116 Transactiom. — Miscellaneous. 



December 24th, 8 a.m. — Increased turbidity. Peritonoeum much swollen 

 and milk-white ; the muscle nearly milk-white ; the liver a pale yellowish 

 grey. 



Peritonoeum bottle ; under microscope, multitudes of young cells and 

 granules were floating about in the fluid ;* peritonoeum granular, with 

 many young, round, nucleated cells sticking all over it. (Bad light ; very 

 wet day.) 



Liver very friable ; quantities of young cells with well marked edges 

 and nuclei, mostly one, some two, a few three. The usual Hver cells were 

 dark, with many dark spots, not removable by acetic acid. 



Muscle : no cells except a few adherent to it. No trace of striation, 

 but very opaque fine granules (commencing fatty degeneration). 



At length it occiurred to me that defibrinated blood would be the best 

 nutrient fluid for mammalian tissues. After numerous experiments, many 

 of which were failures owing to the want of suitable apparatus, and the 

 extreme difiiculty of keeping the blood at the temperature desired, ranging 

 from 100° to 105° F., the following were found to be the conditions under 

 which inflammation in detached portions of the body could be carried as far 

 as the production of pus. 



The blood should be obtained from an animal rapidly killed by violence, 

 not poison. It should be defibrinated by whipping, and the agitation of the 

 blood should be continued until the whole has become bright scarlet, and 

 thoroughly oxyginated.+ The parts to be operated on, which should if 

 possible be from an animal of the same species as that from which the 

 blood is taken, are then to be placed in a glass vessel containing a quantity 

 of the blood — the more blood the better ; for instance, 4 fluid oz. of blood 

 would be a fair allowance for a sheep's eye. The vessel must be closed to 

 prevent evaporation of the watery parts of the blood. Open vessels are 

 found not to answer, the blood gets thick very soon. This glass vessel 

 must be placed in a water bath, which must be kept at a temperature of 

 100° to 105° F. This is the most difficult part of the process. Until one 

 has watched a thermometer for some hours, it will hardly be believed, how, 

 with the same degree of applied heat, the temperature of the water bath 

 will vary. As the temperature of the room falls or rises, so the applied heat 

 has to be adjusted, and a few minutes neglect will suffice for the whole 



* Subsequent researches made it probable that these were not derived from the 

 peritonceum itself but from the lymphatic vessels and their contents, contained -within the 

 folds of the mesentery. 



t The blood always becomes of a dark venous hue after being exposed to the tempera- 

 ture indicated for a few hours, 



