Resolved, That the Standing Committee on Statistics be instructed to issue a suitable circular under the direction of the Publishing Committee, inviting reports from the profession of any epidemics which may prevail during the present year in this State. Adopted.

Dr. Joseph C. Hutchison offered the following:

Resolved, That the chairman of the delegates from this Society to the American Medical Association, be requested to present to said Association, as the desire of the Medical Society of the State of New York, the following resolution, and to urge its adoption:

Resolved, That the Faculties of the several Medical Colleges of the United States be recommended to announce explicitly in their annual commencement circulars and advertisements, that they will not receive certificates of time of study from irregular practitioners, and that they will not confer the degree upon any one who may acknowledge his intention to practice in accordance with any exclusive system. Adopted.

Business Committee read by title the following paper:

Report of Cholera at Quarantine, by Dr. John Swinburne, for 1867.

Moved that the Secretary be directed to advertise three times the prizes offered by this Society in medical journals of this State. Carried.

On motion of Dr. Bibbins, a vote of thanks to the State Agricultural Society was passed, for the gratuitous use of the Agricultural Society Hall during the session of the Society. Adopted.

Business Committee read by title Carbolic Acid, by D. P. Bissell. Dr. Bissell moved that the thanks of this Society be tendered the Committee of Arrangements, for the good accommodations and comfortable arrangements made for this Society. Adopted.

Resolved, That the thanks of the members of the Medical Society of the State of New York be tendered to Drs. March and Armsby, for the kind and generous hospitality tendered to them at the Hospital Building, Wednesday evening, Feb'y 5, 1868. Adopted.

Dr. Brinsmade, on behalf of the committee appointed to memorialize the Legislature, asked that the committee be continued. Granted.

Dr. Squibb offered the following, which was adopted:

Resolved, That the thanks of the Society are due, and hereby tendered, to the President and other officers of the present annual session.

Resolved, That the thanks of the Society are tendered to the reporters who have been present, and have reported the transactions.

Dr. C. A. Lee moved that the thanks of this Society be given. to Dr. E. R. Squibb, for the very able manner in which he has performed his duties as Chairman of the Business Committee. Carried.

Does the Negro have Delirium Tremens?-Dr. B. P. Staats stated that he had considerable experience in the treatment of delirium tremens in the County Penitentiary, and had never seen one case in a negro. He asked the experience of members present.

Dr. Brinsmade, as chairman of the committee to try the case of Dr. N. K. Freeman, reported progress, and asked that the committee be instructed to report at the next meeting. The request, after a little discussion, was granted.

The Society then adjourned to the first Tuesday in February,

1869.

Experiments to prove that the Capillaries of the Lungs do not Anastomose.

BY G. P. CAMMANN, M. D.

As it is still a question among anatomists, whether the Pulmo nary Capillaries do or do not Anastomose, the following experiments may not be without their value:

Experiment 1.-We injected water colored with gamboge into a branch of the pulmonary artery going to a section of lung, and found that a defined portion became moderately distended with the fluid; the water then commenced flowing from the accompanying bronchus (?) and vein. The latter being secured by ligature, we continued to force in the injection, until this portion of lung became very tense. The injection continued confined to the same original extent of lung; the surrounding parts remained perfectly flaccid, and not a drop of the fluid escaped from any of the bronchi or veins.

Exper. 2.-A similar injection was forced into a branch of the pulmonarg vein. The fluid flowed only from the accompanying bronchus and artery. (The injection entered with such facility as to show that its course was not interrupted by any valves.)

*Reisseissen, Marshall Hall, and others.

How can the injection into a pulmonary artery or vein escape bronchus" unless by rupture of the bronchial mucus or nosicular the writer means?

"from the accompanying capillaries? Is this what H. N. EASTMAN.

Exper. 3.-We moderately inflated a section of lung through a bronchial tube and secured it by ligature. The accompanying pulmonary artery was then injected, and it was found that the injection extended exactly as far as the inflated portion of lung, following closely the indentations so marked at the boundaries of the bronchial ramifications; the surrounding parts remaining flaccid.

Exper. 4.-We substituted the vein for the artery with similar results.

Having, to our entire satisfaction, repeated the above experiments a number of times, we proceeded from the larger arteries and veins to the more minute; gradually approaching the periphery or free border of the lung, and at each advance necessarily including a smaller section. We found in these experiments, as in the former, that the injection of colored water remained confined to the ramifications of the artery or vein under examination, and did not interfere with the neighboring branches. We thus pursued the arteries and veins until they became so minute that it was impossible to insert the finest tube. In other words, we approached so near the terminal branches as to inject only a lobule or a part of a lobule.

