680

always speedily regained its former size.By the 4th of December, the caustic havingbeen applied seven times without any effect,except that the greyish spot had formedin the tumour, which had not been observedbefore, M. Velpeau changed his plan of

treatment, and ordered the patient to be

bled, to use a collyrium with the sulphateof zinc, and to have a powder, consisting oftwo parts of sugar and one of calomel, blowninto the eye. Under this treatment the tu-mour gradually subsided, and had on the15th almost entirely disappeared, so that onthe 29th there remained only an opacitysurrounded by a small greyish circle, whichwas formed by the margin of the formerulcerationin the cornea. The anterior cham-ber and the iris had recovered their naturalcnndition.—Lanc. Frtznr.

HOTEL-DIEU.

- PHRENITIS AND MENINGITIS.

L., astat. 52, of a plethoric constitution,was admitted on the 1st of January, on thethird day of his illness, of the cause and na-ture of which no information could be ob-tained, except that he had suddenly falleninto a state of insensibility, with hemiplegiaof the right side ; both arms were somewhatcontracted ; the sensibility of the paralysedlimbs appeared to be unimpaired. The headwas drawn towards the left by a spasmodiccontraction of the muscles of the neck ; thefeatures were distorted ; the pulse was

strong and frequent ; respiration ratherhurried. M. Bally, under whose care the

patient was, ordered bleeding and sinapismsto the feet. On the 2nd, the above symp-toms -continued almost the same, and the

respiration had become stertorous ; themouth was covered with foam ; the face andeyes were in convulsive motion, the attacksof which took place suddenly, and in thisrespect greatly resembled epileptic fits ; thehead had a rotatory movement ; the mus-cles of the trunk and body were not con-vulsed ; the contraction of the right arm hadalmost entirely ceased; the hemiplegia re-mained unaltered. The patient was againbled, and had the sinapisms continued. Onthe 3d of January, to the above symptomsacceded epilepsy, convulsions of the trunkand limbs, with this peculiarity, that aftereach convulsive attack, the right arm wascompletely motionless, as before. The pulsehad become smaller; respiration was veryquick and stertorous, etc. The sinapismswere continued to th. lower extremities.The convulsive attacks became more andmore frequent, but subsided completelyforty-eight hours before death, which tookplace on the evening of the seventh day. On examination, the pia mater of the.

brain and spinal chord was throughout in-jected ; the venous sinuses were gymiygorged with blood ; the quantity of cerebro-spinal fluid was rather small ; the brain wasof natural consistence ; the leit posterior

lobe only was a little softer than usual. luits substance, no morbid alteration was

found, except a very intense injection of thewhole left hemisphere; the central parts ofthe brain and the spinal chord were not dis-eased.—Lanc. Franc.

SINGULAR CASE OF FUNGUS OF THE DLE.2

MATER.

C. D., a boy about twelve years of see,was, towards the end of 1829, admitted at

the hospital under M. Dupuytren; his headwas much larger than that of an adult, andexhibited, at the vertex, a tumour of thesize of a turkey’s egg, with an apparentfluctuation, and slight but distinct pulsa.tions corresponding with the pulse; theskin covering it presented a cicatrix from awound which had been caused about Silweeks ago, by the fall of a weight on the ehead, in consequence of which the tumourhad formed. Within the last two yearsit ithad begun to augment, and its furthergrowth was accompanied by amaurosis andrepeated attacks of cerebral inflammation,on account of which the, little patient bad,several times before, been treated at theHôtel-Dieu. M. Dupuytren considered thetumour to be a fungus of the dura mater,and determined upon making an explora.tory puncture ; this was followed by a slighthaemorrhage which ceased spontaneously; thewound was immediately closed, and the in.

flammatory symptoms of the brain, on ac.count of which the patient had been ad.

mitted, soon after the operation, underfurther antiphlogistic treatment, so far sub-sided, that though the tumour was unaltered,and the patient was still affected wnh anrao-rosis, he was well enough to be dischargedon the 20th of October.Thus far the case exhibits nothing of a

peculiar interest ; it was, bowecer, very K-markable, that the subcutaneous veins ot theforehead, temples, and scalp, were greatlyenlarged, so as to be almost equal in size tothat of the jugular veins in an adult ; theyseemed, as it were, to originate m the ta-mour, and to diverge from it towaids theother parts of the head. This extrsordiaarr

development of the veins was, no doub;,owing to the compression, perhaps even theobliteration, of the upper longitudinal sinus,in consequence of which its emissarybranches having become enlarged, had thuscarried on the circulation of venous bloodthrough the collateral vessels ; and the factitself is, in this respect, strikingly ana)ogonto the case of obliterated vena cava, w)4ichwe gave some time ago.