OBSERVATIONS 'aKD EXPERIMENTS ON PUS, .119 



from pus; the moisture, or greater moisture on the ex- 

 posure of the brittle residue to air, than from that of pus; 

 the more difficult diffusibility through cold water, and less 

 degree of milkiness than from pus: the great proportion of 

 leafy or fibrous masses on agitation in a very large quantity 

 of cold water; the speedy putreseency; are properties of 

 mucus. The mode of coagulation by caloric at l6o° and 

 upwards is such as might be expected from the commixture, 

 viz: in large masses of curd in a milky liquid, instead of into 

 one uniform mass like pus, or into small curdy masses in a 

 very large proportion of a whey coloured liquid, like mucous 

 sputum. Thick pus aifords on evaporation to brittleness, ) 

 or I residue; and transparent sputum of the consistence of 

 jelly, gives about -rV o''-rir of such residue: but this opaque 

 matter under inquiry, affords -rV or -rV of brittle residue, ac- 

 cording to the proportion of the two substances. 1 could 

 not separate the supposed pus and mucus from one another, 

 to exhibit them distinctly by water, or by any other means, 

 on account, as I conceive, of the intimate diffusion through 

 one another, and their mutual cohesion. But on evaporating 

 the milky water, produced by agitating this sputum in it, or 

 by letting it stand to collect the sediment, little else besides 

 a mere congeries of globules seen under the microscope was 

 thus obtained. For the same reason, on standing, a serous 

 liquid like that of pus (Sect. VII, 1) does not separate, or 

 only partially, from the opaque part, so as to render it pos* 

 sibleby ablution, to collect this coagulable liquid like that , 



of pus; and the greater proportion of water, belonging to 

 the mucus, occasions the coagulation by caloric, to afford 

 only a milky liquid, instead of a uniform mass of curd. 



This kind of sputum, consistently with the phenomena, From secreMon 

 must be produced by secretion from the bronchial membrane „t:oi,. 

 in its entire state, and not by ulceration or abscess. For it is 

 secreted in many cases, at the rate of a pint or more in each 

 24 hours, for weeks and months successively, and for 20 or 

 more successive winters. Also many persons recover their 

 good health after this secretion, and it is the usual termination 

 favo\irably of pneumonia, bronchitis, &c. It is produced by 

 any disease of great irritation of the lungs; as I have foiind 



from 



