GENERAL REVIEW OF THE NUTRITIVE PROCESSES. 571 



action can occur; and a disturbed state of the Circulation is therefore to be 

 generally looked upon rather as a result than as a cause of diseased action* 

 An extreme case of such a disturbance, which, when sufficiently prolonged, 

 is attended with fatal results, is to be found in Asphyxia ; in which the cessa- 

 tion of the action of the Lungs induces a stagnation of the Blood in their 

 capillaries ; and as, in warm-blooded animals, the whole current of Blood has 

 to pass through the Lungs, before proceeding again to the system, a total sus- 

 pension of the Circulation necessarily results from this interruption ( 508 and 

 546-8). Now if we take this (which it appears reasonable to do) as a type of 

 a great number of morbid conditions of different organs, we are led to see why 

 a serious disturbance of the movement in any one part should affect the entire 

 circulating apparatus, and should thus influence its flow through almost every 

 other organ. There are no other organs, however, in which a stagnation can 

 be so serious as in the Lungs ; since there are none through which the whole 

 current flows. The Liver ranks next in importance, since all the venous blood 

 collected from the Chylopoietic viscera passes through it; and every practical 

 man is aware how frequently derangement of the circulation through the 

 Liver, originating in an unhealthy state of the gland itself, is a cause of serious 

 disorders in the abdominal viscera. Minor irregularities in the Circulation, 

 in various parts, nof unfrequently become causes of serious inconvenience. 

 Thus, few conditions are more common, especially amongst persons of active 

 minds but inert habits, than undue determination of blood to the Head, con- 

 joined with torpor of the circulation through the Skin, especially that of the 

 extremities, which are ordinarily cold. The obvious indication here is to 

 endeavour to restore the balance of the Circulation, and excitement of the flow 

 of blood through the Skin, by frictions, moderately stimulating applications, 

 exercise, &c., will commonly prove of great utility. 



717. There are many disorders commonly regarded as affections of the 

 Circulation, which evidently consist in reality of a morbid alteration in the 

 Nutritive processes : among these there can be little doubt that we are to rank 

 local Determinations and Congestions, which result from an exalted or dimi- 

 nished activity of the formative actions ; and Inflammation, in which these 

 actions are perverted. Much has been said and written, to very little purpose, 

 respecting the essential nature of this process ; it has been attributed by some 

 to disordered action of the vessels, and by others to an injurious impression on 

 the nerves, the fact, that Inflammation may occur in tissues which contain 

 neither vessels nor nerves having been entirely overlooked. The only view of 

 the character of Inflammation that seems likely to account for its phenomena, 

 is that which regards it as essentially consisting in a disturbance of the due 

 relation between the living Tissue, and the nutrient materials contained in the 

 Blood ( 608-8). That there must be a certain relation or adaptiveness, be- 

 tween the substance of the Tissues, and the materials at whose expense they 

 are formed, appears sufficiently evident. In the Inflammatory diathesis there 

 is an increased tendency in the Blood to the generation of Fibrin ; and this, 

 by disturbing the due relation between the nutritive fluid and the solid tissues, 

 may become a cause of local disease, the morbid action which results from 

 this condition of the Blood, being determined to a particular part by some 

 extraneous causes. In this morbid action, Fibrinous matter is effused, either 

 into the substance of the tissue affected, or upon its surface ; there is a ten- 

 dency to organization, but in both cases its degree may vary, a perfectly 

 formed tissue being produced, or a degeneration taking place into Pus-globules, 

 according to circumstances ( 609). Inflammation may result, however, from 

 causes purely local, and primarily affecting the solid Tissues ; here, therefore, 

 the disturbance of the normal relation is on 'the other side, yet the production 

 of an increased amount of Fibrin is still a character of the disease. Whether 



