Pp. 244-49: Magendie showed that secondary or subsequent injections of egg/albumin caused death in rabbits who had tolerated an initial injection. This was the first experiment in anaphylaxis, though Jenner in 1798 had observed the phenomenon in various inoculations. These lectures were delivered at the Collège de France in 1837-38.

First published in English in the London Lancet, between the 29th of September, 1838, and the 16th of March, 1839. This is the first edition in book form.

"Lecture IX includes Magendie's description of cateterizing the right atrium as part of an experiment. This precedes his protegé Claude Bernard's use of the technique, has has been described by historians. Magendie explained, 'I now tie the lower end of the vessel, and proceed to make the same experiment; by way of comparison, on the venous system. The jugular has been laid bare. We must, in the case of this vessel, take some precautions that would have been useless when we acted on an artery....I have, therefore, selected a tube for the present experiment sufficiently long to reach into the thorax, as far as the vena cava superior, or even as the right auricle; while introducing it I heard a slight sibilus; my assistant also detects a strange sound in the chest; it is probably that a little air entered into the tube during inspriation, aslo reached the right cavities of the heart. This accident will, probably, not interfere materially with the progress of the experiment. The mercury marks, as before 65-75 mill. I fill the syringe, but with much greater difficulty than from the carotid; I am obliged to raise the piston forcibily in order to get the blood into the body of the instrument, whereas, in the former experiment, the impulse of the heart was sufficient to produce that effect.' This quotation from p. 85 documets Magendie's pioneering attempt to place a catheter in the right atrium. Claude Bernard would extend this technique under Magendie's supervision in 1844. Bernard's work culminated in a detailed description of the techniques to cathererize both sides of the heart in animals. See R. E. Siegel, 'Vascular catheterization during the 19th century: Claude Bernard's studies in animal heat,' Surgery, 55 (1964) 595-601" (W. Bruce Fye).

Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.