[25] Journal de Physiologie, t. v, p. 328 and 336.
[26] The present mayor of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
[27] This, and the following experiments, are among those recorded by M. Gaspard, referred to in the foregoing dissertation.
[28] I once observed a similar condition in a young woman in St. George's Hospital. Each pulsation of the heart could be heard with great distinctness at a distance of two or three yards from the patient; during the paroxysms, there was the greatest difficulty of breathing; the countenance became anxious and livid, and a distinct thrill was communicated to all the arteries. After death, the countenance and upper part of the body were found livid from venous congestion. The lungs did not readily collapse when the chest was opened. The auricles of the heart were greatly distended with black blood; the inner surface of the left ventricle presented a white patch, of about two square inches in extent; the lining membrane of the aorta, for several inches, was of a bright red colour; this extended round one-third only of the circumference of the vessel. No other structural change could be found in the heart or vessels, which would account for the symptoms observed during life.
[29] De l'Infection Purulente, p. 399.
[30] In deducing general conclusions from experiments upon animals, it must be borne in mind, that in them suppuration is induced with great difficulty. Many of the appearances produced by the injection of putrid fluids (as in Experiment xiv) would, in man, probably have terminated in suppuration. Dr. Sédillot has nevertheless established the fact, that, generally speaking, a different class of post-mortem appearances may be expected from the introduction of decomposed serum, to those produced from fluids containing solid particles.
[31] London Journal of Medicine, vol. i, p. 799.
[32] In a case of fracture of the femur into the knee-joint, I have observed a dark ill-defined erysipelatous blush extend from the affected limb to the body, and thence to the head. Purulent deposits formed in various parts of the body, of which the patient died.
[33] For the knowledge of this fact, I am indebted to Mr. Cæsar Hawkins, of St. George's Hospital.
[34] Journal de Physiologie, t. iv, p. 45.