I. ANATOMY.
1. Papillæ of the Tongue.—At the upper surface of the tongue, say MM. Leuret and Lassaigne, in their recent work on digestion, the mucous membrane presents projections of three different species; and these are, the sensitive papillæ, the epidermoid papillæ, and the mucous cryptæ. The sensitive papillæ are numerous. They occupy the anterior four-fifths of the tongue, on which they are implanted by a narrow pedicle. The rounded head of these papillæ is much more prominent in the living subject, than after death; but injections are capable of restoring them to their pristine form. Nervous fibres from the lingual branch of the fifth pair have been distinctly traced to their roots. These papillæ are of various sizes; at the root of the tongue they form a V. They are all vascular and nervous. The sense of taste is referred by these writers almost exclusively to the above papillæ.
The epidermoid papillæ are of a nature similar to those retroverted prominences so remarkable on the tongue of the cat; as well as in the lion, and some other animals. They are larger in many species than in man, and, in general, the sensibility of the tongue appears to diminish in proportion to the remoteness of the subject from the human structure. The epidermoid papillæ are separated from the tongue along with the epidermis, or rather, epithelium, by maceration for a few days in vinegar. They are pyramidal in form. They are grouped round the sensitive papillæ, except on the edges and point of the tongue, where they are rare. Their base is perforated, and always gives outlet to a crypta. In an epithelium separated from the tongue, these minute and numerous perforations are easily distinguished from the larger ones left by the sensitive papillæ.
The office of the epidermoid papillæ appears purely mechanical.
The only cryptæ which produce, of themselves, a visible projection on the surface of the tongue, are situated at its base. They are formed by the mucous membrane, like other cryptæ, and are scattered between the sensitive papillæ.
In the tongue of birds, there is always a bone or cartilage; and the external membrane is dense. In reptiles the tongue is soft, possessed of little sensibility, and capable of great elongation. In fishes it is endowed with little motion, and is often wanting.—Bulletin Medicale.
2. Villi of the Stomach and Intestines.—MM. Leuret and Lassaigne state that the villi can be easily injected; most conveniently from the vena portæ, though the arteries may be employed. In the latter case, the matter of injection is effused into the intestinal or gastric cavity. The villi are peculiar to these parts; they are inversely conical, adhering to the membrane by their smaller end. The best mode of exhibiting them, is to tie the vena portæ of a living animal, when they erect themselves by the afflux of blood. These diminutive organs, about 3/100 of an inch long, then exhibit distinctly, under the microscope, four red longitudinal lines, being probably vessels.
Injections made retrograde from the thoracic duct, pass through the villi into the intestines. When the stomach of a man, who died of some complaint not deranging its condition, is examined, we sometimes find its lining membrane covered with a multitude of minute white points. These are the villi in a flaccid state. In those who have died during digestion, they are erected, and of a rosy colour.
When the intestine of a living animal is examined under a microscope, after being carefully washed, a great number of orifices are seen, from each of which exudes a minute drop of a transparent fluid. These rapidly disappear; and then the villi attract attention. What these foraminula are, the reviewer, M. Du Fermon, does not tell us.—Ibid.
3. Minute distribution of the Vessels of the Liver.—M. Cruveilhier gives, in his lectures, an account of the results he has obtained from a minute injection of the liver. He finds, 1. The acini surrounded with a dense, cellular texture, paler than themselves; 2. The ramifications of the hepatic artery distributed to this cellular envelope; 3. Those of the vena portæ spread around the acini, or granulations of the liver; and 4. Those of the biliary ducts, and of the hepatic veins, emerging from the cavities of these bodies.
Our readers will observe a great similarity, in this, to the arrangement of the lobules of the kidneys.—Ibid.
4. Trachea perforating the Aorta.—This odd distribution of parts, was observed by M. Zagorsky, at St. Petersburg, in 1802. The aorta divided itself, at its arch, into two branches, which received the trachea between them, and again united, exactly fitting the organ they received. They were found to have compressed the trachea, and probably produced difficulty of breathing.
In another case, in 1808, the right subclavian artery, instead of its usual origin, arose from the left extremity of the arch of the aorta, and crossed behind the trachea, thus including the latter between it and the aorta.
Why do we call the common trunk of the right subclavian and carotid, the arteria innominata? Is coining words so difficult a task, that we cannot find a proper and expressive name for it? The French call it brachio-cephalic, and this expresses its office and distribution.—Ibid.
5. Monsters.—These productions, hitherto considered as mere objects of wonder, from the study of which no useful inference could be drawn, have recently attracted a good deal of attention in Paris. There seem to be some close affinities discoverable in many of them, not only with the natural and complete forms of animals of various tribes, but even with the actual condition of their own species, while in the fœtal state.
The views of M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire seem to us rather mystical and vague. Those of Breschet, and the other practical anatomists, we can understand much better.
6. Malformation of the Heart.—Drs. Baillie,[29] Langstaff,[30] and Farre[31] have each published cases; and M. Tiedemann, in his journal of Physiology, now adds a fourth, in which the aorta and pulmonary artery were found to have changed places. In professor Tiedemann's case, the two circulations were entirely distinct; the systemic blood passing from venæ cavæ to right auricle, from right auricle to right ventricle, and from this, through the aorta, to the body at large; while the pulmonary blood ran through an equally simple circle, by the route of pulmonary veins, left auricle, left ventricle, and pulmonary artery. The only communications between the two circulations, were the foramen ovale, the ductus arteriosus, and, in the opinion of M. Tiedemann, the inosculations between the branches of the pulmonary and bronchial arteries.
The infant is recorded to have presented no peculiar appearances till the ninth day; when attacks of suffocation came on, attended with the blackish blue colour, and followed by death, at the end of twelve days. Similar histories are said to be given of the cases mentioned above, and the references to which we have copied. We have not the time to consult them.—Ibid.
7. Acephalous Mummy.—M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire has read a memoir of some length to the Academy of Sciences, on an acephalous mummy. It was found in a catacomb, destined, with this exception, exclusively to animals. It had an amulet suspended round its neck, being an earthen figure of a cynocephalus, for which it was very probably mistaken by the Egyptians. The collector, M. Passalacqua, who obtained it, showed it to M. G. St. H. as a monkey, of which he wished to know the species. Yet the latter observes that these amulets were only put on human mummies.
M. G. concludes that the monkeys, elephants, &c. said by Livy, Valerius Maximus, Pliny, and others, to have been born of women in their times, and considered as omens of public calamity, were acephala.
8. New Anatomical Plates.—Messrs. E. W. Tyson and George Simpson are publishing anatomical plates, in London. They are spoken of with approbation. The labours of the latter are designed for the use of painters.
9. A Manual of Osteology has been undertaken by Dr. Weber, of Bonn, and one volume published.
10. Sœmmering's fine work on the anatomy of the ear, has been translated into French, and his splendid folio plates copied in lithography.
11. Does the conjunctiva run over the cornea? Messrs. Lecoq, Leblanc, and Artus, state that they have each seen a case in which regular skin and hair were seen, forming a small patch on the cornea of the eye of a quadruped. This is considered as a proof of the existence there of a membrane naturally analogous to the skin; which must, of course, be the conjunctiva. An officer saw another case, in which a hair was seen in the middle of the eye of a horse.—Bulletin.