Philosophical. Transactions. 379 
times also exhibits where there is no inflammation at all, has 
been supposed by some to depend upon its unhealthy thin- 
ness, or increased tenuity, and, by others, has been referred 
to its slow coagulation. In either case, a portion of the 
spontaneously coagulating albumen is left free from colouring 
matter, in the form of a crust or coat, of a yellowish or buff 
colour. Dr. Davy observes, that in some diseases the blood 
coagulates quite as rapidly as in a state of health, and yet 
exhibits the buffy coat; this, therefore, is in favour of diminished 
viscidity. He observes, however, that in inflammatory diseases 
the specific gravity of the blood is not lowered, and therefore 
that Mr. Hey’s notion of the coagulable lymph being in these 
cases attenuated by an extra-proportion of serum, is probably 
incorrect. 
In the second section of his paper, Dr. Davy has a few re- 
marks upon those morbid adhesions of serous membranes 
which ought to play smoothly upon each other; and inquires 
how far the age of such adhesions may be inferred from their 
strength. It is a received opinion, that weak adhesions are 
recent, but that when firm, they are of long standing. The object 
of our author’s remarks semes to be, to prove that no opinion 
of the ages of adhesions can be correctly founded upon their 
appearance when examined after death, and he advances the 
following arguments on this head: 1. That wounds are often 
firmly united in twenty-four hours. 2. That upon injecting 
brandy through a wound of the chest in a dog, between the 
lungs and pleura, and killing the said dog twenty-four 
hours afterwards, firm and long adhesions were tound. 3. He 
observes, that 
The coagulated lymph of the buffy coat of the blood may be used as an 
illustration and confirmation of the short time in which strong adhesions 
may form. Liquid, when the blood is drawn, coagulable lymph gradually 
becomes, first viscid, and afterwards solid. In the viscid state, as I have 
frequently observed, when it is still transparent, it has the tenacity of 
mucus, and admits of being drawn out into fibres and bands, which, soon 
becoming solid and opaque, very well represent the ordinary adhesions of 
the lungs; and in a very few hours attain their maximum of strength. 
This viscidity, which coagulable lymph acquires in passing from a 
liquid to a solid form, has not, that i am aware, been noticed by 
authors; and the formation of adhesions is usually explained without 
reference to this quality *. 
In the last division of his paper, Dr. Davy inquires into the 
probability that the fluid found after death in the cavities of 
serous membranes may have been poured out subsequent to the 
cessation of life. To determine this point, three dogs were 
submitted to the following operation. In each instance, 
The animal was suddenly killed by a blow on the occiput ; the cavity of 
the chest was instantly Jaid open, and the pericardium inspected. A small 
* Vide The Morbid Anatomy of some of the most important Parts of the 
Human Body, by Matthew Baillie, M.D., F.R.S , &c. 5th edit., p. 6. 
