INTRODUCTION 7 



for the inflammatory adhesive exudate that favours the formation 

 of a new connective tissue. The practitioner performs the operation, 

 and trusts to Nature and reparative inflammation to accomplish the 

 rest. Wounds, however simple, in horses and cattle seldom or 

 never heal without inflammatory action. If, however, the practi- 

 tioner cannot keep the inflammation under control, instead of the 

 reparative process, destructive inflammation may be set up. When 

 a part is irritated, the small bloodvessels, called capillaries, first 

 contract, then dilate, and this, by some, is said to be the first action 

 of inflammation. But about this point there is difference of opinion, 

 as others say the vessels dilate first. That contraction of the blood- 

 vessels, is the first process, is well exemplified when the end of a 

 finger is suddenly snapped off by machinery, or a gash is quickly 

 made in the flesh, for then the neighbouring parts become perfectly 

 pale, and no blood is seen to flow from the wound for a few 

 moments owing to the sudden contraction of the vessels from the 

 shock. Dilatation next takes place when the blood comes freely. 

 If the irritation or cause be not removed, the bloodvessels become 

 distended, and finally paralyzed. The corpuscles crowd into the 

 part, and becoming adhesive — sticking together, as it were — induce 

 further expansion of the vessels. 



1 6. Congestion, or accumulation of the blood, now takes place 

 with the exudation or oozing of the fluid portions of the blood 

 through the sides of the vessels into the surrounding tissues ; or the 

 vessels may ultimately give way, with extravasation of blood into 

 the parts, and from the consequent pressure the nerve filaments lose 

 their controlling power, and the structure becomes changed. That 

 the minute tissues play an important part in inflammation cannot 

 be doubted, because the blood, before it reaches and after it leaves 

 the inflamed portion, is the same as that in the uninflamed parts of 

 the body. 



17. The noted external local signs of inflammation are heat, pain, 

 redness, and swelling. 



18. Heat is caused by the large amount of blood sent to the 

 affected part, and the consequent increased chemical action that 



