336 CAPILLAKY VESSELS IN INFLAMMATION. 



stance of a blood-clot. The white-blood corpuscles 

 entangled in the clot have been known to multiply to 

 such an extent as to give rise to the formation of 

 multitudes of bioplasts which form a soft pale semi- 

 fluid mass, exactly resembling a drop of pus. Pus, 

 indeed, has been formed in a clot of fibrine. It is 

 possible, that under some circumstances, pus may be 

 formed in a clot of blood. 



In this way I would venture to explain also the 

 changes which ensue in the serous or fibrinous exu- 

 dation which occurs in the inflammation of certain 

 special tissues. As is well known, serous membranes 

 are subject to what is known as adhesive inflamma- 

 tion, which is described by some pathologists as if it 

 were distinct from the suppurative. But pus may be 

 formed upon the surface of a serous membrane. 

 When we consider the structure of the serous mem- 

 brane, and bear in mind how exceedingly thin it is, 

 and how close the vessels are to its free surface, it is 

 easy to conceive that minute particles of bioplasm 

 would pass through, collect upon the free surface, 

 grow and multiply, and give rise to the enormous 

 quantity of fibrinous material frequently seen, for 

 example, upon the surface of the pleura and peri- 

 cardium in inflammation. In this way is probably 

 produced the "recent lymph." We know, however, 

 that pus may be formed if the process goes on. As 

 nutrition increases, the little bioplasts multiply ex- 

 ceedingly; the "lymph" is found to consist almost 

 entirely of bioplasts, which even take up the fibrinous 

 matter, as well as soluble nutrient substances by 

 which they are surrounded, and at last "pus," which, 

 as I have shown, consists of multitudes of rapidly- 

 growing living bioplasts, results. 



It is not possible that such changes as those de- 

 scribed could take place just outside capillary vessels 

 without seriously implicating the nerves themselves, 

 leading thereby to disturbance of the nerve centres, 



