1084 PREDISPOSING CAUSES OF INFLAMMATION. 



mediate cause of capillary circulation resides in 

 the blood, and is owing to the transition of caloric 

 from the blood to the solids, as in the process by 

 which various fluids are forced through the pores 

 and small tubes of dead matter; while it is 

 admitted by many of the most accurate micro- 

 scopic observers of the present time, that in their 

 natural state no action of the capillaries can be 

 perceived. 



Again ; that inflammation is always attended 

 with diminished circulation in the affected part, 

 would appear from the following general facts : 



1. That all the predisposing arid exciting causes 

 of inflammation produce debility, such as cold, 

 the narcotic and other poisons, a severe burn, 

 mechanical injuries, &c.* 



* Dr. G. Gregory observes, in his work on the Practice of 

 Physic, that by far the most common exciting cause of rheuma- 

 tism, gastritis, enteritis, dysentery, diarrhoea, and every description 

 of internal inflammation, is cold, the modus operand! of which, 

 he says, is still involved in the greatest obscurity, (pp. 155. 259.) 

 But we have seen that the invariable effect of cold, or a deficient 

 supply of caloric, is to diminish the circulation of any part, 

 causing obstruction, effusion, tumefaction, tension, and more or 

 less pain. Nor is it less certain, that when they do not destroy 

 life immediately, hydrocyanic acid, conia, oxalic acid, arsenic, 

 bichloride of mercury, and all the more active poisons, produce 

 congestion or inflammation of the stomach and other parts to 

 which they are applied; while itjs worthy of notice, that the 

 only difference between simple congestion and inflammation is, 

 that the former is attended with little or no reaction, and no 

 increase of temperature in the affected part, owing to diminished 

 respiration and languor of the heart. 



