showing an advanced degree of hydrocephalus. The head is
very large, and the sutures and fontanelles all remarkably
open, and occupied by broad sheets of membrane. The cervical
and three first dorsal vertebrae are defective in their
spinous processes, leaving a wide open space posteriorly in the
spinal canal, into which the water of the fourth ventricle had
descended. The other parts of the skeleton are perfect.—
Prof. Maunsell.
D. a. 48. Skeleton of a foetal calf with the head enormously
enlarged by hydrocephalus. There is but little bone in the
composition of the cranium, almost the entire vault of the
skull being formed of one expanded sheet of membranous
texture.—J. SheMeton, Esq.
D. a. 60. A preparation exhibiting two scrofulous tumors,
each the size of a hazel nut, in the right hemisphere of the
brain. One, of which a section is shown, lies near the surface
in the cerebral texture; the other, seen at the lower
part of the preparation, appears to have its seat in the pia
mater between two convolutions. The tumors are whitish,
and of an homogeneous, cheesy consistence. For history, see
A. 1. 229.—Dr. Wm. Stokes.
D. a. 61. Another tumor from the same patient, larger
than either of the preceding, and adherent to the dura mater.
—Idem.
D. a. 62. A scrofulous tumor very analogous to the preceding,
found in one of the hemispheres of the brain of a
child, in whose body other evidences of scrofulous habit
existed, but of whose history, previous to death, nothing
could be learned.—Dr. Houston.
D. a. 63. Scrofulous tumor of the dura mater. It grows
from the internal surface, at the right side of the falx, and
opposite the coronal suture. It is about the size of a large
hazel-nut, and somewhat narrower at the root than elsewhere :
it is soft, though elastic, of a whitish colour, and irregular on
the surface, as if formed of granulations. It had contracted
adhesions to the cerebral arachnoid membrane, and was sunk
into a bed which it had formed for itself on the surface of the
brain, and which remained visible after its removal. See
next following preparation.
D. a. 64. A portion of the brain of the preceding case,
showing the size and form of the depression caused by the
presence of the tumor of the dura mater.
The individual from whom these two preparations were
obtained was a medical gentleman, of much original vigour
both of mind and body. While a student, at the age of
twenty-six, and about three years before his decease, he received
a trifling wound of the finger in dissection, which was
followed by a cutaneous eruption like that observed to have
been present on the dead body, the subject of his study, and
most probably syphilitic. This eruption persisted for a very
long period—coming and going, partially, at intervals. On
its total disappearance he became affected with weakness of
the limbs, irregular cramps, and then complete paralysis of
the left lower extremity, from the hip down : the left arm was
also weaker than the right. He continued thus, more or
less, for better than two years, being subjected all the time to
repeated spasmodic attacks, more especially in the weakened
limb, when a violent and universal convulsion, followed by
complete paralysis of the entire left side, took place. Being
henceforward confined to bed, he became exceedingly emaciated,
and died of a typhoid fever, accompanied by deep and
extensive sloughing of the integuments covering the sacrum
and hips. During his long illness and severe sufferings, the
intellects remained clear, and with the exception of occasional
transient attacks of head-ache or vertigo, there was not much
ground for diagnosticating disorganization of the brain or its
membranes. In the post mortem, the bones of the cranium
were observed to be unusually dense, and nearly devoid of
p