512 
DR. WILLEMS. 
in fractures of bones, when the exudated fluid is in too great a 
quantity, or when the fragments are so far apart that a portion of 
the exudate is left beyond the circle of action, and the strength 
of the existing tissues remains consequently in a degree of devel¬ 
opment inferior to that of the surrounding tissues. That which 
is most important here to observe, and to which no one has yet 
referred, is the existence in the diseased lungs of small corpuscles 
having a molecular movement , which seem some times to take 
place in a given direction. They are like corpuscles in the pro¬ 
cess of formation, whose motion resembles that of fragmentary 
granules, as well of those which surround the corpuscles of the 
tuberculous matter of man. In all my microscopic researches I 
have always found the same thing. 
“ I have examined with the microscope parts of the dermis 
(this I have yet preserved in alcohol) of an ox, dead after inocu¬ 
lation. I have found in it the same microscopic elements and 
the same chemical characters as in the lungs of pneumonic 
animals. 
“ To strengthen my observations and have them confirmed, I 
sent on the 12th of February, 1852, to Mr. Yan Kempen for ex¬ 
amination, portion of skins and of the tissue underneath, of an 
animal which had died the previous day from inoculation. The 
learned professor wrote me : 
“ I have examined the specimens that you sent me; I have 
“ found in them small corpuscles, with a peculiar molecular 
“ motion ; they vary much in size ; some are punctiform and 
“ others present a well marked central light; they resist the 
“ action of acetic acid. In the same piece of skin, I found 
“ masses of granular nuclei, containing a nucleus. These nuclei 
“ resist the action of acetic acid ; it is their special character. It 
“ was absolutely as if there was an abundant exudation in the 
dermis.” 
Mr. Yan Kempen was then entirely ignorant of the inocula¬ 
tion I was making, and of the disease to which the animal had 
succumbed. 
The physical characters, microscopical examinations and chem¬ 
ical analyses of the part where the inoculation has been made, 
