726 KEPOBT— 1881. 



micro-veters ; it seemed to answer all purposes. The patient himself entered 

 heartily into the treatment, and from the first declared himself better. The 

 earliest symptom to amend was the eyesight, and the pinched expression of the 

 face, which soon disappeared, with rapid recovery of flesh, amounting to 4 Ihs. 

 within a few weeks. 



On December 6 the urine measured 80 oz., of sp. gr. 1-040. The thirst was less. 

 He did not require opium, though he still took the codeia thrice daily in 2-gr. 

 doses. The note taken on that day says : ' Patient uses 14 cells of the bichromate 

 battery ; is very much better.' The improvement was maintained imtil December 

 23, when some digestive disturbance occurred. On that day the quantity of water 

 •was 74 oz. 



On the 27th the sp. gr. was found to be. 1-0.38, the quantity 68 oz. On fermen- 

 tation the sp. gr. only sank to 1*026, indicating a reduction of sugar excreted from 

 5 to about 2 oz. daily. 



On January 7 the urine was quantitatively tested, in consequence of a severe 

 relapse accompanied by febrile symptoms, which had necessitated the omission of 

 the electricity. It was of sp. gr. 1-042, containuig sugar 8-00 and urea 0-97 per 

 cent., with a trace of albumen. It had simk in quantity to under 60 oz. daily. 

 The febrile access proved to be due to abscess. 



On the 1.3th the quantity of urine rose again to 100 oz. Directly he could 

 leave his bed he recommenced the use of the battery with the greatest ardour, 

 from a conviction that it was of ser^ace to him. He was now able to bear a 

 current of 10,000 micro-vebers from thirty-two of the bichromate cells above- 

 mentioned. 



On the 22nd the quantity of urine M-as 68 oz. It continued at a comparatively 

 reduced standard until February 9, ou which day a large carbuncular boil began 

 to form at the back of the neck, where the negative pole of the battery had been 

 applied. The use of galvanism was then finally discontinued. The patient 

 became much worse, restless, semi-comatose, with raw excoriated tongue, unable 

 to take food or stimulants. The quantity of urine rose to 110 and 120 oz. The 

 temperature remained at 98-6° Fahr. In this condition he remained until February 

 21, when it sank to 962°. On the follo-\^-ing day he died. The pons varohi and 

 medulla oblono-ata, on examination by Dr. Dickinson, showed enlargement, by 

 erosion, of the peri-vascular canals in the lower part of the medulla near its 

 centre, in the olivary bodj^, in the upper part of the medulla, close to the floor of 

 the fourth ventricle, and in the anterior part of the pons between the roots of the 

 crura cerebri. In the two latter positions, both of which were in or close to the 

 median plane, minute collections of brown matter were to be seen, external to the 

 vessels, which consisted of blood-corpuscles apparently extruded during life. 



The above brief notes are not intended to represent the whole bearings of a subject 

 which cannot but be considered of importance. AU details of a medical character 

 have been excluded ; but it has occurred to the author that sufiicient facts of a 

 purely physiological bearing remain, which may deserve the attention of the 

 Section. 



After the recent valuable researches of Mr. Gore in electiical osmose and 

 dift'usion. the statement of M. Semmola made twenty years ago, confirmed as it is 

 by the above case, deserves careful reconsideration. The chemical efliects of the 

 galvanic current employed in its continuous form, undoubtedly require develop- 

 ment, in opposition to the purely stimulant action on nerve and muscle of the 

 induced current. The fact of a definite polarisation of the tissues included in a 

 galvanic circuit, leading to a reverse current of a secondary character, has been 

 sho-\vn both by Oyon of St. Petersburg, and by Onimus of Paris. It would 

 almost seem, in this instance, as if an inhibitory alteration of osmose could be 

 transmitted downwards fi-om the governing centre, under the catalytic influence of 

 the voltaic current, to the secreting organ at its peripheral extremity. 



9. On the Structure and Sociologies of the Suspensory Ligament of the 

 Fetloch in the Horse, Ass, Ox, Sheep, and Camel. By D. J. 

 Cunningham, M.B., F.Ti.S.E. 



