310 SEROUS MEMBRANES. 



stance ^vlucll either lies loosely upon some portion of tlie surface, 

 or stretches in the form of threads and bands between the opposed 

 lamellee of the serous sac, or else glues them to one another. 

 The last-named phenomenon in particular, prevails wherever 

 two serous surfaces are in contact without gliding far upon each 

 other, as between the adjoining lobes of one lung, between the 

 liver and diaphragm, between the spleen and stomach. Should 

 there be much free fluid present, as generally happens in recent 

 pleurisy, a portion of the ''recent inflammatory lymph" is 

 usually suspended in it in the form of ragged flakes. If we 

 take some of tliis matter, and examine it under a liigli power, 

 we find laro-e masses of cells and nuclei, together with a lax web 

 of slender fibres, wdiich prove on chemical examination to consist 

 of a coao^ulated albuminous substance. 



a. Fig. 99 represents a large selection of the various forms 

 of cells which were found in the "recent inflammatory lymph," 

 and floating in the exudation, on the first day of a pleurisy 

 excited artificially by the injection of iodine. Among them may be 

 noticed free nuclei ^vith one or more nucleoli, nuclei undergoing 

 division till they are disintegrated into a mass of little spheroids, 

 circular cells with large nuclei and very little protoplasm, some 

 of which are in process of fission ; other cells with a large pro- 



FiG. 99. 



■* ° «>, §, 



Cells and nuclei from the recent inflammatory lymph, a. Their 

 detachment from the homogeneous plates of the serous 

 epithelia. -aJxr- {Mcli.) 



portion of protoplasm, and nuclei already divided. I do not wish 

 to assert that all these structures are derived from the epithelium ; 

 the great majority have probably migrated from the vessels in 

 the manner described by Colmlieim (§ 89) ; but I must insist that 

 some, at least, have originated from the epithelium. The tes- 

 selated mosaic of cells (fig. 96) has been broken up ; the nuclei 

 have lost their usual flattened form and have become globu- 



