COUNTEK IRRITANTS. 



1029 



parative inflammation, partaking in its nature of what is described 

 by Virchow as the "secretory inflammation," which, superseding 

 the original diseased process (whether that be inflammation pure 

 and simple or its effects, ulceration, caries, or a formation of a low 

 form of fibrous tissues), excites the formation of reparative material 

 by which the breaches are united, ulcers healed, and diseased action 

 removed. 



" To illustrate this view, I will bring forward two familiar ex- 

 amples: 1. The healing of a sinus or fistula, after the application 

 of a blister, or of the actual cautery to the skin contingent to it; 

 and 2. The removal of phlebitis (inflammation of the vein in the 

 neck after bleeding) by a blister. 



" In the first instance, we find that a sinus heals after a blister 

 or cautery, by the 

 formation of an or- 

 ganizable exudate, 

 which completely 

 fills up the cavity of 

 the sinus; and, in the 

 second, we find that 

 a blister assists in the 

 obliteration of the in- 

 flamed vein, not by 

 removing the inflam- 

 mation from it, but 

 by promoting the 

 formation of a largo 

 quantity of repara- 

 tive lymph, and hast- 

 ening its further de- 

 velopment into fi- Fia. 881.-The Aspirator.* 



brous tissues, by which the vessel is transformed at the inflamed 

 part into a fibrous cord. Now if the curative action were due 

 to the removal of inflammation, we should find that in the first 

 case the relief would be only of a temporary nature, the sinus 

 would still remain, being generally the cause, and not the effect 

 of the morbid action; and in the second, that the inflammation 

 being removed from the coats of the veins, the vessel would, upon 

 removal of the clot, become pervious. But such is not the case. 

 Let the clot be removed ever so often, it is sure to form again, and 

 nothing has the power of overcoming the inflammation of the ves- 

 sel until it has been transformed into an organized cord, a process 

 most materially hastened by the application of a blister. 



" I think it may therefore be accepted that external irritants 

 whether they be simply rubefacients, producing a mere redness 



* This cut belongs in article on windgalls, page 773 ; but on account of not be- 

 ing available when the matter for that article was put in type, it is inserted here. 

 It was furnished by John Reynders & Co., Manufacturers of Surgical and Veterinary 

 Instruments, etc., 303 Fourth Avenue, N. T. 



