632 DILATATION OF PORTION OF THE (ESOPHAGUS. 
to the test of confirmation, through a series of experiments, 
in which he has been unremittingly engaged from 1850 down 
to the present time. By his method of procedure, 108 cows 
and oxen have been completely protected from contagion; 
whilst of 50 which have been placed under exactly the same 
circumstances, without previous inoculation, 17 have caught 
the disease. Dr. Willems has, in a spirit of loyalty, put the 
Government and the country into possession of his discovery; 
the result of which has been, the appointment of a Committee, 
besides the formation of a special reunion, to take the matter 
into their consideration. 
Dr. Willems’ mode of procedure is quite simple, con¬ 
sisting in inoculation for pleuro-pneumonia . And the way in 
which this is practised, consists in taking virus from an 
animal suffering under the disease, and inserting it under¬ 
neath the tail of a sound ox. This done, certain morbid 
phenomena become manifest; while the subject of them is 
thereby rendered completely unassailable by any epizootic 
influences of the disease in question. 
M. Bouley remarks, touching the above, that, as yet, suffi¬ 
cient evidence has not reached us to pronounce on the 
efficacy of this prophylactic; wherefore, for the present, we 
withhold any opinion on the matter. All that we can now 
say is, that the Committee appointed in France, at the 
instigation of the Minister of Agriculture, for inquiry into 
this disease, have, for some months, as their reports can tes¬ 
tify, been engaged in experiments, with the view of ascer¬ 
taining whether inoculation be an efficient preservative against 
peripneumony. To which point the Committee have found 
their attention drawn by the fact of beasts, which have once 
had the disease, either through spontaneous origin, or con¬ 
tracted from cohabitation, not being liable to take it a second 
time.-— Recueil de Mccl. Vet., Mai , 1852. 
DILATATION OF THE THORACIC PORTION OF THE 
(ESOPHAGUS. 
By M. Mathieu, Veterinarian at Aney-le-Franc (Yonne). 
An entire horse, aged, has, within the past twelvemonth, 
twice been ill, eating but little the while, but salivating in an 
extraordinary manner; and, in spite of the choicest of food, 
•falling off, for the last four months, very much in condition. 
When M. Mathieu first saw him, the horse was excessively 
