501

The coats were rough from atheroma, and the sac containedblack clot. The laryngeal cartilages were ossified ; cordsnormal. No apparent pressure on the trachea. The liverweighed seventy-four ounces, dark purple, but tissue normal.The spleen weighed nine ounces, and was adherent to thediaphragm. The right supra-renal body was adherent tothe liver. The kidneys weighed five and five and a halfounces respectively, capsules adherent, granular surface,much diminished cortex ; tissue congested.

.BeM’Z:s.—This case is interesting as regards the apparenteffect of iodide of potassium. During the patient’s last staybut one in the hospital in August, 1879, under large doses ofiodide of potassium, combined with rest and good food, heshowed material improvement in general symptoms, while,at the same time, the pulsation and prominence of thetumour subsided. The iodide had no such effect in the lastillness, and the results of the post-mortem examinationshowed a condition of the parts in which the tempory im-provement could be easily accounted for without any specialaction of the iodide.

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MONTGOMERYSHIRE INFIRMARY.CASE OF DISLOCATION OF THIGH, WITH PERSISTENT

LENGTHENING OF LIMB AFTER REDUCTION.

(Under the care of Dr. PRATT.)J. P-, carter, aged thirty-five, was admitted on the 13th

November, 1880. On examination he was found sufferingfrom dislocation of right thigh. According to the man’s ownaccount he was knocked down by his horse in the street,and being picked up was found unable to stand, and wasconsequently carried to the infirmary. The dislocation was

easily made out. There was inversion of the foot, with veryslight shortening, pointing of the right great toe over the ballof left great toe, and, as the patient was by no means stout,the head of the femur could be felt in its new position, lvingdeep in the sciatic notch, almost upon the spine of the ischium.The man was at once put under chloroform, and uponmanipulation the head of the bone glided belowthe acetabulum into the thyroid foramen. Thence itwas easily dislodged, when it went back to its oldposition. The flexion upon the abdomen was now

made more complete than at first, and whilst thelimb was being everted and extended, the head was slightlylifted up, when it went into the cotyloid cavity with anaudible sna,p, and the limb was easily placed alongside theother. But no’v the limb was found to be half an inchlonger than its fellow. Nevertheless it was all right in theacetabulum. What was the cause of this lengthening ?Was it a quantity of effused blood and serum into thesocket, causing the head to protrude, or was it owing toparalysis of the muscles ? The latter was thought to be theright cause, and upon its disappearance the limb would nodoubt be the same length as the other. The knees wereaccordingly bound together, and the patient left comfortablein bed. On recovering consciousness he professed to feelquite right, but upon being questioned declared that as faras he knew his two lower limbs were always of the samelength. In a few days much discolouration appearedupon the pelvis and thigh, proving that much bloodhad been extmvasated. This gradually went away ina fortnight, aid perfect movement of the thigh in alldirections was recovered, but still the lengthening of halfan inch persisted. In the third week he was up, andwalking about with a slight limp. He went out and returnedto his old work He was seen about a month afterwards,when he declared that he walked as well as ever. He knewno difference between his walking now and what it wasbefore the accident. He was taken into the infirmary andmeasured, when the injured limb was found still to benearly half an inch too long. The only conclusion thatcould be now arrived at was that here was a case of con-genital difference in length between the two limbs. It isworth recording, on account of its rarity and on account ojits early puzzling character, which raised a doubt whethelthe dislocation had been properly reduced.

BEQUESTS AND DONATIONS TO MEDICAL CHARITIES.Mr. ltobert Ros, late of Glasgow, bequeathed 1000 to th{hospital at DingwaU, erected in commemoration of hisfriend and kinsman, Dr. Wm. Ross.

Medical Societies.ROYAL MEDICAL & CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.

Innominate Aneurism treated by Sirnultaneous Distal Liga-ture of the Cctrotidand Subelavian Arteries, with remarkson the behaviour of a Tendon Ligature.THE ordinary meeting of this Society was held on the

22nd inst., Dr. Barclay, President, in the chair. One paperoccupied the evening. It was by Mr. Dent, of St. George’sHospital, and dealt with a subject which has been beforethe Society twice this session-the question of animal liga-tures. An interesting discussion arose, in which two pointswere raised-viz., as to the efficacy of such ligatures inoccluding the artery, and as to the precise nature of the" organisation" " of the ligature.A paper was read on a " Case of Innominate Aneurism

treated by simultaneous distal ligature of the carotid andsubclavian arteries, with remarks on the behaviour ofa tendon ligature," by Mr. C. T. DENT. The chief objectof this paper is to describe the changes observed in anartery tied with a tendon ligature. The parts were examinedten days after death. The history of the case was as

follows :-S. L-, an engineer, aged thirty-seven, wasadmitted with an aneurism of the innominate artery, thefirst symptoms of which had been noticed about twelvemonths previously. He improved at first under rest andiodide of potassium, but then as the growth increased thecarotid and subclavian arteries were ligatured subcutaneouslyby Mr. Pollock. For the carotid artery catgut was employedas well as the tendon ligature ; the subclavian was securedwith a flat tendon ligature only. Both arteries were healthy.The aneurism improved, but the patient bad at times verysevere attacks of dyspnoea, and died ten days after theoperation. A large ulcerated opening was found in thetrachea, which did not communicate with the cavity of theaneurism. The carotid artery was dissected out and ex-amined ; the following points were observed :—A verymoderate amount of lymph was effused about the tied artery,though sufficient to bury the knot of the ligature. Well-formed clots were found in the proximal and distal ends of .

the completely obliterated vessel. No trace of the catgutligature could be found. Much of the tendon ligature, wherenot in contact with the artery, was unaltered. The externalcoat of the artery was not ulcerated. This the author ascribespartly to the fact that tendon, like other animal ligatures, iscapable of slight softening and swelling, and partly to thefact that new bloodvessels are early developed in parts lyingclose to the artery. The inner coats of the artery were rup-tured. The tendon ligature, in many of the sections, was in

most close connexion with the artery, and in these placeswas infiltrated with small round granulated cells, which inplaces split up the fibrous material into longitudinal bands.Some of the cells seem to be more elongated than others. Inconnexion with these cells, and formed by them, were seennew bloodvessels. Here and there it appeared possible inthe sections to trace bloodvessels passing across the line ofconnexion, extending into the artery on the one hand, andinto the tendon on the other. In conclusion, the authorstates that though he did not share in the objection urgedagainst catgut ligature, still it seemed that tendon mightfurnish an animal material which would require less prepara-tion than the carbolic or chromic catgut ligature, and whichwould probably be more constant in its behaviour.-Mr. BRYANT said the question of the use of flat ligaturesinvolved the important principle whether it were necessaryfor permanent occlusion that the inner and middle coatsshould be divided, the point established by Dr. Jones ; andhe had himself some years ago come to the same conclusionthat permanent occlusion could only be thus obtained. Theflat ligature, which only compressed the vessel, would causesimply a temporary occlusion, long enough in some cases toallow of coagulation in an aneurism, but not in the othermore difficult cases where ligature had to be resorted to.He compared the action of the flat ligature to that ofacupressure, which had been almost abandoned because (inthe case of severed arteries) it was frequently followed bysecondary haemorrhaRe, the vessel not being occluded longenough to allow of permanent clotting. Hence those cases