SECTION II. 

 I. INFLAMMATION. II. TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 



INFLAMMATION. 



Notwithstanding we are forced to admit that dis- 

 orders do exist in which no manifest signs of inflammation 

 can be discovered, yet^ from its universal influence, do we 

 feel ourselves fully warranted in laying down the axiom, that 

 he who has made himself acquainted with the laws of inflam- 

 mation, has acquired almost all the knowledge of disease in 

 general which it is in mortal power to impart. 



Our lexicographers define inflammation, in its passive 

 sense, to be '' the state of being in a flame /^ in accordance 

 with the signification of the Latin word, flamma, flame, the 

 radicle from which it takes its derivation. The word is of 

 ancient and even sacred use. Among the laws of Moses 

 we find, in reference to the signs which are to guide the 

 priest concerning the leprosy, ^'And if the bright spot 

 stay in the place and spread not in the skin, but if it be 

 somewhat dark, it is a rising of the burning, and the priest 

 shall pronounce him clean : for it is an inflammation of the 

 burning.^^ 



Every solid part of the body, (with the exception of those 

 that are inorganic, which possess neither blood-vessels or 

 nerves, such as the hoofs, the hair, and the cuticle,) is liable 

 to become the seat of inflammation ; and therefrom to have 

 its state and structure either temporarily or permanently 

 altered. Every organized part is furnished with blood for 

 its nutriment or support ; and there are some parts in which 

 no other living action is performed, save its own sustenance 

 or growth ; while others there are in which, in addition to 

 this common vital action, functions arc performed peculiar 



