ordinary practitioner, I resorted to Prof. Symes' mode, which consists in placing the patient in the proper position for lithotomy, and introducing a sharp-pointed curved bistoury at the margin of the anus under the gut, extending it as far internally as the fissure, at the same time inserting the fore-finger of the left hand in the anus, to ascertain exactly how far to introduce the bistoury, bringing the point of the instrument and finger in contact, withdrawing both together, thereby dividing the gut; after which a small roll of lint was introduced. This operation effected a speedy and permanent cure in both cases, without subsequent treatment. I would state, however, that I found the operation much facilitated by the use of chloroform.

ART. III.-Aquatic Tumor of the Labia. By A. L. UNDERWOOD, M.D., St. Paul, Ind.

Sanguineous tumors of the labia or thrombus are described by nearly all the modern writers on obstetrics and diseases of women. The first British writer on this subject is supposed to be Dr. McBrid, of Dublin; he very accurately described the appearance and cause of these tumors in 1776. Since that time Meriman, Dewees, Denman, Hamilton, Campbell, Velpeau, and other writers, have more elaborately noticed the same thing. From what we learn by the description by authors, but one opinion with regard to its nature and cause obtains. But can an aqueous tumor, which develops itself in the same locality immediately after parturition, be as easily accounted for as sanguineous tumors? when we consider that the greater labia is interspersed with numerous small blood-vessels so interlaced and matted together as to constitute the larger portion of its formation, it is reasonable to suppose that blows, falls, excessive coition or the pressure caused by the passage of the child's head in parturition, might rupture some of them, and which would necessarily produce a sanguineous tumor; but what vessels are there that pressure or blows might rupture, and the result be an aquatic tumor?

December 4th, I was called to attend Mrs. M-, aged twentytwo, of a nervo-sanguineous temperament, general good health, and as near as can be ascertained, entirely clear of any organic lesion or hereditary taint, in her second accouchement, which was

natural, and resulted in the birth of a fine female child, and a clear expulsion of the placenta, in two hours after my arrival.

Eighteen hours after, I was summoned to see my patient again. Found her laboring under great pain: pulse 115, respiration hurried, countenance flushed, and limbs drawn up and spread wide apart, and complaining of a burning pain in the genital organs. On examination, found a large tumor involving the right labia and perineum, quite as large as the child's head she had recently given birth. Without hesitation, and as soon as the precautionary steps were taken, with an abscess lancet I made an incision about an inch deep, and withdrew the instrument without enlarging the puncture. There followed a jet of semi-transparent fluid, entirely clear of sanguineous matter, and the tumor disappeared in twenty minutes, to the entire relief of my patient, and some surprise to your obedient servant. What is the rationale

of this aquatic accumulation?

Translations from the French.

Urinary Calculi. Translated from the Gazette des Hôpitaux, by C. T. SIMPSON, M.D., Cincinnati.

M. J. CLOQUET communicated to the Academy of Sciences the two following observations:

Observation 1st.- Urinary calculus in a new-born child. The observation of this pathological condition, which has been communicated to me by Dr. Burdel, physician in chief to the Hospital of Vurzon, appears to me should be of interest to the Academy, on more than one account. Cases of this kind are very rare, though the Academy possesses some examples, to which these are now added. Dr. Burdel extracted this calculus from the urethra of an infant five months old. The foreign body came from the bladder, and being too voluminous to be expelled, it became arrested in the inferior portion of the canal. Arriving there, it gradually became augmented in volume, dilating the part of the urethra where it became engaged; the parents having observed that, a short time after its birth, the infant urinated very VOL. III., No. 4.-15.

rarely, that it cried much, was inconsolable, and that sometimes it remained thirty or forty hours without passing urine; also, that the bladder became enormously dilated and passed beyond the level of the umbilicus. When the child was presented to Dr. Burdel, the urine escaped drop by drop only, and was very acid. The bladder projected considerably over the pubis. The stone, as it was felt with the finger, formed a nodosity in the course of the canal; a simple incision sufficing for its seizure and extraction. After its extraction, the wound was closed by a serre-fine, and became completely cicatrized by the fourth day.

