293 



Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London for 



the year 1839. Parts 1, 2. 

 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Nos. 37, 38, 39, 



40 . Bif^ the Society. 



Voyage dans la Russie Meridionale et la Crimee, par M. de 



Demidoif (Partie Scientifique). Livs. 3 and 4 en 8vo, et 



Planches en fol — By the Author. 

 The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. 



Vol. ix. Part 3 — By the Society. 

 Ordnance Survey of the County Mayo in Ireland, in 125 sheets — 



By His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 

 The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture ; and the Prize Essays and 



Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of 



Scotland. No. 48, for March 1840. — By the Society. 



The following Communications were read : — 



1. On the Persian mode of making Malleable Iron direct from 



the Ore, by James Robertson, Esq. Communicated by 

 Robert Bald, Esq. 



2. On the Fatal Effects of Air drawn into the Veins during 



Surgical Operations on the Neck and Shoulder. By Sir 

 Charles BeU, K. H. 



" The author referred in this paper to the experience of Baron 

 Larrey ; also to operations performed by Baron Dupuytren and 

 M. Roux, who, in removing the arm at the shoulder-joint, heard 

 the air drawn in, and witnessed the eflFect in the instant death of 

 their patients. , 



" He noticed the experiments made by the Academic Royal de 

 Medicine, and conceived that they regarded too exclusively the 

 influence of the heart and lungs. He explained the phenomenon 

 to be owing to the elevation of the muscles of the neck, by which 

 the atmospheric pressure was taken off, and the air drawn into 

 the open vein. 



" Observing that the alternate elevation and depression of the 

 muscles of the neck attended every act of breathing, he drew at- 

 tention to the circumstance of the entrance of the thoracic duct 

 into the veins of the neck, whereby it was subjected to the alter- 

 nation of suction and compression. Noticing at the same time 

 that, in classes of animals which did not breathe with apparatus 

 similar to man, the trunk of the absorbent system entered into 

 other veins, and had a substitute for the alternate action of the 

 muscles of the neck. 



