PUS. 139 



One of the earliest opinions formed in reference to the 

 nature of pus was, that it was constituted of blood deprived 

 of its colouring matter, a view which was entertained even 

 before the discovery of the blood corpuscles themselves. 



Subsequently to the period of the detection of the red cor- 

 puscles in the blood, many observers have conceived that pus 

 consists of these corpuscles altered merely in colour. 



A third opinion in reference to the formation of pus and 

 mucous globules is that of Vogel, who maintained that they 

 arose out of a transformation of the epithelium, the nuclei of 

 which constituted the corpuscles. This view, although not 

 without ingenuity, has but little even of probability to re- 

 commend it, and it will be perceived that it is the very 

 reverse opinion to that which is maintained in these pages, 

 and which is that the epithelium is itself derived from 

 mucous and pus globules. 



We have already, under the head of Mucus, adverted to 

 the opinion of Addison, that mucous and pus globules are 

 altered colourless blood corpuscles, an opinion which we 

 have also endeavoured to refute, principally by reference to 

 the impossibility, save from lesion, of the escape of the white 

 corpuscles from their containing vessels. 



Reference has also been made to the view entertained by 

 Henle respecting the nature of pus corpuscles, who says of 

 them that they are nothing else than elementary cells in pro- 

 cess of being transformed into those of the tissue, which the 

 organism regenerates in the injured part. 



I also agree with Henle in considering pus corpuscles to 

 be elementary cells, but I differ from him in not regarding 

 them as representing the cells of the tissue in which the pus 

 is formed. 



Pus corpuscles I conceive to be identical with mucous cor- 

 puscles, and these again are to be regarded as representing an 

 early stage in the development of epithelial scales. 



FurtKer, it is here supposed that the formation of pus is 

 to be viewed in the light of a salutary process, and as indi- 

 cating the effort on the part of the organism, where sup- 

 puration occurs as the result of lesion of any kind, to repair 



