LEURET and LASSAIGNE, in their recent work on digestion, the mucous
membrane presents projections of three different species; and these are,
the sensitive papillae, the epidermoid papillae, and the mucous cryptae.
The sensitive papillae are numerous. They occupy the anterior four-fifths
of the tongue, on which they are implanted by a narrow pedicle. The
rounded head of these papillae is much more prominent in the living
subject, than after death; but injections are capable of restoring them
to their pristine form. Nervous fibres from the lingual branch of the
fifth pair have been distinctly traced to their roots. These papillae are
of various sizes; at the root of the tongue they form a V. They are all
vascular and nervous. The sense of taste is referred by these writers
almost exclusively to the above papillae.
The epidermoid papillae are of a nature similar to those retroverted
prominences so remarkable on the tongue of the cat; as well as in the
lion, and some other animals. They are larger in many species than in
man, and, in general, the sensibility of the tongue appears to diminish
in proportion to the remoteness of the subject from the human structure.
The epidermoid papillae are separated from the tongue along with the
epidermis, or rather, epithelium, by maceration for a few days in
vinegar. They are pyramidal in form. They are grouped round the
sensitive papillae, except on the edges and point of the tongue, where
they are rare. Their base is perforated, and always gives outlet to a
crypta. In an epithelium separated from the tongue, these minute and
numerous perforations are easily distinguished from the larger ones left
by the sensitive papillae.
The office of the epidermoid papillae appears purely mechanical.
The only cryptae which produce, of themselves, a visible projection on
the surface of the tongue, are situated at its base. They are formed by
the mucous membrane, like other cryptae, and are scattered between the
sensitive papillae.
In the tongue of birds, there is always a bone or cartilage; and the
external membrane is dense. In reptiles the tongue is soft, possessed of
little sensibility, and capable of great elongation. In fishes it is
endowed with little motion, and is often wanting.--_Bulletin Medicale._
2. _Villi of the Stomach and Intestines._--MM. LEURET and LASSAIGNE
state that the villi can be easily injected; most conveniently from the
vena portae, though the arteries may be employed. In the latter case,
the matter of injection is effused into the intestinal or gastric
cavity. The villi are peculiar to these parts; they are inversely
conical, adhering to the membrane by their smaller end. The best mode of
exhibiting them, is to tie the vena portae of a living animal, when they
erect themselves by the afflux of blood. These diminutive organs, about
3/100 of an inch long, then exhibit distinctly, under the microscope,
four red longitudinal lines, being probably vessels.
Injections made retrograde from the thoracic duct, pass through the
villi into the intestines. When the stomach of a man, who died of some
complaint not deranging its condition, is examined, we sometimes find
its lining membrane covered with a multitude of minute white points.
These are the villi in a flaccid state. In those who have died during
digestion, they are erected, and of a rosy colour.
When the intestine of a living animal is examined under a microscope,
after being carefully washed, a great number of orifices are seen, from
each of which exudes a minute drop of a transparent fluid. These rapidly
disappear; and then the villi attract attention. What these foraminula
are, the reviewer, M. DU FERMON, does not tell us.--_Ibid._
3. _Minute distribution of the Vessels of the Liver._--M. CRUVEILHIER
gives, in his lectures, an account of the results he has obtained from a
minute injection of the liver. He finds, 1. The acini surrounded with a
dense, cellular texture, paler than themselves; 2. The ramifications of
the hepatic artery distributed to this cellular envelope; 3. Those of
the vena portae spread around the acini, or granulations of the liver;
and 4. Those of the biliary ducts, and of the hepatic veins, emerging
from the cavities of these bodies.
Our readers will observe a great similarity, in this, to the arrangement
of the lobules of the kidneys.--_Ibid._
4. _Trachea perforating the Aorta._--This odd distribution of parts, was
observed by M. ZAGORSKY, at St. Petersburg, in 1802. The aorta divided
itself, at its arch, into two branches, which received the trachea
between them, and again united, exactly fitting the organ they received.
They were found to have compressed the trachea, and probably produced
difficulty of breathing.
In another case, in 1808, the right subclavian artery, instead of its
usual origin, arose from the left extremity of the arch of the aorta,
and crossed behind the trachea, thus including the latter between it and
the aorta.
