SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
467 
M. Rouget expresses is that muscular contraction does not consist of a series 
of successive shocks or vibrations. On the contrary, he says, the muscles 
of living animals in a state of sustained contraction, appear perfectly motion- 
less when examined by the microscope. The undulations traced by the 
myograph exist, according to M. Rouget, only during the period of variable 
contraction, when the exciting influence has not displayed sufficient in- 
tensity to call the muscle into complete contraction. When, for example, 
a powerful electric current is substituted for a weak one, the vibrations, 
before evident, entirely disapear, the muscle remaining in a perfectly rigid 
state. 
The Relation of Cow-pox to Small-pox. — The report which M. Danet 
presented to the Trench Academy of Medicine contains the following 
conclusions: — 1. Cow-pox and small-pox are two distinct maladies. 
2. Cow-pox does not predispose the patient to any affection. 3. There 
is no relation between typhoid fever and small-pox. 4. The vaccine 
matter after a time loses its anti-variolic properties. 5. The vaccine 
matter is a better preventative of small-pox than the variolous matter. 
6. Vaccine matter should be renewed. 7. Predisposition to small-pox is 
greater among the young and aged than among the middle-aged. 8. Re- 
vaccination is essential. 9. Even those who have had small-pox should be 
vaccinated. 10. In passing through the organism, the vaccine matter 
borrows certain of the matters from the constitution ; vaccination, therefore, 
from arm to arm may be objectionable. 11. The febrile state is unfavourable 
to the satisfactory action of the vaccine matter. — Vide I? Institute July 3. 
Secondary Electro-motive Rower of Nerves. — The memoir which Signor 
Matteucci has published is likely to throw light on some of the obscure 
phenomena of secretion. The Italian physiologist finds that this secondary 
force is far more powerful, and exerts a more decided influence, in chemico- 
vital operations than is generally believed. 
Section of the Pneumoyastric Nerves. — In a paper read before the Societe 
Philomathique of Paris, M. Vulpian has shown that unless both nerves are 
divided at the same time the consequence is not fatal. He states that no 
danger follows section of the pneumogastric nerves when an interval of a 
few weeks is allowed to elapse between the section of the right nerve and 
that of the left one. He reports the following experiment : — On October 5, 
1865, I divided the right pneumogastric nerve of a dog in the middle of the 
neck, and then brought the two ends together with a suture. On March 15, 
1866, 1 performed a similar operation on the left nerve. The results of the 
operation were vomiting for about a fortnight, and restoration to health in 
a month after the operation. — Report of Meeting of Societe Philomathique , 
August 3. 
A New Theory of Tuberculosis. — M. Lebert has just stated the singular 
hypothesis that tuberculosis is caused by a constriction of the pulmonary 
artery. 
Experiments on Inflammation of the Liver. — The experiment of Herr 
Holme is an erroneous one. He draws a silk thread through a living 
animal’s liver. After a few days he removes it, and examines the cells 
adherent to and entangled in its filaments. From the results obtained by 
microscopic examination of these he comes to the conclusion that, in the liver, 
YOL. YI. — NO. XXY. L L 
