232 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
and struggling round it. The colour of the sore gradually 
darkened, tlie 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 v/as 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 flstulous 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 
