294 THE TISSUES. 



1. An increase of the natural serous fluid of the areolas consti- 

 tutes oedema or swelling; and if of considerable extent, and occurring 

 in the subcutaneous areolar tissue, it constitutes anasarca or dropsy, 

 and which usually occurs in the lower limbs first, for the reason 

 specified at the end of the next sentence. In dropsy, moreover, the 

 tissue yields to pressure, or "pits," since the fluid is forced from one 

 areola to another; and it also passes from one part to another under 

 the influence of gravity. 



2. In case of inflammation in the areolar tissue (areolitis), the 

 areolas become filled with an exudation instead of the natural trans- 

 udation, and which may become subsequently organized (p. 187). 

 If so, the areolar tissue presents an indurated feeling, since the 

 areolae are filled by a solid substance ; and the skin becomes quite 

 immovable over the indurated portion. 1 



3. If the exudation filling the areolar tissue degenerates into pus, 

 it will be evacuated by ulceration, if it is not so artificially. 



4. A sudden diminution of the fluid in the areolse sometimes oc- 

 curs, as in Asiatic cholera and other diseases attended by profuse 

 liquid alvine discharges. Here the fluid is absorbed into the blood 

 directly, to compensate the loss from this fluid by the transudation 

 into the alimentary canal from its vessels. The immediate effect is 

 a rapidly-induced shrivelled appearance of the skin; and which is 

 more apparent in infants, while it is also soonest removed in them 

 after the discharges cease. 



5. Extravasated blood may accumulate in the areolae, and gravitate 

 from one to another, as is seen in case of ecchymosis under the skin. 

 The blood is removed by absorption, or, undergoing a change, is 

 discharged by the ulcerative process. 



6. The normal fluid in the areolse may be replaced by air, consti- 

 tuting a pneumatosis or emphysema. This may result from decom- 

 position in the tissue, bilt more frequently from the air being forced 

 into the areola3 from without. In the latter case it may be soon 

 reabsorbed without producing injurious consequences (p. 286). 



7. Fat-cells may fill the areolae where they do not usually exist, 

 or may greatly increase where ordinarily found. This state is, how- 

 ever, rather a hypertrophy of the adipose tissue, as will be seen. It, 

 however, interferes with the elasticity of the areolar tissue, and thus 

 with the mobility of parts and organs ; and so far produces a patho- 

 logical condition of the tissue under consideration. 



8. In case of atrophy of this tissue, the areolse are filled with plates 

 of cholesterine, pigment-cells, and often also the carbonate and phos- 

 phate of lime. 



9. The subcutaneous areolar tissue is the seat of numerous patho- 

 logical changes, especially sarcornatous and lipomatous tumors. The 

 surgeon must also bear in mind the changes in thickness it under- 



1 An areolitis sometimes occurs in tlie superficial fascia of new-born children, 

 and is sometimes termed the "skin-bound" condition. 



