THE LUNG PLAGUE. 47 



One cause contributed to strengthen the hands of his adversaries, and this was his attempt 

 to prove that specific and characteristic elements distinguished the virus of pleuro- 

 pneumonia. 



Dr. Willems says : 



I have examined various pathological specimens with the object of studying and elucidating the question of 

 inoculation. My investigations have been principally directed to diseased lungs, and to a kind of tubercle, hitherto 

 overlooked, but which I have, nevertheless, constantly met with upon opening the dead bodies of animals that died 

 from pleuropneumouia. These tubercles, scattered throughout the intestines, but principally in the smaller one, are of 

 a size varying from the head of a pin to that of a largo pea, of a yellowish or greenish color. They are seated in the 

 sub-mucous cellular tissue, and partly in the thickness of the mucous membrane of the intestine. They do not appear 

 to have any relation to the glands of Peyer or of Brunner. Are they hypertrophied follicles I Nothing appears to 

 prove it; no opening is perceived in them. They are formed of a homogeneous, whitish matter, more or less hard, 

 showing under the microscope grannlons kernels and an innumerable quantity of small elementary corpuscles, which 

 enjoy a molecular motion, and which are also mot with in diseased lungs. I have examined under the microscope 

 parts of the lungs of animals diseased with pneumonia, with a power magnifying four hundred and fifty diameters, 

 which is higher than that employed by Professor Glngo in his beautiful anatomico-pathological researches upon pleuro 

 pneumouia. The exuded matter presented no structure. I met with no other anatomical elements than granular 

 cells and elementary corpuscles, provided with a particular motion, the whole pretty much resembling an inflamma 

 tory exudation, remarkable for its great quantity. The plastic exudation is formed in so rapid a manner, and in such 

 considerable quantity, that anatomical elements of a superior development to that of these cells could not be produced 

 in them ; consequently no cells or globules of pus (I have never found any) or libers are ever met with there. The 

 energy of the cellular tissue appears to exhaust itself upon too large a quantity of exuded matter for the latter to be 

 carried to a higher degree of organization. It is the same as is observed sometimes in the regeneration of tissues; in 

 the section of nerves, for example, and in the fracture of bones, when the exuded liquid is in too largo a quantity, or 

 the fragments are too much separated, a part of the liquid, being beyond the circle of action of the energy of existing 

 tissues, always remains at an inferior degree of development to that of the neighboring tissues. What is most important 

 to be shown here, and of which no one has hitherto spoken, is the existence in diseased lungs of small corpuscles, 

 endowed with a molecular motion, which appears sometimes to be made in a given direction. They are like corpuscles 

 in process of formation, the motion of which resembles that of the granules of pigment, as well as those which surround 

 the corpuscles of the tuberculous matter in man. In all my microscopical researches I have constantly found the same. 



Wishing to know whether these corpuscles exist in any other substances than those already examined, I sub 

 mitted to the microscope 



1. The saliva of a healthy ox under epizootic influence. 



2. The saliva of a diseased cow toward the third stage of the disease. 



3. The urine of the same cow. 



4. The blood of the same cow. 



5. The blood of a healthy ox under epizootic influence for five months. 



6. The blood of a healthy ox not under epizootic influence. 



7. Parts of the liver and of the large right pectoral muscle from a diseased cow. 



In none of these matters did I find the small corpuscles with molecular motion which I have constantly met 

 with in the lungs and in the intestinal tubercles of animals affected with pleuropiicumonia. That, then, is the prin 

 cipal seat of the disease. Are these corpuscles primitive or consequent on the disease ? This question cannot be 

 decided now ; I only wish hero to verify their presence in plenropneuinonia. 



I examined with the microscope parts of the skin of an ox that died of inoculation. I there found the same 

 microscopical elements and the same chemical characters as in the lungs diseased with pneumonia. 



Professor Gluge, one of the members of the Belgian commission appointed to inquire 

 into the efficacy of inoculation, reported, on the 10th of July, 1852, as follows: 



It results, from the demonstrations made by Dr. Willems and our own researches 



1. That epizootic pleuropneumonia has uo characteristic anatomical products appreciable- by the microscope. 



2. That the inflammatory product is not distinguished from any other product of inflammation by anatomical 

 character. 



3. That M. Willems s assertions are not accurate. 



4. That this circumstance, doubtless unfortunate, does not in any way prejudice the practical question, which it 

 appears to me ought to be especially examined. 



But Professor Verheyen, who was the president of this commission, continued until 

 his death to throw discredit on the preservative efficacy of inoculation, and though he 

 based most of his conclusions on hypotheses, he was ready to avail himself of everything 

 that presented itself to strengthen his position. 



