SECTION VI. 



DISEASES OF THE CELLULAR MEMBRANE. 



EXTERNAL 

 DROPSY' *» 



fSV/ELLED LEGS. 

 WATER FARCY. 

 SWEBLED BELLY. 

 „ SHEATH. 



BREAST. 

 PUNCTURED BELLY. 



f PURULENT. 

 ABSCESS -^ 



I SEROUS. 



DROPSY. 



Serous cavities, and the cells of the cellular membrane, 

 have exhaled into them an aqueous vapour, which has no 

 sooner moistened them by its condensation, than it is re- 

 moved by the absorbents. The supply, however, being 

 incessant, moisture is always present in these openings, 

 though not to any amount unless under circumstances of 

 disease. It is obvious, therefore, fluid may collect from 

 augmented exhalation or diminished absorption ; but so 

 various are the causes which may occasion these changes, 

 that it is not only difficult to determine to which of them 

 the collection of fluid is owing, but more difficult to discover 

 what other cause is operating. We learn from the best 

 medical authorities, that dropsies may arise from general or 

 local plethora ; from obstructed circulation ; from deficient 

 absorption ; from a thin or watery condition of blood. 



Division. — Dropsies are either external or internal, acute 

 or chronic. An external dropsy consists in an effusion of 

 watery fluid into the interstices of the cellular membrane — 

 underneath the skin. An internal dropsy is a collection of 



J Partial 1 Arise either from constitutional or local in- 

 X erna lopsy \ pj^fygg [creased action or inflammation: hence we have 

 diffuse inflammation of the cellular membrane; or partial, producing serous, 

 purulent, or solid cfl'usion. 



