628

double curve in the spinal column. This of course impliesthat a large amount of healthy lung exists, as is indeed thecase. The sounds of respiration are clear, though rathermore feeble than natural, over the entire anterior region ofthe left chest. It is noteworthy that they have somewhatdeclined in distinctness since the opening, owing probablyto the contraction of the chest-wall. Posteriorly the dul-ness is decidedly lessened and distant; respiratory sound isaudible; vocal fremitus has been nearly restored. Physicalsigns on the right side are still quite normal.

Medical Societies.ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.

TUESDAY, APRIL 22ND, 1873.DR. C. J. B. WILLIAMS, F.R.S., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

ON SOME RESULTS OF TREATMENT IN AFFECTIONS OFTHE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

BY CHARLES ELAM, M.D.,ASSISTANT-PHYSICIAN TO THE NATIONAL HOSPITAL FOR THE

PARALYSED AND EPILEPTIC.

Tiais paper is almost exclusively devoted to therapeutics,and subsidiarily to prognosis. It is divided into two parts:the first relates to the treatment of certain forms of braindisease; and the second to that of epilepsy, consideredmore as a collection of phenomena than as any distinctpathological entity.In the first part, three cases are related where striking

and unexpected benefit resulted from treatment by the bi-chloride of mercury.The first case was that of a boy, aged six, who, on being

brought first to the hospital, presented every appearance ofbeing affected with an advanced organic disease of thebrain-most probably of tubercular origin,-characterisedby imperfect paralysis, squinting, double vision, and stam-mering, with greatly enfeebled faculties. As it was con-sidered that no treatment could render the case more hope-less than it appeared to be, he had prescribed half-drachmdoses of the solution of bichloride of mercury, and wasordered to be kept in the recumbent position. This treat-ment was continued without change of any kind for twomonths; at the end of which time recovery was complete.There was no trace of disease, bodily or mental, to be de-tected.The second case is one of a female child, aged three, pre-

senting the aspect of perfect idiocy, with general paralysisboth of upper and lower extremities, loss of speech andpower of attention, with involuntary and constant passageof urine and fseces. For similar reasons this case was treatedlike the former; and in one month the child was able to runabout, to attend when spoken to, and to attempt to imitatearticulate sounds when told to do so. A change in medicinewas followed by an immediate and serious relapse, and thebichloride had again to be resorted to, when improvementagain occurred. The child is still under treatment, butvery much improved in every way.The third case is one of subacute congestion of the brain

in an adult, where treatment by the bichloride producedthe most favourable results.The second part of the paper relates to the treatment and

prognosis of epilepsy, and the propositions attempted to beillustrated are as follows :-

1. That during the last five or six years our relations as aprofession to epilepsy have greatly changed. Formerly thisdisease was considered one of the most serious and intract-able that we had to contend with; whereas now, in its re-lation to treatment, it will compare favourably with anyother forms of chronic disease.

2. That the great majority of cases receive benefit fromtreatment at the outset; and that a by no means smallproportion appear to be cured from the first, never havinganother attack after the commencement of the treatment.

3. That another large section resist treatment for sometime, even months or years, after the first improvement andsubsequent relapse, and yet ultimately yield to it and re-cover ; that is, the intervals are so prolonged that it amountsto a virtual cure, years elapsing without any attack.

- --

4. That hereditary and congenital epilepsy, and also thatresulting from injury to the head, are in many cases amen-able to treatment, often with very great relief and indefiniteprolongation of the intervals, and in some cases appearingto be entirely cured. One of these undoubted cases hasbeen seven years without any return of the affection.

5. That the most intractable cases may be classified underthree heads :-(a) Those that are both congenital andhereditary; especially where there has been not only epi-lepsy but insanity amongst the ancestors; (b) those wherethere is faulty formation of the head, as want of bilateralsymmetry, or, what is worse, marked deficiency in the cere-bellar region; (c) those cases where the head is well pro-portioned, but much smaller than the natural standard, as,for instance, the occipito-frontal circumference, rangingfrom eighteen t6 nineteen inches in the adult.These are probably the cases most rebellious of all to

treatment.Cases are related illustrative of these positions.The treatment chiefly relied upon is founded upon the

employment of the bromides of potassium and ammoniumalone, or combined with ammonia, chloric ether, the al’ka-line carbonates or iodides, tonics, arsenic, belladonna, &c.The most important adjunct, however, in the writer’sopinion is the chloral hydrate, which, when given in dosesof ten to fifteen grains with the bromides, rarely fails toreduce very greatly both the number and violence of theattacks, and sometimes, even in old and hopeless cases, putsan entire stop for some weeks to the fits.

