168 ON THE NATURE AND PRINCIPLES OF 



the development and aggregation of fibrinous glo- 

 Iwiles in other parts of the circulating system. And 

 unless the opponents of this simple view of the 

 subject are prepared to prove that the phenomena 

 in question occur prior to, and quite independent of, 

 that retardation of the blood's current, I cannot help 

 thinking that it may be quite as philosophical to 

 refer their production to a well-ascertained and 

 familiar law, as to introduce on this particular occa- 

 sion the mysterious and unintelligible operation of 

 some new and indemonstrable agency. It may also 

 be observed, that as the blood distributed in exceed- 

 ingly minute column? throughout the capillaries is 

 necessarily brought into contact with a much greater 

 extent of vascular surface than that contained in the 

 larger vessels, any natural attraction existing be- 

 tween that surface and the globules in question 

 will, under similar circumstances, evidently operate 

 most actively in the former portion of the circulating 

 system. 



In the next section of this paper I shall endeavour 

 to show how determination of blood becomes a 

 cause of inflammation ; and the experiments already 

 adduced prove that the existence of any great amount 

 of venous obstruction will also give rise to the 

 effects of the latter morbid state. It follows, there- 

 fore, that the exciting causes of inflammation may 

 act by affecting the circulation through the larger 

 vessels, arteries, or veins of the part, as well as 

 by their direct influence on the capillaries ; though 

 it is only by the accumulation of a quantity of 

 compressed blood in the latter thin porous vessels 



