406 
SHEEP AND WOOL. 
through the modifications which take place in its composition 
when life is extinct. The same results may be attained to 
without even drawing blood from the veins. If the blood of 
a fasting animal is directly injected into the veins of a healthy 
one, the latter is poisoned exactly in the same manner as 
before; and yet the blood, in this case, has not undergone 
any previous decomposition. 
The introduction of foreign principles, of course, acts upon 
the blood with still more intensity; nearly all the substances 
known under the name of ferments, are endowed with the 
property of communicating a deleterious influence to this 
fluid. When yeast is introduced into an animal’s veins, pas¬ 
sive haemorrhage, and other adynamic symptoms, are imme¬ 
diately produced, and death takes place within a few days. 
Now, if the animal’s blood is transfused into another’s veins, 
all the phenomena previously described take place in rapid 
succession, exactly as if yeast, and not blood, had been di¬ 
rectly poured into the vessels. 
It seems likely that in this case a series of decompositions 
take place within the blood, which give rise to other ferments. 
We, therefore, perceive that all this series of phenomena 
holds intimate connection with that mysterious chemical pro¬ 
cess known under the name of catalysis. The theory of fer¬ 
mentation is at present so imperfectly known—and organic 
chemistry has in this respect made, as yet, so little progress— 
that it would hardly be fair to reproach Medicine with its 
deficiencies on this point. There exists a whole series of 
diseases which evidently result from the chemical actions 
which take place within the body. It is, therefore, chemistry 
alone, which, in its future progress, can teach us the physio¬ 
logical laws which embrace this particular branch of Medi¬ 
cine. 
SHEEP AND WOOL. 
'Extracts from a lecture by Dr. Lanlcester , delivered at the South 
Kensington Museum , and published in ee The Chemical News.” 
Wool is nothing more than a modification of hair, and we 
call it wool because it has a tendency to curl; we also find 
that the growth of this wool is attended with certain altera¬ 
tions, by which it becomes useful for certain purposes for 
which we cannot use hair. We cannot weave human hair. 
We cannot felt human hair. We cannot make the warm 
