THE BLOOD. 97 



The hemorrhages referred to are frequently observed in 

 small-pox, in which the blood is effused into the pustules ; in 

 scarlatina, in which fluxes take place from various parts of 

 the body ; and in typhus, in which we have frequent buccal 

 hemorrhages, and the formation of petechise. 



Cotemporaneous with this diminution in the amount of 

 fibrin, we do not find that any other element of the blood is 

 constantly affected, although it occasionally happens that the 

 red globules are in excess. 



The clot in typhus, in which, of course, the deficiency of 

 fibrin is considerable, is large, filling almost the entire of the 

 vessel which contains it ; is soft, being readily broken up on 

 the slightest touch ; it is flat, and ill-defined, and the serum 

 in which it floats is of a reddish colour. 



The flat form and softness of the clot is to be explained by 

 reference to the diminished amount of fibrin, while its great 

 size is accounted for by the imperfect expression of the serum 

 from the crassamentum, as well by the fact that the red 

 corpuscular element of the blood exists usually in its normal 

 proportion, and is not unfrequently found to be even in 

 excess. 



The important distinction which exists between symp- 

 tomatic or organic fevers, and idiopathic or non-organic 

 fevers, is very essential to be borne in mind, for in the 

 former no such deficiency of the fibrin exists as Ave have seen 

 to belong to the latter ; the blood in inflammatory affections, 

 as will be shown hereafter, exhibiting a state of its spon- 

 taneously coagulable element the very reverse of that which 

 belongs to the blood of idiopathic febrile disorders. It must 

 also be recollected, that an idiopathic fever may, during its pro- 

 gress, become complicated with organic lesion, a circumstance 

 which would affect materially the amount of fibrin in the 

 blood, its effect being to increase the proportion of that con- 

 stituent. 



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