476 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO I76O. 



LXII. Of a Bone found in the Pelvis of a Man at Brussels. By Terence 



Brady, M. D. p. 660. 



Herewith was sent a draught of a bone found in the pelvis or basin of a man 

 that died in the military hospital of Brussels, the 12th of March J760, of a 7 

 days inflammatory distemper. This extraordinary concretion weighed about 20 

 oz., had all the external appearances of a bone, w^ith the hardness, solidity, and 

 specific gravity of common stone. It was chequered or marbled, so that the 

 primitive particles of the bone were seen to be whiter and harder than the 

 darker part : it was formed on the lower extremity of the mesocolon, and pro- 

 bably as it grew large was carried down by its own weight into the basin, where 

 it had no adherence to, nor connection with, any of the adjacent parts, but lay 

 in its own very thin membrane 'or periosteum, between the os pubis and the 

 bladder, somewhat to the right side. It was joined to the mesenterium by a 

 tough, compact, membranaceous, glandulous substance, in the form of an in- 

 verted cone, whose point was firmly inserted in the cavity observed on the top : 

 here the membranaceous fibres were turned into bones, or, vice versa, the fibres 

 of bones degenerated into fleshy membranes : there was no intermediate cartila- 

 ginous substance to be observed. By drawing up this conic body with very little 

 effort, the bone followed, to the great surprize of all the spectators ; after 

 which there was no further inquiry made in regard to the other viscera of the 

 abdomen. It was only taken notice of, that the omentum was quite consumed, 

 and the mesenterium very much swelled and schirrous. 



The man that bred this monstrous bone lived to the age of 55, of which he 

 was 28 years a musketeer in Bareith's imperial regiment. He was always strong 

 and healthy till about 5 years before, when he began to complain of the hard- 

 ness of his belly, and now and then of a suppression of urine, of which last in- 

 conveniency he could help himself by turning on his right side, and lying a 

 little on his face : in that position, the bone did no more press on his bladder. 

 He never missed doing soldier's duty till his last sickness, about 7 days before 

 his death. 



We have examples of membranes, and of several soft parts of the body, 

 being ossified ; but Dr. B. believes there is not such a monstrous production as 

 this to be seen any where. About 20 years before, he saw at Mantua, 2 inches 

 of the aorta near the heart turned to bone, in a man that was a long time tor- 

 mented with a violent palpitation of the heart. 



LXIIL An Extraordinary Case of a Lady, who swallowed Euphorbium, By 



Dr. Willis, of Lincoln, p. 662. 



In Dec. 1758, Mrs. Willis of Lincoln fell into a slow fever, occasioned by 



