A drachm and a half of mercury, mixed with some warm water, was injected into the crural artery of a large dog. The animal evinced no pain, and walked resting slightly on the affected limb, which became sensibly colder. After the expiration of an hour, the animal refused its food, became restless, and indicated severe pain in the limb, which was now very hot. On the following day, the leg was swollen and œdematous. On the third day, there was extreme thirst, increased œdema, and great suffering. The animal was killed sixty hours after the operation.
Post-mortem appearances. No disease was found in any organ, excepting the affected limb. This was swollen and œdematous in every part; abscesses of different sizes had formed, which contained sanious fluid, mercury, and pus; some parts were in an incipient state of mortification, and gave out a considerable quantity of air. Globules of mercury were found in different parts, occupying usually the centre of the abscesses, and ran out upon the scalpel when incisions were made into the limb.
Shewing the effect of the injection of Oil into an artery.
Three drachms of olive oil were thrown into the crural artery of a large dog. Slight pain was experienced, and the limb became evidently cold, and the pulse under the tendo-Achillis could no longer be felt. Two hours afterwards, a like quantity of oil was again injected. The leg now began to inflame, and became tender. The following day, the whole limb was œdematous, much swollen, and very painful. Twenty-nine hours after the first experiment, the muscles of the thigh and leg, as well as the cellular tissue, were found in some places gorged with blood, and inflamed in livid patches; in others, infiltrated with yellow serum and gelatinous exudations. No oil could be detected in the affected parts.
An ounce of putrid water, in which some beef had been macerated, was injected into the crural artery of a middling-sized dog. The artery having been tied, the pulse ceased below the tendo-Achillis; the limb, however, preserved its usual degree of heat, offering a contrast in this respect to the last experiment. A considerable degree of fever and restlessness followed the operation; this continued the whole day and the following night, without any vomiting or evacuations, which so constantly followed similar operations upon the veins. The next day the limb was very painful, but not swollen; there was thirst, with the ordinary secretion of fæces and urine. On the third day, the animal was evidently better; the appetite had become almost natural, and he could walk more easily, although the limb was still very painful. In the night, there were some soft, almost liquid, evacuations. The fourth day, the animal was evidently recovering, when an ounce and a half of very fetid and very concentrated fluid (derived from the maceration of beef), was injected into the crural artery of the opposite limb. The animal immediately evinced pain, accompanied by very violent and remarkable palpitation of the heart. It walked lame, keeping the leg raised, and soon became feverish and uneasy. The symptoms were exactly the same as after the first experiment. The leg became gradually more and more painful, extremely sensitive, but not infiltrated with serum. During the night, there was much expression of pain, and the animal was in continual motion. Death occurred nineteen hours after the second injection. The limb had become swollen only within five or six hours previous to death.
Post-mortem appearances. The limb presented a very large quantity of bloody fluid infiltrated in all the tissues. The superficial muscles were black, and presented more or less the appearances of gangrene. The deep muscles existed as such no longer, but were entirely disorganized, and converted into a putrid pulp, resembling masses of the red lees of wine, extremely fetid, and disengaging a quantity of gas. The limb first injected was still swollen, and presented, in the interior of the adductor muscles, two or three cavities filled with a putrid bloody serum. In the chest, the lungs were healthy, as were also the right cavities of the heart; but the left cavities presented several reddish-black spots, scattered over their external surface. In the left auricle was a firm yellowish-white coagulum, adhering to an inflamed spot on its inner surface. The intestinal canal was filled with a brownish red fluid, resembling altered blood, which, in the stomach and duodenum, was of the colour of soot. The mucous membrane of these organs, as well as of the jejunum and rectum, were gorged with blood, of the colour of the lees of red wine, but without any inflammatory thickening of their coats.
Shewing the effect of the introduction of Air into an artery.