ACCIDENTAL. 691 



The only parts, indeed, that seemed to possess it, were the spaces be- 

 tween the middle of the thigh and hip, and between the middle of the 

 arm and shoulder. Topical bathing, with a decoction of rhubarb or 

 madder, and poultices of these substances applied to the back, abdo- 

 men, sides, or shoulders, produced no change in the urine ; nor did 

 immersion of the feet and hands for several hours in a bath of the 

 same materials afford the slightest proof of absorption. 



From these and other facts, sufficiently discrepant it is true, we are 

 justified in concluding, that cuticular absorption, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, is not easy ; but we can readily conceive, from the facility with 

 which water soaks through animal tissues, that if the animal body be 

 immersed sufficiently long in it, and especially if the vessels have been 

 previously drained, imbibition may take place to a considerable extent. 

 This, however, would be a physical absorption, and might be effected 

 as well in the dead as in the living body. 



b. Other Accidental Absorptions. 



Amongst the adventitious absorptions have been classed all those that 

 are exerted upon substances retained in the excretory ducts, or situate 

 in parts not natural to them. The bile, arrested in one of the biliary 

 ducts, affords us, in jaundice, a familiar example of such absorption by 

 the positive existence of bile in the bloodvessels; although the yellow 

 colour has been gratuitously supposed to be caused by an altered con- 

 dition of the red globules, and not by the presence of bile. This con- 

 dition of the red globules would account for some of the symptoms, 

 as the yellow colour of the skin, and urine, but it does not explain the 

 clayey appearance, which the evacuations present, and which has been 

 properly ascribed to the absence of the biliary secretion. We have, 

 moreover, examples of this kind of absorption, where blood is effused 

 into the areolar membrane, as in the case of a common sprain, or in 

 those accumulations of fluid in various cavities, that are found to dis- 

 appear by time ; the serous portion being taken up at first with some 

 of the colouring matter, and, ultimately, the fibrin. In the case of ac- 

 cumulation of the serous fluid, that naturally lubricates cavities, it is of 

 such a character the aqueous portion at least as to be imbibed with 

 facility, and probably passes into the veins, in this manner, the func- 

 tions of exhalation and absorption consisting mainly, in such case, of 

 transudation and imbibition. 



But absorption is not confined to these fluids. It must, of course, be 

 exerted on all morbid deposits; and it is to excite the action of the ab- 

 sorbents, that our remedial agents are directed. This absorption in 

 the case of solids is of the interstitial kind ; and, as the morbid forma- 

 tion has to undergo an action of elaboration, it ought to be referred to 

 lymphatic agency. 



To conclude the function of absorption: All the products, whether 

 the absorption has been chyliferous, lymphatic, or venous, are united 

 in the venous system, and form part of venous blood. This fluid must, 

 consequently, be variable in its composition, in proportion to the quan- 

 tity of heterogeneous materials taken up by the veins, and the activity 



