194 THE FLUIDS. 



by granulation we should, by excluding the air by appropriate 

 dressings, and by all other possible means, reduce the amount of 

 pus to the minimum. 



The preceding is believed to be the view of the subject of transu- 

 dations, exudations, and the formation of pus, which the present state 

 of science demands. In regard to the first two subjects, it must, 

 however, be admitted that much still remains to be ascertained and 

 settled. Only well-marked transudations on the one hand, and exu- 

 dations on the other, have been here discussed. But all possible 

 transitional forms between the two are found to exist ; there being 

 sometimes a transudation with a small amount of exudation added 

 to it, and at others precisely the reverse. We may also have a trans- 

 udation, as well as an exudation, mixed with pus; and herein lies the 

 essential difficulty in investigating these subjects. In conclusion, 

 we must confess, therefore, with Wedl, that "our present doctrine 

 with respect to exudation [and transudation] is but a very poor 

 crutch, upon which we must hobble for a time, in order, in some 

 degree, to obtain a measure of the field we have to survey" (p. 38). 



CHAPTER III. 



THE MUCOUS AND THE GLANDULAR SECRETIONS. 



THE glandular are here associated with the mucous secretions 

 from the fact that the ducts of all true glands are lined by a mucous 

 membrane, which secretes some of the varieties of mucus in a part 

 of its extent, while its epithelial cells in the smallest subdivisions 

 of the ducts elaborate the secretion characteristic of the gland. It 

 consequently results that all the true glandular secretions contain 

 an admixture of mucus, to a greater or less amount; and hence the 

 mucous secretions will be first described, under the head of "Mucus." 



SECTION I. 

 MUCUS. 



It has been supposed to be a sufficiently accurate statement that 

 mucus is the fluid normally secreted upon the mucous membranes. 

 While, however, we have a definite idea of a mucous membrane as 



