438 PHLEBOLITES. 



ovarian, and spermatic veins, and the inferior vena cava. 

 We have not many cases on record in veterinary science, and 

 the most interesting is one reproduced below, from Professor 

 Morton's work on Galculous Concretions, from which we 

 copy also the illustrations. Referring to the origin of phle- 

 bolites, Dr John Reid says : " Though the different changes 

 through which these bodies pass in their formation have now 

 been pretty accurately ascertained, yet the nature of the 

 causes which produce these changes is exceedingly obscure. 

 Tiedemann, Otto,* Lobstein/f- Cloquet, and Dr Carsewell,| all 

 agree that they are formed in the interior of the veins ; that 

 they at first consist of a coagulum of blood; in the interior 

 of this clot the fibrin becomes pale and concrete, then as- 

 sumes an osseous appearance, and this goes on little by little, 

 and layer after layer, towards the circumference. We could 

 easily class their formation with the occasional deposition of 

 calcareous matter among the other tissues, if Hodgson's 

 opinion was correct, that they were first formed external to 

 the veins, and afterwards made their way by absorption into 

 the interior; or if, according to Andral, they were in general 

 first developed in the middle coat of the veins, and then 

 passed into their anterior in the same manner as the false 

 cartilages are formed, and pass into the cavity of the joints. 

 Hodgson stands alone in his opinion ; and we even find Mr 

 Langstaif,|| upon whose authority he describes these bodies, 

 inclined to believe that they are formed in the interior of the 

 veins. The adhesions of these bodies to the inner coat of 

 the veins by a fine membrane, as observed by Tiedemann and 



* Otto's Pathological Anatomy, translated by South, 

 t Lobstein's Anatomie Pathologique. 

 Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, article " Veins." 

 Andral's Anatomie Pathologique, tome ii. p. 412. 

 || London Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. viii. 



