30 THE ACTION OF THE LIVING CELL 



by inflating the intestines with air. When a stream of 

 compressed air was allowed to impinge upon the ex- 

 posed viscera of rabbits, the viscera became bluish- 

 black, due to engorgement, and the animals developed 

 the general symptoms of shock. 



Lastly the writer has induced shock symptoms in 

 intact animals by placing them for a minute or less 

 close to the arm of a centrifuge revolving at ten thou- 

 sand revolutions per minute. (Turck, 1918a, 1918b.) 

 The same result was also obtained by discharging 

 a 38-calibre blank cartridge in a box containing the 

 experimental animals. In the case of aquatic animals 

 such as fishes, turtles, and frogs, a similar state ensued 

 when the cartridge was fired just beneath the surface 

 of the water in the aquarium. (Turck, 1918b.) At 

 autopsy, the animals used in such experiments were 

 found to have suffered a splanchnic congestion identi- 

 cal with that observed in experimental shock pro- 

 duced by other means. 



Although these experiments were originally de- 

 signed to duplicate in the laboratory a condition analo- 

 gous to the "shell-shock" often experienced by sol- 

 diers in combat, they are here presented merely as an 

 illustration of a means of producing a profound state 

 of shock in intact animals. While by such experi- 

 mental means no externally obvious injury is pro- 

 duced, it seems clear that the pressure waves en- 

 gendered alike by the centrifuge and the explosion 

 cause an injury which leads to a series of in vivo 

 changes finally resulting in a state of shock. 



Since the same final state may be induced by such 

 a variety of markedly different experimental methods, 

 the question arises : What is the common factor which 



