56 PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 



wholly incurable. Indeed in many of its forms it is curable, 

 when measures are early taken to arrest its advance, and 

 the sign of its arrest is this falling in of the chest. 



There is another disease which in its " cure " leads to 

 considerable deformity of the chest-wall, and that is one 

 form of a not uncommon result of catching cold pleurisy. 

 Here the smooth lining membrane of the chest and 

 covering of the lung is inflamed, and as a consequence 

 often fluid is poured out into the chest, and the lung 

 is squeezed up more or less against the spinal column. 

 If this last a long time, and no measures be taken to get 

 rid of the fluid and allow the lung to re-expand and fill 

 FIG. 10.* tne cnest > the fluid is gradually absorbed 

 back into the blood. But the lung, unable 

 to recover itself, remains compressed, 

 and as the fluid slowly disappears the 

 chest-wall sinks in, and thus consider- 

 able deformity is brought arTout. The 

 deformity shows itself not only in shrink- 

 ing of the rib, but in a lowering of the 

 shoulder on that side, and a curving of 

 the spine (Fig. 10) to the opposite side. 

 Still, grave as this change is, it is slow in progress, and 

 although the main work of two lungs has now to be un- 

 dertaken by one, there is recovery. 



* Contraction of right side of chest after pleurisy. 



