' PATnOLOQY. 3 



others, -wliicli are finely granular, the processes or rays are sub- 

 ject to slight variations of contour. These amoeboid moTementa 

 of the rays, although very sluggish as cou' pared with those of 

 young protoplasm in general, are rendered much more active by 

 subjecting the preparation to a stream of blood serum ; for which 

 purpose Professor Strieker employs the serum of the same animal 

 which has furnished the cornea." 



From the above we learn that the application of an irritant 

 produces changes similar to those which take place in a structure 

 when first removed from tlie influence of vitality, and that in 

 so far it simulates the first jpost mortem changes. In a vascular 

 structure the alterations of nutrition which result- from the ap- 

 1 plication of an irritant are as described in the following pages. 



It must be borne in mind that the blood is composed of a 



'solid and a fluid portion. The fluid, liquor sanguinis, com- 



i posed of albumen, the constituents of the fibrine, water, and 



' various salts in solution ; the solid, of two kinds of corpuscles, 



i the white and the red. The red corpuscles move rapidly along 



in the centre of the stream of blood in a small vessel; while on 



either side, and close to the walls of the vessel, there is a clear 



space called the lymph space, containing liquor sanguinis and 



a few white globules, which move much more slowly than tlie 



blood in the centre of the stream. 



The fluid part of the blood is that chiefly concerned in nutri- 

 tion. It contains the nutritive elements in solution, and is 

 absorbed by the various textures. The capillaries consist of a 

 Blnjile coat of protoplasm, so that the nutritive material can 

 eaaily pa&s out of them, and nutrition i** carried on entirely in 

 the tissues wliich fill up the spaces beJween the capillaries. 

 Every tissue has an inherent power of attracting and selecting 

 from the blood — which, be it remembered, flows slowly at the 

 side of the vessel — those constituents best suited for its nourish- 

 ment. 



Prom this it will be seen that the fluid part of the blood is 

 continually transuding through the walls of its vessels, for the 

 purpose of nourishing the tissues. A perversion of this, with a 

 r<ipid transformation of the transuded material, and an altered I 

 mode of the growth of the elements of the inflamed texture, con- 

 stitute the Inflammatory process. When the tissue is irritated, 

 Ijmph is produced in such abundance that the lymphatics are 