I have examined the calculus, which was sent to me with the above report by my honorable confrère. It is regularly elongated and rounded, thicker at one, than the other of its extremities, weighs forty-eight centigrammes (nearly seven grains ), and is of a greenish-gray color. Its surface, rough and unequal, is covered with little papillary projections, which led me, at first sight, to recognize it as a mural calculus, composed of oxalate of lime, though certain uric acid calculi present the same mammilated appearance; but these last are less rough, and softer to the touch than those formed by that calcareous salt. My opinion, in this regard, has been confirmed by the analysis that our confrère, M. Fremy, has had the kindness to make of that urinary concretion. The calculus, writes M. Fremy, is formed principally of the oxalate of lime, containing only traces of phosphate of lime and an azotic organic compound of an albuminous nature. It contains neither uric acid nor ammonio-phosphate of magnesia. It is to be regretted that they had not analyzed the urine of the infant, the extreme acidity of which they alone make mention.

Observation 2d. Two voluminous urinary calculi found in the bladder of a wild boar.

The two urinary calculi which I present to the Academy, were found in the bladder of a young wild boar, by one of our correspondents, M. Chevandier, of Circy (Meurthe ), who sent them to M. Isidore-Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, who had proposed to me to examine them and present a report to the Academy on the part of its correspondent at Circy. The following were the facts which they furnish me:

The boar was two and a half years old, was very fat, and did not appear to feel, in the chase, the disease with which he was

attacked. This was, in the knowledge of M. Chevandier and all the neighboring hunters, the first example of a similar affection in the wild boar.

The calculi in question weigh, the one about nine grains, the other about eight and a half grains; they are both of a yellowishfallow color, bordering on to brown. Their weight appeared considerable in relation to their volume.

The largest of these calculi is triangular, and each of the three faces which limit the obtuse angles are slightly convex, and remarkably polished, like ivory. The second calculus, a little less in size than the preceding, is less regular in form, although it also presents three polished faces, one larger than the two others, and which, instead of being convex, as those in the other concretion, are concave, and adapt themselves to each other, after the manner that one sees in the contiguous surfaces of bones, in many of the diarthrodial articulations. The flattening of the facets, at points of contact, in multiple calculi, does not depend only on the friction that these solid bodies experience, the one against the other, by the movements of the body and those contractions of the bladder that they themselves cause; as is very generally admitted, it is much more the result of the difficulty experienced in crystallization, by the incrustation of urinary salts on the parts subjacent to the concretion, in the manner that I have demonstrated in a Mémoire sur les Calculs Urinaires, to which the Academy awarded the prize in 1822.

The crystallization of the salts of the urine is only slower at the points of contact, in multiple calculi, than on their free parts, which are constantly bathed in the liquid where the salts are in solution. The section of one of these calculi, made perpendicularly to the surfaces of contact, proves the truth of the mode of growth or increase that I have indicated for the layers or strata of calculi with contiguous facets. In effect, instead of being worn away, cut, or broken off, as would be the case if the facets were due to friction alone, the subjacent concentric layers exist in the same number all around the central nucleus, only they are infinitely thinner, on a level with the faces of contact of which they give the direction, while their thickness and curvature become the more marked as they approach the angles or parts which are exempt from contact and pressure from another calculus.

The centre of the calculus is occupied by an oblong nucleus, formed of mixed crystals, irregularly agglomerated, of a yellowish-brown color, alternating with a pale or dark yellow. They observe, that in their formation around the central nucleus, the layers take the disposition that they preserve, in a measure, as the calculus becomes augmented in volume. According to M. Fremy, who has made an analysis of these calculi, they containAmmonio-phosphate of magnesia, about 13 grs.

Tribasic phosphate of lime,

Azotic organic matter,

2-7ths,

4-7ths.

The large quantity of ammonio-phosphate of magnesia found in these calculi of a wild boar, seems to give interest to the analysis made of them.

Correspondence.

BOSTON, Mass., March 7th, 1860.

MESSRS. EDITORS: The annual Commencement of the Massachusetts Medical College, in North Grove street, took place to-day at 11 o'clock. There was quite a large number of physicians and others to witness the exercises. The President of Harvard University, C. C. Felton, presided, it being his first public appearance since his recent elevation to that office.

After a prayer by Rev. Dr. Huntington, dissertations were read upon the following subjects, by six of the graduates: Vaccination, Microscopic Anatomy of the Spinal Cord in some of the higher Vertebrates, Reparation of Injuries, Scarlatina, Pneumonia, and Hysteria. The theses were very creditable productions, and the authors evinced an acquaintance with the latest facts extant, upon the subjects treated, as well as some practical researches of their own. President Felton, in conferring the degrees, briefly addressed the graduates, Faculty and Overseers of the College, in Latin; after which, Prof. E. H. Clarke closed the exercises with a practical and interesting address to the new-made doctors. His subject was the Diploma or Degree. After speaking of the facility with which diplomas may be obtained from the great number of irregular schools, and often of their worthlessless, and of the fre