independent of the bodies of men, may have driven particles of cholera-poison into these localities; for certainly there has been some power which, independent of human intercourse, and in opposition occasionally to winds, has driven this disease from the steppes of Tartary to the English shores.

With regard to the generation of the poison, there is no doubt that in Horsleydown, as well as in Lambeth, Chelsea, and in many parts of London, some of those circumstances which we have termed "local conditions of existence" existed in considerable intensity, and yet the cholera-poison did not develope itself in any commensurate degree. Was there not some essential condition wanting, whose deficiency prevented or nullified the effect which the other conditions would have had if conjoined with it? And if so, what was this condition?

And it may be remarked that this evident inability to propagate itself rapidly* was displayed in all the localities-at Chelsea, at Lambeth, and even at Woolwich; and it has continued to be marked, more or less, even to the present date (February).

At Chelsea, although the court in question was close to the river, was in a most filthy state, and was crowded with inhabitants, only six cases occurred; the disease then stopped, and has not since returned. In Lower Fore street, Lambeth, although a place which had actually been pointed out by Mr. Wagstaffe before the cholera appeared in England, as eminently displaying the local conditions favorable for the spread of the disease, only four cases occurred, and although cases continued to be furnished until the convicts were moved from their unhealthy anchorage, yet they occurred slowly, and with intermissions of days, or occasionally even of a week, between each case.

I confess that I was much struck with this peculiarity, since in India_(at any rate of late years) if in any large town presenting conditions like those of London, cases of cholera had been seen to occur simultaneously in several districts, the ob server might almost certainly have predicted that that town was about to suffer from a general epidemic. The way in which the cholera almost died away out of London, is not explicable on the idea that the sanitary condition was too good to furnish the poison its local conditions of increase, nor is it explicable on the contagious theory, or on any modification of it.

The previous hypothesis of a choleraic constitution seemed to me the only likely way of accounting for the non-development of the poison after its introduction. When it is considered how cholera has lately passed like a broad belt over a particular part of Europe, leaving untouched the districts on either side, a though these districts were populous, held free intercourse with infected districts, and presented hygienic conditions favorable for the reception of the poison, we shall see cause to believe that there is some element yet unindicated, connected with the actual progress of the disease, which is wanted to complete the sum of conditions under which the poison attains its highest *This also tells against the strict contagious theory; as, if susceptible human bodies were all that the poison wanted, these have of eourse been abundantly applied to it. ↑ As an illustration of this point, I may refer to the British and Foreign MedicoChirurgical Review,' Jan. 1849, p. 8, which is taken from the description, given by M. Leseque (Archives Générales, Sept. 1848). of the course of the cholera in Russia.

"The peculiar force which impelled the cholera thus towards the north, is not only indicated by the general course of the disease, but by a closer study of its peculiarities. Whenever the malady deviated, so to speak, from its normal direction, and passed towards the west, it seemed incapable of propagating itself, and died away spontaneously, even in places which appeared to be well fitted for its reception. If, on its route, it encountered a large and densely-peopled town, it arrested itself there by preference; but the existence of a similar town out of the line of its course did not seem to be able to attract it, or to cause it to wander from its singular march. The exemption of the provinces to the east of the Volga might be perhaps explained by the nature of the country, in which the inhabitants are few and scattered; but the rich, fertile, and densely-peopled countries to the right of the Dnieper enjoyed an equal freedom from attack, which can only be explained by the fact, that they were situated beyond the line of the disease, which, as already stated, was principally between these rivers. Although com

development. May not this unindicated element be a peculiar, as yet, unrecognised atmospheric condition which accompanies the poison, or which even, by its meeting with certain local conditions, developes it? In London it may be supposed that this atmospheric condition has not yet been perfectly established, but that having been partially developed in the remarkable weather which ushered in the month of October, it has remained ever since stationary, or but slowly advancing to a more complete manifestation. In all these northern countries, to which the cholera-poison is foreign, it may be supposed that a particular atmospheric state is necessary.