Why do we call the common trunk of the right subclavian and carotid, the
arteria innominata? Is coining words so difficult a task, that we
cannot find a proper and expressive name for it? The French
call it _brachio-cephalic_, and this expresses its office and
distribution.--_Ibid._
5. _Monsters._--These productions, hitherto considered as mere objects
of wonder, from the study of which no useful inference could be drawn,
have recently attracted a good deal of attention in Paris. There seem to
be some close affinities discoverable in many of them, not only with
the natural and complete forms of animals of various tribes, but even
with the actual condition of their own species, while in the foetal
state.
The views of M. GEOFFROY ST. HILAIRE seem to us rather mystical and
vague. Those of BRESCHET, and the other practical anatomists, we can
understand much better.
6. _Malformation of the Heart._--Drs. BAILLIE,[29] LANGSTAFF,[30] and
FARRE[31] have each published cases; and M. TIEDEMANN, in his journal of
Physiology, now adds a fourth, in which the aorta and pulmonary artery
were found to have changed places. In professor TIEDEMANN'S case, the
two circulations were entirely distinct; the systemic blood passing from
venae cavae to right auricle, from right auricle to right ventricle, and
from this, through the aorta, to the body at large; while the pulmonary
blood ran through an equally simple circle, by the route of pulmonary
veins, left auricle, left ventricle, and pulmonary artery. The only
communications between the two circulations, were the foramen ovale, the
ductus arteriosus, and, in the opinion of M. TIEDEMANN, the
inosculations between the branches of the _pulmonary_ and _bronchial_
arteries.
The infant is recorded to have presented _no peculiar appearances_ till
the ninth day; when attacks of suffocation came on, attended with the
blackish blue colour, and followed by death, at the end of twelve days.
Similar histories are said to be given of the cases mentioned above, and
the references to which we have copied. We have not the time to consult
them.--_Ibid._
7. _Acephalous Mummy._--M. GEOFFROY ST. HILAIRE has read a memoir of
some length to the Academy of Sciences, on an acephalous mummy. It was
found in a catacomb, destined, with this exception, exclusively to
animals. It had an amulet suspended round its neck, being an earthen
figure of a cynocephalus, for which it was very probably mistaken by the
Egyptians. The collector, M. PASSALACQUA, who obtained it, showed it to
M. G. ST. H. as a monkey, of which he wished to know the species. Yet
the latter observes that these amulets were only put on human mummies.
M. G. concludes that the monkeys, elephants, &c. said by Livy, Valerius
Maximus, Pliny, and others, to have been born of women in their times,
and considered as omens of public calamity, were acephala.
8. _New Anatomical Plates._--Messrs. E. W. TYSON and GEORGE SIMPSON are
publishing anatomical plates, in London. They are spoken of with
approbation. The labours of the latter are designed for the use of
painters.
9. _A Manual of Osteology_ has been undertaken by Dr. WEBER, of Bonn,
and one volume published.
10. _Soemmering's fine work on the anatomy of the ear_, has been
translated into French, and his splendid folio plates copied in
lithography.
11. _Does the conjunctiva run over the cornea?_ Messrs. LECOQ, LEBLANC,
and ARTUS, state that they have each seen a case in which regular _skin_
and _hair_ were seen, forming a small patch on the cornea of the eye of
a quadruped. This is considered as a proof of the existence there of a
membrane naturally analogous to the skin; which must, of course, be the
conjunctiva. An officer saw another case, in which a hair was seen in
the middle of the eye of a horse.--_Bulletin._
II. PHYSIOLOGY.
12. _Electro-Galvanic phenomena of Acupuncturation._--M. POUILLET, after
making a complete circuit, through a needle introduced in acupuncture,
through wires, and through the patient's mouth, found, by means of a
multiplier of SCHWEIGHER with a magnetic needle, that the
electro-magnetic rotation could be readily produced; at least so far as
to effect small vibrations backwards and forwards. On repeating it with
two needles, one of them run into an artery and another into a vein, or
one into the medulla spinalis, at the neck, and another into an
extremity, in a rabbit, no effect whatever took place.--_Magendie's
Journ. de Physiologie._
13. _Variations in Milk._--Milk, says M. VALLOT, in his memoir read to
the Academy of Dijon, may be _red_. The cause of this is unknown, though
it has given rise to superstitious fears. Some have observed that the
cow's teats are then tender. Whether this be cause or effect has not
been ascertained.
