ON THE RE-ABSOllPTION OF PUS. 
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lacerated. I did not see the animal until he had been ill two 
days; I then recommended him to be destroyed, which was im¬ 
mediately done. And thus died, by means of this mysterious 
disease, a creature which, a few days before, was full of wild 
life and noble fire, and stood on the sublimest point of animal 
existence, proving that our boasted knowledge is of no avail,— 
perhaps 
“ Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.” 
There is always a wide field for speculation on subjects that 
are mysterious. The disease in question is evidently one of 
these, inasmuch as we cannot ascend a palpable ladder of cause 
and effect. Our minds cannot see what we explore; our remedies 
must, therefore, be empirical. 
Before I conclude this paper, I beg to state, that the four 
cases which I have described as cured in tiiis paper were of the 
idiopathic kind. I never tried this method which I pursued 
with so much success in a case of traumatic tetanus, though 
I intend to do sO. Generally speaking, cases of the latter kind 
are too rapid and too violent in their piogress to afford the least 
chance of a successful termination. 
THE RE-ABSORPTION OF PUS CONSIDERED AS 
AN IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF DISEASE. 
By M. Renault, Professor at the School of A/fort, and Prin¬ 
cipal Editor o f the llecneil. 
In a prior article, M. Renault gave an interesting account of 
the opinions of human practitioners on this subject, the insertion 
of which, however, would cause us to deviate too much from our 
usual plan. He stated the material points on which modern phy¬ 
sicians and surgeons were agi'eed, and succinctly narrtated their 
differences of opinion. He principally dwelt on the anatomical 
lesions, which, on the examination of the dead body, clearly 
proved that pus had been absorbed, and had mingled with the 
blood ; he stated that the lungs and the liver were the organs in 
which the pus was oftonest deposited in the circulation of the 
blood ; he described with precision the characters which distin¬ 
guished it in the first of these organs—the metastatic depots of 
pus resulting from pulmonary inflammation ;—he also indicated 
the colour and consistence so remarkably difierent which the 
blood j)rescnted after the absorption of pus, and as it was seen 
in the ventricles of the heart. 
“ I now j)roceed,’' says M. Renault, to cite sonic cases 
