53

Organic.—The spleen is the subject of avariety of organic diseases : there is atro-

phy, hypertrophy, solidification, softening,spurious melanosis, the orbicular, and thetriangular spleens ; all which abnormal con-ditions I have seen in after-death examina.tions in man and animals. The subject,however, is so new in pathology, that I havenot been able as yet to form any intellectualanalysis of the phenomena offered by thesediseases before and after death, but mustcontent myself with calling attention to thefacts of their existence.

I here wish to remark, that since the pro-posal of the splenic operation in Octoberlast I have not been idle, but have extendedmy experiments to the monkey and otheranimals; and, reasoning from analogy ofeffect in liver consumption, this operationwould save two out of three in lung con-

swnption, or (the deaths from this latter dis-ease being sixty thousand) forty thousandannually in Great Britain alone; in whichevent it is hardly necessary to observe thatit would be the most important operation everintroduced into surgery.By way of variety, although immediately

arising out of my theory of the nutrient

circulation, I beg to offer the followingtheory of inflammation and the inflammatorycrust :-

Inflammation consists in this, namely, thatthe fibrine, &c., which should pass from thearterial into the lyrnplaatic system, passes intothe venous, thus constituting the inflammatorycrust. ’

Notwithstanding, Sir, that some tons

weight of paper have been expended on in-quiries on inflammation, from Galen down-wards, I apprehend that its true nature liesin the above few words, as seems at once

demonstrated by the obstructed condition ofthe lymphatics of an inflamed organ. Ihave no time at present to enlarge upon this" law" of inflammation, so important throughall pathology, and which explains, amongstmany other hitherto occult phenomena, theinteresting fact of the fibrous crust in preg-nancy. I am, Sir, your most obedient

servant, °

FRANCIS EAGLE.

GALVANISM IN DISEASES OF THE EYE.-Several experiments have been made in

Germany to ascertain the efficacy of galva-nic action in cataract and other structuraldiseases of this delicate organ. Dr. Neu-mann has recently published some observa-tions on its modus operandi in particularcases, and especially recommends its adop-

tion in cases where the cataract is found ad.herent to the iris, and in opacities of thecornea. Two pairs of discs, of about twoinches in diameter, are represented as beingthe strongest and best for use, consistentlywith the necessity for avoiding inflammationby too strong a shock for the organism tobear.-Casper’s Wochenséh1’ift.

FRANCIS EAGLE.

SPERMATOZOAOBSERVED A

SECOND TIME WITHIN THE OVUM.

WE have this week received the followingcommunication from Dr. Martin Barry,M.D., F.R.SS.L. and E. :—

Several months since I communicated tothe Royal Society the fact that I had ob-

served, and shown to Professor Owen andothers, spermatozoa within the mammiferousovum. The ova were those of the rabbit,taken, twenty-four hours post-coitum, fromthe Fallopian tube. ’*

I have this day confirmed the observation;several ova from the Fallopian tube of an-other of these animals, in a somewhat earlierstage, having presented spermatozoa in theirinterior, i. e. (as in the first observation),within the thick transparent membrane(" zona pellucida") brought with the ovumfrom the ovary.

London, 31. iii mo. (March) 1843.

WHAT CONSTITUTES RAPE.

To the Editor.—Sir: In THE LANCET Ofthe 25th ult. (page 933), a correspondentseeks to know how the law now stands asto what constitutes rape, which I may, per-haps, be allowed briefly to answer. Rapeis the carnal knowledge of a woman by forceagainst her will. Formerly much doubt ex-isted as to whether carnal knowledge didnot comprehend emission, but by the 9Geo. IV., c. 31, s. 18, this point is so farsettled by enacting that the carnal knowledgeshall be deemed complete upon proof ofpenetration only. The question, therefore,which now arises is, what is penetration? andit seems that the law admits the slightestpenetration, although the hymen be not rup-tured, as constituting the offence. Your

correspondent will find cases decided inaccordance with this view by referring to1 East’s P. C. 438 ; 1 Mood. Cr. C. 337 and342; 1 Russ. C. L. 803; and 4 Car and P.249. There, however, is one case on recordwhere Baron Gurney held that the penetra-tion was not sufficient, the hymen being un-ruptured (see 5 Car. and P. 321), I presumeto keep up the old charter of the glorious un-certainty of the law.Your correspondent seems in difficulty

owing to having found the hymen perfect.He very properly states that cases of labourhave been found progressing, the hymenbeing unruptured, and cases of this kind willbe found mentioned in Davis’s " Obstet.Med.," vol. ii., p. 104; also LANCET, No.915, &c. It can hardly be said that im-

pregnation can take place without some de-gree of penetration, and the same amount of

* See proceedings of the Royal Society,Dec. 8, 1842.