TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 227 



before mentioned, can only occur when the pressure 

 acting on the internal surface of the minute porous 

 vessels, preponderates over that operating on their 

 exterior. By artificially increasing the amount of 

 this latter force, at the same time that we diminish 

 the lateral pressure of the obstructed blood-columns, 

 we are therefore often enabled to exercise a direct 

 as well as an indirect influence in checking the 

 process of effusion. And in inflammatory affections 

 of the superficial structures and organs of the body, 

 where pressure can be directly applied, an observance 

 of this principle will sometimes materially expedite 

 the recovery. 



In discussing the various questions connected with 

 the nature of inflammation, I more than once had 

 occasion to enumerate its immediate effects, the 

 removal of which, next to the alleviation of the 

 morbid state itself, constitutes the chief object of 

 our treatment. The physiological action most con- 

 cerned in this restorative process is vascular absorp- 

 tion, or that function by means of which fluids, placed 

 in contact with the external surface of the blood- 

 vessels, traverse their coats, and so enter and mingle 

 with the mass of circulating blood. In the appli- 

 cation of our remedies during this stage of the 

 treatment, we have therefore to attempt 1st, to 

 facilitate and assist, by every means in our power, 

 the absorbing process ; and 2ndly, to promote the 

 solution of such effused matters as may have become 

 solidified, and so render them capable of absorption. 



Before, however, this physiological process can be 

 employed with much success or certainty as a reme- 



Q 2 



