On the effects produced upon the air cells of the lungs when the pulmonary circulation is too much increased

Abstract

In examining the air cells of the lungs of a hare that had been coursed, the author found the superficial large cells filled with colourless coagulable lymph, forming white specks, and the smaller, more interior ones filled with coagula of red blood. No such appearance was seen in the lungs of hares, snared or shot. A run of fifteen minutes with greyhounds so exhausts the hare, that it is frequently known to die from over exertion before the dogs are able to reach it. To examine the state of the lungs, in which the white specks were seen, they were injected with mercury through the bronchiæ, and then immersed in rectified spirits to prevent them from collapsing, and in this state examined microscopically and drawn by Mr. Bauer. The drawings accompany the paper. The white specks appear to be portions of coagulable lymph, separated from the circulating blood in consequence of its disturbed state, and the author considers them as giving great insight into the nature of that destructive disease called tubercles in the lungs; and in support of this idea quotes Dr. Baillie’s description, and refers to his plates of them in his Morbid Anatomy.