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Show 572 PROF. OWEN ON TRICHINA SPIRALIS. [June 20, Among the notices of the discovery of the microscopic parasite prior to the date of that • Dictionnaire,' I may limit myself to the following:-" It was first described, I believe, by Mr. Hilton of Guy's Hospital, and afterwards more fully by Professor Owen in 1835" \ The translation of that estimable work probably led to an opinion common among French practitioners, and which amply justifies the definition of " Trichine " given by their great lexicographer. Reference to a number of an English weekly periodical for grounds of priority could hardly be expected in a foreign country ; and our own accomplished physician, burthened with an extensive practice and professional duties, may well be excused for taking on trust current statements on so minute a matter. It may not be unacceptable, or uninstructive to our younger fellow-workers with the microscope, to recall the honest devotion of his time and means of observation which the alleged discoverer gave to the subject of his paper entitled : - " Notes of a peculiar Appearance observed in Human Muscle, probably depending upon the formation of very small Cysticerci," by John Hilton, Demonstrator of Anatomy at Guy's Hospital " \ After noting that the "body for dissection was a male, aged 70," the author proceeds : - " The subject was prepared for injection, and subjected to a temperature of about 100° Fahr. On proceeding to the dissection, our attention was arrested by a mottled appearance of the pectoral muscles; and the same phenomenon presented itself in all the voluntary and respiratory muscles, to which, however, it was confined. The muscles were pale, soft, and not so distinctly fibrous as usual ; between the fibres, and having their long axis parallel to them, there are situate several oval bodies, transparent in the middle and opaque at either end, altogether about -£% of an inch in length. No organization could be discovered with the aid of a microscope. A small portion of the muscle, impregnated with them, was inserted under the skin of a rabbit on the back. This was done in three cases; but all the animals died within seventy-two hours, and without any appearance of the bodies in question being revivified." Portions of the muscles of the same subject were taken by an accomplished physician of the Hospital, Dr. Addison, F.R.S., who, in an endeavour to promote some development of the supposed Cysticerci, " placed a portion of muscle in a glass tightly covered with paper, perforated by pin-holes; it was slightly moistened occasionally with water." On referring to it " casually " some weeks after, "a number of small flies were seen in the glass, apparently differing from the common house-fly, and some bodies were observed in the muscle, larger than those originally placed in the glass; from some of these an embryo fly was liberated"3. 1 Lectures on the Practice of Physic, by (now Sir) Thomas Watson, M.D., 8vo, 1845, vol. iii. p. 492. 2 London Medical Gazette, February 2, 1833, p. 605. 3 London Medical Gazette, loc. cit. p. 60G. |