725 
Translations and Reviews of Continental 
Veterinary Journals. 
By W. Ernes, M.R.C.V.S., London. 
Annales de Medecine Veterinaire Academic des Sciences de Paris. 
RESEARCHES ON PUTREFACTION. 
By M. L. Pasteur. 
Whenever animal or vegetable matter becomes sponta¬ 
neously altered, eliminating fetid gases, it is said there is putre¬ 
faction taking place. It will be, however, shown in the 
course of this investigation, that this definition has two de¬ 
fects opposed to each other, viz., that it is too general, because 
it groups together phenomena essentially distinct, and it is 
too restricted, because it separates others which are of the same 
nature and origin. 
The interest and utility offered by an accurate study of 
putrefaction have always been acknowledged. Some time 
since it excited strong hopes that by the practical deductions 
made from it, some light might be thrown on the production 
of maladies, principally on those which the ancient physicians 
called putrid. This was the idea that influenced the cele¬ 
brated English physician Pringle, who, in the middle of the 
last century, devoted himself to the investigation of and ex¬ 
perimented with septic and antiseptic matter, in order to 
clear up the observations he had made on the diseases preva¬ 
lent in armies. Unfortunately the disgust connected with 
these labours, and their evident complications, have hitherto 
deterred the major part of the experimenters from carrying 
them fully out, so that nearly every thing remains yet to be 
done. 
My researches on fermentation, the author says, have natu¬ 
rally led me to that sort of study, and to which I have re¬ 
solved to devote myself without troubling much about the 
danger and the disgust they inspire. If I wanted encourage¬ 
ment to follow out these researches, I would recall the words 
spoken by Lavoisier at the Academy under somewhat similar 
circumstances:—“ Public ' usefulness and the interest of 
humanity ennoble the most repugnant labours, and show to 
an enlightened world the zeal by which the disgust and the 
obstacle have been surmounted.” The results which I have 
