BLOOD. 



523 



agitation or stirring of it is below a certain point, the 

 clot separates in a viscid and jelly-like mass, but 

 without any appearance of organic structure. We 

 have also, by rational inference from what takes 

 place in the living body, where the serum of extra- 

 vasated or otherwise stagnant blood is, and also 

 where it is not, taken up by absorption. Farther, as 

 the blood when in the vessels has no sensation, is 

 not organised, and therefore though the means of 

 life, and the element out of which all the organs of 

 living structure are made and repaired, we cannot 

 conclude, at least we have no just ground for con- 

 cluding, that the blood, when in the vessels, is very 

 different from what it is when immediately drawn 

 from them ; but that, if it could be kept from atmo- 

 spheric contact, the same temperature as it had in 

 the healthy body preserved, and the same rate of 

 motion kept up as it has in the circulation then the 

 blood would, for a time at, least, be capable of the 

 same action which it has in the vessels. Hence, we 

 mav conclude, in so far as any conclusion can be 

 drawn from evidence which consists in great part of 

 probabilities only, that there may be a state of the 

 circulation so lagging, that the non-fibrous clot will 

 have a tendency to form, and may actually form in 

 the vessels ; and as we may presume that any state 

 of the system which induces this lagging circulation, 

 must be accompanied by such diminished action of 

 the other parts, as that the absorption shall not take 

 place, this would bring the whole system to that 

 state in which we have said that inflammation, 

 suppuration, and ultimately gangrene, take place 

 topically, and dissolution would be the inevitable 

 consequence. 



This is probably the final stage in very many fatal 

 diseases ; and it appears to attend the whole course 

 of those which are technically called low and putrid, 

 or those in which the pulse is below the healthy 

 quantity, in velocity, in volume, or in both. We have 

 some corroboration of this, in so far as the dead sub- 

 ject can be admitted in corroboration of what is sup- 

 posed to take place in the living, in the fact that the 

 llesh of animals, even when killed in the healthy state, 

 becomes much sooner putrid if the blood remains 

 in it ; and that the flesh of animals labouring under 

 putrid disease, even though killed before that disease 

 becomes mortal, or even altogether suspends any of 

 their common actions is unwholesome, and has more 

 or less the effect of a poison on those who eat it. 

 This is farther corroborated by the fact that the 

 diseases which are superinduced by tainted meat are 

 always of the low or putrid type. 



The common saying that " extremes meet" is in 

 so far verified in this matter ; for many maladies 

 which begin with an excessive action of the system 

 wear it out, and assume a low and putrid character 

 before dissolution. And where there is still some 

 strength, of effort in the system, we find that nature 

 turns that effort into an attempt to make the mor- 

 bidity topical to throw it upon some one part, and 

 thus relieve the general system till it can rally and 

 maintain the life ; and though these efforts fail, of 

 course, in all cases which end fatally, perhaps there 

 is no case in which they are not to some extent made, 

 unless it be in those where the whole system is so 

 equally and gradually worn that it yields to the very 

 first derangement, and the fortunate subject drops off, 

 as the matured leaf falls in autumn, without a groan 

 and without a pain. 



In this we can trace one of the deviations in the 



current of the blood in the living body from that 

 wholesome state in which the vital fluid is always 

 ready for the furnishing of fibrin, which we may, 

 perhaps, without much impropriety consider as the 

 first or elementary product of complete assimilation, 

 the first stage of organisation, or the general mate- 

 rial of which all the varied structures in the body of 

 an animal are formed, and by the constant, applica- 

 tion of which, according to the degree of waste that 

 takes place, they are kept in repair. 



But we have also seen, that where the recent blood 

 is agitated beyond a certain degree, it is also rendered 

 incapable of forming fibrin, and retains its fluidity 

 without any tendency in the two parts to separate. 

 And, as this is the more readily effected by artificial 

 means the more recent that the blood is, we may 

 naturally suppose that a circulation may take place 

 in the living body so rapid as to produce the same 

 effect. That the indication of this must be an increase 

 of pulsation, which is the only means we have of judg- 

 ing of an increased circulation, is perfectly evident. 

 This is produced by violent action of whatever kind, 

 whether it arise from external or internal causes ; 

 and though the blood, when circulating with this 

 unnatural rapidity is not primarily so prone to putre- 

 faction as it is in the opposite state, yet it is just as 

 incapable of supplying the requisite nourishment to 

 the several parts. At the same time, the more rapid 

 circulation, which must be attended with increased 

 action of the whole body, tends to fatigue and wear 

 out the labouring vessels, deprived as they are of 

 their proper support and nourishment by this violent 

 action. It is from this that we see how, if some 

 part of the system does not give way, and produce 

 either dissolution or cure, according as the part which 

 yields is vital or not vital (in the ordinary sense of 

 these words,) the over action of the system, or what 

 is technically called a disease of inflammatory type, 

 should in the end degenerate into the low or putrid 

 one. But. there is always an effort of fhe system to 

 save itself, in this case as well as in the other ; only, 

 as the diseased action is the reverse, we may expect 

 that the symptoms of the effort will be different. 

 Such is the case : the violent action of the system, 

 the increased pulse and augmented heat have a ten- 

 dency to produce topical inflammation and suppura- 

 tion, and if this action takes place in time, and not in a 

 vital part, it removes the systematic disease, and what 

 remains may be treated nearly in the same manner 

 as if it were a topical injury arising from an external 

 cause. It is easy however to sec that it must be 

 treated with far greater caution. In the case of such 

 a result from external injury, the system, by the very 

 fact of being able to keep the injury on the confines, 

 shows its soundness and power of resistance ; whereas, 

 though the system is able to throw a general malady 

 to a topical situation, there is always a decree of 

 exhaustion of the system produced by the effort, 

 which makes any topical application which has a 

 tendency to drive back the malady upon the system, 

 peculiarly dangerous. We have instances of this in 

 the " driving in," as it is called, of a rash, in the 

 checking of perspiration, and in an almost endless 

 variety of cases. If a topical disease is original or 

 primary, we may attack it in its locality ; but if it is 

 symptomatic or secondary, we must take care lest we 

 deprive nature of her own means of cure. 



Some of the remarks which are contained in those 

 latter paragraphs may appear to have a medical more 

 than a physiological air ; but the subject is of such a 



