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four of this opinion were the sensation thepatient experienced on the introduction ol

the pipe, of its having passed behind thetumour, the constipation previous to the

attack, the subsequent discharges, and thesevere neuralgia, which was evidently theresult of the pressure exerted by the tumour.Dr. Bright had felt no doubt but that thefirst attack was a well-marked instance ofsuppuration of the kidney. It was certainthat in proportion as the pus was secretedfrom the bladder, the tumour diminished insize; but it must be recollected that there wasdiarrhoea also, and it was difficult to sayupon which discharge the diminution in thesize of the tumour depended. Dr. Brighthad been surprised at the occurrence of thesecond attack, as he supposed that thekidney had suppurated entirely away, butconsidered that the cyst which would haveremained had become inflamed and suppu-rated. The opinion of the speaker was, thatthe cyst of the kidney had remained in a col-lapsed state after the subsidence of the firstattack; but on the occurrence of a generaldisordered state of the health, or the deter-mination of a large quantity of blood to the

cyst, the disease had returned. The periodicnature of the attacks was a point of much in-terest; the first occurred at seven, the secondat fourteen, the third at twenty-one, and thefourth at twenty-eight years of age ; therehad been an interval of only four years be-tween this and the last attack. Cases simi-lar to that of Mr. Dendy were of uncommonoccurrence, except as the result of stricture,or some mechanical obstruction to the flowof urine, from which originated a collectionof fluid in the pelvis of the kidney. It was

possible that stricture might exist in Mr.Dendy’s case, but he did not think thatit did.

Dr.T. THOMSON considered the disease, inMr. Dendy’s case, to have consisted of sup-puration in one or more of the calyces, or ofthe entire pelvis, of the kidney. The causewas obscure. He related a case of a womansubject to diarrhoea, and who had a largetumour on the left side of the abdomen. Puswas found in the urine, and occasionally thetriple-phosphate deposit. With the view of

dissolving this, small doses of hydrochloricacid were administered, but were obligedto be discontinued in consequence of itssevere action on the bowels. She was sub-ject to severe pains, which were relieved bythe administration of morphia. She livedtwo or three years, and after death the left

kidney was found very much enlarged, andfilled with pus. There was a triple-phos-phate calculus impacted in the ureter of thatside. Cases similar to Mr. Dendy’s wereusually the result of obstruction in the ureter;there was no evidence, however, of such anobstruction in this case. The long intervalbetween the attacks favoured the opinion.

In Mr. Dendy’s case there was no deposit oftriple phosphate in the urine.

Dr. L. STEWART related a case, in whichthe tumour, after death, was found to consistof an enlarged and thickened bladder.Mr. DENDY, in answer to questions, stated

that the patient whose case he had detailed,had, previous to the first attack of disease,taken a dram of nitrate of potash twice a-day ; and two drams three times a-day pre-vions to the last attack. This he did in op-position to his medical adviser.

Dr. JOHNSON considered this quantitysufficient to do mischief to the kidneys, andwondered it had not also seriously affectedother organs. He had seen half dram dosesvery injurious to the stomach.

Dr. WILLSHIRE suggested that the nitrateof potash had acted as a powerful stimulantin this case, producing inflammation, andconsequent suppuration of the kidney.

Mr. HEADLAND observed that the value ofthe case under discussion much depended onthe advantage it afforded of diagnosticatingany similar case should such be presented toour notice. He thought its whole historyproved that the disease could not have beensituated in the colon or the spleen, neitherdid he think it was at all proved that in thelast case the kidney had suppurated. Wehad certainly no evidence of the presence ofnephritis, in the usual sense of that term, themore prominent symptoms of that diseasebeing absent. He was inclined, therefore,to think that there had been suppuration ofthe kidney in one of the former attacks,and that the cyst left after this disease

had, in the last attack, become filledwith fluid, not exactly pus, but an elimin-nation from the blood. Did this arisefrom the administration of the nitre ?We knew that in large doses this medicinewas injurious, and did not act as a diureticunless largely diluted with water. Hetherefore thought that in the present case thefirst effect of the medicine had been on thebowels, producing the peculiar evacuationswhich had been mentioned. It then ap-peared to have excited such an action on thecyst as to have caused an elimination fromthe blood to be secreted in it. There wereno signs or symptoms of the formation of

pus. If inflammation had existed to suchan extent as it must have done to producesuppuration, the patient most likely wouldhave succumbed.

WESTMINSTER MEDICAL SOCIETY.

Saturday, Jan. 20, 1843.

