The occurrence of pure memngocele is doubted by the most of our authorities. Conner says, (Keating's Cyclopedia of Diseases of Children): "If it occur at all, (and this is much doubted) it does so very rarely." Irving C. Rosse, (Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences,) says: "The lesion is not yet sufficiently demonstrated to enable one to trace the symptoms, or even the diagnosis; on all sides it is admitted to be very rare, and some even doubt whether it exists."
I think it quite probable that the lesion is not quite so rare as the above quotations would indicate, because it is not an easy matter to certainly diagnose the condition even when present, and I have no doubt that in some instances, where no operation has been performed and no postmortem held, a diagnosis of hydrencephalocele has been made when meningocele really existed. In the case about to