THE MOUTH, AND ITS TREATMENT. 289 



sufficient to allow the red corpuscle to travel 

 through them. In "a further stage, the membrane 

 is found thickened and much more vascular, and 

 if the attack has been very acute, it is often 

 detached from the root. In many cases lymph is 

 early infiltrated into the fibrous tissue, and gives 

 to the membrane at the apex of the root a saclike 

 appearance. Should the attack have been of slow 

 progress, the membrane is found thick, dense, and 

 firmly adherent to the root. 



The exuded lymph disappears in either of the 

 following ways. If the membrane is restored to 

 a healthy condition, the lymph becomes absorbed. 

 If not, the lymph may become organized, and 

 small nodes be formed on the root. Or it may 

 pass on to the condition of pus, and then we find, 

 according to the side of the membrane from which 

 the exudation has taken place, pus, either between 

 it and the root, or we have pus between the peri- 

 dental and intra-alveolar membrane. 



I am not aware that we can diagnose with 

 any certainty from which membrane, or from 

 which side of the membrane, the exudation 

 has taken place, nor am I aware that any 

 practical advantage would accrue from such 

 knowledge. 



The pus may escape either by oozing out from 

 around the neck of the tooth, or it may travel 

 through the intervening tissues and present either 

 on the gum or on the cheek. 



u 



