OF ALBUMINUEIA. 9 



increase the force and frequency of the circulation, 

 and thus cause the necessary degree of congestion in 

 the adjacent vessels from which the effusion takes 

 place: if the arteries of the part do not take on 

 increased action, then no lymph is effused and union 

 does not take place, and if that action is not con- 

 tinued a certain length of time, organisation of the 

 effusion is arrested and suppuration results. 



In chronic inflammation or passive congestion, as 

 in indolent ulcers, in which the capillaries are re- 

 laxed and the arterial action is below the healthy 

 standard, the secretion is thin and watery, but the 

 flow of blood being increased, and an additional 

 impulse given to that contained in the part by 

 general and local stimulants, the effusion becomes 

 more albuminous, healthy pus and granulations are 

 formed, whilst the capillaries gradually begin to 

 recover their tone on the application of their natural 

 stimulus. 



Many more facts might be brought forward in 

 support of this view, but perhaps those I have 

 mentioned are sufficiently numerous to justify me 

 in saying, that albuminous effusion is always the 

 consequence of a congested or distended state of the 

 capillaries of the part, and that in a healthy condition 

 of the blood the proportion of albumen in the effused 

 fluid may be considered as commensurate with the 

 degree of that congestion. 



There are some circumstances which render it 

 highly probable that the nutrition and growth of the 

 different parts of the body are effected, in the first 

 instance, by the effusion of albumen in a similar 



