196 ON THE NATURE AND PRINCIPLES OF 



and, under these circumstances, it is also very apt to 

 disorder the functions of the capillary blood-currents. 

 Thus, after running for some time, if unused to the 

 exercise, or at all plethoric, a small quantity of blood 

 is not unfrequently expectorated even by young and 

 healthy individuals. Fibrinous exudations, the effect 

 of the same physical cause, are also often found in 

 the serous cavities of animals which have been fat- 

 tened for the market and driven some distance ; and, 

 from the following accidental observation, I conclude 

 that an albuminous condition of the urine will fre- 

 quently be found in animals hunted to death. Two 

 young rabbits which had been kept in a large room 

 with some older ones were found dead, and, from 

 the superficial wounds present on their bodies, 

 had evidently been destroyed by the stronger ani- 

 mals. In both instances the urine, which was tested 

 from motives of curiosity, contained a considerable 

 quantity of albumen, copious flakes appearing on the 

 application of heat and nitric acid. 



It is very evident that these morbid phenomena 

 are the immediate and ordinary effects of an increased 

 lateral pressure of the columns of blood contained 

 within the smaller vessels ; and it can also be readily 

 understood that the same distending force which 

 ruptures a small but impermeable artery, and thus 

 causes the escape of the blood en masse, will, if less 

 intense, and acting on a finer and more porous vessel, 

 occasion the exudation either of liquor sanguinis, or 

 of a simply albuminous fluid. But it is now neces- 

 sary to consider the circumstance which prevents 

 the compressed and accumulated blood from escaping 



