PYiEMIA. 51 



corded, and abscesses form in the glands along their course, 

 the disease will have degenerated into farcy, and may ulti- 

 mately terminate in glanders. 



RE-ABSORPTIOX OF PUS. 



It was imagined at one time that pus might again be taken 

 up from the different points at which it had been formed, and 

 tliat a favourable turn was thereby effected in a suppurative 

 disease ; but pus, as pus, is not absorbed ; and it is always 

 its fluid part (liquor puris) which is taken up, and as this dis- 

 appears the pus becomes thicker, constituting what is termed 

 inspissated pus, which contains the pus cells in a shrivelled 

 condition. Not only is the serum in which the cells float ab- 

 sorbed, but also that contained within them ; and in proportion 

 as this is the case, the cells become smaller, more irregular, 

 more angular, more uneven ; they assume the most singular 

 forms, lie closely pressed together, forming tlie cheesy concre- 

 tions which have been confounded with tubercle. 



There is anotlier method by which pus is removed, — that is, 

 by fatty degeneration of the pus cells. Every cell sets fatty 

 particles free within it — breaks up ; and at last nothing remains 

 but fat granules and intervening fluid of a milky appearance, 

 and constituting what is termed pathological milk, which is 

 absorbed: here, again, pus is not re-absorbed as pus, but as 

 water, fat, and salts. — (Virchow.) 



Inspissated pus, in pieces of varying size, dry and hard, is 

 often found in the guttural pouches of subjects on the dissecting 

 table ; these are the results of preceding catarrhal attacks and 

 formation of pus in thes^ cavities. They are also found in old 

 abscesses, and give rise to tumours in various parts of the body. 

 — {See TUMOUKS.) 



FORMATION OF SINUSES. 



When pus is seated in parts, the action of which is defective 

 owing to local or general causes, or when it cannot be completely 

 evacuated, the cavity that remains does not contract completely, 

 and the wound is called a sinus or fistula. 



In the course of time the surface of the sinus becomes smooth 

 and condensed, so as to resemble mucous membrane, or even 



