243 



living tissue was supposnd to take on a heii^hteuod life, and 

 to incjiiire into this life seomod to be tlie purpose of that line of 

 thought. But at last another idea prevailed, an idea accord- 

 ing' to which the life of the inflamed tissue is held to be 

 without any signification in the process of inflammation ; but, 

 on the other hand, the out-wandering of the colourless blood- 

 corpuscles is supposed to form the essential feature. 



Now absolutely nothing is left of the old idea of inflammation. 

 The new movement has brouglit us, as will be proved, nothing 

 but a doctrine of pus-formation, and has created the following 

 alternatives — either we return to the older way of thinking, 

 and hold the process of inflammation finished with occur- 

 rences at the vessels, and cease to speak of an inflammation 

 of non- vascular tissue ; or, on the other hand, we do not do 

 that, but reverse the clinical experience which teaches us that 

 pus-formation is the consequence of inflammation, and derive 

 inflammation from pus-formation. 



I will explain this superficial historical sketch by a closer 

 description of the different theories. It is not intended that 

 this should be a history of inflammation, but an historical ex- 

 planation of those questions which occupy us still at the 

 present time, and to which we have to pay attention in new 

 researches. 



Source of Pus-corpuscles. 



In the year 1846 Waller^ published the results of his 

 microscopical examination of a living frog's outstretched 

 tongue, and considered that his observations confirmed the 

 idea that pus-corpuscles are nothing but colourless blood- 

 corpuscles. This author, in speaking of the resemblance of 

 the latter to pus-corpuscles, expresses himself on the state of 

 the point in question in the following manner : — " In conse- 

 quence of this striking resemblance, observers have already 

 supposed that the corpuscles of the blood give rise to those 

 found in mucus and pus, and that these are simply corpuscles 

 extravasated or filtered from the blood. An important ob- 

 servation has corroborated this theory, namely, that of the 

 accumulation of the corpuscles at the inner sides of vessels 

 Avhich are subjected to prolonged irritation. On the oilier 

 hand, it has appeared to otiier physiologists so improbible 

 to suppose the perforation of capillary vessels by the cor- 

 puscles, that they have come to the conclusion that they are 

 not derived from the blood, but, like semen or milk, are 



' ' Philosophical Maijaziiie,' 1846, vol. xxix, pp. 271 and 398. The 

 knowledge of this cjsay I owe to the papers of Mr. Kosinsky. 



