16 TRANSITION FROM HEALTH TO DISEASE. 



ance of opinions which themselves will admit of no contra- 

 diction, whatever objections the deductions may be open to, 

 which I may derive from them. 



Inflammation^ hemorrhage, dropsy, all acknowledge and 

 imply a previous condition of congestion. ^^ There is, pro- 

 bably,^^ says Dr. AUson, " no kind of diseased action of 

 which any part of the living body is susceptible, which is not 

 connected, sooner or later, with increased afflux of blood 

 towards that part, either as its cause or effect ; and the im- 

 mediate object of all our powerful remedies is to act on these 

 irregularities of the circulation/^ That the blood may be 

 differently distributed in the capillaries at different times, 

 we know by the varying colour of the surface, which depends 

 upon the varying degrees of fidness of the cutaneous blood- 

 vessels. The phenomena of blushing, the red cheek of 

 anger, the heightened colour of the skin under brisk exer- 

 cise, are familiar facts illustrative of partial plethora of the 

 capillaries consistent with health. (Dr. Watson's Lectures.) 



It often happens when these and other parts are visibly 

 redder and fuller of blood than usual, or some symptoms 

 denote the probability of some internal congestion, that other 

 parts are visibly paler ; and there are at the same time cor- 

 responding and palpable differences of temperature. (Dr. 

 Watson's Lectures, ' Med. Gaz.,' 1840.) 



Kinds. — Congestion is of two kinds ; — sanguineous and 

 serous. 



Sanguineous congestion, in its developed form, is charac- 

 terised by the same phenomena as inflammation, from which 

 it is only pretended to distinguish it in a general way, by 

 there being no formation of new products or change of struc- 

 ture. The LUNGS, probably, are the most frequent seat of 

 this. A horse is galloped hard ; his nervous energy becomes 

 excited j the heart is beating with quadruple rapidity ; blood 

 is pumped into, the lungs faster than they can discharge it, 

 and the consequence is congestion, from the vessels becoming 

 distended beyond their tone. The pulmonary vessels are 

 gorged, and ultimately choaked, with the blood they contain. 

 At first, the blood circulates through the lungs with aug- 



