TUMOUR IN THE VENTRICLE OF THE BRAIN. 63 
We have to regret that the brain arrived at the College 
in such a state as to render it impossible for us satis¬ 
factorily to describe all the morbid changes it had 
undergone, or the particular parts of the organ which had 
suffered most from the ravages of the disease. The superior 
portion of each hemisphere of the cerebrum had been re¬ 
moved, the ventricles laid open, and some of the commis¬ 
sures divided. This would have mattered but little, but it 
had been much shaken in its transit. 
The most prominent abnormal condition which we 
observed upon examining the lateral ventricles was a large 
tumour situated in each. The one in the left ventricle was 
much larger than that in the right. The larger one was 
about one inch and a quarter in diameter, and about two 
inches in length. They were both slightly curved in their 
form. The inner extremities, which were directed towards the 
foramen of Munro, were a little smaller than the outer ones. 
The long diameter of the tumours was placed transversely 
to that of the brain. They were of a grayish-brown colour, 
roughened on their surfaces, and in places slightly nodulated. 
On a more minute examination of them we found numerous 
granules, varying in size from that of a pin’s head to double 
this, disseminated through their structure, and to consist, as 
far as the unaided eye could determine, of earthy and animal 
matter, mixed with a few shining, scale-like particles. Ac¬ 
cording to an analysis made by M. Lassaigne of a similar 
concretion, weighing 54 grammes (about 14 drachms), of the 
size of a small hen’s egg, taken from the right ventricle of 
the brain of a horse, it was found to consist of— 
Cholesterine ..58 
Membrane and albuminous matter . . 39'5 
Subphosphate of lime.2 5 
■ ^ 
100 - 
It is stated that, during the life of this animal, the tumour 
produced no observable symptoms. I should think, how¬ 
ever, that the concretions in Mr. Pyatt’s case contained a 
larger proportion of the earthy phosphates than is shown by 
the above analysis, and even a greater quantity than is met 
with in many of the concretions which are frequently seen 
in connexion with the lateral, third, and fourth ventricles of 
the brain of the horse. We rarely dissect the brain of an 
old horse or an old ass, without finding the plexuses of 
vessels more or less enlarged by similar depositions. In 
