LINING MEMBRANE. 43 



passages, we shall be prepared to understand 

 how fluids detained in the antrum will vary 

 with the causes and circumstances under which 

 they shall have been produced, and the length 

 of time they may have been confined within 

 the cavity. Hence we see the sinus at one time 

 distended by its own proper secretion, unaccom- 

 panied by pain or inconvenience until its walls 

 have been greatly dilated {dropsy of the antrum) ; 

 and at another time the effusion is the result of 

 acute inflammation, and takes on the appearance 

 of healthy pus {abscess of the antrum). When the 

 disease has been of long standing in strumous 

 patients, the secretion is of a dirty, curdy, or 

 flocculent appearance, and in some instances a 

 thin watery fluid escapes, and leaves the cavity 

 dilated by a firmly-clotted mass of most offensive 

 odour. A case is recorded by Mr. W. Ferguson 

 in which the fluid was of a " yellow, viscid charac- 

 ter, containing brilliant particles of cholesterine." 

 {Medical Times, May 18th, 1850.) 



Treatment, — It is of the highest importance to 

 remove, without delay, any diseased teeth or 

 necrosed bone which may be found in or beneath 

 the floor of the antrum, and at the same time to 

 examine whether pus be discharged into the 

 mouth, and whether dentition has been com- 

 pleted. If the jaws be closed, they should be 

 separated, for the purpose of examination, by 

 means of the speculum, or some other appropriate 



