C 267 ] 
XL. A new Trocart for the F tincture in the 
Hydrocephalus, and for other Evacuations , 
which are necejjary to he made at different 
Times \ by M. le Cat, F. R. S. Tranf- 
lated from the French by Tho. Stack, 
M. D. F. R. S. 
R«adoa.ji./^vN the 15 of October, 1744, Peter 
\^/ Michel, an infant of three months 
and a half old, fon of a weaver, of the fuburb of St. 
Sever of Rouen, was brought to me, having his 
head, for five weeks pad; only, as big as it appears 
in Fig. 1. All the futures of the fcull were consider- 
ably Separated, afunder; the exterior veins of the 
head very much fwoln, and the eyes turned down- 
ward. This infant was pretty plump, and had had 
no didemper before this accident ; but from the time 
it appear’d, he became very froward, far from being 
dull or lethargic, as fome authors fay. 
A hydrocephalus of fo enormous a fize, and fo 
fpeedily formed, appear’d to me incurable by medi- 
cines in fo young an infant ; and entertaining no greater 
hopes from the operation, I exhorted the parents to 
patience. They came again to me, and earnefily in- 
treated me, faying, that their child could notpoffibly 
hold out long againfl a di (temper, which gain’d 
ground fo very faff. They took. the event on them- 
felves, and by force of intreaties made me refolve on 
the operation. 
I fufpedted, that the caufe of the deaths (and fid- 
den too for the mod; part) of thofe, who had been 
L 1 2 punctured 
