“The author referred in this paper to the experience of Baron Larrey; also to operations performed by Baron Dupuytren and M. Roux, who, in removing the arm at the shoulder-joint, heard the air drawn in, and witnessed the effect in the instant death of their patients.

“He noticed the experiments made by the Academie Royal de Medicine, and conceived that they regarded too exclusively the influence of the heart and lungs. He explained the phenomenon to be owing to the elevation of the muscles of the neck, by which the atmospheric pressure was taken off, and the air drawn into the open vein.