420 LECTURE XVII. 



might be drawn, that this was really the source of the 

 deposits. There exists as yet but one single observa- 

 tion, that points to the presence of analogous bodies in 

 the blood, and this is so strange an one, that we can 

 scarcely attempt to ground an explanation of the pro- 

 cess upon it. A physician of Toronto in Canada had 

 namely, in compliance with the wish of a patient suffer- 

 ing from epilepsy, examined his blood and discovered in 

 it peculiar, pale bodies. When then he read of my ob- 

 servations with regard to the coloration of the corpora 

 amylacea of the brain by iodine, his patient recurred to 

 his mind, and, I think after the lapse of five years, he 

 again took blood from him, and again found the bodies, 

 which are really said to have exhibited the reaction. 

 In opposition to this observation, it is strange that 

 nobody else has ever seen anything of the kind, and 

 as an extremely persistent dyscrasia must here have 

 been in operation, we should scarcely be justified in 

 drawing conclusions from this observation, with regard 

 to the cases we are considering, where the disease at- 

 tains its height in a much shorter time, and we have in 

 the blood at least been able to detect nothing of the 

 kind. Moreover great doubts must be entertained with 

 respect to the accuracy of the observation. Starch- 

 granules may very easily find their way into different 

 microscopical objects, so that (with all due respect for 

 the observer) as long as matter turns upon a solitary 

 observation, it must be admitted to be possible that 

 there was perhaps an error.* I am as yet much more 

 inclined to admit, that the blood in this disease under- 



* Dr. Carter of Edinburgh, and after him, M. Luys of Paris, fell into a similar 

 error, when they imagined they were in a condition to prove that an excretion of 

 starch took place through the skin. M. Rouget (Journal de Physiologic par 

 Brown-Sequard, Tom. ii., p. 85) has shown that this starch is derived from external 

 sources, from articles of food, and that its presence upon the skin therefore is 

 merely accidental. From a MS. Note by the Author. 