Leaving, however, this conjecture-for at present it is little more-I may remark, in conclusion, that I have desired merely in this Report to apply the strict contagious theory to these early cases. I have decided that this theory cannot explain them. I have done so not merely on negative evidence that no contact or proximity between these early cases could be traced, but on positive testimony that such contact or proximity was impossible. These cases are, then, to be accounted for on other grounds; into these, however, I shall not at present enter : contenting myself with the remark, that it appears to me more probable that the cholera-poison should have entered the localities first infected by virtue of some peculiar force acting irregularly and partially, so as to drive the poison into one rather than into another locality; or that the poison should have been actually generated in those localities under the influence of a general atmospheric condition co-operating with the local conditions proper to each place-than that it should have reached those localities by direct emisson from diseased individuals in the vicinity or at a distance, or from clothes which had been in contact with infected persons.

I feel, however, that, wilhout enlarging my basis of inquiry, I have no right to push this argument farther. To do so with any effect, facts drawn from a more extensive series of observations would have to be passed in review.

Whether or not the evidence which has satisfied my own mind will prove as satisfactory to others, I do not know; but I can affirm that I have collected this evidence with impartiality, and have stated it with sincerity.

APPENDIX.

As far as we can at present judge from what is know regarding the spread of cholera in Great Britain, there ppears to be much evidence in favour of the position that this extension has occurred in two ways, most commonly by independent manifestation in particular localities, but sometimes by transmission through the medium of diseased persons. Some excellent Reports published in the Edinburgh Monthly Journal' indicate that in Scotland in some cases importation was improbable, but that in a few cases, the disease appeared to arise from importation, and did really manifest contagious properties. In London, while I have no doubt that contagion had no influence in originating the disease, the cases arising after contact with the Tooting children seem to prove the fact of occasional contagion; as do also the cases recently put on record by Dr. Mc William (Med. Gaz., June 14). If we are not disposed hastily to reject all the evidence on one side, and as hastily to recieve all the evidence on the other, I do not see what conclusion can be arrived at, but that cholera is occasionally, but only exceptionably, contagious.

In the April Number of the American Journal of Medical Sciences' is some interesting information respecting the appearance of cholera in New-York and New Orleans. On the 9th of November, 1848, the packet ship New York left Havre, with 352 emigrants and 33 crew, for New York. There had not been a munication was not interrupted, as the system of cordons sanitaries was abandoned by the government, no effect was produced by this cause. The most frequent intercourse with the dense population of the west, living under very favorable hygienic conditions, even the lowering of the temperature, which, it might be supposed, would have caused the extension of the disease towards more temperate climates, produced no effect."

single case of cholera at Havre when they sailed. They had no case on board till the 25th of November, fifteen days after leaving the land, when a young German, in robust health, was attacked with vomiting, purging, and cramps of the extremities; he died on the third day. On the following day, the 26th, another case occurred, and proved fatal on the second day. On the 27th, a girl died in two hours with the same symptoms. On the following day, a boy died in four hours and a half. On the 29th, a man died in seven hours. On the 30th, two more children died. On the 1st of December the ship came to an anchor at the quarantine station, Staten Island, and before the passengers landed on the 3d, twelve more cases had occurred. At the time there was no cholera on Staten Island. The sick emigrants were sent to an hospital-the healthy to some large public stores, in which were about seventy persons convalescent from other diseases. A person who had been treated at Staten Island for fracture of the patella, assisted in the removal of the sick; three days subsequently, he was attacked with violent symptoms of cholera, and died the same day. Another man, who had been in proximity with the emigrants at the stores, left Staten Island on the day after they landed and went to New York; he was attacked with cholera, was sent back to the quarantine ground, and died on the same day as the former case. Three other persons, who had been resident on Staten Island, and in proximity with the emigrants, were subsequently attacked. It does not appear

that these last four cases had been in contact with the sick particularly; but they were the occupants of the storehouse to which those of the emigrants who were not affected with the cholera had been sent. Two more persons were afterwards affected; making eight in all. No persons were attacked except those mixed up with the supposed healthy emigrants at the stores; 43 of whom appear to have been afterwards attacked. None of the crew were attacked. Among the emigrants, all the victims were Germans; of whom there were 270, all of them long resident in or near Havre. The disease then died away, and did not appear again either at the quarantine station, or at New York itself.

