202 GENERAL ANATOMY. 



membrane of the stomach, or of the bladder, &c. ; or the patient 

 dies before its organization; at other times, on the contrary, the 

 new membrane becomes organized, and united to the surface 

 of the old one, or it contracts adhesions with itself, and thus 

 forms mucous bridles in greater or less number, which tra- 

 verse and contract more or less the cavity they occupy. 



The inflammation of the mucous membrane is not always 

 erythematous, and uniformly extended over its surface; it 

 sometimes assumes the form of red isolated patches, and often 

 that of exanthematous buttons, whether the little elevations be 

 separate or confluent. It is known that this" may be some- 

 times, but not always, seen upon the mucous membrane of the 

 digestive and respiratory canals, of individuals who have died 

 of small-pox, and that it has in that case been regarded as an 

 internal variola.* This internal exanthema, which appears 

 to consist in an inflammation confined to the follicles, has been 

 particularly observed by Mr. Bretonneau in an epidemic en- 

 teritis, whose description, it is to be regretted, he has not yet 

 published. 



286. Gangrene, sometimes, and ulceration, frequently, take 

 place in the mucous membrane, particularly after the exan- 

 thema of which we have been speaking. After either of these 

 causes of destruction if the individual survives, a new mem- 

 brane is soon formed in the destroyed places, having all the 

 characters of the old one. We have already said, that the 

 membranes of abscesses, those of chronic abscesses particular- 

 ly, and above all that of fistulas in the neighbourhood of the 

 anus, as well as that of the fleshy buds, is a mucous mem- 

 brane, like that of fistulas. The serous and synovial mem- 

 branes which suppurate, assume the same character. When, on 

 the contrary, a mucous cavity becomes the seat of dropsy, the 

 membrane assumes the aspect of the serous membranes: this is 

 seen to happen in the fallopian tubes, the maxillary sinuses, 

 and less completely in the gall bladder, and the duct of the 

 sub-maxillary gland. Certain cysts, also, by their texture and 



* See Wrisberg. in sylloge Comment, p. 52, G. Blane in Transact, for the, 

 improvement of med. and chirur. knowL vol. iii. p. 423 428. 



