TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 159 
of danger during the persistence of pertussis), to its power of allaying 
febrile heat, its well-known efficacy in chronic bronchitis, its rubefa- 
cient power when done in the manner he directs, its tonic and invigo- 
rating action, particularly on the digestive organs, and regarded its 
efficacy in allaying spasmodic action, as essential in explaining its 
virtues in this disease. 
On the Circumstances which govern Local Inflammation, the effusion 
of Coagulable Lymph, and the formation of Pus, as the Sequele of 
Disease, Accidents, Surgical Operations, $e. By Dr. Perry. 
After pointing out the phenomena of inflammatory action, its depen- 
dence upon nervous energy, and the various opinions entertained 
by pathologists respecting this and the formation of pus, none of which 
appear to the author to account in a satisfactory manner for the phe- 
nomena, all being either unsupported by facts or positively contradicted, 
reference was made by him to the tables of the appearances presented 
on post-mortem inspections. It was found, that out of 1078 cases of 
fever, all males, 155 died, and before being dismissed, 93 were seized 
with local affections, of which 44 died. On inspection it was found, 
that in the head the membranes were more vascular than usual in 85; 
that an effusion of serum in the subarachnoid membrane, amounting to 
from $ oz. to 5 0z., existed in 99; and at the base of the brain, and in 
spinal canal, in 83; and of purulent effusion into ventricle or surface, 3 ; 
there was recent effusion of coagulable lymph in the right side of chest 
in 24; in left side, 8; in both sides, 13; recent pneumonia and hepati- 
zation of right lung, 14; of left, 8; of both lungs, 3; of gangrene of 
lungs, 3; old adhesions of right side, 30; of left, 24 ; of both, 21 ; heart 
softened in 72; blood dark and fluid in 87; vascularity of stomach in 
69; of small intestines, 60; of colon, 33; enlargement of aggregate 
glands of intestines, 66 ; of solitary glands, 19 ; of mesenteric glands, 25 ; 
spleen softened, 99; enlarged, 30; and so of other organs. 
From the universally admitted facts, that whenever the patient was 
much reduced in strength, or of a weak and strumous habit, or had 
been weakened by long confinement or severe suffering, irritative fever, 
with suppuration, was often the result: thus in local inflammation, the 
effusion of coagulable lymph, or the deposition of pus, occurred most 
frequently after adynamic fevers, when the brain and nervous system 
had suffered severely ; so often other contagious exanthematous fevers 
(none of which the author considered in the first instance as inflam- 
matory) were viewed as the result of a change produced upon the 
blood and the capillary vessels by the previous shock, or over excite- 
ment. In fact, Dr. Perry thought that the congestion of the vessels, the 
effusion of coagulable lymph, serum and pus, were the result of inner- 
vation ; and the rapidity with which such products were formed might 
be taken as a test of the extent to which innervation of the blood and 
of the vessels, local or general, existed. To remove this state by restor- 
ing the equilibrium of action, was the object of the physician. 
