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man in attendance attributed to croup. Therespiration was attended with a peculiarwhistling noise. The symptoms suddenlysubsided, and the child remained well forabout ten days. Whilst out with the iaurse-maid it was suddenly seized with the samesymptoms, and died almost instantly. Onexamination after death, a bead, about aslarge as a pea, was found in the rima glot-tidis. The whistling sound had been pro-duced by the passage of the air through thehole in the bead.

ROYAL MEDICO - BOTANICALSOCIETY.—May 11.

H.GIBBS, Esq., in the chair.

A COMMUNICATION from Dr. Houlton ‘ Onthe Collecting and Preserving Roots forMedicinal Purposes," was read. The dis,cordant opinions found amongst medicalpractitioners and authors respecting the me-dicinal properties of indigenous vegetableremedies, may be attributed in a great mea-sure to want of information respecting themethod of collecting, preserving, and mani-pulating these very important articles ; aspharmaceutists have no sound practicalguide to direct them, there is a great wantof uniformity in their preparation, and con-sequently in their properties. To remedythis was Dr. Houlton’s object, by layingdown some safe rule for collecting and pre-serving roots. The directions contained inthe ,-London Pharmacopoeia" he condemnsas uncertain and erroneous, and furthershows that the instructions contained in thework of Dr. Bellingham and Dr. Mitchellare incorrect. He observes that all rootsshould be taken up at the time that theirleai-es die, as they then abound with the pro-per secretions of the plant. This rule has noexception ; it applies to the roots of trees,shrubs, herbs, rootstocks, bulbs, corni, andtubers; and it includes that curious plant,colchicum, whose flowers only appear in theautumn, and its leaves and fruit the followingspring and summer. Biennial roots must betaken up in the first year of their duration,as, when the leaves decay in the secondyear, their roots are either decayed, or merelydry woody fibre. Roots intended to be pre-served should be dried as soon as possibleafter they have been dug up ; the large treeroots, especially the more juicy ones, drybetter in their entire state than when sliced.

UNIMPREGNATED OVI.

To the Editor.-Sir: In looking over

THELANCET for March 18th, my attentionhas been arrested by the remark of"Gallus," relating to the unimpregnatedfowl laying eggs. Permit me to make afew statements on the subject. Not only

does the fowl lay eggs without the assistanceof the cock, but the hen becomes much moreprolific by being kept from the male. Inthis way I have obtained upwards of 250eggs in a year from one bird. The deposi-tion of ovi independently of impregnationI have myself observed also in the goose,the duck, the raven, the parrot, the pigeon,the canary, and the goldfinch, and I have nodoubt that it takes place in all birds, as wellas in many insects, particularly moths,butterflies, the house-fly, and the May-fly.If silk-worms, while in a state of chrysalis,be opened, they will be found full of eggs,which are not unfrequently deposited a fewhours after they have assumed the mothstate. Should this happen previously totheir becoming connected with the male,they are, of course, useless. Knowing this,I used to keep the female chrysalises (theymay be distinguished by their larger size andbroader tails) in a cold place, to retard theirtransformation until some of the males hadbecome moths. All fishes spawn, or depositovi, without assistance from the male, andthe fecundation takes place after escapefrom the body. In frogs it is much thesame, with this addition, that in the spawn-ing season the males will be seen fixed onthe backs of the females, tightly embracingthem under the axiilas with their fore-legs,the pressure that they exercise being so

great that the legs of the male will be foundquite curved. This pressure is said to assistthe female in depositing her ovi, and as theypass out of her body the male emits a fluidupon them that renders them prolific. Theinstinct which guides the frog in this act

appears to be most blind, for sometimes fouror five males will fix themselves around onefemale, and, by their united pressure, notonly destroy her, but some of their ownlives also. I have seen a frog fastened onthe back of a toad. The snail and theblack-snake will also deposit their eggs in-dependently of previous impregnation. Inshort, in birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects,the male, instead of playing a material partin the formation of the ovum, has nothing todo with it, though the semen masculinum isrequired to make them prolific after being)formed by the female.As regards Mr. Girdwood’s supposed

analogy between the depositing of eggs inbirds and the flow of the catamenia in

women, I would remark that I thought itwas pretty generally considered that its

appearance was a proof that one or more

of the ovi contained in the ovaries was suffi.

èiently matured for impregnation, and thatthe establishment of that function merelyprepared the uterus for the reception of theovum. I believe it is well established thatimpregnation never takes place previouslyto the flow of the catamenia. How it isthat Mr. Girdwood confounds the secretion,or the excretion, which you will, of the

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uterus called the " catamenia," with thatfrom which a new being springs, I am at aloss to know. The only cause that I canimagine for such a mistake is the commonpractice of using the erroneous expression," impregnated uterus." It is the ovum, andnot the uterus, that becomes impregnated.The uterus merely serves as a nidus for thedevelopment of the ovum. That such is

really the case, "extra-uterine pregnancy"sufficiently manifests. I am, Sir, your obe-dient servant, GALLINA.

