614 SPECIAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



condition remained, the colored fluid was not absorbed from the peri- 

 toneal cavity; but immediately on opening a bloodvessel, the colored 

 fluid disappeared rapidly by absorption. An important therapeutic 

 application is seen in the treatment of dropsies, or at least those in- 

 volving the great serous cavities, where the absorption of the effused 

 serum is accelerated by drawing away a portion of the fluid constit- 

 uents of the blood, by the aid of diuretics and cathartics. 



An excellent resume of this entire subject will be found in the 

 American Journal of the Medical Sciences for July, 1865, in a review 

 entitled "Osmosis: its Agency in the Action of Medicine," by Prof. 

 Joseph Carson, which has been freely used in the preparation of this 

 note. F. G. S.] 



Greneral Absorption. 



The chief natural absorbing surface is the mucous membrane of the 

 alimentary canal. Thus, it takes up the greater part of the food; 

 moreover, saline, coloring, odorous, sapid, and other substances, may 

 be detected, soon after having been swallowed, not merely in the blood, 

 but in the secretions of distant glands ; and, lastly, specific effects, 

 medicinal or poisonous, may be produced upon remote parts of the sys- 

 tem, e. g., upon the brain and spinal cord, as when prussic acid is 

 applied to the tongue, strychnine is taken by the stomach, or nicotine 

 is administered in enemas. 



The mucous membrane lining the air-passages and air-cells of the 

 lungs, is also absorbent, that of the air-cells especially taking up gases 

 in a state of solution. Water, various other fluids, and saline solutions, 

 accidentally introduced into the air-passages, are also partly absorbed. 

 From certain cases of increase in the weight of the body, beyond that of 

 the food and beverage taken, it has been inferred, though this is doubt- 

 ful, that the pulmonary mucous membrane may even absorb the vapor 

 of water from the air, instead of exhaling it, as it usually does. 

 Many substances, of a more or less volatile or soluble character, may be 

 introduced into the system through the air we breathe, either in a vapor- 

 ous state, as in the case of carburetted, sulphuretted, phosphuretted, and 

 arseniuretted hydrogen, cyanogen, alcohol, ether, chloroform, mercury, 

 phosphorus, and miasmatic and contagious exhalations, or in the con- 

 dition of fine particles, as e.g., arsenic. The general anaesthesia pro- 

 duced by chloroform, depends on its absorption by the pulmonary 

 capillaries. Mercury and phosphorus, employed by the looking-glass 

 manufacturers, and lucifer-match makers, are taken up, partly by the 

 mouth, but also probably by the lungs ; and numerous cases of poisoning 

 by arsenic, in which the health has been seriously deranged, have been 

 observed amongst manufacturers of artificial flowers and green paper 

 hangings, from the arsenite of copper, or Scheele's green, employed 

 by them. Such papers are unfit for dwelling-rooms. 



The conjunctiva is also absorbent, as is shown by the poisonous effects 

 of prussic acid dropped into the eye of a rabbit. Other mucous mem- 

 branes likewise absorb fluids and dissolved substances ; the bile, for 

 example, becomes more or less inspissated in the gall-bladder. 



