U L C 



<:erative abforption, but we fee ifoccur more frequently in 

 cutaneous texture, and in mucous membrane, tlian in any of 

 the other textures of the body. 



In all the parts in which it occurs (faysDr. Thomfon), 

 it h preceded by a certain degree of inflammation, and this 

 inflammation is ufuaily the adhefive ; but ulcerative ab- 

 forption may fupervene in parts afi"efted with fuppurative 

 or gangrenous inflammation. The inflammation which 

 precedes and accompanies ulcerative abforption, may be 

 either of a fimple or of a fpecific nature, and great differ- 

 ences will be produced by this circumfl;ance in the appear- 

 ances and effefts of the fores or ulcers which are formed. 



Ulcerative abforption, in fimple inflammation, may arife 

 from a great number of caufes, as from prefTure upon parts 

 in a ftate of inflammation. We fee this effeA daily pro- 

 duced in cafes of fimple and compound fraftures, where the 

 limbs are frequently kept a long while in one pofture. It 

 may be produced by the application of irritating fubftances 

 to inflamed furfaces, or by the too long retention of ex- 

 creted fluids upon furfaces in a ftate of fuppuration. 



Many fpecific inflammations feem to give a difpofition 

 to ulcerative abforption, and the fores or ulcers which are 

 formed, are moft of them very difBcult to heal, if they are 

 not in their nature abfolutely incurable. This difficulty is 

 often very remarkable in fcrophulous, fyphilitic, cancerous, 

 and lupous ulcerations. The ulcerative abforption which 

 occurs firfl in cutaneous texture, may in its progrefs be 

 confined to that texture, removing a confiderable portion of 

 (kin, and expofing the parts which lie under it ; or, without 

 extending far along the furface, it may penetrate into the 

 interior parts of the body. In doing this, it often fuccef- 

 flvely attacks and removes flcin, cellular membrane, fafcix, 

 Rnufcle, blood-veflel, abforbent, nerve, and bone. We have 

 examples of this in the progrefs of cancerous and lupous 

 ulceration. That inflammation conftantly precedes ulcer- 

 ation. Dr. Thomfon thinks is proved, not only by the 

 occurrence of rednefs, pain, heat, and fwelling in the parts 

 which arc contiguous to thofe in which the ulceration ap- 

 pears, but alfo by that clofure (which is effefted by adhe- 

 iion) of the canals of the blood-veflels and abforbents 

 divided in ulcerative abforption, and without which a cer- 

 tain degree of hemorrhage would be the never-failing and 

 conftant attendant upon the ftate of ulceration. 



When, in the healing of fores, the (kin which imme- 

 diately furrounds them becomes red, hot, fwoUen, and 

 painful, we have reafon to dread an extenfion of the fore by 

 the progrefs of ulcerative abforption. In fome inftances 

 this procefs occurs in the whole circumference, producing 

 ?.n extremely irritable and painful ulcer ; in others, the 

 ulcerative abforption is confined in its operation to a par- 

 ticular fpot, which is always more inflamed and painful than 

 the other parts of the fore. Certain ftates and degrees of 

 gangrenous inflammation have a tendency to terminate in 

 ulcerative abforption ; and when the ulcerating and fpha- 

 celating procefTes occur together in the fame difeafed 

 lurface, dreadful are the havock and deftruftion of parts 

 which they occafion. Mucous membrane, next to cuta- 

 neous texture, feems to be moft liable to attacks of ulcera- 

 tive abforption. In mucous membranes, the ulcerating 

 procefs often appears in the form of fmall round fores, 

 which are termed aphths when they appear in the mouth or 

 fauces, and chancres when on the parts of generation. 

 Thefc, like the ulcerations in cutaneous texture, may be 

 either of a fimple or fpecific nature, and it is often ex- 

 tremely difncult, from the appearances which they exhibit, 

 to determine to which divifion we ought to refer them. 



V L E 



Bone is another texture which feems very liable to ulcer- 

 ation, and the diforder here generally receives the ap- 

 pellation of caries. 



Ulcerative abforption very feldom begins originally in 

 rnufcle, tendon, fafcia, blood-veflels, abforbents, or nerves, 

 though, in the progrefs of difeafe, it mav attack all thefe 

 ftruftures. 



Synovial membranes are often the feat of ulceration, 

 particularly in the progrefs of chronic inflammations, which 

 attack the articulating furface of the joints. Here the 

 ulcerative procefs begins moft frequently in the fynovial 

 membrane, and from this extends to the articulating carti- 

 lage, and afterwards to the bone. 



Of the internal vifcera, there are none which feem fo 

 liable to ulcerative abforption as the ftomach and inteftinal 

 canal. Death is almoft always the fpeedy effeft of ulcer- 

 ation, when it eats through the coats of thefe vifcera, the 

 contents of which efcape into the cavity of the abdomen. 



Healthy pus and the appearance of granulations are 

 always agreeable occurrences in the progrefs of an ulcer, as 

 they indicate that a ftop has been put, at leaft for a time, to 

 the procefs of ulcerative abforption. 



It was particularly remarked by Mr. Hunter, that new- 

 formed parts are more liable to ulcerative abforption than 

 fucli as conftitute original portions of the body. This is 

 feen in the frequent abforption of granulations, cicatrices, 

 and callus. 



There is alfo a procefs in the animal body, very analogous 

 to open ulceration, or, what Mr. Hunter called, ulcerative 

 abforption : we allude to that pecuhar operation which he 

 thought proper to name progreflive abforption. By this, 

 abfceffes, aneurifms, and various tumours, make their way 

 to the furface of the body, the parts covering them being 

 gradually rendered thinner and thinner by abforption 

 And it is by the fame procefs that foreign bodies, fuch as 

 pins, needles, bullets, &c. travel from one part of the body 

 to another, and are at length brought to the lurface. See 

 Hunter's Treatife on the Blood, Inflammation, &c. and 

 Thomfon's Leftures on Inflammation, p. 369, &c. 



ULCEROUS Sore-Throat. See Quinsey and Cy- 

 NAN'CHE TonfiUaris. 



ULCHUNSKOI, NiZNEI, in Geography, a town and 

 fort of Ruflia, on the Amur ; 56 miles S.S.W. of 

 Doroninflc. 



Ulchunskoi, Verchnel, a fort of Ruflia, on the Amur, 

 on the borders of China; 100 miles S.W. of Doroninflc. 



ULCI, in Ancient Geography, a town of Italy, in the 

 interior of Lucania. Ptolemy. 



ULEA, or Ulaborg, in Geography, a fea-port of 

 Sweden, capital of a government which comprehends a 

 part of Eaft Bothnia, fituated in a peninfula, at the mouth 

 of a river of the fame name, which runs into the gulf of 

 Bothnia. It was built in the year 1610, and is the largeft 

 town in all Eaft Bothnia. It has very ftraight and long 

 ftreets, a good fchool, a commodious harbour, and a fine 

 falmon fifhery. In the year 1 7 14, this town was demo- 

 liflied by the Rufiians. The caftle which ftands near it on 

 a fmall ifland, and is properly called Ulaborg, was built and 

 fortified in the year 1590 ; but now lies in a ruinous con- 

 dition ; 320 miles N. of Abo. N. lat. 65° 40'. E. long. 



25° 23'- 



Ulea, a river of Sweden, which runs into the gulf of 

 Bothnia, N. lat. 65° 2'. E. long. 25° 22'.— Alfo, a large 

 lake of Sweden, in the province of Cajana. 



ULEASALO, a town of Sv/eden ; 4 miles S. of Ulea. 



VLED DE Nun, a count)7 01 Africa, next to the 



10 provir/re 



