BLOOD. 285 



tion is generally brigliter tlian in the normal state. The solid 

 constituents of inflamed blood are certainly diminished^ but the 

 increased amount of fibrin renders it more plastic ; so that we 

 are not justified in comparing it (as Magendie has done) Avitli 

 blood in which the capacity of coagulating has been lessened 

 by water, or alkaline carbonates, and Avhich produced in the va- 

 rious organs, symptoms resembling those of inflammation. This 

 defibrinated blood presents characters entirely the reverse of 

 what we observe in inflammatory fluid, and resembles the con- 

 dition of the circulating blood in typhoid fevers. We can, I 

 think, scarcely dou])t that the blood in an inflamed organ differs 

 in its composition from the blood in the rest of the body, pro- 

 vided we can assume that there is a stagnation of blood in the 

 affected organ duiiug the whole period of inflammatory action. 



Whether the blood is the first part of the system that becomes 

 diseased, or whether it becomes modified in consequence of 

 the pathological condition of the suffering organ, is a question 

 not easily answered. This much, however, is certain, that what- 

 ever be the inflamed organ, the blood invariably differs from 

 its normal condition in the same manner, although with varying 

 intensity. If we direct our attention to the reaction of the 

 whole organism during inflammation, we see that all the organs 

 essential to the well-being of the blood are distui*bed ; the tem- 

 perature of the whole body is heightened ; the pulse is full, 

 hard, tense, and frequent ; the urine scanty and loaded. Under 

 all these circumstances, we must expect to find a considerable 

 deviation of the blood from its normal condition. 



If, in this general reaction of the whole system, which cor- 

 responds with a heightened amount of vitality in the blood, a 

 more rapid circulation is induced, we shall, without much diffi- 

 culty, be enabled to give a sufficient explanation of the manner in 

 which thepeculiar changes already adverted to, are brought about. 



The vital activity of the blood is heightened, and its meta- 

 morphosis hastened, by an increased rapidity of the circidation ; 

 it remains, then, for us to consider what efiect an accelerated 

 metamorphosis will have on the composition of the blood. 



The metamorphosis of the plasma during the process of nu- 

 trition in the peripheral system wiU not necessarily be increased 

 by an accelerated circulation; since (as I have endeavoured to 

 show, in page 148,) the plasma remains virtually passive, and 



