144 ON THE NATURE AND PRINCIPLES OF 



blood's passage through the minute vessels of the 

 allcrted jiart, no attempts have been made to deter- 

 mine, by actual experiment, the degree of connection 

 between that disorder of the circulation and the 

 chain of pathological phenomena of which it is the 

 invariable concomitant. We do indeed find that so 

 long since as the time of Lower it was known that 

 an obstruction to the flow of blood through the large 

 venous trunks caused the effusion of its more aqueous 

 portion into any free spaces in the parts below. 

 Hut, with the exception of isolated observations of 

 this nature, nothing seems to have been effected 

 towards the elucidation, by direct experimental 

 evidence, of the morbid changes induced, in a 

 healthy part or organ, by the existence of a local 

 impediment to the circulation. 



And before relating the facts which will constitute 

 the chief support of the following views on the: 

 nature of inflammation, it may not be altogether 

 useless or uninteresting to give here a brief account 

 of the manner in which I became gradually involvi d 

 in the investigation of this subject. 



In the autumn of 1841, being then engaged in 

 studying the nature of granular disease of the kidney, 

 and feeling disposed to consider it as essentially 

 congestive or inflammatory in its origin, it occurred 

 to me that the most ready and satisfactory method 

 of deciding the question would be, to ascertain 

 by experiment how far similar phenomena could 

 be induced by the artificial production of simple 

 in 'pin-it is. And, "from reflecting on the great 

 obstruction to the circulation through the minute 



