lieved. In his lectures on physiology, Milne-Edwards cites some
facts that prove that it may exceed 600 pounds per square inch of
section.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--THE PERFORATE ARM.]

The experiment on cadaveric rigidity is followed by others in
insensibility. Mr. David, without wincing, allows a poignard to be
thrust into his arm, which Mr. Harmington has previously
"cataleptized" (Fig. 3). This trick is performed by means of a blade
divided into two parts that are connected by a semicircle. This
process is well known to prestidigitators, but it might be executed in
a genuine manner. In fact, on replacing the poignard by one of the
gold needles used by physicians for acupuncture, it would be possible
to dispense with prestidigitation. Under such conditions it is
possible to transpierce a person's arm. The pain is supportable, and
consists in the sensation of a prick produced in the passage of the
needle through the skin. As for the muscular flesh, that is of itself
perfectly insensible. The needle, upon the necessary antiseptic
precautions being taken, may traverse the veins and arteries with
impunity, provided that it is not allowed to remain long enough to
bring about the formation of a clot of coagulated blood (Fig. 4).

[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._

* * * * *

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 inge