruysch, in his Thesaurus Anatomicus Decimus, N° 106. He has 

 not given any plate or description of the dimensions of his enlarged uterus; but 

 this, which Dr. T. has described, was in its greatest breadth 4f inches ; its length 

 from the os tincae 6 inches; thickness 34^ inches; and its weight, including the 

 ovaria. Fallopian tubes, &c. 2 lb. 12 oz. Avoirdupois. 



Whatever Ruysch had observed of that kind were in old women. This woman 

 Dr. T. considered to have been between 30 and 40. He does not mention hav- 

 ing seen more than one small additional scirrhus ; whereas in this there were 3 

 or 4. And lastly he does not mention any thing of the hard cartilaginous sub- 

 stance of the uterus. 



There were several remarkable adhesions in the abdomen and thorax ; as of the 

 omentum to the peritonaeum, of the lungs to the pleura and diaphragm, of the 

 pericardium to the pleura. The liver and spleen appeared in their natural state ; 

 the kidneys were enlarged beyond their usual size; the coronary veins of the 

 heart were much distended with blood, and the lungs inflamed to a degree of 

 mortification. On examining the cavities of the heart, they found in the right 

 ventricle a polypose concretion, of a fleshy fibrous substance, that adhered to the 

 ventricle, and in separating it from thence was rent into 2 pieces. 



On the Communication of Electricity. By Mans, le Monnier, the younger, M. D. 

 F. R. S. and Memb. of the R. Acad, of Sciences at Paris. N" 481, p. 290. 



The author of this memoir proposes to examine these 3 questions, viz. how 



N N 2 