It is remarked, also, that one of the most successful of: the hereditary cases was treated entirely by digitalis and

iron. no bromide havins’ been siven.

ON THE HISTOLOGY OF THE BLOOD OF THE INSANE.

BY HENRY SUTHERLAND, M.D., M.R.C.P.,LECTURER ON INSANITY AT THE WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL, PHYSICIAN TO

THE ST. GEORGE’S, HANOVER-SQUARE, DISPENSARY.

In this paper the results of the microscopical examina-tion of the blood of 143 lunatics were described in detail.All the patients who were made subjects for experimentwere in fair bodily health, and their blood was examined atthe same interval of time after food in all cases. The in-spections under the microscope were also made as nearly aspossible at the same period after the blood was drawn, sothat all fallacies in observation were reduced to a minimum.

It was remarked that any great augmentation of thenumber of white corpuscles usually indicated a low degreeof vitality in the insane, and that the cerebral disorder hadmade some considerable progress; also that an absenceof rouleaux-forming power in the red corpuscles coincidedwith a similarly depressed state of health. These two con-ditions were followed by a speedily fatal termination in E6

large proportion of the cases in which they were observed.These observations applied chiefly to cases of general para-lysis of the insane, in the male. In ten men suffering fromthis disease, whose blood was found to exhibit one or otheror both abnormal conditions, five died within three monthsfrom the date their blood was examined. One of these menwas in a moribund condition at the time the blood wasdrawn, but in the other four patients there were no sym-ptoms which indicated such a rapidly fatal termination oftheir cases beyond the presence of -these peculiarities intheir blood. These remarks, however, do not apply to thesame extent to this disease in women, the prolongation oflife in female general paralytics being accounted for by thefact that the disease does not run so rapid a course infemales as in males, and that in most asylums the femaleslive longer than the males, because they are more com-fortably provided for on the women’s than on the men’sside of the hospital.Absence of rouleaux, together with an increase in the

colourless corpuscles, appear to be conditions almost pecu-liar to general paralysis, and were observed in 4 out of 29(male and female) cases, or in 14 per cent. These two ap-pearances were found to coexist in only 4 other cases out ofthe 143 examined, or in 3 per cent. of the whole number.Absence of rouleaux alone, and augmentation of white

! globules alone, were found to exist in other less fatal forms. of insanity, but not to the same extent as in general. paralysis.I The conclusions drawn from the examination were as

follows :-That in the insane generally a leucooythsemic

629

condition frequently exists. That any great increase in thenumber of white corpuscles at the expense of the red, andan absence of rouleaux from the blood of the insane, areconditions which generally indicate a very low degree ofvitality. That in general paralysis, epileptic insanity, andmasturbating insanity, the blood is more deteriorated, andthe vitality is more lowered, in the male than in the female.That in mania, melancholia, and dementia, the blood ismore deteriorated and the vitality is more lowered in thefemale than in the male.

PRETERNATURAL CAVITIES IN THE BRAIN OF THE SANE ANDTHE INSANE.

BY ROBERT BOYD, M.D., F.R.C.P.(Communicated by ROBERT LEE. M.D., F.R.S.)

Cerebral cysts, cavities, and depression, regarded as tracesof the process employed by nature in arresting or curingapoplexy from effusion of blood in the brain, are worthy ofinvestigation. In many cases, principally of the insane,

these cavities &c. terminated in partial softening of thebrain, several in pulmonary, a few in cardiac and otherdiseases. These cavities are seldom found in early life, al-though cerebral apoplexy, softening, and tumours of thebrain are not uncommon in infants and scrofulous children.As insanity rarely occurs before puberty, the comparisonmade in this paper between the sane and the insane is con-fined to 1560 cases of adults, 695 in the St. Marylebone In-firmary, presumed to be sane, and 875, certified as insane,in the Somerset County Asylum. It was found that thesecysts and depressions were one-third more frequent in theinsane than in the sane; and, as usual in cerebral diseases,much more frequent in males than in females, and in themore advanced period of life, after sixty years, except inepileptics, who seldom arrive at that age.The most numerous class was that resulting from apoplexy,

to be distinguished by the permanent blood-staining fromperoxide of iron, as shown in the summary of the 68 casesin the appendix, arranged under the following heads :-

