i8o CAPILLARIES OBSTRUCTED. 



and being obstructed in its passage, further coagulation 

 is necessarily occasioned, p. 175. Thus many capillaries 

 would be stopped up, and small patches of highly turgid 

 and obstructed vessels would result. Soon the germs 

 enveloped by the coagulum increase and multiply, 

 and thus after a while the cavity of the capillary vessel 

 appears to be entirely occupied by them, and no blood 

 whatever can pass through. This often leads to com- 

 plete disorganization, which will be again referred to. 



In some cases the obstruction depends rather upon 

 the increase of the bioplasm of the capillary walls, 

 which occurs in all inflammations and fevers, Plate 

 XXVIII, p. 218, and is not due to the increase and 

 accumulation of the contagious disease germs them- 

 selves. 



But however the obstruction may be brought about, 

 it is soon followed by most important changes, exter- 

 nal to the vessels, in consequence of which the action 

 of the tissues and organs involved becomes seriously 

 deranged. It has been frequently proved that if, 

 in certain states of the blood, particles of living matter 

 allied to pus be introduced, phenomena which at 

 length end in death, are occasioned. The blood 

 cannot cease to circulate without the neighbour- 

 ing tissues being deprived of nourishment, and if the 

 obstruction remains complete for a few days, still 

 more serious consequences ensue. Not only are the 

 vessels themselves destroyed, but the adjacent textures 

 are involved in the common ruin. Separation of the 



