Shortly before death, contraction of the fingers of the left



fiNC£PHALOCELE. 309

hand occurred. The mother, who was a healthy looking
young woman, thirty-one years^ of age, had previously given
birth to five hearty children. She found the child dead by
her side on awaking, the morning of the 8th of April, 1856 ;
so that it had lived altogether about five months.
Autopsy ten hours after death, — The tumour having been
cut into, about half a pint of clear colourless fluid escaped ;
this fluid was alkaline and albuminous. When the tumour
was laid open, it was seen to contain a portion of the brain,
and the entire cerebellum ; these were continuous with the
intracranial portion of the encephalon. The cavity of the
tumour was lined by the dura mater and the arachnoid,
between which and the portion of contained cerebrum passed
several bands of old adhesions. The intracranial portion of
the brain offered no anomaly of conformation; but the
longitudinal fissure was prolonged back through the extra-
cranial portion, which was thus divided into two halves;
further dissection proved these to be two large cavities (three
inches and a half long, by two inches and a half transversely),
each containing the choroid plexus, and each continuous
with the corresponding lateral ventricle. The cerebellum
was greatly atrophied, especially its left half, the margin of
which did not exceed one eighth of an inch in thickness.
The cerebral substance and the cranial nerves appeared
normal.
