consisted in heating to ebullition the upper portion of urine contained in a tall test-tube, and then adding the nitric acid the acid instantly discharged a slight opacity of the hot fluid due to the presence of phosphates; but as soon as it reached the cold stratum below, a production of yellow coagulum was seen to take place, and continue to form in the track of the acid as it traversed the fluid to the bottom. Every successive drop thus added was followed, in descending, by a slender yellow trail, resembling a string of vermicelli, till, by their accumulating, they occupied the whole of the lower division of the tube, like a plug of yellow butter, contrasting strikingly, at the moment, with the clear fluid above. The contrast did not, however, last long, for as the upper stratum of urine cooled, it became first turbid, then opaque and yellow, the entire contents of the tube soon presenting one homogeneous mass of golden hue. This, like the coagulum obtained in the previous experiments, melted on being heated, and re-formed on cooling. It cannot be doubted, I presume, that reactions such as I have described must have belonged to a peculiar kind of morbid urine. It must, however, be a peculiarity of rare occurrence; for I have not, in the course of my reading, met with any notice of albuminous urine presenting reactions precisely similar. The nearest approach to it I find briefly mentioned in Solon's Treatise, p. 423.* It occurred in the case of a young rheumatic subject, who was attacked with endocarditis, and was improving under san guineous depletion. For the space of two days this patient, it is said, voided albuminous urine, presenting some remarkable characters. It yielded a copious coagulum both to heat and nitric acid, but that resulting from the latter, on being heated, suffered redissolution. The appearance here was temporary, and Solon was inclined to consider it analogous to what takes place in simply precipitable urines, or when nitric acid is added in large excess to a feeble albuminous precipitate. It was, of course, an object of considerable interest in our case to determine what was the precise nature of the substance resulting from the action of the nitric acid on the urine—whether a peculiar modification of albumen, pre-existing in the urine as a morbid ingredient, and liberated from it in the form of a precipitate, or a new compound evolved during the experiments, under the play of chemical affinities. The task of investigating this point fell into able hands. In one of the first procured speci mens of the urine, Dr Prout found the urea and lithic acid in about the usual proportion; and from the whole of the phenomena exhibited in the course of the inquiry, he pronounced the animal matter present to be albumen in some peculiar state of De l'Albuminurie. Par Martin Solon, D.M.-Paris, 1838. combination or condition. In a note with which he favoured me at the time, he says "I have found albumen in this state before, but never in such large quantity. I regard it as the material which, if the kidney had done its duty, would have been converted into lithate of ammonia." ART. IX.—Remarks on the Pathology of MOLLITIES OSSIUM. By SAMUEL SOLLY, F.R.S., &c. (Medico Chirurgical Transactions. Vol. xxvii. London 1844.) [Abstract.] As in the preceding article reference is made to the observations of Mr Solly on MOLLITIES OSSIUM, it may render the information communicated by Dr Macintyre, Dr Jones, and Mr. Dalrymple more complete, if a short account of the facts observed and the inferences deduced by Mr Solly be subjoined. The observations of Mr Solly are deduced from two examples of the disease, both taking place in females. One took place in a woman aged twenty-nine, who became insane after an attack of rheumatism, in 1839, and who was successively in St Luke's Hospital, the Marylebone Infirmary, the Islington Infirmary, the Lunatic Asylum at Hoxton, and finally at Hanwell, where she died, on the 28th October 1842. The body, examined on the 29th October, at Hanwell, disclosed the following state of the bones. The height, measured after death, was four feet two inches. The emaciation was great. The head was large in proportion to the size of the body; the chest was very much deformed, pinched up, and projecting anteriorly-very narrow from side to side. The ribs appeared widened; the pelvis extremely narrow. The spine was curved forwards, almost at a right angle in the upper dorsal and cervical regions. Both clavicles were broken and bent at an acute angle. The head of one humerus was swelled; the shaft of the left broken and bent; the radius and ulna were slightly swelled; the right radius broken; the lower extremities enlarged at the epiphyses. The thigh-bones on both sides were broken; that on the right side in one place, that on the left in two places; the fractured portions were held together by the periosteum; but no attempt at union,-no trace of callus was observed. The tibia and fibula in both limbs were bent. All the bones of the extremities could be broken with the slightest force; by merely pressing them between the finger and thumb they gave way, and were cracked like a thin-shelled walnut. A longitudinal and transverse section of the long bones showed that the osseous structure was nearly absorbed, a mere shell being left. The interior was filled with dark-coloured grumous matter, varying in colour from that of dark blood to a reddish light liver colour. Mr Solly could not detect in it any pus globules by the microscope. The bones of the vertebral column and the ribs were similarly affected. The cranium was very much thickened, and at least half an inch in diameter, so soft as to be easily cut with a knife, and very vascular. The two tables were confounded, and the diploe was obliterated. Thin slices of the skull, under the microscope, showed that a considerable alteration in its intimate structure had taken place. The laminated structure of the outer and inner tables had extensively disappeared. The canals of Havers were greatly dilated, and the osseous corpuscles were diminished in quantity. All the joints were healthy; and the cartilages were perfectly natural. The The brain weighed two pounds five ounces and a half. The arachnoid membrane was milky and slightly thickened. brain, as well as the viscera of the chest and abdomen, were perfectly healthy. The bone, analysed by Dr Leeson, gave the following results : Marrow. Bone. The