1912] on Lord Lister. 549 



error of fundamental importance, which warped their vision, and for 

 which the doctrine inculcated at the time was responsible. The error 

 lay in the belief that, with the exception of healing by what was 

 known as primary union, inflammation was necessary for wound 

 healing, and that in the process of healing the phenomena of inflam- 

 mation were always present. 



Wound healing was treated in the text-books under the heading 

 of Inflammation. So that, instead of inflammation being regarded, 

 ab initio, as a noxious process, it was looked upon as a necessary and 

 beneficent one. It was only when it became excessive that it was 

 regarded as baneful, and efforts were made to lessen it. Varieties of 

 pus were recognized, and students were taught to discriminate between 

 them. Some were thin and offensive, while others were spoken of as 

 good and laudable, the latter being supposed to be the usual accom- 

 paniment of the healing wound. 



The trend of inquiry was therefore directed toward the elucidation 

 of the phenomena produced by inflammation on the tissues, instead of 

 endeavouring to discover the cause of inflammation and how it could 

 be prevented. 



Lister at first joined in the former quest. His papers on " An 

 Inquiry regarding the Parts of the Nervous System which regulated 

 the Contraction of the Arteries " (Phil. Trans. 1858) and " On Early 

 Stages of Inflammation " (Phil. Trans. 1858) were important, and 

 had their bearing on the subject at issue. 



Saviotti and Lister on the Nerve Control on the Blood- 

 vessels IN THE Early Stages of Inflammation. 



Much time was devoted by many observers to the elucidation 

 of the effect of reflex action upon the blood-vessels, in the early 

 stage of inflammation. The investigations of Saviotti * and Lister 

 proved that reflex action, to which alone active hypergemia had been 

 previously attributed, was not the only factor in the production of 

 increased local blood supply. From observation on the cutaneous 

 pigmentary cells of the frog, it was evident that they were controlled 

 by reflex action, as exhibited when the pigment in them contracted 

 to the centre of the cell, under the influence of a beam of light, 

 passing through the eye of the animal. It was also seen that limited 

 areas could 1)6 taken out of the control of this general reflex action 

 by the application of certain irritants applied locally. 



In order to account for this latter phenomenon, it was deduced 

 that peripheral nerve ganglia must exist, having control of limited 

 areas, and that when these ganglia were paralysed, they would no 

 longer transmit the general nerve impulses. 



Granting this conclusion, it was further deduced that a similar 



* Virchow Archiv. vol. i. 



2 2 



