ANALYSIS OF CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 853 
work, relates a number of experiments of this kind. Lately, 
M. Legros informed us that he had tried constriction of the 
nerves by the aid of a ligature. All these tentatives have 
failed. 
We have attempted these experiments, and, in addition, 
we have crushed the feet of frogs and rabbits. These 
animals died at various periods, but without exhibiting any 
signs of tetanus. At the moment when the experiment 
was performed energetic contractions of the injured foot were 
certainly observed, and there was even a little rigidity ; but 
these phenomena lasted no longer than from a few seconds to 
a minute or a minute and a half. All the rabbits succumbed 
sooner than the frogs. 
We have also irritated the nerves in the limbs of dogs, 
pinching them on three or four different occasions, and these 
two or three times a day. Here also there was evanescent 
contraction, which soon ceased after the irritation ; the 
rectal temperature was scarcely affected, and these animals 
always withstood the experiments better than the others. 
At the autopsise we constantly found a more or less exten- 
sive perineuritis, according to the duration of the irritation ; 
the spinal cord was perfectly healthy. 
In view of these results it was permissible to ask if frogs, 
rabbits, and dogs were not refractory to tetanus, and, indeed, 
we had never distinctly observed this disease in these 
animals. Therefore it was that we determined to experiment 
upon the horse, in which tetanus is relatively frequent after 
castration. If we hesitated a long time before commencing 
it was because we were obliged to throw the animal down, 
and for this reason the experiment was rendered very 
difficult. 
To begin with, the plantar nerves in their metacarpal 
track were irritated by means of forceps ; there ensued very 
powerful struggles, the animals were violently agitated, and 
yet there were no durable contractions ; the rectal tempera- 
ture was augmented from two to three fifths of a degree at 
the most. 
In one instance the column of mercury ascended rapidly to 
42°, and already we hoped we had attained our object, when 
we perceived an enormous fluctuating tumour on the haunch 
of the side on which the animal lay. There could be no 
doubt then that we had to do with an abscess. The autopsy 
revealed the presence of a vast effusion of blood extending 
deeply into the pelvis. There was no trace of pus, but the 
peripheral tissues were thickened and indurated, and formed 
a kind of shell to the sanguineous collection. This infiltra- 
