232 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



and struggling round it. The colour of the sore gradually 

 darkened, the granulations grew irregularly, and some 

 seemed to get oedematous and languid, as we see in languid 

 sores in mankind ; the edges assumed the bluish white tint 

 we also observe on the margins of a healing ulcer. The 

 wound seemed to be gradually contracting, but very slowly, 

 and the fish was evidently in constant suffering. Some gold 

 fish which I put into the bath along with him kept him con- 

 stantly nervous lest they should hurt his back, and he 

 would spring occasionally out on the floor ; he did so one 

 day, when no one was near to assist him, and beat his head 

 against the leg of a sofa till he died. 



I next selected two large gold fish, and transfixing their 

 sides from above downwards, with a sharp bistoury cut 

 flaps with the free edge towards the tail, so that the water 

 should keep the flaps in apposition. The fish went on feed- 

 ing quite unaffected by the operation. In forty-eight hours 

 I examined them, and found the flaps adherent at their 

 thickest parts, but I could still lift up their edges. On the 

 next day the edges were fixed down by a material which I 

 did not observe while they were in the water, on account 

 of its transparency. It was limpid and firm in consistence, 

 painted freely over the line of incision, and for about an 

 inch beyond it in each direction. In one fish I passed a 

 probe through this material under the flap ; this evidently 

 gave the fish great pain, and a drop of blood escaped. 



Vessels formed and were distinctly seen with the naked 

 eye in this exuded material ; they presented a very beautiful 

 appearance, relieved against the brilliant golden scales. The 

 cut in one of these fish had healed, and the line of incision 

 was scarcely visible at the end of ten days, all exudation and 

 the new vessels having gradually disappeared. But where 

 I had passed my probe in the other under the flap, the exu- 

 dation was not replaced, and a fistulous opening remained, 

 which continued to give exit from time to time to a small 

 quantity of pus, which continued to collect under the flap 

 for several weeks. 



I repeated these experiments with similar results ; and I 

 think it appears from them that injuries to the tissues of 