second instance of MOLLITIES OSSIUM Mr Solly saw in a married female, aged thirty-nine years. Her height at the time of marriage was about five feet five inches and a half. The figure was slight. About three years previous to the fatal termination, namely, in May 1840, she was attacked with violent pain in the back while stooping, and a sensation in the right leg as if a pea were rolling up and down. More than twelve months after this she suffered much from pains, which she considered rheumatic, and was feeble in the limbs. Between February and April 1842, she was unable to walk, unless on the left leg, and dragging the right after her. In April 1842, when her husband was lifting her from the fire-place to carry her to bed, she suddenly felt most excruciating pain, as if the thighs were being broke in many pieces; and after this time she was entirely confined to bed. The symptoms of the disease advanced steadily, many bones giving way, with more or less pain and suffering. On the 15th of April 1844, the patient was admitted into St. Thomas's Hospital, and died suddenly on the 20th, without any circumstance occurring worthy of particular notice, except extreme distress and agony in the organs of respiration, and a purple colour in the face immediately. before the last expiration. The immediate cause of death seemed to be asphyxia. The urine contained between three and four times more phosphate of lime than healthy urine. The blood contained nothing abnormal. The body, inspected on the 21st April, at 10 A.M., with the thermometer at 60° Fahrenheit, disclosed the following state of the skeleton. The body was greatly emaciated. The integuments of the head and face and upper part of the neck were livid. The radius and ulna of the right arm had given way about the middle; the metacarpal bones and phalanges of the right hand were all flexible. On the left side all the bones of the upper extremity appeared in their natural condition, inasmuch as their form was not altered; but on subjecting their strength to trial, they yielded to a very slight force,; and they might be bent in almost any direction,-the laminated shell breaking off short. In the lower extremities the tibia and fibula of the left side yielded about two inches from the knee joint; below this point they were firm. Those on the right side resisted pressure; and though they were not so heavy or so firm as in a healthy subject, the disease had made in them very little, if any, progress. The calvarium was very soft. The inner surface was more vascular than Mr Solly remembers ever to have seen it. The dura mater was excessively adherent, and when torn off, innumerable vessels poured forth blood in large quantity. Within the cavity of the arachnoid membrane was some serous effusion. The brain was throughout healthy. The hemispherical ganglion was natural in appearance, neither pale nor dark-coloured. The thorax was so much diminished in its transverse lateral diameter, that a skewer passed from one side to the other, through the intercostal space between the fifth and sixth ribs, gave only four inches. On the right side a general depression of all the ribs had taken place; but on the left, the fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs were especially bent inwards, immediately over the heart. In this hollow it was that the heart could be seen pulsating during life. The pleura and pericardium were healthy. The right lung was compressed to about one-fourth of its natural size, presenting the appearance which it does when hydrothorax is present; for it was extensively congested, almost impervious to air, and much consolidated, though not from inflammatory exudation. The left lung was also diminished in size, but to not more than half the extent of the right; it was likewise much congested. The heart was natural and full of blood. The intestines were tympanitic. The liver presented marks of venous congestion. The spleen was small, and rather sanguine. The pancreas was healthy. The lacteals were distended with chyle, which presented the ordinary granular appearance of this fluid. The thoracic duct was almost empty. The fluid which it contained consisted of granular matter, similar to that of the lacteals, and also some chyle globules of the usual character. The sympathetic nerve, examined in different points, presented nothing unusual. The left kidney contained a concretion of considerable size, which was found to consist solely of phosphate of lime. The female organs were healthy. Sections of the Bones.-The bones of the skull were not thickened. They were very vascular and soft, though by no means so much as in the first case; they contained a small quantity of the same kind of red substance which was observed in the former Their sections presented a similar open reticular texture to that in the skull of the first case. case. The At the A section of the radius showed well the progress of the disease. At both extremities there was merely an unnatural degree of vascularity, though the vessels forming it were not very red. head of the bone was more injected than its lower end. lower part of the upper third, the cancellated structure had been partially removed, and its place occupied by red grumous matter. So little of the earthy matter had been removed that the bone retained nearly all its natural firmness. The breast-bone did not externally seem much altered in firmness, nor was it at all altered in form. Internally, however, the disease had made considerable changes; the earthy matter was removed in patches, and in its place was the red substance. The whole internal substance of the bone was of a deep-red colour, and large cell-like cavities, irregular in size and shape, had been formed. The ribs and vertebræ presented similar appearances. In the right thigh-bone, which alone was divided, the whole of the osseous matter had been removed, and nothing but periosteum and membranous matter was left. At the upper part of the lower third of the bone, the red matter was abundant, presenting various hues, from deep Modena red to bright crimson, the bony shell being left, but as thin as a wafer. Towards the condyles a portion of the bone was nearly of its natural colour, only yellowish and softer from much fatty deposit. The extremity of the bone, to the extent of about one third of an inch, was of a bright-red colour, contrasting strongly with the clear, healthy colour of the cartilage. This red |