86 
EDITORIAL. 
Centrale de Medecine Veterinaire in Paris, brought the question 
of serotheraphy to the front, and explains the present remarks 
of our “ Chronicle ” of to-day. 
Pleurisy and its natural sequela, effusion, was discussed, and 
while the general opinion sustained by such old clinicians as 
Nocard, Trasbot, Leblanc and others, that pleurisy was and had 
always been a very serious affection, more commonly followed 
by death than by recovery, younger members were quite in 
number who claimed that the prognosis of the affection had lost 
a great deal of its severity, by the more frequent application of 
thoracentesis, which, with the antiseptic measures of the pres¬ 
ent surgery, was no longer a dangerous operation, and since 
serotheraphy was added to it. 
In the Repertoire , a journal published by Mr. Laquerriene, a 
series of articles have appeared from a military veterinarian, 
Mr. Brocheriou, in which the subject is extensively treated and 
eight cases of serious pleurisy with abundant effusion are re¬ 
corded as owing their radical recovery to thoracentesis, and to 
the injection of artificial serum. The result is too great to be 
ignored, and the addition to the ordinary treatment too simple 
not to deserve a trial. 
The artificial serum is readily prepared. Seven and a half 
parts of chloride of sodium are dissolved in one thousand of 
water. The injection is more ordinarily done subcutaneously, 
but has also been used by Mr. Brocheriou in the veins. To 
inject, the solution is placed in a closed vase hanging 9 or 10 
feet above the patient. The vase is provided with a rubber 
tube, at the end of which is the trocar. The flow is regulated 
by a small brass cock. The injection must be made very 
slowly, four hours being required to inject about 3 litres of 
serum. Minute antiseptic measures are required. The subcu¬ 
taneous injection is made on a level and a little back of the car¬ 
tilage of the shoulder. The jugular is used when venous injec¬ 
tion is resorted to. The quantity of serum to inject seems to 
vary according to the case, 2, 3, 4 litres have been injected un¬ 
der the skin, 1 litre and a half in the jugular, at a time. Some 
