&c., and these symptoms continued till death.-Lancet, No. 2,713, p. 318.

(107.)-He has thus removed from cats and dogs, after opening the abdomen, a part of the liver by means of a galvano-caustic knife. By proceeding slowly there was no bleeding, and the animals completely recovered.

The autopsy of these animals was made three weeks after the operation. We found in a rat from which a notable part of the liver had been removed, and which had not presented any symptoms of jaundice, the liver quite healthy and in the part cut numerous and strong adhesions to the stomach and part of the intestines.

We also removed a portion of the kidney from two dogs. In one we cut the kidney through almost its entire length, opening up the pelves. It was impossible quite to obliterate these, and as the urine dropped into the peretoneum the animal died in forty-eight hours. In the other dog we made a very deep cut in the cortical part, without opening the pelvis. This dog lived ten days without presenting symptoms of gravity, on the tenth day it fell sick and died rapidly.

With other ideas, but always in order to show the innocuity of galvano-cautery we pierced right through the thorax of a guinea-pig with a large needle, and at once cauterised this wound in the lung by means of a platinum thread made red hot by the galvanic current.Dr. Ominus Lectures, The Doctor, June 1st, 1874, p. 104.

(108.)-When rabbits are starved, glycogen disappears from the liver. In such rabbits puncture of the fourth ventricle does not produce diabetes. After a few injections of cane sugar into the stomach of starved rabbits, glycogen reappears in the liver. Injections of water, albumen, or fat, have not this effect. If the fourth ventricle be punctured before the injection, no glycogen appears in the liver, and no sugar is found in the urine. Poisoning by woorara produces diabetes in starved rabbits, although puncture of the fourth ventricle does not. After poisoning by woorara, injections of sugar into the stomach do not produce glycogen in the liver, but sugar is abundantly found in the urine.-Dr. T. L. Brunton, British Medical Journal, No. 686, p. 222.

(109.)—Dr. Pavy, in his lectures on diabetes, mentioned that, when he divided the superior cervical ganglion of the sympathetic, he could, at will, produce diabetes in the lower animals, but that he found it impossible to keep the subjects of the operation under observation for any length of time, because they all died in a few days with pleurisy and pueumonia. The same lesion which produced the diabetes, caused also the inflammatory affections of the lung.-Mr. Moon, British Medical Fournal, No. 691, p. 428.

(110.) Dr. Hughes Bennett (of Edinburgh) contributed some

"New Investigations to determine the amount of the Bile secreted by the Liver, and how far this is influenced by Mercurials." He stated that although much had been written regarding the functions of the liver, and the action of mercurials upon it, very little exact information existed on the subject. Last winter a Committee was formed in Edinburgh to re-investigate the amount of bile secreted in health, and after the administration of mercurials. This Committee was composed of Professors Christison and Maclagan, Drs. Rogers, Rutherford, Gamgee, Frazer, and Professor Bennett, the Chairman and reporter. After studying all that had been previously published by authors, the Committee made further experiments on dogs, animals best suited for the purpose. The results of four series of these experiments were given as to the amount of bile secreted, with and without mercury. In each case the weight of the animal was taken, a biliary fistula formed, the amount of food taken and analysed, and the secretion of bile for twenty-four hours measured.—Lancet, No. 2,299, P. 375.

(111.)—Of these, the mercury report of Dr. Hughes Bennett, which had also been brought forward at Oxford, and was now again submitted to medical criticism, was perhaps the most interesting. And we are informed that there was an indisputably superior weight of opinion in favour of the conclusions expressed in the report, namely, that in dogs mercury is entirely incapable of increasing the secretion of bile, and that the analogy is sufficiently good to allow of our concluding the same of its operation in man. Now, in commenting on this conclusion, and the various arguments which have been urged against it at Norwich and elsewhere, we must in the first place express our entire conviction that the experiments themselves were performed with an amount of care and labour which renders them perfectly reliable, and for which Drs. A. Gamgee and Fraser deserve the warm thanks of the profession. It seems to us established beyond a doubt that mercury never increases, and that in large doses it seriously diminishes, the flow of bile in healthy dogs. And in spite of the objections which have been made about the infeasibility of arguments drawn from experiments on dogs (objections which are chiefly put forward by persons who are not familiar with experimentation on animals as Dr. Gamgee rightly observed), we consider that the inference of a similar ineffectiveness of mercury as a cholagogue to healthy human beings is quite legitimate.-Lancet, No. 2,348, p. 285.

(112.) Professor Bennett read a "Report on the Action of Mercury on the Secretion of Bile," in which he reiterated the statements made at the meeting of the British Medical Association at Oxford, viz., that in whatever doses mercury may be administered it fails to influence the secretion of the Bile; in fact it diminishes it. An

animated discussion followed, in which Dr. Crisp called in question the accuracy of the Committee's facts, because the dog was not at all like man in the general formation of his alimentary canal. In their wild state dogs are carnivorous, in domestication they become omnivorous. He agreed with Mr. Flower that the pig would be a better animal for experiment than the dog. thought we were bound to analyse with great care the nature of these experiments, and should not hurriedly abandon our long. entertained views regarding mercury.-Lancet, No. 2,348, p. 292.

He

(113.)-Professor Gross, of Philadelphia, said that whilst acknowledging the accuracy of the facts, he was yet not disposed to ignore the action of mercury. An experiment on a dog was one thing, but a careful observation on the human frame performed at the bedside was another and wholly different one.-Lancet, No. 2,348, p. 292. [See also No. 172.]

