120 



Broken wind. 



Secreted in 

 other f .i-ics, 

 and »"iom tne 



Sonaetiiiies in 

 dicjtes lieath, 

 Bornetjnu's re- 

 covery. 



Secretion of 

 iiuico puru- 

 lent matter. 



OBSERVITIOVS AND EXPERIMENTS ON PUS. 



from ossification of the bronchial or pulmonary arteries: from 

 calculi: from broken wind, or rupture of air cells, &c.* 



It is secreted also in consequence of irritation of the bron- 

 chial membrane by tubernes, vomicce, water in the cavities of 

 the chest, &;c. The sair>f' kind of matter is secreted from the 

 nose on the dtcllne of a common severe coryza in many cases. 

 It appears then, that this kind of matter is a symptom of the 

 most fatal, as well as harmless diseases — it is a symptom in 

 one case of the progress ot disease to death, and in another 

 of the termination in health, by being seemingly a critical 

 discharge. Perhaps, if these facts had' been observed and 

 considered, numerous mistakes in prognostics would have 

 been avoided, and better practice have been employed; be- 

 cause the nature of diseases would have been rightly under- 

 stood. From this representation it'is plain, that a just opinion 

 cannot be given merely from the examination of the sputum, 

 without considering the disease by which it is produced, or of 

 which it is a symptom. 



The proportion must also be considered of the pus and 

 mucus in sputum : it may be estimated, by attending to the 

 properties of each, as above stated. 



Such a <:'omj:)ound as the present scarcely is produced in 

 any other part, but in the bronchiaf, and mucous membrane 

 of the nose, because of the abundant secretion of mucus 

 from these membrstnes. And when it is conceivtti, that both 

 pus and mucus are secreted in a limpid state, from the same 

 or at least contiguous organs, where they first intimately 

 commix, and then become inspissated; it will appear reason- 

 able, that they cannot be readily, or at all completely sepa- 

 rated again from one another. There is indeed, iii these 

 cases, no necessity for the admission of the secretion of tlie 

 limpid fluid of pus of abscesses (Sect. V-II, 1) ; for it ap-' 

 pears to me not unjust to consider mucus to be nothing 

 inofe than the serum of blood, altered in Jts coraposition 

 and proportion of water, so as to produce a viscid texture; 

 The secretory organs of the mucous membrane, by virtue of 

 their peculiar power, separate from the blotrtJ; itf 'heialthi,' 



* I believe this state of the lungs to have been first ascertained in 

 l)rbk|en winded horses, by Mr. Colraan. 



the 



