f 
150° 
gens, his evidence may be considered as 
>a confirmation of the same result. 
Sir James Earte laid before the so« 
ciety an interesting, but truly distressing, 
- account of a calculus, _taken after death, 
from the bladder of sir Walter Ogilvie, 
bart. This gentleman, an officer in the 
army, at the age of twenty-three, recei- 
ved a biow on his back, from the boom 
of a vessel, which paralized the pelvis 
and lower extremities. During the first 
_two months, after, the accident, he was 
obliged to have his water drawn off, and 
for fourteen months he remained in an 
horizontal posture, and though he then 
had recovered the use of the bladder 
and of his limbs, sufficiently to walk across 
the room by the help of crutches, and 
also to ride, when placed on an easy low 
horse, his health continued many years 
in a weak and precarious state, while the 
limbs acquired but little additional 
strength. About twenty years after the 
accident, symptons were perceived of a 
stone in the bladder, and it was recom- 
mended to him to submit to an operation; 
but from circumstances it was postponed 
for eight years, though his health de- 
clined, and the irritation and pains in the 
bladder greatly increased; he now be- 
came unable to evacuate his water in an 
erect position, and the inconvenience in- 
¢reased so much, that at last he could 
discharge none without standing almost 
on his head, so as to cause the upper 
part of the bladder to become lower, 
and this he was obliged to do frequently, 
sometimes every ten minutes. At 
length he came by water to London, and 
determined to submit to the operation: 
his sufferings were immense, but the 
attempt did not succeed : the main body 
of the calculus was too hard to be broken 
in pieces, and too large to be brought 
away, unless by any” .eration above the 
os pubis, which was considered as too 
uncertain and dangerous to hazard even 
the attempt. In ten days after the ope- 
ration, he resigned a most singularly mi- 
serable existence. On . examination 
after death, the form of the stone ap- 
peared to_ have been moulded by the 
bladder; the lower part having been con-. 
fined by the bony pelvis, took the im- 
pression of that cavity, and was smaller 
than the upper part, which having been 
unrestricted in its growth, except by the 
soft parts, was larger, and projected so 
as to lie on the os pubis. ‘The stone 
weighed forty-four ounces, the form was 
elliptical, the periphery on the longer axis 
7 
Royal Society of London. 
[Sept. 1, 
was sixteen inches, on théshorter fourteen. 
_The ureters were much increased in theit 
dimensions and thickness, and were ca- 
pable of containing a considerable quane 
tity of fluid; they had, in fact, become 
supplemental bladders, the real bladder 
being at last nothing more than a painful 
and dificult conductor of urine, which 
trickled down in furrows formed by it on 
the superior surface of the stone. | This 
explained the cause which abliged the 
patient, when compelled to evacuate 
urine, to put himself in that posture 
which made the upper part of the blade 
der become the lower; by this means a 
relaxation, or separation, was allowed to 
take place between the bladder and the 
stone, so that the ureters had an oppor- 
tunity of discharging their contents; 
when the body was erect, their mouths, 
or valvular openings, must have been 
closed by the pressure of the abdominal 
viscera on the bladder, against the stone, 
“The disease,” says sir James Earle, 
‘* probably originated when the patient 
was obliged to continue such a length of 
time on his back, in which position the 
surface of the water only may be sup- 
posed_to have been, as it were, decanted, 
and the bladder seldom, if ever, come 
pletely emptied: thus, in a constitution 
perhaps naturally inclined to form con- 
cretions, the earthy particles subsided, 
and by attraction soon began to lay the 
rudiments of a stone, which was not felt 
above the brim of the pelvis, till many 
years.after.” The texture of the stone, 
upon examination, appeared different 
from the generality of calculi, to contain 
more animal matter. Dr? Powell exa- 
mined its composition, by chemical anae 
lysis, and found it to consist of the tri-. 
ple phosphate of ammonia and magnesia, 
with phosphate of lime, mixed with a 
certain portion of animal matter, which . 
was separated and floated under a mem- 
brane-like form, on the solution of the 
salts in diluted acids. The calculus 
agrees with the description given by - 
Fourcroy, and confirms his observations 
on this species: “ Ce sont anssi les con- 
cretions urinaires les p!us voijumineuses 
de toutes; elles ont depuis le grosseur 
d’une oeuf jusqu a une volume qui oce 
cupe toute la vessig, en la distendant 
méme considerablement.” hence tt should 
seem, that similar instanees have oOc- 
curred to this able chemist; “ but,” says 
sir J. Earle, ‘ from my own observa, 
tion, and from all the informatioa that — 
I have been able to collect, no caleulus 
Su don from, 
