PHILOSOPHICAL 
TRANSACTIONS. 
XIV. On the coagulation by heat of the fluid blood in an aneu- 
rismal tumour. By Sir Everard Home, Bart. V. P. R. S. 
Communicated J anuary 2 3, 1826. 
Read March 2, 1826. 
In a case of aneurism in the external iliac artery, in Chelsea 
Hospital, for the cure of which I tied the femoral artery 
below the sac, on the 16th September 1825; upon finding 
that this operation neither diminished the pulsation, nor 
arrested the increase of the size of the tumour, I was led to 
introduce a needle, to which is given the name of acu punc- 
torium, into the centre of the tumour where the pulsation 
was most violent, and the fluid state of the blood most 
distinctly felt : the needle was passed through a small 
orifice in a bar of steel three inched long, the skin of the 
thigh was guarded by cork, and the needle was heated 
through the medium of the steel by a spirit lamp. In a few 
minutes the patient felt heat and pain in the centre of the 
tumour, but not very severe, so that the application was 
continued for fifteen minutes, during which the pulsation in 
the tumour was diminished ; on withdrawing the needle the 
MDCCCXXVI. 2 C 
