1 XLVI. Observations of the same Transit made at Madrid. By Father Ant. Ximenes. From the Latin. p. 251. By the latest observations, the latitude of Madrid is 40° 25', and difference of time from Paris 24m 18'. He made his observations with a telescope of 2 feet, made by Mr. Geo. Adams, and a clock made by Ellicot; with which he made a great number of observations on the appulses of Venus and the sun, to the vertical and horizontal wires of the telescope. At the exit he also observed the interior contact at 8h 1m .14, and the exterior contact at 8h 19m 23. He had doubts of the exterior contact to 3 or 4 seconds, but of the interior none. XLVII. The same Transit observed at Tobolsk in Siberia. By M. Chappe. p. 254. ... Apparent time. ..18h 11m 4 End of the eclipse of the sun, June 2, 1761, at. External contact at the egress 0 49 201 1 7 391/1 These observations were taken with a refracting telescope of 19 Paris feet focal length, with an eye-glass of 3 inches focus. The least distance of the southern limb of Venus from the nearest limb of the sun, was measured by a micrometer fitted to a 10-foot telescope, and found to be = 6′ 2′′, and the sun's diameter was = 31' 37". XLVIII. Observation of the same Transit, made at Leyden. By John Lulofs, Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy in that University. From the Latin. p. 255. Being furnished with proper instruments, Mr. L. commenced at 3h 30m to watch the approaching transit, but was prevented by clouds from seeing it, till by an opening between them, about 4h 10m, he saw Venus on the sun's disc as a black patch. He had 4 or 5 other prospects of the transit through thin clouds; and he sometimes thought he observed a kind of lucid corona around Venus, of a breadth equal to or of her diameter. At 8h 26m 50s true time, he ob served the interior contact: but clouds prevented his seeing the exterior. He wondered that at the time of that contact, though they were then at an altitude pretty free from refraction, the border of Venus appeared serrated: which render the time of it doubtful by 3 or 4 seconds. 1 may XLIX. The Case of a Patient, who voided a large Stone through the Perinæum from the Urethra. By Dr. Frewen, of Rye in Sussex. p. 258. Henry Taught of Hastings in Sussex, aged 76, a strong hale man, and natu rally of a good constitution, was never subject to any nephritic or gravelly complaints for almost 70 years, but enjoyed for the most part a good share of health, till about 6 or 7 years before, when he had some gravelly complaints, and uneasiness in making water: which increased on him progressively; and for the last 2 years he had so much pain in sitting, that he was obliged to use a perforated chair, made for that purpose. But for some months past, his increased pain would not permit him to sit at all, even at his meals, which he used to take either standing or lying. When he first came to be in this painful situation, there appeared a prominence on the right side of the perinæum, towards the hinder part of the scrotum; which, increasing by degrees, felt hard and superficial for some time, and the parts all about it became so extremely sore and tender, that at length on the 24th of September, 1761, on getting out of bed a laceration happened, and the stone was voided, falling down on the floor. Five days after this happened, Dr. F. went to see the patient, to get a perfect knowledge of the circumstances of the fact; the particulars of which he then communicated to Mr. Warner, surgeon of Guy's hospital in London, who returned him a satisfactory account, from his own observations, of the manner by which a stone is contained in the urethra, &c. Ever since the stone came away, this patient had discharged no urine but by the wound; which when Dr. F. first saw him, was so much contracted, as to be no larger than to admit into it a small finger, and the parts were become callous about it. Dr. F. would have recommended him to proper care on that occasion; but he would by no means hearken to him; seeming to be very happy in being freed from the cruel burden of the stone; and not regarding, he supposes, at his time of life, whether he could be helped in the discharge of his other way. urine any In a further account Mr. Warner adds that when this surprizingly large calculus was first voided, which was on the 24th of September 1761, it weighed 6 oz. and 2 drs.; that on the 29th of the same month it weighed 6 oz., wanting 1 dr. 15 grs. On the 11th of October following, it weighed 6 oz., wanting 3 drs. 1 scr. On the 17th of the same month, it weighed 6 oz., wanting 34 drs. Mr. W. further adds, that in March 1761 he produced 2 very remarkable calculi to the R.S. for their inspection; when they did him the honour to desire a written account of the case of the person, in whose urethra they were lodged. The whole of what he thought worth troubling the Society with, on that occasion, was, that they had been for many years lodged in the urethra of one Robert Bolley, a young man, aged about 22, and that they had produced no great inconvenience or pain till of late, when the integuments began to inflame; which inflammation commenced not long before he was put under his care. sequence of this change in the parts was extreme torture, a severe symptomatic The con fever, great wasting away of the whole body, and almost a continual and involuntary discharge of small quantities of urine. The man was conveyed to London in a waggon. The parts were then arrived to so great a degree of distention, inflammation, and tenderness, that on the journey they burst, and there was discharged through an opening made in the perinæum (that is, the space between the anus and scrotum) one of these stones; the other stone remained firmly fixed in the urethra, which Mr. W. easily removed, having first cut away as much of the diseased integuments of the acceleratores urinæ muscles, and distended urethra, as he judged necessary to be removed for this purpose. After the removal of these parts, he brought together the lips of the wound, and kept them so, by means of what surgeons call the twisted suture, till the parts were united, which was effected in about a fortnight. Before the suture was applied, he introduced a ductile instrument, of a convenient size, through the penis into the bladder, by which means the passage was kept equally distended. This operation so effectually answered his expectation, as totally to remove the incontinence of urine, as well as every other symptom that had attended the complaint; and the patient was in a short time restored to his usual healthy state and corpulency. N. B. In the 2 instances here related, as well as in the case of Thomas Bingham, whose history Mr. W. communicated to the R.S. on the 13th of Dec. 