228         DISINFECTANTS  IN  ARRESTING  CATTLE  PLAGUE. 
aqueous  solution  of  carbolic  acid  into  its  veins,  circulation  is  in- 
stantly arrested,  the  blood  is  not  coagulated,  and  no  alteration, 
either  in  the  shape  or  the  appearance  of  the  globules,  is  detected 
under  the  microscope.  The  only  apparent  change  consists  in 
the  immobility  of  the  globules. 
41.  In  the  Annates  de  Chemie  et  de  Physique  for  October  last, 
there  is  a  letter  from  M.  Bechamp  to  M.  Dumas,  in  which  it  is 
said  that  creosote  appears  to  be  the  agent  which  most  strongly  op- 
poses the  development  of  organic  ferments,  but  that  it  does  not  in- 
terfere with  the  living  ferments  or  animalcules  when  they  are  once 
developed.  This  assertion  is  in  direct  opposition  to  all  my  ex- 
periments, about  the  accuracy  of  which  I  have  no  doubt  what- 
ever, having  submitted  them  to  repeated  tests.  The  powerful 
action  which  carbolic  acid  exerts  on  the  phenomena  of  life  is  the 
most  remarkable  property  which  it  possesses.  It  may  be  looked 
upon  as  the  test  proper  for  distinguishing  vital  from  purely 
physical  phenomena,  and  in  most  cases  its  action  is  characterized 
by  the  certainty  and  definiteness  of  a  chemical  re-agent.  In  the 
presence  of  carbolic  acid  the  developement  of  embryotic  life  is 
impossible,  and  before  its  powerful  influence  all  minute  forms  of 
animal  life  must  inevitably  perish. 
42.  It  may  be  considered  as  definitely  proved  that  the  vapor 
of  carbolic  acid,  in  the  atmosphere,  exerts  a  special  selective 
power  on  all  minute  organisms  possessing  life.  If  the  contagious 
matter  of  cattle  plague  is  possessed  of  organic  vitality,  as  must 
be  now  admitted,  it  will  be  destroyed,  beyond  the  possibility  of 
revival,  when  brought  into  contact  with  the  vapor.  French  ex- 
perimentalists have  repeatedly  tested  the  influence  of  carbolic 
acid  on  vaccine  lymph.  They  have  employed  lymph  both  pure 
and  mixed  with  a  trace  of  carbolic  acid.  The  vaccination  with 
pure  lymph  was  followed  by  the  usual  results,  but  in  no  single 
instance  was  any  effect  produced  by  the  lymph  containing  car- 
bolic acid. 
43.  The  following  experiment  tends  to  show  a  similarity  be- 
tween the  action  of  vaccine  virus  and  that  of  the  cattle  plague  : 
XXIV.  The  air  from  a  close,  highly  infected  shed  (57),  con- 
taining animals  in  the  last  stage  of  the  disease,  was  drawn 
through  glass  tubes  containing  tufts  of  cotton  wool,  in  the  expec- 
