 One on his autopsies in 1857 was the first description of vertebral disc rupture.His autopsy on a baby in 1856 was the first description of congenital pulmonary lymphangiectasia (the name given by K. M. Laurence a century later), a rare and fatal disease of the lung.From his experience of post-mortem examinations of a number of cadavers, he published his method in a small book in 1876.