In this case there seems to be no doubt but that seven persons became affected with cholera after being in contact with a body of persons, some of whose number had suffered, and others were about to suffer from this disease. A still more remarkable fact is the origin of this attack at sea, fifteen days after leaving the land. It can hardly be supposed that it was derived from Havre, where cholera did not prevail; this supposition also necessitating the allowance of an unusually long incubative period. It is perhaps more probable to suppose it to have been actually generated in the ship, which, no doubt, furnished unhealthy hygienic conditions in abundance, under the influence of which, and of some peculiar epidemic constitution, the specia' cause may have been brought into being.

The second case referred to in the American Journal' is somewhat similar to this. It is given by Dr. Fenner.

On the 11th December, 1848, the ship Swanton, 39 days out from Havre, arrived at New Orleans with 280 German and French emigrants. About ten days previously, several cases of bilious cholera had occurred in New Orleans, which all recovered, and were probably unconnected with the subsequent epidemic. When the Swanton left Havre on the 2d or 3d of November, there was no cholera in that place. The vessel was out twenty-six days before any death occurred; the first was from consumption, afterwards sixteen or seventeen deaths took place, mostly from bowel-complaints, supposed to be dysentery. On the 12th of December, a woman from the vessel was taken to the Charity Hospital with undoubted cholera. On the 13th, another emigrant was admitted, and also died. On the same day three other cases of cholera were admitted, all of which proved fatal; none of these were passengers of the Swanton, and they were from different parts of of the city. On the evening of the same day, December 13th, another suspicious case occurred in a resident, who had not been near the ship Swanton nor seen any of the passengers. On the 15th of December, 8 cases were admitted into the Charity Hospital, and several occurred in private practice. On the 16th,

11 cases were admitted, and the cases in private practice were rapidly increasing in number. By the 22d, forty-five deaths had occured in the city, and after this the epidemic rapidly extended. It was stated that the first three victims were Cooks, who went every morning to the principal market, within a cable's length of the vessel; but this was erroneous, as the Swanton was nearly a mile away, and these cases occurred on the 15th, after several other cases had been noted. The disease reached its zenith about the 28th, and declined steadily from the 1st of January.

After the diseas appeared, almost every vessel that left the city soon had cases aboard; persons having the disease and dying of it, were carried to all the landings, towns, and cities up the Mississippi, as high as Cincinnati. In many of these places it spread to a limited extent; in others it did not; in no place did it It spread among the plantations along the river and prevail as an epidemic. To some of these the infection appeared to be in the interior of Louisiana. directly carried; at others it began without any communication with an infected At the district. It prevailed at Houston, Texas, while Galveston on the sea-board escaped, although on a line of travel from New Orleans to Houston. Charity Hospital, as many as 50 cases occurred among the nurses, servants, and patients.

Some other facts are well worthy of attention. The Guttenburg left Hamburgh So that in October, and six or seven deaths occurred before she got out of the Elbe. When she got to sea the disease disappeared, and did not again return. in this case, getting to sea out of the infected district arrested the disease.

