537 
Facts and Observations. 
The Coagulation of the Blood. — To determine 
the cause of the coagulation of the blood is a problem the 
solution of which has engaged the attention of many, we are 
proud to say chiefly English, physicians and surgeons, from 
the immortal Hunter to Richardson. Dr. Richardson, one 
of the most recent investigators of this subject, conducted a 
laborious research, from the results of which he concluded 
that the coagulation of blood was due to the escape of am¬ 
monia. In the Croonian Lecture, delivered by Professor 
Lister, of GlasgoAV, before the fellows ^of the Royal Society, 
in June last, On the Coagulation of the Blood,^^ that gen¬ 
tleman described a number of ingeniously-contrived and deli¬ 
cate experiments, which he made with the view of shedding 
new light upon the subject—a subject which always possesses 
great attraction for physiologists. The lecture is so full of 
interesting and important matter that we purpose in a future 
number of this journal to print it m extenso. It will, there¬ 
fore, suffice for the ju’esent to state that Professor ListePs 
conclusions are totally adverse to those of Dr. Richardson, 
and that the Professor refers the phenomenon of coagulation 
to a mechanical and not a chemical cause. 
A FLOCK OF Sheep Poisoned. — The Paris corre¬ 
spondent of the Times writes:—A curious case of poisoning, 
by which a flock of sheep was destroyed, has been communi¬ 
cated to the Central Society of Agriculture. Sulphuric acid 
is used in the maceration of the pulp of beetroot, but a farmer 
who fed his sheep with that vegetable thought fit to add four 
litres of sulphuric acid and 1800 grammes of sulphate of 
iron to every 1000 kilogrammes of beetroot. The sheep who 
ate of the pulp thus prepared shortly became sick, and many 
of them died. On being opened by a veterinary surgeon 
strong traces of violent inflammation were visible; and the 
entrails having been subjected to a chemical analysis, it was 
ascertained that death was caused by the presence of sul¬ 
phate of iron in the pulp. No doubt could be entertained 
on the subject, as other sheep fed on beetroot pulp, to which 
no sulphate of iron was applied, continued to be perfectly 
healthy. It is believed in some agricultural districts that 
sulphate of iron acts more powerfully on sheep than on oxen. 
The veterinary surgeon who was employed to examine the 
XXXVI. 36 