1759, (vide Phil. Trans. for 1760) he observes that these patients according to the best information he could get, were never attacked with a suppression of urine, or a regular fit of the stone; for which reasons, he concludes, that the formation of these calculi originally commenced in the urethra itself, and that the stream of urine in its course from the bladder through the penis, had gradually formed those groves or channels, so apparent on the surfaces of these compact and hard bodies, over which they occasionally were voided; by this means a passage for the urine always remained open and unobstructed. Plate 14, fig. 3, represents the size, shape, and appearance of the stone, with the grooves on its superior surface, that was voided through a laceration of the perinæum, described in the case of Henry Taught, of Hastings in Sussex. Fig. 4 represents the 2 stones that were lodged in the perinæum of Robert Bolley, a young man of 22 years of age, as above mentioned, with the polished surfaces. A, B, where they came in contact with each other. Fig. 5 are these 2 stones. joined together, with their several eminences and depressions, as they lay in contact with each other in the perinæum. L. The Case of a Boy, who had the Malleus of each Ear, and one of the Incuses dropped out. Communicated by the Rev. Philip Mordant, M.A. Rector of St. Mary's in Colchester. p. 264. A young lad, at Manningtree in Essex, after about 3 or 4 weeks of a putrid, malignant, inflammatory fever, attended with a violent scarlet eruption on the skin, and swelling and soreness, and stuffage of the nose, had the malleus of each ear, and one of the incuses dropped out. Whether any of the rest came away unobserved, his friend could not tell; but these were all he saw. Nor could he say, whether the membrane was destroyed, and discharged with the bones, or only so relaxed, as to give room for the bones to come without it; not having seen the bones till after they were cleaned. But the consequence was, that he almost absolutely lost his hearing; almost, because though quite deaf as to all common voices and sounds, yet some violent and sudden noises seemed to affect him. But the organ of both ears seemed to be so much destroyed, as to make it highly improbable that he should ever recover his hearing again. In all other respects, he was very well, and then in good health. The coming away of those bones seemed the effect of an abscess, which affected the contents of the tympanum. Another friend observed, that his disorder had been a malignant or ulcerous sore throat, as he judged from the scarlet eruption; and the passage from the back of the fauces into the ear having lain open exposed to its malign influence, an abscess had been formed in the tympanum, which had been destroyed; otherwise the bones could not come out at the other ear. He had learned to read before this unhappy accident, and the people about him wrote down what they wanted to make him understand. By LI. Observations concerning the Body of his late Majesty,* October 26, 1760. Frank Nicholls, M.D., F.R.S. Physician to his late Majesty. p. 265. The circumstances attending the death of the late King being such, as are not to be met with in any of the records of medical cases, and such as, from the nature of the parts concerned, are not easily to be accounted for; I presume (says Dr. Nicholls) it will be agreeable to the Royal Society and to the learned world in general, if I lay before them a minute detail of what occurred on that remarkable and melancholy occasion; with such explanations as arise from the circumstances of the case. According to the report of the pages then in waiting, about 7 in the morning, * George II. + This account was laid before his present Majesty George III. for his inspection; and his Majesty's answer was that he saw no reason why it should not be made public.-Orig. Saturday, October 25th, a noise was somewhere heard, as if a large billet had tumbled down; and, on enquiry, his Majesty was found fallen on the ground, speechless and motionless, with a slight contused wound on his right temple. He appeared to have just come from his necessary-stool, and as if going to open his escritoir. Mr. Andrews (at that time surgeon to the household) attempted to take away some blood; but in vain, as no signs of sense or motion were observed from the time of his fall. The next day, (Sunday, October the 26th) by order of the Lord Chamberlain, I attended, with the 2 serjeant-surgeons, who were directed to open and embalm the Royal Body. On opening the abdomen, all the parts therein contained were found in a natural and healthy state, except that some hydatides (or watery bladders) were found between the substance of each kidney, and its internal coat. These hydatides might, in time, have proved fatal, either by compressing and destroying the kidnies, so as to bring on an incurable suppression of urine; or, by discharging a lymph into the cavity of the abdomen, might have formed a dropsy, not to be removed by any medicines: but, in the present case, these hydatides were of no consequence, as none of them exceeded the bulk of a common walnut. On opening the head, the brain was found in a healthy state, no-ways loaded with blood, either in its proper vessels, or in the contiguous sinuses of the dura mater. On opening the chest, the lungs were in a natural state, free from every appearance of inflammation, or tubercle: but on examining the heart, its pericardium was found distended, with a quantity of coagulated blood, nearly sufficient to fill a pint cup; and, on removing this blood, a round orifice appeared in the middle of the upper side of the right ventricle of the heart, large enough to admit the extremity of the little finger. Through this orifice, all the blood brought to the right ventricle had been discharged into the cavity of the pericardium; and, by that extravasated blood, confined between the heart and pericardium, the whole heart was very soon necessarily so compressed, as to prevent any blood. contained in the veins from being forced into the auricles; which therefore, with the ventricles, were found absolutely void of blood, either in a fluid or coagulated state. As therefore no blood could be transmitted through the heart, from the instant that the extravasation was completed, so the heart could deliver none to the brain, and in consequence all the animal and vital motions, as they depend on the circulation of the blood through the brain, must necessarily have been stopped, from the same instant; and his Majesty must therefore have dropped down, and. died instantaneously: And as the heart is insensible of acute and circumscribed pain, his death must have been attended with as little of that distress, which. |
