284 AN ADDRESS ON THE TREATMENT OF WOUNDS 



tissues. On examining stained sections ^ of the wall of the vessel and the 

 adherent coagulum, I found that the corpuscles in the latter were similar in 

 character to those which thronged the interstices of the tissue of the inner part 

 of the vascular wall ; and among the latter were some that conveyed the idea 

 of transition from the normal tissue elements. And this view seems confirmed 

 by the fact that I have never succeeded in obtaining any new growth of corpuscles 

 in coagulum outside the body, although the blood has been subjected to very 

 various degrees of septic agency and has been kept in conditions similar to 

 those within the body as regards temperature and moisture, and, indeed, in 

 every respect, so far as I can judge, except only the influence of surrounding 

 living tissues. 



There was another circumstance observed in the clot within the vein which 

 I must not omit to mention. Even the parts next to the lining membrane 

 though not putrefying, had a distinct faint putrefactive odour. This is readily 

 explained on physical principles by diffusion of the products of the putrefactive 

 fermentation which was going on within the tube and in its vicinity. Indeed, 

 one of the other venous compartments, on being opened, gave exit to a small 

 amount of fetid gas, the remains of that which had been evolved from the 

 putrefying part, and which had been only partially taken up by the surrounding 

 parts ; but in the other compartments it had been all so disposed of. This 

 diffusion of chemically irritating products of putrefaction beyond the limits of 

 the actual septic process seems to me a matter of much importance ; and in 

 the case of the ass's jugular it appears to explain, what otherwise might be 

 difficult to account for, the inflammatory thickening of the coats of the vein, 

 and also of the surrounding tissues. For the striking contrast presented between 

 the inflammatory changes in and around the vessel in this animal and the entire 

 absence of such appearances which I have found both in the horse and in the 

 calf where I have tied the carotid artery antiseptically, with silk in the one 

 case and with catgut in the other, seems to imply that the septic matter intro- 

 duced within the vein of the donkey was the cause of the disturbance in question ; 

 and the mode of its operation would seem to have been that above indicated. 



But to return from this apparent digression. I have to add that, although 

 twenty-four hours had passed since the vein was taken from the animal, I saw, 

 in the course of a prolonged investigation of the pus in the little abscess, only 

 a single bacterium. Also I have to mention the important fact that in the 

 examination of the previous day, when the vein had been just taken from the 

 body immediate^ after death, whereas in the softened part of the clot in the 



^ I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of publicly thanking M. Laulanier, the Professor of 

 Anatomy in the Ecole Veterinaire, for his great kindness in preparing these sections for me. 



