10 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



tion, without the symptoms of resolution ; by some remission 

 of the pain of distention ; by the pain becoming of a throbbing 

 kind, more distinctly connected with the pulsation of the arteries ; 

 by the pulse of the arteries being fuller and softer ; and often 

 by the patient's being frequently affected with cold shiverings. 

 The period at which this takes place is not determined, but 

 may be sometimes sooner, sometimes later. When the tendency 

 is determined, the time necessary to a complete suppuration is 

 different in different cases. 



When pus is completely formed, the pain in the part entirely 

 ceases, and a weight is felt in it. If the collection be formed 

 immediately under the skin, the tumour becomes pointed, the 

 part becomes soft, and the fluctuation of the fluid within can 

 commonly be perceived ; while, at the same time, for the most 

 part, the redness of the skin formerly prevailing is very much 

 gone. 



CCLII. In abscesses, while the pus is formed of one part of 

 the matter which had been effused, the other and thinner parts 

 are re-absorbed, so that, in the abscess, when opened, a pus 

 alone appears. This pus, however, is not the converted gluten 

 alone ; for the conversion of this being the effect of a particular 

 fermentation, which may affect the solid substance of the part, 

 and perhaps every solid of animal bodies ; so it most readily 

 and particularly affects the cellular texture, eroding much of 

 it, which thereby becomes a part of the pus. It generally hap- 

 pens also, that some of the smaller red vessels are eroded, and 

 thereby some red blood often appears mixed with the pus in 

 abscesses. Upon the whole, the internal surface of an abscess 

 is to be considered as an ulcerated part. 



CCLII I. This account of suppuration explains why an 

 abscess, when formed, may either spread into the cellular tex- 

 ture of the neighbouring parts, or, by eroding the incumbent 

 teguments, be poured out upon the surface of the body, and 

 produce an open ulcer. 



CCLIV. We have here given the idea of an abscess as a 

 collection of matter following inflammation ; but the term has 

 been applied to every collection of matter effused, and changed 

 by stagnation in an enclosed cavity. 



The matter of abscesses, and of the ulcers following them, is 



