TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 129 



■were given, two being males and seven females ; and although examined on but 

 one occasion, the results Avere satisfactor}', and less difficulty was experienced than 

 ■was at tirst anticipated. The thyroid cartilage was more distinctly prominent in 

 the two males than the females ; in all nine it -was freely movable, and not hard 

 and unyielding, as is sometimes seen in persons of the ago of 60 and 70. 

 On slight compression there "was a resiliency that pointed to cartilaginous llexi- 

 bility, and lateral movements gave the sensation of cartilage gliding upon car- 

 tilage, showing absence of calcareous transformation in the articulating surfiices. 

 The hyoid hone, readily felt in all, gave no enlargement or other alteration of the 

 thyro-hyoid ligaments ; nor -were the pulsations of the carotids unduh' felt, as 

 occurs when their coats have become thickened by calcareous or other deposits. 

 The cjv'coiVZ cartilage on rotation gave the cartilaginous gliding already mentioned, 

 and the rings of the trachea were compressible in any direction. 



The laryngeal mirror had to be used with expedition, and revealed a vertical 

 ejnffluttts in all, with its leaf-like expansion and light yellow colour, being thin 

 towards the tip and sides, aiibrding a ready view of the interior of the larj'nx. 

 The vocal cords mostly formed a triangular glottis ; they were longer in the males 

 and in one of the females than in the others, whilst their colour in the latter was 

 mostly of a greyish white : in one of the males it was yellow. The voice varied, 

 being mostly smooth, soft, clear, and melodious ; in the "female with the long cords 

 it was louder and more masculine than in the others, and so was it in one of the 

 males, being at the same time somewhat cracked in tone. The chest capacity was 

 fairly good in all, and the breathing of the most healthy character ; the cartilages 

 of the ribs were not ossified in any, for the movement of the ribs and their car- 

 tilages was wholly unimpeded, thus resembling persons of 25 or 30. Every organ 

 in the body was normal, and the special senses as a rule were perfect. The con- 

 clusions arrived at were that there was an absence of these changes that are usuallv 

 looked upon as senile, such as calcification of the laryngeal cartilages or of the 

 coats of the blood-vessels, and ossification of the costal cartilages ; and as all the 

 organs and tissues of the body had undergone comparatively little or no change, 

 persons over 95, or who reach the age of 100 years, must henceforth be considered 

 to be free from such changes as are believed usually to bring life to a close between 

 70 and 80. As relates, however, to the epiglottis, its vertical position (the normal 

 one) is common to all persons over the age of 70, as the author's researches have 

 proved in an examination of 5000 healthy persons of both sexes and all ages ; but 

 the perfection of the cartilage is to be seen in centenarians. 



White Coriiusdes, their Nature and Origin in the Animal Organism. 



By Dr. J. Goodmas^. 



In the prosecution of his experiments upon the development of fibrin by the 

 action of water upon albuminous substance, the author discovered that sometimes 

 instead of fibrin thousands of corpuscles presented themselves *. 



The development of corpuscles was ultimately discovered to be the result of the 

 employment of old eggs or of long-drawn serum, or, in other M'ords, of albumen of 

 low vital power, that from fresh albumen developing fibrin, that from old albumen 

 corpuscles. A low temperature just above the freezing-point, even with fresh 

 eggs, produced the same effect, and the substance thus formed was of lighter spe- 

 cific gravity than that which developed fibrin. 



The exterior of the substance produced was discovered to form, generallv under 

 the influence of cold, a coating of a dark and coaguluni-liko material, sometimes 

 enclosing well-formed fibrin, which, seen under the microscope bv the reflected 

 solar ray, was found to be constituted entirely of coi-puscles. Thus corpuscles 

 were seen to be produced in like manner with fibrin. When separate these little 

 bodies always evinced a tendency to coalesce and unite together, and, like fibrin, 

 thus to manifest a force of attraction, particle for particle, but in a minor degree. 

 This power was greater or less in proportion to the degree of vital energy of the 

 albumen employed. 



* See a paper upon the origin of Fibrin in the Animal Organism, Pi'oceedines of 

 Sections, 1870, p. 139, and 1871, p. 72. 