_Yellow milk_ is said to have been produced by the cow's eating the
caltha palustris, (marygold.) _Blue milk_, from a cause still unknown,
in the departments of Seine-inferieure and Calvados. Some have ascribed
it to the hyacinthus comosus; others to butomus umbellatus.
The _green milk_ of some writers is supposed to be only blue. _Milk not
coagulable_ is produced by feeding on husks of green peas, and on mint.
_Bitter milk_, from wormwood, sonchus alpinus, and the leaves of the
artichoke; and in goats, from eating freely of elder, (sambucus nigra,)
and potato-tops; _a disagreeable taste_, from turnips, in Upper Canada.
_Garlicky milk_, from causes well known. _Insipid milk_, and
_lead-coloured butter_, from equisetum fluviatile. _Milk unnaturally
sweet and luscious_, (sucre,) from alpine clover, (trifolium alpinum;)
and _red butter_, from the ripe berries of asparagus.--_Bulletin._
14. _Hyoscyamus dilates the pupils of the eyes_, the same manner as
stramonium, several Eastern species of datura, and belladonna, which the
Europeans use. The strongest species was datura fastuosa.--_Oriental
Magazine, apud Du Fermon._
15. _Worms in the Eye._--Several cases of worms in the eye are mentioned
in the Bulletin des Sciences Medicales, for Feb. 1826. DEGUILLEME saw
several in the eye of a cow; and the case was published by GORIER, a
veterinary teacher, in his memoirs. In the report of the proceedings of
the veterinary school at Lyons, in 1822-3, there is the case of a mule,
in which a knot of worms (crinons) was seen in one eye. _Two_ were
extracted; (why no more is not said;) and another subsequently. No
inflammation was produced; but a violent nervous agitation of the head,
and a turning of it to the left side took place. Next follows an account
of a memoir read before the Medical Society of Calcutta, but of which
the name of the author is not given. He is represented as stating, that
the strongylus armatus minor of RUDOLPHI, and the _filiaris_ (filaria)
papillosa, are frequently found in the eyes of the horses in India, but
much more so in the cellular membrane, particularly about the loins. He
believes that they make their way into the blood-vessels, and, through
them, into the eye. Their most ordinary seat is the cellular membrane of
the loins; where they exist for years, producing emaciation, and, at
length, paralysis of the hind legs. This last the Calcutta author is
represented as ascribing to the penetration of the spinal marrow; but he
does not appear to have verified it by dissection. TREUTTLER says, he
has seen the strongylus armatus in _aneurisms_ of the mesenteric artery
of the horse; but the writer in the Bulletin doubts whether any have
ever been found in sound arteries.
Dr. KENNEDY, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions, describes a
worm, which he calls _ascaris pellucidus_, (pellucida,) as being common
in the eyes of horses in India. A review of BREMSER'S work on worms is
expected in our next, and inferences will then be drawn from these
singular facts.
16. _Digestion._--MM. LEURET and LASSAIGNE, in their very interesting
and valuable experimental essay on this subject, have met with many
curious results.
They found no remarkable difference in the saliva of carnivorous and
herbivorous animals. The purest saliva was obtained for their
experiments directly from the parotid duct, in man, the horse, and dog.
The composition was as follows:
Water, 99 parts; mucus, traces; albumen, soda, chloride of sodium,
chloride of potassium, carbonate of lime, and phosphate of lime, 1 part.
Total, 100.
Their experiments on the bile confirmed the results of THENARD and
CREVREUIL.
The pancreatic juice is of the specific gravity 1.0026; at 15 deg. of the
thermometer: (centigrade, we presume.) Its composition is:
Water, 99.1 parts; animal matter soluble in alcohol, animal matter
soluble in water, traces of albumen, mucus, soda, chloride of sodium,
chloride of potassium, and phosphate of lime, 0.9 parts. Total, 100.
This greatly confirms the analogy long observed between the pancreatic
liquor and the saliva.
