PHYSIOLOGY. 205 



brane is frequently, and perhaps necessarily reabsorbed, and 

 seems to be, besides the lymph, the only reabsorbed matter 

 which enters again into the mixture of the animal fluid. 



" From the several remarks we have offered respecting the 

 serosity, it clearly enough appears, that there is a portion of 

 the mass of blood which is always in a saline and acrid state ; 

 and nothing has been more common among physicians than to 

 suppose that an acrimony of the fluids is a frequent cause of 

 disease. 



" It is very possible that it may be so, and upon many occa- 

 sions it certainly is so ; but it appears to me that the supposi- 

 tion has been too rashly and too frequently admitted, and that 

 it has been for the most part purely gratuitous, without any 

 proper evidence of it in fact. The possible species of acrimony 

 have been little understood, and several of them altogether er- 

 roneously supposed. Others of them, though possibly occurring, 

 have not been shown really to take place in any unusual quan- 

 tity ; and the phenomena adduced in proof of them may be 

 commonly explained from other causes, and are certainly often 

 produced by causes of a different and even contrary nature. 



" With respect to the various acrimony which we have allowed 

 to be constantly present in the serosity, it is probable, that upon 

 different occasions, it may be in greater or lesser quantity ; but 

 for this very reason of its being constantly present, we must 

 conclude that it does not stimulate the system very strongly. 

 This happens partly from these acrids being constantly diffused 

 in other mild fluids, partly from the arterial system not being 

 sensible to such a stimulus, and partly from these acrids stimu- 

 lating the secretory and excretory organs to a larger excretion, 

 whereby they are by one or other excretion immediately thrown 

 out of the body. From these considerations, I conclude that a 

 spontaneous and noxious acrimony does not frequently arise ; 

 for the greatest part of mankind pass their lives without feeling 

 any of the effects that might be imputed to it : and though 

 there are some instances of its operation, these are very rare, 

 and commonly in consequence of unusual and violent circum- 

 stances in which the body has been placed. 



" With respect to acrid matters introduced into the body from 

 without, there is no doubt that many of these are sufficiently 



