188 
With respect to in-knee, Dr. Crompton had been a long 
time unable to give any explanation that was satisfactory 
to himself. He at length arrived at the conclusion that the 
deformity depended upon the subject of it having slept in 
such a position, habitually, as that the knees in sleep were 
nearly crossed : that is to say that the front of one knee 
was placed in the hollow (or nearly so) behind the opposite 
knee. What he wanted to confirm his opinion that position 
chiefly is the cause of this deformity, were cases in which 
from some cause or other the patient always slept on one 
side. T wo remarkable cases at length presented themselves 
in which one knee was very much more bent inwards than 
the other; and in both of these the affected persons slept 
on the other side than that on which the deformity was 
greatest. In in-knee he believed that no other mechanical 
contrivance was necessary for preventing it, when in its 
early stage, than to wear through the night a pad on the 
inside of each knee, strapped below or above the knee to 
keep the pad in situ and the knees apart; and that no 
better mechanical contrivance could be found for use later 
on than the wearing of such pads : avoiding as much as 
possible crossing the knees by night or by day. [A cushion 
placed between the knees in diseased hip or knee joint 
often, he added, gives very great comfort.] 
Dr. Crompton said he had for some years directed the 
attention of his medical brethren, in conversation, to these 
deformities; and he hoped that other observers as well 
would now look into the matter for themselves, and com- 
municate any observations, whether confirmatory or the 
opposite, so that the question might be set at rest for ever, 
and these serious deformities hindered by the simple exer- 
cise of a mother’s vigilance. 
Mr. Peter Hart described his method of making rapid 
determinations of free oxygen. 