(114) I have found that, in cats, the glycogen disappears from the liver within a few days after the bile-ducts have been tied; and also that on the fifth or sixth day after ligature of these ducts, irritation of the fourth ventricle is not followed by the appearance of sugar in the urine. It would appear therefore, that within a few days after complete obstruction to the gall ducts the liver ceases to secrete the glycogen.-Dr. Wickham Legg, British Medical Fournal, No. 698, p. 646.

(115.)-Schiff found that diabetes could be produced by division. of the anterior columns of the spinal cord between the medulla and the fourth cervical vertebra. This lasted for days or weeks, in fact till the animal died.—Dr. Brunton, British Medical Journal, No. 680, p. 40.

(116.) During the past winter I have made several observations upon the changes which follow ligature of the bile ducts in animals. The animals used were cats; these seem to survive the operation better than dogs. Most observers find that dogs live only five to ten days after. The way in which the ligature was applied was as follows:-The animal was first secured in a Czermak's holder, and chloroform given largely so as to secure a deep narcosis. This latter point is worthy of attention, for, unless the animal be completely under the influence of chloroform, the bowels are apt to prolapse, and interfere with the success of the operation. Cats, it is well known, require a large amount of chloroform. A cut is then made through the linea alba, from the xiphoid cartilage downwards, for about two inches. Unless the animal be very

large and fat a longer cut is unnecessary. I have never made any longer than two-and-a-half inches. Pushing aside to the left the stomach and doudenum, and raising the free edge of the liver, the bile ducts are seen coming from the liver and gall bladder. They much resemble a vein in appearance, but they will be known by their insertion into the doudenum, bifurcation, and connection with the gall bladder. A ligature is then put around the common duct and tied close to the duodenum; another is tied tightly on the duct, about half-an-inch nearer the liver, and the duct between the two ligatures divided by a pair of scissors, the vessel being held out from the portal vein for that purpose. In two of the cats the bile found its way again into the intestines; in the latter operations, therefore, I removed altogether about half-an-inch of the common duct as is done in making biliary fistula. walls were then brought together with ordinary sutures. to place these close together, as I lost three of the cats giving way of the sutures and consequent prolapse of the bowels.

The belly It is well from the

Had I to repeat these experiments I should choose only young, not fully grown, animals, and a warm time of the year. Though the cats were kept in a warm place, and the January of this year was mild, yet three of them were found dead one morning after a slight frost in the night.

Experiment 1. January 24th, 1873.-Large tabby cat weighing eight and-a-half pounds (3,855 grm.) very fat; bile ducts tied double and cut. The cat died probably on January 26th.

Experiment 2. January 24th, 1873.-Black she-cat weighing six pounds six and three-quarter ounces (2,757 grm.); bile duct tied double but not cut. Animal pregnant. The cat died on January 26th, examined January 28th.

Experiment 3. February 3rd, 1873.-Large tabby cat weighing, immediately after operation seven pounds three-and-a-half ounces (3,265 grm.) Animal very fat; bile duct tied but not cut. February 6th. Cat seems to be dying; it is unable to stand, but lies on its side mewing. February 7th.-Found dead at II a.m. in the same place where left yesterday.

Experiment 4. January 3rd, 1873.—A young cat. The common bile duct tied twice and divided. Cat found dead on morning of 7th. Cause of death prolapse of bowels.

Experiment 5. January 7th, 1873.-White cat with yellow brown markings, very old, only one canine tooth, weighing six and a quarter pounds. Bile duct tied double and cut. January 9th.--Cat very

feeble; no suppuration of wound. Cat found dead at 10.30 a.m. on January 11.

Experiment 6. February 3rd.-A cat not fully grown; very wild, scarcely any fat on body; weighing immediately after the operation three pounds five ounces (1,501 grms.) Bile duct is tied double but not cut. The animal nearly died under the chloroform but recovered with artificial respiration. Cat last seen alive on February 7th; no jaundice of conjunctiva. Found dead on morning of February 12th, and already much decomposed. Cause of death prolapse of bowels.

Experiment 7. January 6th.-A whitish cat, with grey spots, weighing five pounds and three-quarters (2,598 grm.) Bile duct tied double and cut. January 8th.-Cat feeble, belly wound suppurating. January 10th.-Less suppuration; cat livelier. January 13th.-Cat found dead in morning, with bowels prolapsed. Examined immediately; weight four pounds and a quatrer (1,917 grm.)

Experiment 8. February 12th.-A tabby cat weighing six pounds eleven and a half ounces (3,060 grm.) The bile duct tied close to the duodenum and above, so that about seven or eight millimetres were cut out. The cat was found dying at 10.30 a.m. on February 19th. Examined immediately; weight five pounds thirteen and a half ounces (2,620 grm.)

Experiment 9. February 12th.-A very large tabby cat, grey and black, weighing seven pounds (3,175 grm.) Very little fat on body. The bile ducts tied double, and about four or five millimetres of the duct between the ligatures cut out. In opening the belly the liver was pricked; there was free bleeding, which presently stopped of itself. The animal is said to have died on February 21st. It was examined on February 22nd, weight five pounds two and a half ounces (2,325 grm.)

Cat

Experiment 10. June 10th.-Black-and-white cat. Common duct tied double, and about five millimetres of the duct cut away. found dead on morning of June 23rd. No jaundice of lips and mouth.

Experiment 11. January 9th.—Black tom-cat, weighing six pounds one and a quarter ounces (2,725 grm.) Bile duct tied double and cut. January 22nd. The conjunctivæ are now noticed for the first time to be yellow. The cat is growing thinner every day, but has eaten very little since the operation. The wound looks well, and there is no suppuration. January 25th.-This day all the remaining stitches taken out of the wound; it is firmly united; weight of cat three pounds seven and a half ounces (1,040 grm.) The cat died at

10.0 p.m.