directed him to take of calomel gr. iij. night and morning, and of tincture of opium gutt. xv. daily. Several birds-eye punctures were made in different parts of the limb, from which oozed a lymph-like fluid for several days, without abating the swelling. This course was pursued for six days without any apparent effect, when I added the hot bath, which was employed twice at short intervals, and with the best effects; the patient soon after having a copious flow of urine, discharging in the course of one night full two gallons; and in about 24 hours after the swelling of the extremity and scrotum had entirely subsided. At this time also, a full ptyalism supervened, which was however subdued in a few days by the ordinary means, and the patient felt himself in tolerable health, without any swelling of the extremity or scrotum. About a month after, he was again suddenly seized, much in the same way as before. with pain in the region of the kidneys, voiding bloody urine, and the limb and scrotum swelled to their former size with excessive pain. I again had recourse to the plan of treatment that had been before so successful, with precisely the same results in every particular; and the patient, as before, after suffering a ptyalism, so far recovered as to be enabled, to return to his accustomed avocations, complaining only of some debility, and voiding occasionally bloody urine. He continued in this state four or five months, when he was again attacked as before, except that now it was much more violent, and the pain in the lumbar region so excruciating as to give him rest neither night nor day. The urine was now very turbid, bloody, and mixed with coagula: the swelling occurred in the left extremity and scrotum as before, and soon pervaded the right extremity also, which became nearly as large as the other. He now suffered extremely from anorexia and vomiting, and the alvine evacuations were only obtained by purgatives. The symptoms were of so serious a character as to preclude the hope of relief, and nothing more was attempt

ed than to palliate the distress; and the patient died on the fourteenth day of the third attack. I could not obtain permission to make any examination after death.

REMARKS.

We regret exceedingly that Dr. Utley has not furnished us with a more minute account of the above case; and that he was prevented from making the autopsic examination. As it is, however, the case is highly interesting, and worthy of being recorded. There can be no doubt that the primitive lesion was in the kidnies, and the effusion into the scrotum and the inferior extremities we should explain, by considering it an effort of the vis medicatrix naturæ to establish a vicarious discharge, from the inability of the system to free itself of its excrementitious fluids through the ordinary channel. Hence it was that the effusion was suddenly taken up, by producing a profuse diuresis, and recurred again and again after some time had elapsed, and the kidneys had returned to their state of inaction and torpor. Hence also, it was, that the tumefied parts were distressingly painful, showing that it was not a simple anasarca.

We would also suggest the probability, that a stricter scrutiny into this case would have presented points of analogy between it and phlegmasia dolens. The tumefaction being confined to one extremity until near the termination of the case; the excessive pain in the tumid parts; the lymph-like deposit; and its arising from injury of a neighbouring organ, appear to us to give room for the suspicion. It is probable that a more correct knowledge of the case, in all its bearings, might have enlightened us on the nature of a disease which is as yet but little understood.

INTELLIGENCE.

Flatted Sculls.

One of the most curious problems in craniology, is that which relates to the configuration impressed upon the bones of the head by art.

It has been long understood, that the human head was capable, by compression, of assuming almost any form, between a trencher and sugar-loaf.

The sculls received by Dr. Mitchill from Col. T. H. Perkins, are of a remarkable character, and were brought from the Columbia River, on the N. W. coast of America. They are compressed as if by the action of a heavy weight, or strong mechanical power, acting downward and backward from the frontal bone. This pressure must have been begun in early infancy, and continued for the whole time, during which the bones were yielding and flexible. The consequence is, that the os frontis is depressed almost to an angle of eight or ten degress. The parietal bones are crushed down in a similar manner, and brought as nearly as possible to a level surface. In two of the sculls, the coronal and sagittal sutures are much less distinct than common, and in some parts, almost obliterated.

The most evident effect of this violence to the cranium, is the protrusion of the parietal bones, behind the ears, to make room for the squeezed and displaced brain. This is such as to impart to the head a deformed, monstrous, or rickety appearance.

It is understood that the mechanical power thus applied to the head, widens or enlarges its base, as well as its summit. The individuals who undergo the operation, are the

children of the more considerable and important families. The lower and plebeian orders are not honoured with the distinction of flat heads. Such a scull of the rounded form, which nature gave it, accompanies the others, and makes a striking contrast. Living witnesses attest, that the men whose heads have been severely pressed and tortured, possess a full proportion of mental and corporeal vigour.

The case is very curious in a physiological and moral, as well as in an anatomical point of view.

Petrified Elephant's Tooth.

The petrified tooth from Tuscany, forwarded to Dr. Mitchill by Dr. Albers of Bremen, is justly conjectured by the sçavans of Europe, to have belonged to one of the elephants that accompanied the army of Hannibal the Carthaginian commander, when he invaded Italy. History informs us, that he transported these large animals over the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Apennines; and across the Iberus, the Rhone, and the Po. His line of march was sufficiently near to Florence, to countenance the present supposition. And the belief is strengthened by the fact, that the processes or eminences on the crown of the tooth, are those of the African, and not those of the Asiatic elephant; which marks are perfectly distinguishable.

Structure and Functions of the Batracian Reptiles.

There are two animals reported to possess a double set of respiratory organs, gills and lungs. These are the siren of Carolina, and the proteus of Carniola. This extraordi

nary organization, is so generally believed, that the most correct and modern zoologists describe it as well ascertained.

Latterly, however, the decision of M. Schriebers at Vienna, and M. Cuvier at Paris, on this point have been called in question, by Professors Rusconi and Configliacchi, at Pavia, who deny that any creature exists, who, in a complete and perfect state, has such a twofold organization for breathing. They have satisfied themselves by dissection, that in the proteus, the viscus, believed to be lungs, answers a very different purpose, and more resembles the air or swimming bladder of fishes than any thing else; and the former of these gentlemen has persuaded himself, that the siren is not a perfect animal, but only the larva, or tadpole of a water salamander. The two elegent quarto volumes, with finished plates, have not exhausted the subject. The letter of the late Dr. B.S.Barton to M.Schneider of Saxony, has been very much in request, for shedding light upon the inquiry. And indeed, this gentleman has described a pair of organs in the American siren, so very much like those in the Europeon proteus, that they may be conceived to be similar both in constitution and use. For the purpose of settling the controversy, Dr. Mitchill has taken measures for procuring the siren, and examining anew its structure. In the mean time, we understand he has forwarded to Pavia a copious extract of Dr. Barton's Memoir, with an opinion of his own, that as the airsacs of the proteus are not lungs, so the organs of the siren, that have been mistaken for lungs, are, in reality, airsacs of another kind and function. Consequently the siren, like the proteus, is a perfect animal, breathing by means of gills, which endure through the whole of its life.