TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 149 



PART V. 



OF THE LAWS REGULATING EFFUSION. 



IT has been objected to some of the conclusions 

 which were drawn from my experiments on venous 

 obstruction, that the kidney operated on was neces- 

 sarily exposed to an amount of disturbance which 

 might possibly excite inflammation of the organ, 

 and, in that case, the phenomena in question should 

 be ascribed to the existence of that disease rather 

 than to the mere physical disorder of the circulation. 

 The very brief period which intervened between 

 the performance of the experiment and the examina- 

 tion of the urine (being in many instances only a 

 few minutes) might perhaps have furnished a suffi- 

 cient answer to this supposition. But I thought it 

 better to try the question fairly by a direct appeal 

 to nature, and accordingly performed the two 

 following experiments on rabbits of the average 

 strength and condition. 



EXP. l.--The left kidney of a healthy rabbit 

 was exposed in the usual manner, drawn out of the 

 abdomen through the wound in the loins, cleared of 

 the investing cellular tissue, and immediately after- 

 wards returned; the wound being then closed by 

 suture. The animal was killed at the end of an 

 hour and a half. On being weighed, this kidney 

 was found to be only nine grains heavier than the 



L 3 



