[Illustration:  FIG. 4.—­AN ARM TRANSPIERCED BY A NEEDLE.]

We think it of interest to add that it is necessary that the experiment be performed by a practitioner if one desires to demonstrate upon himself a very curious physiological fact that has been known from the remotest antiquity.  It has been employed for several thousand years in Chinese medicine, for opening a passage for the bad spirits that produce diseases.  For some years past a much more serious use has been made of it in European medicine for introducing electric currents into the interior of the organism.  In this case the perimeter of the needle is insulated, and the electricity flows into the organism through the point.  We have several times had these operations performed upon ourselves, and this permits us to assert that the above mentioned facts are absolutely true.—­La Nature.

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NEWER PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY.

By Prof.  SAMUEL BELL, M.D.

Physiology has for many decades been a science founded on experiment, and pathology has been rapidly pressing forward in the same direction.  To read the accounts of how certain conclusions have been arrived at in the laboratory, by ingenious devices and by skillful manipulations, is as fascinating as any tale of adventure.

When the microscope began its work, how discouraging was the vastness and complexity of the discoveries which it brought to light; how many years has it been diligently used, and how uncertain are we still about many of its revelations!  But what a happy conjecture of man, and as proper environment takes place we may reach better results!  Let me give an illustration: 

Some thirty years ago, Virchow began his studies and lectures upon cellular pathology.  The enthusiasm which he awakened spread over the whole medical world.  The wonderful attention to detail, the broad philosophy which signalized his observations, were alike remarkable.  His class room was packed with students from every country, who thought it no hardship to struggle for a seat at eight o’clock in the morning.  With his blackboard behind him and specimens of pathology before him, and microscopes coursing upon railway tracks around the tables which filled the room, he was the embodiment of the teacher; his highest honor was as discoverer.  The life and importance of the cell, both in health and disease, it has been his work to discover and to teach.  The point of view from which he has classified tumors is founded on this basis, and remains the accepted method.  The light which he cast upon the nature of inflammation has not yet been obscured, and while other phenomena appear, the multiplication of cells and nuclei and the formation of connective tissue in the process of inflammation will always call to mind his labors.

To one of Virchow’s pupils, Prof.  Recklinghausen, we chiefly owe our knowledge of the phenomena of diapedesis as a part of the inflammatory activity.  How incredible it seems that masses of living matter can make their way through the walls of blood vessels which do not rupture and which have no visible apertures!