130 E13P0RT— 1873. 



It was also proved, by frequently repeated experiment, tliat corpuscles by 

 coalescing and uniting together develop librinous rods and other structures of this 

 material. The substance thus formed, when subjected to compression between 

 two plates of glass under the microscope, actuall}' had its cohesive power over- 

 come, and became resolved into corpuscles ; and when the pressm-e was removed 

 sometimes these again united, and developed filjrinous rods and other structures. 

 Moreover corpuscles were the last products witnessed duriug the decomposition and 

 disintegration of librin. 



It was therefore rendered evident that corpuscles are identical in their nature 

 with fibrinous substance, corpuscles and Hbrin being mutually convertible into 

 each other. 



These two great coagulable and structm-e-forming components of the blood are 

 thus seen to derive their origin from like substances, conditions, and agencies — viz. 

 the subjection of albuminous material to the agency of water, both which ingre- 

 dients are discovered in abundance in tlie lacteals and absorbents of the body. 



As shown b}' some of our most eminent physiologists, excess of hbrin or of 

 corpuscles in the human frame indicates a healthy or morbid state of the organism 

 — the preponderance of fibrin being held by them as the symbol of the highest con- 

 ditiou of health, whilst the predominance of corpuscles is equally maintained as 

 indicative of a cachectic or otherwise unhealthy state of body ; so in these experi- 

 ments the corroborative voice of Nature declares that a liigh state of vitality in the 

 albumen is associated with the development of librin, whilst a low vital energy in 

 the substauce employed has always a tendency to produce corpuscular products. 



Oil the Mode of Formation of Renal Calculi. 

 By George Haiiley, M.D., F.R.S., F.B.C.P. 



In tills communicatiou the author laid down several general laws as beiug 

 a])plicable to all kinds of calculi, a few of which are the foUov/iug : — 



1st. Calculi may occur at every period of lite from the cradle to the grave. 



2nd. In all cases of constitutional concretions the amount of renal solids must 

 be disproportionate to the amount of liquids excreted. 



3rd. Tluit the deposition of a calculus iu any part of the renal system is in every 

 case due to some special local cause. Tlie cause may be trifling and temporary; 

 but still it must exist. Once, however, the concretion has begun to form the 

 original exciting cause is soon lost sight of, and the calculus goes on forming 

 round its nucleus, quite independent of the local condition which called it into 

 existence. 



4th. The vast majority of constitutional calculi, be their nature what it may 

 (oxalate of lime, phosphate of lime, uric acid, xauthin, or cystin), have their origin 

 in the Iridueys. 



oth. The colour of the concretion does not always depend upon the nature of 

 the substauce whicli is composed, but upon the presence of other colouring-matters 

 in the renal secretion. Uric acid calculi, for example, vary iu depth of colour 

 according as the quantity of urohtematin is small or great ; just as crystals of sugar- 

 candy owe their pink, yellow, or other tints to the pigment present in the water 

 out of which they are crystallized. Phosphatic and cystmic calculi form an 

 exception to this rule by refusing to combine with extraneous pigments. 



6th. There are three perfectly distinct modes in which crystalloid material 

 is deposited iu the formation of calculi. 



The fii'st aud rarest form of calculi are those which consist of a monster crystal, 

 or an aggregation of monster crystals, aud are only to be met with iu the case of 

 triple phosphates, oxalate of lime, and uric acid. The second is that in whicli a 

 certain amount of colloid is xmited with the crystalloid material ; one iu which 

 it may be said that small ciystals separating from the supersaturated renal 

 secretion become entangled in mucus, tube casts, epithelium scales, or other colloid 

 material, and by fresh aggregations around them gradually become closer aud closer 

 packed together, until they assume the appearance aud properties of a compact 

 concretion. The last mode of formation is by the aggregation of moleculai- atoms, 



