Proceedings of Societies. 
335 
1831.] 
‘The leaf and seed are much larger than those of the cotton plant common in 
this country : and not only are the seeds much more easily removed from the cot- 
ton, but the staple of the cotton is unusually long ; so much so indeed, that the 
Burmese find fault with it for this quality, and do not use it for any other purpose 
than that of making wicks for their lamps. The plant yields the cotton in the 
latter end of February and March and part of April. The seeds are not placed 
like those in the Pernambuco cotton.’ 
XVI . — Proceedings of Societies. 
Medical and Physical Society. 
At the Meeting of the Medical and Physical Society, held on the 1st October, 
Dr. Macqueen, Surgeon, H. M. 3d Buffs, Dr. Arch. Campbell, Surgeon, and 
James Lawder, Esq. Assistant Surgeon, Madras Service, and W. B. Taylor, Esq. 
Assistant Surgeon, Bombay Service, were elected Members of the Society ; J. 
Porteous, Esq. Surgeon, of Edinburgh, was elected a Corresponding Member. 
The Society proceeded to the consideration of a question proposed at the last 
Meeting, respecting those who may withdraw their names from the list ot Mem- 
bers, adverting particularly to the Resolution passed on the 4th April, 182 l J j and it 
was now resolved, that any Members who may withdraw from the Society, subse- 
quently to this date, shall not be re-admitted without being balloted tor, in the same 
manner as other Members on first joining the Society. 
The following communications were then presented to the Meeting : 
1. A letter from Dr. Fleming, Secretary to the Medical Board ot Madras, wi i 
copies of Medical Reports recently published at that Presidency. 
2. A letter from Mr. Preston, of Cuddalore, stating that the case of inveterate 
epilepsy, on which he performed the operation of tying the common carotid artery, 
remained quite well, not having had any return of the epilepsy since the ope- 
ration ; a period of seven months. He also mentions having tied the common 
carotid artery in two other cases since his former report, one ot which was in a 
patient suffering from disease of the brain after fever, the other a case ot hemi- 
Plegia ; both these were recovering. A statement of these cases at a later perim 
promised, as well as the ulterior results of the two former operations on the 
carotid. . . , _ . 
3. A letter from B. White, Esq. at Poona, with a Register of the Rain-guagc 
at that Station, for the months of June and July, 1831, by whic 1 1 appears, 
the quantity of rain which fell in June was inches 1-21. and in July 5-/h, a simi- 
lar Register will be sent for the rest of the monsoon. _ , 
Anatomical description of extraordinary formation in a human oc ; u , j 
rented by Dr. J. N. Casanova. . . f t , f tlIS 
Mr. Boswell’s Medical Report and Dr. Casanovas description ot the toe 
*ere then read and discussed by the Meeting. Mr. Boswell s letter accompanying 
ls report, adverts to the confirmation of his former statement re a iv 
! ts ^rivable from the application of blisters of Argent. Nitrat. m ' <r “ tains 
< ers > similar good effects are recorded in the present repor , w i ‘ 
details of several cases. In Mr. Boswell’s letter mention is also made of the i - 
^crous cases of leprosy which exist in the island ot Penang, an< ie - s a . 
/ 10n there entertained, that some kinds of leprosy are unquestiona ) y 8 ’ 
u Ut does not describe the diagnostic characters ot such species o • 
e stu tes, that orders exist to prevent all convicts affected wit i l<l , ' ‘ linun j_ 
^ * n & at large, or mixing with others ; and he promises some *** * Argent. 
* ion on the subject. Mr. Boswell’s employment of repeated 1 ,• _ Dears to 
pulmonary diseases, with tendency to Phthisis I u mo , . 
e been remarkably successful in many of the cases detaile 0 * , me un( j e r 
bk r ‘, Casanova’s anatomical description of the Lusus Naturae, , details 
,s ’ ervat i°n at Laguna, near Manilla, in the Philip pm drawings, 
the structure of the subject, as delineated in three we j {he 
5 t r, aCC0 “P-ied his essay. The Secretary announced to the Society 
r ea . 0 urue °t Transactions, now in the press, is near ly conq e ’society in the 
2 f ° r P u blication and distribution among the Members ot the Society 
se the month. 