May, 16, 1843.

CASE RELATED BY MR. LEWIS.

To the Editor.—Sir: Having observed inTHE LANCET of the 6th inst. the case of a

" foreign body in the trachea for twentymonths," reported by Mr. G. Lewis, ofWoburn-place, and having been in daily at-tendance upon his brother during his stay inEngland, 1 was somewhat surprised at see-ing the names of Messrs. Rowe and Kealmentioned in conjunction with the case, andhaving since learnt from Mr. Lewis the wayin which their names became so introduced,I think it right, in justice to Mr. Lewis, tomyself, and the profession, that you shouldbe made acquainted with the facts. It is

quite true, that Mr. Rowe saw the gentle-man alluded to frequently, as he happenedto live next door to my friend Mr. Lewis,and it is equally true that he showed greatinterest in the case, by calling nearly everyday to inquire after the patient. It appearsalso that he very kindly undertook to takeMr. Lewis’s letter to THE LANCET office forinsertion ; and then he thought proper toadd his own name to the case, without theknowledge of Mr. Lewis, who assures methat he had not the slightest authority fromhim for doing so. Now, Sir, I cannot helpthinking this somewhat unprofessional on

the part of Mr. Rowe, and should wish toask you if it is usual for medical men to takeso much interest, and mix up their ownnames in the cases of their neighbours,merely because they happen to live nextdoor. In justice to Mr. Keal allow me toadd, that I believe that geutleman was per-fectly ignorant of what Mr. Rowe had doneuntil the publication of the case in THELANCET. I am, Sir, your most obedient

servant, HENRY SIDDEN.Blackfriars-road, May IS, 1843.*,* Mr. Rowe seems to us simply to have

added an additional authentication of theletter.

A GLUT OF DOCTORS.

IT appears that the profession is over-stocked with practitioners in France as wellas in England : more than forty Frenchdoctors in medicine having sometime sinceapplied to the Government for free passageto the Marquesas Islands.

HENRY SIDDEN.

CASE OF TOTAL ABSENCE OFTHE SPLEEN.

AT Vienna in 1838, the body of an infantwas examined which had lived only threedays, plunged during the whole of that

period in incessant sleep. It had conse.

quently never sought the breast ; the meco-nium and urine had, however, been passed.Only a rudiment existed of the left forearmand hand, and the flesh of the other extremi.ties had a want of tone and firmness. Theabdomen and thorax were tumefied; but inmost other respects the child presented littlethat was unusual in appearance, and thefemale genital organs were perfectly deve.loped. But on opening the cavities thebrain was found softened, and, together withits envelopes, gorged with blood, and a littlefluid was present in the ventricles. The

lungs were also gorged with blood, and afrothy secretion at their base ; but thethoracic organs had a natural development.The abnormal appearances were mostly inthe abdomen. Here the liver was found toextend almost as far into the left as into theright hypochondrium ; and to its anteriorand inferior border the transverse colon wasattached in its entire length. The liver wasattached also to the mesocolon, but less inti-mately. The small intestine held its ordi.nary position. There was no stomach, un.less a small sac, thirteen lines in length byabout one-third as wide, and situated at theangle where the oesophagus joined the duo.denum, could be so called. There was apancreas about sixteen lines in length, byfour and a half in breadth ; but the spleenwas entirely wanting, and the large intestinehad neither sacculi nor appendices epiploicce.For further particulars the reader is referredto" Muller’s Archiv.," &c., for 1842, p. 51.We have before had occasion to advert to

the fallacies liable to attend the deductionsdrawn from experiments performed on live

animals; and the above case affords a suit-able opportunity for again remarking thatfacts furnished by comparative anatomy,together with accurate observations on thedefective performance of the animal functionsin monsters, are the most legitimate sourceswhence to derive our conclusions uponpoints in physiology at present either darkor disputed.

HOSPITAL STATISTICS.—At the Idopitalla Charité, Paris, in the medical year 1841-42, 21 cases of diseased breast were re-

ceived, of which 12 were cases of abscess,8 of tumour, and 1 of eczema. Cases ofhernia 17, of which 4 were crural and 13inguinal; an operation was required in only4 instances. Of diseases of the anus 28

cases; 2 of furuncular ; 4 of deep-seatedabscess; 4 of haemorrhoids; 2 of syphiliticexcrescences ; and 15 of nstulae.