Mr. FISHER, President.PARALYSIS OF THE PORTIO DURA IN AN

INFANT.

DR. CHOWNE detailed a case of paralysisof the portio dura, affecting the face in theusual way, under which a child had la-

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boured as early as the tenth month of hisage.James Loft, of fair complexion, blue eyes,

and light hair, was supposed by his motherto be more than usually backward in at-

tempts to speak, and under these circum-stances became Dr. Chowne’s patient. Thechild at the time was twenty-two monthsold, and had eighteen teeth. The face wasdrawn a little to the left side ; this wasvisible, although not in a strong degree,when the child was still, but when he smiledit became very visible, and while crying itamounted to a strong distortion. When thechild was played with and laughed the facewas also distorted ; the angle of the mouthbeing drawn to one side, the upper lip onthe same side was drawn a great deal up,leaving the mouth very much open on theleft side, while it was nearly closed on theright.When the child was unexcited and the

face still, the eyes appeared nearly alike asto degree of openness ; there was, however,generally, if not always, a greater accumula-tion of tears on the surface of the eye, andresting on the under lid of the right eye thanon that of the left. When the finger wasput near the eyelashes of the right eye thepalpebræ closed partly but not quite, while i

those of the left closed perfectly at the sametime without any other excitement than thatapplied to the right. When, however, thefinger touched the eyelashes the paipebras ofthe right eye also closed completely. Dur-

ing sleep the left eye was closed, the rightpartly open.

During both laughing and crying the

right side of the face was particularly still,dull, and inexpressive, while the left was infull activity and animation. The child wasintelligent and playful, and when playedwith and tickled, laughed heartily ; at thesetimes the contrast between the two sides ofthe face was remarkably striking and cha-racteristic, one side was full of expressionand mirth, while the other presented a

sombre, dull, inanimate stillness, whollydevoid of participation in the mirth enjoyedby the child, and depicted in the merry sideof his countenance. This appearance, evenin so young a child, was very grotesque.The mother had not noticed anything par-

ticular in the child until about ten monthsprior to Dr. Chowne’s seeing it; that is tosay, not until the child was ten months old.At that time the state of the face waspointed out to her by her {friends ; not byfriends, however, who had been in the habitof seeing the child. Those friends and ac-quaintances who, like the mother, had seenthe child frequently, or almost constantly,had not noticed the peculiarity; hence it isnot certain at what time the malady firstexisted.The mother was not aware that the child

had received any injury, neither had it had

any illness which had even attracted herattention to the head, or ear, or face, particu.larly.At the time the child was seen by Dr.

Chowne alterative aperient medicines wereprescribed, and all appearance of indisposi-tion passed away, so far as the health wasconcerned, but the paralysis remained un-altered.

Dr. Chowne observed that paralysis of theportio dura was a very unusual affection inso young a subject. He was quite unableto decide upon the cause of the affection inthis case. In answer to a question he saidthe labour in the case of this child was not adifficult one.A discussion of some length followed be.

tween various members of the society,chiefly with reference to the pathology ofcases of paralysis of the portio dura, inwhich various opinions were expressed, butnone of them require to be separately de.tailed. It may be mentioned, however, thatDr. Reid had seen two cases of partial para-lysis of this nerve consequent upon the ap-plication of the forceps to the child’s headduring labour.

BRITISH MEDICALJOURNALS.

THE last number of the EdinburghMedical and Surgical Journal contains ananalysis of the work of M. Chossat on14 Inanition," from which we take the fol-

lowing graphic description of the sufferingswhich were endured by the subjects of thatgentleman’s experiments on starvation :-"The general, symptoms which attend

starvation are the following :-The animalsremain calm from the beginning of the ex-periment until the half of the period duringwhich they live, or nearly the whole period,has expired. After that they become moreor less agitated, and this state lasts so longas the animal heat keeps tolerably high.On the last day of their life the state ofagitation ceases, and they fall into a state ofstupor. If the animal be then left at liberty,it looks around it with an astonished air,without seeking to escape ; sometimes itcloses the eyes, as if asleep. This state ofstupor is attended with a rapidly increasingweakness. It shakes when it stands, andseems giddy; the feet are cold and livid,and contracted like a ball, and scarcely per-mit of the animal standing solid on them.It then becomes unable to stand withoutsupport, or, if a bird, rests on its belly andwings ; soon after it falls on its side andlies immoveable in any position it may fall

into, and makes no efforts to rise. The

respiration becomes more and more feebleand slow, the sensibility diminishes, the

pupil of the eye dilates, and the animal