68 HEALTHY ANATOMY.
rectum and vagina had a common opening ; this last being still alive when the above case was observed, and defeca- tion being perfectly natural. 1850.
Dr. Waldo J. Burnett.
678. Imperforate rectum. The pelvic organs were dissected by Dr. R. M. Hodges, and have been preserved in spirit ; showing the rectum, distended, and ending in a cul-de-sac, low in the pelvis, and below this a very small portion of intestine with the anus.
The child died on the sixth day, crying incessantly the last ten or twelve hours, and with the abdomen very tense and swollen ; but there was no vomiting. The urine was very scanty ; and two days before death it was slightly tinged by meconium, though nothing was found, on dis- section, to explain this fact. Case in the practice of Dr. A., and no operation performed ; a female child.
Three years previously the mother bore another male . child that lived eight days, and in which the meconium passed freely through the penis ; a perfect female having been born meanwhile. 1858. Dr. James Ayer.
679. Imperforate rectum ; intestine distended and dried.
Case in Dr. M.'s practice ; a female. Trocar passed in about two inches on the third day, but without opening the intestine, and it died on the fifth. Symptoms not urgent. The lower portion of the intestine was about an inch in extent, and the distance that separated the two portions was about the same. 1847. Dr. E. B. Moore.
680. A third specimen ; in spirit. On the fourth day a trocar was thrust in, and meconium was freely discharged. The
next morning a piece of gum-elastic catheter was passed up upon a probe ; in the evening, as nothing had passed, the opening was enlarged with the knife, and a small quan- tity of meconium escaped. Death on the following day. On dissection, it was found that the probe and catheter had passed into the .cellular tissue by the side of the in- testine, and that there was an opening into the peritoneal cavity. 1869.
�� �
