Report of the City and F'mslury Dispensaries . 305 

 .Structure and figure, that its parts were scarcely distinguish- 

 able : this reached from the pelvis to the umbilicus, and 

 extended about five inches in each side of the linea alba ; the 

 Fallopian tube, round ligament, and ovarium, on the right 

 side were evident. The uterus was so altered that its cavity 

 could not be traced : the os uteri and posterior part of the. 

 vagina were lost in the diseased pari, and no trace of them, 

 existed. 



On cutting through the anterior part of the uterus, its sub- 

 stance seemed to have degenerated into a diseased mass of 

 small irregular cysts, terminating in the large suppurated 

 masses before noticed. The liver adhered to the peritoneum ; 

 'its surface bore strong marks of remote inflammation ; the 

 stomach, intestines, peritoneum, and spleen, all had the 

 appearance of inflammation. 



In the operation on the 22d of October (see the former 

 Report) the instrument had passed into one of the large ir- 

 regular masses which was contained m a cyst full of a thick 

 viscid fibrous substance ; but it should seem, that if the in- 

 strument had been of sufficient length to have perforated the 

 posterior part of that cyst, and to have entered the large one, 

 several quarts of a viscid fluid would have escaped; or, if the 

 operation had been performed at the scrobiculus cordis, the 

 fluid external to the sac would have been .evacuated, as was 

 suggested at the time. 



Although the dissection of this case proves that some re- 

 lief mioht have been obtained bv a trocar and canula eio-ht 

 inches long, in order to perforate the largest cyst; vet, from 

 the extent of the disease, the operation would in all proba- 

 bility have been succeeded by violent inflammation, which 

 \vould have proved fatal, as the parts did not possess elasti- 

 city enough to regain their original situation ; neither could 

 artificial pressure have supplied the want of suppoFt occa- 

 sioned by the evacuation of the fluid, which would have been 

 upwards of-three gallons. John Taunton, 5 



Greville street, Hatton Garden, Surgeon to the City and Finsburv Dispcn- 

 Nov. 28, 1803. ' saries, and City Truss Society, Lecturer 



on Anatomy, Surgery, Physiology, &c. 



Note. — The preparation of the above dissection is pre- 

 served in mv museum. 



LII. Pro. 



