DESTRUCTION OF VESSELS. 181 







textures by the formation of sloughs not unfrequently 

 occurs ; but where neighbouring vessels and lymphatics 

 remain healthy, the removal of disintegrated tissue i 

 sometimes effected by absorption, in which case por- 

 tions of the tissue or organ afterwards appear as if 

 they had wasted. 



With regard to the particular capillaries obstructed, 

 it has been already remarked, that those of the cuta- 

 neous and mucous surfaces are most seriously involved 

 in many contagious fevers, but these are by no means 

 the only vessels affected. In some diseases the capil- 

 laries of the liver and spleen are the seat of change, 

 while in certain forms, those of the lungs, kidneys, 

 and other glands, and even those of the muscular and 

 nervous tissues suffer to such an extent, that part of 

 the organ may undergo most serious pathological 

 change, or be completely destroyed. 



Destruction of Vessels and Tissues. Wasting of 

 tissue, usually circumscribed, which not unfrequently 

 follows a bad attack of contagious fever, is a direct 

 consequence of the vascular changes which have been 

 referred to. In such cases the organism is often 

 seriously and permanently damaged, and the normal 

 state can never be regained. There is not a tissue or 

 organ in the body which is certain to escape the ter- 

 rible consequences of a severe attack, but happily 

 cases in which many organs in one individual are 

 seriously damaged, are rare, for, as a general rule, 

 when the disease is sufficiently severe to produce 



O 



