20 
HISTOLOGY OF VEGETABLES. 
colour, intersected by crucial lines, and these are again 
divided and subdivided by similar markings. These 
bodies were first noticed by Professor John Goodsir, 
and by him described in the “ Edinburgh Medical and 
Surgical Journal,” in 1842, under the name of “ Sar- 
cina ventriculi ,” and he conjectured that they were of 
the nature of parasitic vegetables of low organization. 
They much resemble the infusorial animalcules depicted 
by Ehrenberg, under the name of Gonium pectorale , 
so named from an ornament worn on the breast of 
the Jewish high-priest. Mr. Busk has since noticed 
them, in the “ Microscopical Journal,” as occurring in 
three cases under his care in the c Dreadnought’ hos- 
pital-ship, one being a patient suffering from rupture 
of the diaphragm ; and my late brother met with and 
described a case at one of the meetings of the Micro- 
scopical Society ; but in this instance they evidently 
belonged to a distinct species of the same genus. 
The specimen in my possession was obtained by 
Mr. Monckton from a patient in King’s College Hos- 
pital, under the care of Dr. Budd, from whom we 
may expect an elucidation of the most effective plan 
of treatment of this serious disease. I am inclined 
to think that the administration of remedies best 
calculated to destroy vegetable life, or fermentation, 
will prove most effectual in removing this affection; 
although, hitherto, the disease has generally been found 
in cases which have terminated fatally. 
Two masses of the Sarcina are represented in Fig. 8, 
