^6 Veterinary Medicine. 



to the inflamed part have their muscular coats more rigid and un- 

 yielding and transmit much more blood than the corresponding 

 artery leading to the healthy part. ii. The heart is equally 

 roused to more rapid and often more forcible contractions, which 

 modify the pulse both in number and rhythm. 1 2 . The circulating 

 blood is found to have received a great increase in the fibrine for- 

 mers, the fibrine in the shed blood amounting to 6, 8, or 10 parts 

 per 1000 in place of 3 parts as is normal. The contraction of 

 this causes a depression on the surface of the clot. 13. The red 

 globules become viscous and adhere together by their flat surfaces 

 to form rolls, which precipitate much more rapidly than single 

 globules and leave the coagulated blood with a straw-colored 

 upper stratum (buffy coat). 14. Increase of waste products, 

 urea, uric acid, hippuric acid, etc. 



The destruction. and solution (haemolysis) of blood- globules is 

 greatly encreased in certain inflammations and may be caused by 

 a great variety of agents as taurocholic acid and taurocholates ; 

 blood serum from a different genus or species or which has been 

 otherwise altered ; venoms ; toxins ; ricin and other vegetable 

 poisons, etc. 



Other changes in the blood are alleged, like lessening of the 

 albumen, as balancing the increase of fibrine, and lipsemia, but 

 the constancy of these in all cases of inflammation is uncertain. 



By way of comment and explanation of the above changes in 

 the circulation the following may be advanced : The primary 

 contraction of the capillaries is by no means a necessary condi- 

 tion of inflammation, and contractions and dilatations within cer- 

 tain limits occur in health and as a purely physiological act. The 

 dilatation of the capillaries and the increased flow of blood to the 

 part are related to each other as in part cause and effect, yet both 

 are due to a reflex act . from the seat of irritation which inhibits 

 contraction in the capillaries and determines a more rigid contrac- 

 tion in the walls of the arteries running to the part. A rigid in- 

 elastic vessel of the same calibre and under the same pressure 

 transmits more liquid than the one with elastic walls. The move- 

 ment of the white globules to the walls of the vessel depends in 

 part on their levity, light bodies passing into the outer slow mov- 

 ing layer, which is less dense, from the central stream where the 

 force and density are greater. The epithelial cells of the intima 