The analogy between the cases of the New York and the Swanton is certainly remarkable both vessels left a port in which no cholera case was known with emigrants: the time of departure was nearly the same, viz. the Swanton on the 2d or 3d of November, the New York on the 9th; both were bound to different ports of the same country, and therefore probably followed nearly the same track; in the Swanton, which sailed on November 2, cholera appeared after twenty-six days, therefore on or about the 28th of November, in the New York it appeared on the 25th of November. In these cases it appears possible that both vessels may have been nearly in the same position, when they were attacked by cholera. Considering, then, all the circumstances of the case, the departure of those ships from a healthy port, the length of time they remained free from sickness, their possible vicinity to each other when they were attacked, the fact of their being emigrant ships, and therefore presumably badly cleaned and ventilated, it does not appear improbable that both ships became nearly at the same time subjected to some peculiar influence, which caused in both cases an analogous and independent manifestation of the cholera poison.

"Whether it be

Dr. Fenner, the reporter of the New Orleans epidemic, says, a mere coincidence that epidemic cholera broke out in this city, just at the time when a vessel arrived, having some cases of cholera on board, or that said vessel brought the infection, which rapidly spread through the whole community, is an And at the end of his Report he remarks, exceedingly debatable question. that the few fac.s he has brought forward do not decide about the contagiousness or transportability of cholera. It would seem, therefore, that the channel of introduction, or the reality of actual importation of cholera, into New Orleans, may yet be a matter of dispute.

PART FOURTH.

Periscope.

ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.

On the Intimate Structure and History of the Articular Cartilages.
By Dr. JOSEPH LEIDY.

THIS paper contains a minute description of the arrangement and mode of multiplication of the cartilage-cells; the groups of which are stated to lie perpendicularly in the deeper part of the cartilage (that nearest the attached surface), and obliquely or irregularly as they approach the free surface, whilst at and near that surface they lie parallel to it. The deeper groups are composed of a larger number of cells than the superficial; and in the stratum forming the free surface, single isolated cells are not unfrequent. The free surface is covered in the fatal state by a synovial membrane; of which the two characteristic elements-basement-membrane and epithelial cells-may be clearly recognised. But after birth, it appears to be gradually destroyed by pressure and attrition, and by the retirement of the superficial vessels towards the circumference; and appears in the adult to terminate at the margin of the cartilage, a very little in advance of the circulus articuli vasculosus. The phenomena of the multiplication of the cartilage-cells by division are described as closely resembling those of cell-multiplication in the simpler Algæ; and favour the idea that the cell has a protoplasmatic envelope, or primordial utricle.. within the regular cell-wall, from which it seems to retire when the constriction that leads to the duplication first shows itself. The division of the nucleus does not seem to be essentially connected with that of the cell itself.-The matrix of the cartilage-cells is asserted by Dr. Leidy to have a distinctly filamentous arrangement, each filament consisting of a row of very fine granules. These are best brought into view by tearing a very thin shred from the fractured edge of an articular cartilage. The filaments, like the cell-groups, are arranged perpendicularly to the attached surface and parallel to the free surface, where they form a sort of membranous layer that holds together fractured portions of cartilage.-Amer. Journ. of Med. Sciences, April 1849.

On the Development of the Purkinjean Corpuscles in Bone. By Dr. JOSEPH LEIDY. Dr. LEIDY's observations confirm the idea of Schwann, that the bone-corpuscles, or lacuna, is truly a cell, of which the canaliculi are radiating prolongations, analogous to those of the pigment cells; and he further thinks that this cell is one of the residual cartilage-cells. The following is his account of the process of ossification, as observed in the frontal bone of a human embryo of two inches in length. "After the primitive ossific rete has been formed from the deposit of the osseous salts, inclosing groups of cartilage-cells in the areola, the further deposit takes place in a fibrous or line-like course from the parietes of the areola of the primitive osseous rete, to the interspaces of the cartilage-cells nearest to, or in contact with, the sides of the areola. At this period, the cells shoot out or extend their canaliculi between the fibrillæ just formed, and then the cell-wall and continuous walls of the canaliculi fuse with the translucent, homogeneous, or hyaline substance of the cartilage existing between the cells and the osseous fibrillæ, and with the fibrilla 7-IV.

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