CHLOROFORM IN TETANUS. 
679 
therefore, I imagine the fallacy of the view, that fat is a secretion 
from serum, is obvious: water, being an inorganic compound, can¬ 
not be decomposed to form an organic principle; and albumen does 
not exist in sufficient quantity, even were its elements appropriately 
arranged for the purpose: the theory cannot be assumed; in fine, 
to view it at length it would appear to outrage common sense. 
Let us consider the way in which serum and fat must be formed in 
accordance with Mr. Read’s theory. The non-azotised food, con¬ 
sisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen must be converted partly 
into albumen by the addition of nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus, 
while the remaining elements may form watery vapour and car¬ 
bonic acid, I presume, by the addition of oxygen. I know of no 
other part they can play than to form fat. This same non-azotised 
matter has to be reconverted into its original form, and then de¬ 
posited in the cells of the adipose tissue, a species of double meta¬ 
morphosis as unnecessary as it is inconsistent. 
Such are the reasons which occur to me as militating against the 
deductions the essayist has drawn from his observation: it, of 
course, remains for him to consent to their correctness by his 
silence, or to refute them by more cogent arguments; in either case 
I premise the object to be none other than the elicitation of truth by 
the most legitimate of ail channels, discussion. 
I remain, Sir, your’s obediently. 
Park-crescent Mews West, Regent’s Park, 
November, 1849. 
CHLOROFORM IN TETANUS. 
By Caustic. 
I DO not recollect having read or heard of any case of tetanus in 
the treatment of which chloroform has been employed; therefore I 
feel it my duty to forward you the result of three cases of the kind 
occurring in my practice, in which I used this agent (as my mite in 
return for the valuable information I have from time to time gleaned 
from your excellent Journal), and hope it may prove as successful 
to those who may give it a trial as my anticipations lead me to 
expect. 
Five years ago I had the misfortune to lose a valuable horse of 
my own from traumatic tetanus, in which bleeding, counter-irrita¬ 
tion, opium, calomel, aloes, &c. were pushed to their lull extent 
without avail; two other cases since that time, subjected by me 
to a similar mode of treatment, have shared the same fate. 
