50 British Association for the Advancement of Science. 



every vessel, arteries as well as veins of the body, every tissue 

 Avas literally injected with black blood, which freely followed the 

 knife on dissecting. Dr. Mackintosh now presented a great num- 

 ber of preparations, and paintings, and drawings, of the organs of 

 the body afflicted with cholera. Many preparations were dried 

 Avith the cholera blood in them, which was effected by submit- 

 ting them, immediately on their removal from the body, to ~a 

 stream of diy hot air, from apparatus constructed for that purpose. 

 These accumulations were greater in some organs than others, 

 often depending oil the state of the patient's health previous to 

 the attack, — if he had bronchitis, there would be the greatest ac- 

 cumulation. The bloodvessels were greatly distended: in a 

 cast of a case taken from the abdomen, which he exhibited, the 

 abdominal aorta Avas one inch in diameter, vena cava three-fifths, 

 emulgent vein eight-sixteenths. The general anatomical char- 

 acters, as shoAvn by preparations of each organ, were accumula- 

 tions of blood, ecchymosis, called by the French apoplexy ; thus, 

 if occurring in the lungs, — pulmonary apoplexy, petechise, and 

 clots. In addition, Ave may mention some peculiarities in indi- 

 vidual organs, as noticed by the lecturer. In the head, even the 

 bones Avere vascular, and could not be bleached, but Avith great 

 difficulty : arachnitis rare, pia mater loaded Avith blood and effu- 

 sion, Avhich caused many to mistake it for arachnitis ; in the 

 sinuses clots of blood and lymph, rendering in these cases recov- 

 ery impossible. In the spinal marrow were, in sixty out of two 

 hundred, deposits of bone on the theca ; in the chest, pleura at 

 first dry, as if exposed to dry air ; in collapse it became unctuous ; 

 lungs very heavy, weighing 3 lb. 9 oz., to 3 lb. 11 oz. ; pulmo- 

 nary apoplexy frequent in consecutive fever, Avhich fully explains 

 the number of deaths from that fever after the cholera attack. In 

 the abdomen, the mucous membrane ulcerated and softened, not 

 ahvays red, sometimes even Avhite ; the liver resembled that of 

 dram-drinkers, the gall-bladder unusually distended with black 

 bile ; then many galls in numerous cases, in only one Avas the 

 duct rendered impervious by them ; the kidneys Avere diseased, 

 as recorded by Bright, and from the papillae could be pressed 

 mucus ; bladder contracted. As to the blood vessels, he Avished 

 to direct the particular attention of the Section to them ; he 

 Avould shoAv, by many preparations, the diseased state of their 

 inner coat, the organization of which Avas completely altered, so 



