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Medical Societies.MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 8TH, 1862.DR. SIBSON, F.R.S., PRESIDENT.

DR. THUDICHUM read in detail the particulars of a case ofRAPID WASTING PALSY, THE RESULT OF STRUCTURAL

DISEASE OF THE SPINAL MARROW.

This was illustrated by drawings.Mr. JABEZ HoGG dwelt upon atrophy of the nerve-cell de-

scribed by Dr. Lockhart Clarke in these cases ; and Dr. Thudi-chum, he rema,rked, had traced his case from the beginning toshow how it affected the patient. He (Mr. Hogg) had broughtmicroscopic specimens from the case which was first investi-

gated by Dr. Clarke and Dr. Radcliffe. In Dr. Thudichum’scase the specimens beautifully showed the pathological condi-tion described.

Dr. SYMES THOMPSON thought the case important as showingthat the wasting palsy was due to the diseased condition ofthe spinal cord. He thought it allied to one he had himselfbrought before the Society at a former meeting, wherein thepalsy chiefly affected the hand. He referred to the views ofwriters who endeavoured to show that the disease commencedin the muscles and extended to the cord.

Mr. WM. ADAMS did not think there was any analogy be-tween the wasting palsy of children and the case of Dr. Thudi-chum, as Dr. Thompson supposed. JI.’1r. Adams referred to a icase of gradual wasting paralysis of the whole body in a lady,which had been coming on for eight or ten years, and wasattributed to msntal influence. Her husband died, and twoyears afterwards she also died, with decided symptoms ofcerebral and spinal mischief. She consulted Mr. Adams abouther loss of muscular power. It seemed to be a case of muscular

paralysis gradually coming on for years. He looked upon itas one of great interest, but was not permitted to trace it outafter death.

Mr. JABEZ HOGG related the particulars of a case ofDISPLACEMENT OF THE CRYSTALLINE LENS.

The case was originally described in THE LANCET of June, 18&0.The lens was dislocated into the anterior chamber of the lefteye, and produced such severe inflammation that it was re-

moved by Mr. Hogg under chloroform, and the patient madea good recovery. Before leaving the hospital he complainedof the sight of the other eye, when this was fonnd to dependupon a displacement of the lens, the thin edge of which w:,sturned towards the observer. The position of this subsequentlychanged, and produced some very curious visual phenomena,which were described.

Dr. BRUNTON exhibited a most ingeniousNEW AUMSCOPE

which he had invented, and practically showed its application.He also described its mechanism. With the aid of an ordinarylight, and by means of angular reflectors in the instrument, thevessels on the surface of the tympanum could be readily dis-tinguished.Mr. HULKE exhibited a large

FIBRO-CELLULAR POLYPUS OF THE EAR,

which he had removed from a young man a few days previously.It had been nine years visible externally, the visible part beingas large as a cherry ; the stalk was so large that it couldnot be twisted off, but by means of a wire snare he removed it.The patient recovered, and is quite well. Hearing was extinct,and has not returned ; and the tumour probably originated inthe cavity of the tympanum.

Mr. HULKE likewise showed a

LARGE HYDATID CYST FROM THE ORBIT,

taken from a pale and sickly child eleven years old, with greatprotrusion of the left. eye, which was one inch in advance of theother, both lids being everted. He could feel a swelling be-tween the lid and orbit below, tense, elastic, without rednessor oeciema. It had commenced seven months before, and theeye moved in every direction but downwards. He carefullydiasecced it out, and the case had done well, with return ofvision.

Dr. JEPHSON related a case ofMYELITIS SUCCKSSFULLY TREATED

at the end of about ten months, in a female patient, in theGreat Northern Hospital. The disease was the result of anaccident (a fall down steps upon her back) which occurred fouryears before, causing paraplegia and complete anassthesia, witha local fixed pain over the first lumbar vertebra, and othersymptoms, which he concluded were due to myelitis. Thecomplete recovery of the patient Dr. Jephson considered wasattributable in a great degree to counter-irritants, the actualcautery, and caustic issues, combined with galvanism, &c.

Dr. GIBB exhibited the

SKULL OF AN AFRICAN NEGRO WITH A REMARKABLY LONG

STYLOID PROCESS.

This was not due to ossification of the stylo-hyoid ligament,but to prolongation of the styloid process itself.

Dr. COCKLE exhibited a

CAVITY IN THE LUNG, IN WHICH METALLIC TINKLING HADBEEN HEARD FOR MANY WEEKS,

in a girl aged nineteen. This phenomenon was confined to thecavity, because the rest of the lung was firmly bound down byadhesions. He thought there was a, great analogy between thebruit de pot félé and metallic tinkling. This cavity was quiteempty from the beginning, and two weeks before the patientdied all the phenomena ceased.

Dr. COCKLE likewise showed a specimen oCANCER OF THE DUODENUM,

developed in its post-peritoneal tissue. The patient was in-tensely jaundiced of a dark mahogany colour, with great irrita-bility of the stomach ; not even a drop of water cou:d be re-tained. During life the cancerous mass had simulated cancerof the stomach, so much so that it was believed to have affectedthe pylorus.He also exhibited specimens ofHEPATIC CANCER, UNDERGOING CRETACEOUS DEGENERATION,

from a woman, who was admitted into the Royal Free Hos-pital, intensely jaundiced, and who died collapsed in forty-eight hours. Cancer of the liver was found undergoing cure bycretaceous degeneration. He had not seen this before, and be-lieved it to be singularly rare. Cancer was present in thespleen also.

Mr. WM. ADAMS thought it doubtful whether cancer wasreally undergoing cure ; for occasionally, he said, we do findossification of cancerous growths internally, the same as occursexternally. He hesitated to admit the fact that the mere dis-covery of bone in the disease showed it to be undergoing acure.

Dr. GiBB asked whether there was any co-existence oftubercle and cancer in this patient, to which Dr. Cockle re-

pliecl that there was not.Mr. HoGG asked if a microscopic examination had been made,

as he thought the disease might be enchondromatous.Dr. COCKLE thought, that, looking to the entire fusion of the

masses, the one into the other, it must be cancer undergoing aprocess of cure.

JUNIOR MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

AT a meeting of this Society, held at King’s College on the9th inst., Mr. H. SMITH in the chair, the following pathologicalspecimens were exhibited :-" Encysted Knotty Tumour of theLiver connected with a Syphilitic Origin" (by Mr. Kempthorne,King’s College); Larynx and Trachea of a Child showingDiphtheritic Exudations" (by Mr. Talfourd Jones, UniversityCollege).Mr. YEO then proceedeit to read a paper on

OVARIOTOMY.

The author commenced by observing that the subject was somature, and surrounded by so many well authenticated facts,that it might fairly be discussed by this Society. In doing soit was desirable to be influenced not so much by the weight ofauthority, but rather by a calm review of the facts of the case,and the reasonable inferences to be deduced therefrom. Thehistory of the operation was then traced, from its origin inAmerica in 1809, and its inauspicious introduction into GreatBritain by Mr. Lizars in 1823, to its re-introduction by Dr.Clay in 1842, and its subsequent steady progress. He thenenucuerated the various other means that had been suggested