MISCELLANEA, 699 
professional) witnesses in courts of justice. I regret it does not 
give the Council power to extinguish empiricism. 
In conclusion, I should recommend the Colleges, Council, and 
Profession, to have a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether, 
so as to effect a strong union. 
Dear Sirs, your’s, very truly. 
The Effects of the Introduction of Air into the 
Veins of Living Animals. 
By M . Bouillaud. 
The mode of destroying animals by the insufflation of air into 
the jugular vein has been long known; but the phenomenon of the 
spontaneous or accidental introduction of the air into these vessels 
during an operation is new to veterinary science. We are pos- 
sessed but of two facts of it, for one of which we are indebted to 
Professor Verrier, and the other to M. Bouley, who reported it to 
the Academy of Medicine. 
The introduction of air had taken place during bleeding, at the 
moment when the operator ceased the compression of the vein in 
order to empty the vase and to fill it anew, and this was accom- 
panied by a gurgling similar to that which was heard in intro- 
ducing air into an empty bottle. 
The operator gives only a slight attention to a sound which he 
has heard under many other circumstances ; but he soon becomes 
alarmed at the symptoms which the animal presents after his re- 
entry into the stable. A general trembling pervades his whole 
frame — his respiration becomes laborious and plaintive — the pulse 
is small, irregular, and considerably accelerated, and presently the 
animal falls all at once upon his litter, uttering the most profound 
groans. 
Guided by the opinion of Bichat, who thought that in such case 
death was only produced by the arrival of blood charged with air 
at the brain, M. Bouley hastened to remove the ligature, in order 
to give issue to a fresh quantity of blood. This was followed by 
complete success. 
In proportion as the blood ran, the horse returned to life, and in 
half-an-hour after the accident it was completely re-established, 
save only a singular phenomenon which lasted until night, and 
that was, an extraordinary sensibility of the skin over the whole of 
the right side — opposed to the bleeding — accompanied by a violent 
itching. 
