THE STRl'C'ITRE OF THE SEROUS MEMBRANES. 43 



vascularity, and the pulpy nature of their serous covering, tend 

 to strengthen this opinion. 



The phenomena attending inflammatory action of the membranes 

 are highly interesting. The capillaries are all on one side of the 

 membrane, and yet the serum and lymph are on the other. The 

 capillary vessels in healthy action have no power in themselves of 

 throwing out any of their contents. They do not secrete in vir- 

 tue of any power inherent in themselves. Do they acquire this 

 power during inflammation ? Or will any of the hypotheses of 

 effusion account for the lymph and serum being on the free sur- 

 face of the serous membranes, and so little, if any, in the sub- 

 serous textures ? 



I do not see how we can, in the present state of the science, 

 account for phenomena of this kind, by referring them to actions 

 of the extreme vessels. We must look . for an explanation, I am 

 inclined to believe, in a disturbance of the forces which naturally 

 exist in the extra-vascular portions of the inflamed part.* 



J. G. 



* " The primary change," in inflammation, " is in the vital affinities, common to the 

 solids and fluids, and acting chiefly in that part of the system where the solids and fluids 

 are most intimately mixed, and are continually interchanging particles." Alison's Outlines 

 of Physiology and Pathology, page 437. 