In the _gastric liquor_, there are:
Water, 98 parts; _lactic acid_, muriate of ammonia, chloride of sodium,
animal matter soluble in water, mucus, and phosphate of lime, 2 parts.
Total, 100.
Dr. PROUT and Mr. CHILDREN have announced the gastric acid, of which so
much has been said, to be the muriatic, while M. CHEVREUIL had stated it
to be the lactic. MM. LEURET and LASSAIGNE confirm the results of
CHEVREUIL, and that with great confidence in their own accuracy. They
found the contents of all the four stomachs of ruminating animals acid.
MM. PREVOST and LEROYER had stated those of the three first to be
alkaline. The observations of LEURET and LASSAIGNE agree with those of
MONTEGRE, (vide Dict. des Sci. Med.) who believes digestion to produce
acidity as a result of the regular process.
The _faeces_ become alkaline.
_Substances which contain no azote, from whatever class they are
obtained, cannot serve for nutrition._ We cannot understand this,
especially when compared with what follows. "If, on the contrary, they
are soluble, one part is absorbed and another is expelled, either by
urine or by the anus; such are sugar, gum, &c." This seems to us like a
contradiction.
It is impossible, in the present state of science, to determine the
chemical change which aliments undergo in the digestive organs; both on
account of their mixture and the insufficiency of our means of analysis.
"The absorption of chyle takes place by the villi." "These communicate
directly with the lacteals and the vena portae."
"The transference of the chyle takes place by the lacteals;
nevertheless, if they are obliterated, _this may be done through the
vena portae_."
_The section of the pneumo-gastric nerves does not stop the dilution of
aliments in the stomach, or chylification._
The juices secreted by the liver and pancreas, are poured into the
intestines in greater quantity during digestion than at any other
period; in consequence of the contact of the acid chyme with the biliary
and pancreatic orifices.
The pancreatic juice is analogous to the saliva.
The spleen is an appendage to the liver; it swells during the absorption
of liquids by the vena portae.
Liquid aliments are digested, just as much as solid; but they do not
require so great a quantity of gastric and intestinal juices.
Watery drinks are absorbed in the stomach and intestines, by the
radicles of the vena portae. Spirituous drinks occasion an afflux of the
gastric juices, become acid, and are absorbed.
Excrements owe their colour and odour to the bile, and their
consistence to the absorption of a portion of the water they contain.
They carry off a large amount of the nutriment.
Great obscurity still remains as to the cause of hunger.
Thirst is thought to be produced by the drying which the pharynx
undergoes, from the passage through it of the air used in respiration,
and at a time when the supply of mucous fluid is scanty.
Our readers will have perceived, long ere this, that here are several
propositions at war, not only with our received opinions, but with the
experimental researches of some others among the modern physiologists.
We do not know what Dr. WILSON PHILIP would say to his observations
being so cavalierly dismissed: they seem scarcely to condescend to
mention his name in France. Not having the original, we could do no
better than translate, almost literally, the conclusions of these
experimenters, as stated in the Bulletin; and the result of this is what
we have just given our readers. From the words "the absorption of
chyle," to the end, is nearly verbatim the language of the review.
III. PATHOLOGY.
17. _Dothinenteria. Pustules of the small Intestines._--From [Greek:
dothine], a pustule, and [Greek: enteron], an intestine. This name is
given to a disease which has been described by M. BRETONNEAU, of Tours,
and, after him, by SERRES, BROUSSAIS, ANDRAL, and several others, and
consists in pustules, generally situated at the lower end of the ileum.
We are constantly lamenting to ourselves the contracted bounds allotted
to our Quarterly Summary. Indeed, were it not for other objects, it
might occupy, with advantage, half of the number, and most of the time
employed in the preparation of the work. Every thing must be curtailed,
though cut off at the most interesting and valuable point; and the
painful exertion of the attention, necessary to condense information for
our readers' use, of the amount of which they cannot possibly be aware,
can only be equalled by the constant feeling of disappointment at
rejecting so much important matter.
We are told that this pustular disease is as common and as destructive
as the _small pox_, (indeed!) the measles or the scarlatina; that few
persons spend the whole of their lives without having, at some period,
suffered by it; that it never affects individuals but once; and that it
is suspected of being contagious.
