58 



PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS 



(these experiments were made before the use of the plani- 

 meter) decreased by 20 millimetres (a little less than one third), 

 whereas the length of the small one decreased by only 4 

 milHmetres, about one sixth. 



For the same reason^ when the wounds were of trapezoidal 



Distance 



oc^ 



Quiescent 



"pariod. -■^^ p«,riool 



^rdn.ConbdctioF> 



-^ 



Epitheri-sahonJk- 



ptnooL '^ 



.^^J- 



<yz/////y^ 



C\c<aYncial 

 period 



--> 



10 



IS 



10 



25 



FIG. I. (experimental WOUND IN THE UPPER RIGHT-HAND CORNER.) 

 POINTS A AND B ARE ON THE OUTLINE TATTOOED WITH INDIA INK. 

 POINTS a AND p ARE ON THE NEWLY FORMED EPITHELIAL BORDER. THE 

 SCHEMATIC CURVE SHOWS THE SUCCESSIVE PHASES OF CICATRIZATION. 

 ORDINATES EXPRESS THE DISTANCE BETWEEN POINTS A AND B (SOLID 

 CURVE) AND a AND ^ (DOTTED CURVE) AS A FUNCTION OF TIME 



shape, the length of the longer base tended to equahze itself 

 with that of the smaller one and the wounds became rectangu- 

 lar in a few days. The same results were obtained with 

 circular wounds made by punching out the skin. It was then 

 estabHshed that the rate of reparation during the granular 

 period was a function of the dimension of the wound, that is 

 to say, of the total effort required to repair the destroyed area. 

 This law had already been estabUshed by Spallanzani for 

 salamanders.^ It was thus proved to be equally true for 

 mammals. This was unforeseen considering the differences 

 of the mechanisms brought into play. Minervini, in 1904," 

 had found the same phenomena. However, as he made no 

 measurements, he did not conceive the existence of the curve 



^ Spallanzani J Experiences pour servir a Vhistoire de la generation des 

 animaux et des plantes (1787). 



2 Minervinij Virchows Ann., vol. 175^ p. 238 (1904). 