Dr. THOMAS BALLARD said he had seen much good resul1from treating cases similar to those described in Dr. Elam’ipaper on an antiphlogistic plan. He had been successfulby bleeding. He thought that mercury, which was recommended in the paper, probably acted in the same way.

Dr. DICKINSON thought Dr. Boyd’s communication on th<formation of cavities in the brain was of great interest ancimportance. Cavities soon formed in the non-tenacioussubstance of the brain. They often resulted from chroni<disease; they were met with in certain brain diseases, als<in general paralysis of the insane, and in cases of diabetesThey are often small, and only to be recognised by thEmicroscope. The small cavities probably arise from extra.vasation of blood; but they might also arise from th(migration of the corpuscles, and this he had traced. Thensoftening and breaking down followed. The cavities foundare at times the result of post-mortem changes. The brainin the centre might look like Gruyere cheese or lava.Mr. NUNN said he would like to ask a question about one

case that had been mentioned, that of gangrene of thecerebellum. It was difficult to imagine what antecedenichanges had taken place. Were the arteries going to thecerebellum examined ? He had been struck by the state-ment that the pus in the cavity was fetid. What gaverise to this condition, as it was shut off from the air ?

Dr. BoYD said that it was the result of acute inflamma.tion, softening, and gangrene. There was no disease ofvessels.

MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.MONDAY, APRIL 7TH, 1873.

DR. S. O. HABERSHON, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

MR. GANT related -

THREE CASES OF DOUBLE AMPUTATION,

the notes of which had been taken by Dr. MacKellar, house.surgeon, Royal Free Hospital. W. P-, aged fifteen years,was run over by alocomotive on April 20th,1872, and sustainedextensive compound, comminuted fractures of the right armand left leg. The flap operation was performed on bothlimbs, and with the exception of severe haemorrhage, which

occurred during the following night, and which was arrestedby ligatures, torsion, and pressure, the boy did well, andleft the hospital on June 10th. The lad had been suppliedwith artificial limbs, and walked up to the President’s tablewithout the aid of a stick. He is at the present timeemployed in the office of the railway, and able to do theordinary work. The second case was that of a boy whoselegs had been crushed by the wheels of a passing train onAugust 9th. Amputation at the middle third of the rightthigh and supra-condyloid amputation of the left were per-formed. In the latter case, the patella was left in the flap.A small portion of the right femur was necrosed and cameaway. The boy was discharged well after a residence often weeks. Mr. Gant showed this little fellow, who lookedwell and hearty, and shuffled along the floor in a sittingposition, in much the same manner as children do beforethey learn to walk. The third case was that of O. L aboy two years old. On the 27th of last February he was runover by a tramway omnibus, and the whole of the right legwas so much crushed that Mr. Gant was obliged to performsupra-condyloid amputation after Gretti’s method. Theleft foot was severely crushed, and it was feared thatrupture of the anterior tibial had taken place. An attemptwas made to save the limb, but sloughing took place, and asimilar operation as in the last case was performed, but thechild died. In bringing forward these cases, the authorremarked on two practical points of interest-(l) That itwas better to amputate an inch or two above the bruisedskin, as blood was extravasated higher up in the deeperskin than in the subcutaneous tissues ; and (2) in amputa-tion of the arm it was of great importance to leave thedeltoid muscle intact, for then the stump could be movedby that muscle as well as by the pectoral and latissimusdorsi. Mr. Gant also thought there was less risk of osteo-myelitis when the amputation was performed through thecondyles than when the section was made through the shaftof the bone.Mr. DAVY congratulated Mr. Gant on the success of his

work, and took occasion to point out the good done by theSurgical Society in furnishing such useful artificial limbs asthose shown.Mr. HENRY SMITH showed a case of Transplantation of

Skin. The patient, a woman about thirty years of age, had