CONGESTION. 19 



inconvenience to the animal himself, and without any 

 previous signs of inflammation : such are called serous con- 

 gestions. These cases can hardly be denominated inflam- 

 matory, seeing that they occur without lieatj redness^ swelling, 

 and pain — which we all consider indispensably necessary to 

 the existence of acute inflammation : indeed, often the only 

 one that we can recognize is swelling, and that manifestly 

 owing to the presence of the collected fluid. It is by no 

 means uncommon to meet with a circumscribed tumour in 

 some part of the body where the skin is loose ; which, on 

 being opened, proves to be a collection of serous fluid in the 

 sub-cutaneous cellular tissue, and which has come on with- 

 out any prior inflammation. 



In the internal cavities of the body, we occasionally find 

 accumulations of serous fluid, without any traces of inflam- 

 mation : in the cavity of the pericardium ; in the ventricles 

 of the brain ; also within the thorax and the abdomen. 

 There appears to be remarkable sympathy between these 

 several parts : should a horse die from water in the chest, 

 we find very often water collected -in his belly, and within 

 his brain ; in which two last-mentioned cavities the eff'usion 

 may be regarded as the result of serous congestion. 



Sanguineous and Serous Congestion may exist in 

 combination. When a horse^s legs fill from standing in 

 the stable, the tumour is the result of sanguineous and 

 serous congestion : blood accumulates in these parts remote 

 from the heart; the vessels suff'er from distension, and the 

 easiest mode in which they can relieve themselves is to 

 allow the fluid to exude. A disposition of parts like unto' 

 this may pervade the whole limb, as well as any individual 

 part of the body, and thus give rise to that which we desig- 

 nate by the general name of dropsy. 



Windgalls may be regarded rather as the eflect of con- 

 gestion than of any inflammatory disorder. They form 

 without heat, and without causing lameness : they originate 

 in congestion and augmented secretion, induced by undue 

 exertion, and are not generally considered unsoundness — 

 simply indications of work. 



