TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 169 



that the disease in question can be essentially 

 constituted. 



It will not require many words to exhibit the 

 connection between the production of the symptoms 

 of inflammation, and the existence of the local dis- 

 order of the circulation which I suppose to be 

 identical with that disease. 



The redness and swelling of the inflamed part are 

 evidently direct eifects of the distending force re- 

 sulting from the increased lateral pressure of the 

 detained columns of blood. The local pain and 

 heat, being chiefly occasioned by an increased supply 

 of arterial blood, are most marked in acute in- 

 flammation the pathology of which will be more 

 fully considered when reviewing the effects of de- 

 termination of blood. But it may be observed, 

 as a general rule, that the presence of these two 

 symptoms in any case, and the degree of intensity 

 in each, are mainly affected by a simple circum- 

 stance, viz. the preponderance of arterial or venous 

 blood in the minute vessels of the part. 



In continuation of this inquiry, we have, in the 

 next place to examine the very interesting question, as 

 to how far the immediate effects of inflammation are 

 referrible to the peculiar physical condition of the 

 blood contained in the minute vessels of the affected 

 part. These effects are, by all modern pathologists, 

 described as consisting in : 1. The exudation of a 

 serous or aqueo-albuminous fluid. 2. The effusion 

 of coagulating lymph. 3. The extravasation of blood. 

 Now, the consideration of each of these phenomena 