To confirm the preceding experiments, and place the matter beyond doubt, we had recourse to another series.

Exper. 5.-We injected a moderately-sized pulmonary artery with a strong solution of tartaric acid, and continued to fill the vessel, until from the accompanying bronchus and vein there streamed out a fluid which, when tested with bicarbonate of soda, proved to be the acid.

Exper. 6.--Having previously secured by ligature the accompanying bronchus and vein, we injected a branch of the pulmonary artery with the acid solution, until the portion of lung to which it was distributed became distended and tense. We then, in a similar manner, injected an adjoining branch of the artery with a strong solution of the bicarbonate of soda, and applied force almost sufficient to rupture the tissue. The two solutions were apparently in close contact, yet not the least chemical action ensued, although we kept the vessels thus distended until we were apprehensive that the chemicals acting through the tissues might lead into error. Neither in this nor in the former experiment did any liquid come from the neighboring vessels.

Exper. 7.-When the two solutions were injected successively into the artery and vein accompanying the same bronchus, the lung was rent in every direction by the disengaged carbonic acid.

Exper. 8.-We pursued our investigations from the larger branches of the pulmonary vessels to the more minute, and carried them down as far as practicable.

If anastomosis of the capillaries had existed, the effervescence from the soda and acid would have burst the pulmonary tissues as in experiment 7.

As the preparations from the above experiments were of a perishable nature, we injected sections of lung with mucilage of gum Arabic, colored with indigo, and then suspended them in alcohol. The injection passed only to the lobule or lobules to which the vessel was distributed. We possess many of these preparations, in which portions of lung have been injected, the intermediate spaces being entirely free. The surrounding lung remained perfectly flaccid and free from discoloration, even when a degree of force was employed sufficient to rupture the capillaries and form collections of injections either in the substance of the tissue or beneath the pleura. A distinguished pathologist observed this, on submitting sections of the lung to a powerful microscope. So perfectly distinct were the lines of demarcation between the injected and uninjected portion of lung, that we could readily dissect the one from the other, without causing the least escape of fluid. These preparations strikingly illustrate the perfect fidelity with which the experiments had been performed.

In performing these experiments, certain precautions were necessary to ensure success. 1. While cutting off the piece of lung for experiment, care was taken not to draw down the edges, lest the vessels to be injected should be on the apex of a cone, as the terminations of some of the lateral vessels might thus be above the incision. 2. The piece of lung was so held that the colored water flowing from the accompanying bronchus and vein could not run into the neighboring vessels. 3. The surface of the cut lung was wiped so dry that any oozing of fluid could be detected. 4. The injection was passed in very slowly, in order that none of the capillaries or tissues might be ruptured. The liquid was entered rather faster than it flowed from the accompanying vessels. 5. The bronchus and vein were not closed too soon, lest the air,

which was, in some cases, forced before the injection, might rupture the capillaries. 6. On approaching as near as possible the periphery of the lung, and after inserting the tube, by compressing with spring-forceps some of the branches of the vessels under examination, a very small portion of a lobule could be injected. 7. In the small lobes of the lungs of the sheep the vein runs superficially for an inch or two, it afforded great satisfaction to observe the colored injection as it returned by the vein, and which continued to flow for some time before it escaped from the accompanying bronchus, proving that it must have passed through the capillaries; and if there had been any communication with the neighboring capillaries, they would have become distended. The warmest weather of summer was found to be the best season for making experiments and preparations. At this time of the year the lungs retain their elasticity, whereas they become dry and do not freely accommodate themselves to the injection after being hardened by a reduction of temperature and then subjected to artificial heat.

8.

We hold it,

We have thus ascertained that there is no anastomosis of the capillaries of one branch of an artery or vein, however minute, with the capillaries of any other branch in the pulmonary circulation; or in other words, that the capillaries of each minute branch of an artery or vein are perfectly isolated and independent of any other capillaries for a collateral supply of blood. then, as proved, that there is no anastomosis between the capillaries of one lobule with that of another, nor, as far as analogy will warrant, between the capillaries of one minute or terminal artery with those of another. If any additional confirmation were required, it might be furnished by an examination of the preparations, when it could be seen that the interstitial cellular membrane, even of the most minute lobules, remain perfectly free from any discoloration from the injection.

If we allow the structure of the pulmonary blood-vessels to be as it is generally supposed, and the anastomosis of their capillaries to be as intimate as Dr. Marshall Hall and others describe, we would expect that almost every case of profuse hæmoptisis from pulmonary apoplexy, congestion, or any other cause, most necessarily prove fatal,* from the continual action of the lungs pump*We would certainly anticipate such a result, when it is remembered with what facility the injections entered the bronchi.