M. BRETONNEAU has prepared a set of specimens, taken from the bodies of
those who have died in various stages of this complaint. He traces the
malady day by day, with a precision which we will not copy here. The
seat of this affection is the glands of PEYER and BRUNNER. The former
are found in groups, throughout the lower half of the jejunum and the
whole of the ileum, gradually increasing in the size and number of their
clusters, till they reach the valve of the colon, where they cease. They
have been mistaken by some dissectors of the modern school for the
effects of inflammation. They are found in honey-combed patches; which
are agglomerations of mucous glands. The glands of BRUNNER are thinly
dispersed mucous follicles which are scattered singly throughout the
whole length of the small intestines, with nearly equal frequency. These
organs are well described by HALLER in the great Physiology. They are
not seen well, unless in a young subject, and by cutting into the
intestine very close to the mesentery.
When inflamed, they swell and thicken, and, after some days, the
membrane around them assumes a reddish tint. The mesenteric glands are
enlarged. M. BRETONNEAU has seen one as large as a hen's egg: they
generally equal in size that of a pigeon. The disease spreads and
affects an additional number of glands. It reaches its acme generally on
the 9th day; after which sometimes all, and always a part of the
affected glands return to their natural condition, by resolution of the
inflammation. Those which are to run the full course of the disease
continue to augment in size and projection into the intestine. On the
13th and 14th days they are discovered tinged with bile, which
penetrates their substance, and thus proves the occurrence of
disorganization. On the 15th and 16th, the sloughs separate, and leave
from one to six ulcers. These penetrate the gland, and with it the
mucous membrane, of which it forms a part, and next, the cellular tissue
of the intestine. In numerous instances they perforate the muscular
coat, leaving nothing but peritoneum at the bottom; and frequently,
passing this, they induce inflammation of the cavity of the belly, and
death.
The cases of simple resolution terminate in three weeks: those in which
sloughs are formed, in from 30 to 40 days, if not fatal. If death be
from peritonitis, it is of course soon after the 15th and 16th days; if
from exhaustion, at periods varying according to the strength of the
sufferer. Dothinenteria occurs in many of the cases commonly called
typhus fever, gastro enteritis, &c. It is proper to remark that both the
author and the journal are in opposition to Dr. BROUSSAIS.--_Archives._
18. _Dr. Broussais._--While the opinions of this celebrated reformer
have been gradually becoming more extensively known among our
countrymen, the war has prevailed with increased heat in his native
land. The most vehement attacks are made, from various quarters, upon
his system of _medicine physiologique_. No one appears to deny that he
has clearly proved the existence of mucous gastritis and enteritis in
many or most fevers, or the propriety of directing a part of the
remedies to them. Criticisms and invectives are freely emitted: but they
are only levelled against the too extensive application of this
doctrine, and the inconsistencies, unquestionably often real, of the
system of which he has made it the foundation. Indeed, if the quotations
given are correct, we think no one who has not assumed a party, can
refrain from concurring in their condemnation.
"Those who understand our doctrine never attack it; they speak of it
only to express their admiration: above all, they never think of wishing
to modify it, because they know that its fundamental dogmas are
unshakeable." "Surtout ils ne s'avisent jamais de vouloir la modifier,"
&c. A man who assumes such ground as this, had need be very careful in
assuming his positions, indeed; and should particularly avoid any thing
like self-contradiction.
The _Lettres a un medecin de province_, in a style of lively criticism,
labour to show a great variety of inconsistencies in this immoveable
doctrine. The review of this publication in the Revue Medicale,
including copious extracts, coincides with, and evidently wishes to aid,
the author's satire. In the same journal are a series of criticisms on
some of the elementary propositions of Dr. BROUSSAIS, published in a
late edition of his Examen; (nearly the same which were published here,
some time since, in the American Medical Recorder, having been
translated by Dr. ATKINS.) In these critiques, great severity is shown,
in dealing with the new dogmas, and the doctrine is treated as one of
dangerous tendency; while, at the same time, high praise is awarded to
their author, for his discoveries in the diseases of the alimentary
mucous membranes.
In the other journals, there is a division; some favouring the new
opinions, while others oppose them with more or less of vehemence.