INF 



mind already palled over all th«fe repeated ideas of fpace, 

 vfhich an endlefs repetition can never totally rcprefent to it ; 

 which carries in it a plain contradiclion. See Space. 



This will be plainer, if Ave confidcr infinity in numbers : 

 the infinity of numbers, to the end of whofe addition every 

 one perceives there is no approacli, eafily appears to any one 

 that reflects on it : but how clear foever this idea of the 

 infinity of numbers be, there is nothing yet more evident 

 thnn the abfurdfty of the idea of an aftual infinite number. 

 Locke's Effay, vol. i. chap. xvii. 



Infinity of Aa'ions, in Law ; the lord of the foil may 

 have a fpecial aftioa againft him who fliall dig foil in the 

 king's highway : but one fubjeft may not have his aftioa 

 againft another for common nuifances ; for if he might, then 

 every man might have it, and fo the adions would be in- 

 finite, S:c. I Co. Inft. 56. 9 Rep. 113. 



INFIRMARY, a place where the fickand weak belong- 

 ing to any fociety, or community, are difpofed, either for 

 nurfing or cure. See Ho'^fital. 



INFLAMMABILITY, is that property of bodies 

 which difpofes them to kindle, or catch fire. See Flame, 

 Heat, and Phlogiston. 



TxFLAMMAr.iLiTY of Oils. See Oil,. 



INFL.AMMABLE Am. See HYDnoOEK. 



In-flammable Springs. About the middle of the lad 

 century, a fpring or well at Brofely in Shropftiire, was much 

 noticed on account of the inflammable exhalations or gaffes 

 which it emitted, fo that when a cover was adapted to it, 

 that contracted the llream of air, and a candle was applied, 

 it continued to burn with a lambent blue flame for a long 

 time: but the coal-works in the neighbourhood have long 

 fiiiCd drained this well. During the driving of Stoke fough, 

 to drain t!ie lead mines near Eyam in Derbyfhire, fuch a 

 quantity of 'iqiiid bitumen or rock oil was liberated from the 

 fmall cavitie.'i in the limellone, and from geodes of limellone 

 in the fhaie above it, that it frequently fv\-am on the water 

 in the fough, in fufficient quantities to take fire and burn 

 for a time, after the application of a lighted candle : this 

 was Called by Mr. Briy, in his " Tour'^ (p. 176.) a burn- 

 ing fpring, but improperly, feeing that the bitumen was 

 only fet free by the tools of the workmen, and was not fpon- 

 taneoufly difcharged fr^m the rock, a condition which feems 

 cfTential to a fpnng of any kind. See an account of this 

 fough, in Mr. Farevs Report on Derbyfhire, vol. i. p. 330. 



INFLAMMATION is concerned, either as a caufe, 

 fymptom, confequence, or complication of the greater 

 number of difc-afes, to which the human body is liable, and 

 hence it has always been confidered by the moll: enlightened 

 pathologifts as a fubjecl which, in point of importance, is 

 inferior to none in the whole circle of medical feience. It 

 intcrells the phyfician, the furgeon, the accoucheur, and, 

 in (hort, every individual, who is in the habit of being en- 

 trufted with the treatment of any kind of diforder, or acci- 

 dental injur)-. A knowledge of the nature and laws of in- 

 flammation, and jull ideas rcfpecling the means of checking 

 and curing this affcfiion, may be laid to conftitute a key, 

 or introduftion, to the cmprehenfion of difcafes in general; 

 for fome may be alleged to confift of it, and very few are 

 entirely unattended with it in one Hage or arother. It is 

 for fuch rcafons, that fyftematic authors moftly treat of it 

 at the very beginning of their works. 



The terra inllammation, which iz derived from the Latin 

 word irt/lamma'.io, probitfely owes its origin to an ancient 

 opinion, that there was fire in the part aflefted, and, if we 

 advert to the coufiderable fenfatio4i of heat, which the patient 

 experiences in the feat of the comphiint, the ufe of fuch an 

 «*prellion feeiBS altaoft natural. Tlie Gtecks appear to 



INF 



have employed terms of fimilar import, as :^'m; u.o:r., or 

 i^XoyM:, from (^Af^o), / burn. 



Inflammation is divifible into feveral fpecies. The dif. 

 tinftions chiefly infifted upon by furgical writers, are the 

 acute and chronic. When inflammation n unattended with 

 any piirticular difeafe, it is fometimes called /f/n^.'f or healthy, 

 of which there can only be one kind. But the morbid 

 inflammations, or inch as are influenced by the prefcnce of 

 a difcafed aftion, are as numerous and various as difeafes 

 themfelves, each difeafe, in faft, having its ov,-n fpecific 

 kind of inflammation ; as, for inftance, the fmall-pox puf- 

 tule, tlie cow-pox veficle, the carbuncle, eryfipelas, fcrofula, 

 the venereal difeafe, &c. 



When common inflammation is fpoken of, the acute 

 healthy fpecies is ufually implied, or that which is fo well 

 known' by the name of phkgmon. It is attended with four 

 remarkable fymptoms in the part aflefted, namely, pain, 

 rednefs, fwelling and heat : " notas vero inflammationis funt 

 quatuor ; rubor et tumor, cum calore et dolore." Celfus, 

 lib. iii. cap. 10. 



The pain which accompanies the various forts of in- 

 flammation, differs very materially both in its degree 

 and kind. In many inflances, indeed, it might be more 

 proper to fay, that thei'e is an alteration in tlie natural fen- 

 iations and fentibility of the part, than that there is pain, 

 which latter term leads one to undcrftand a degree of agony. 

 Numerous chronic inflammations produce very trivial un- 

 eafinefs in the part, the patient feeling, perhaps in the feat 

 of the difeafe, merely a fenfation of weight and heavinefs. 

 It is likewife remarked by Richerand, that the pruritus, 

 which precedes and attends certain cutaneous eruptions, fo 

 far from being painful, occafions rather an agreeable fenfa- 

 tioD. It is only when the fenfibility is cairied beyond a 

 particular pitch that it amounts to pain. In phlegmonous 

 inflammation the pain is of a throbbing defcription, and the 

 fufFening is joined with an annoying fenfe of weight. In 

 eryfipelas the pain is of a burning kind. In anthrax it is 

 accompanied by a feeling of ftiff"nefs. The feverity of the 

 pain is generally in proportion to the vehemence of the in- 

 flammation, the fenfibility of the parts, and the refiftance 

 which their ftrufture makes to the tumefaftion. 



It is a curious fact, of which the practice of fur- 

 gery affords many proofs, that parts which, in their 

 natural healthy Hate, are not remarkable for their great 

 fenfibility, arc frequently aff'eitted when inflamed with an 

 exquifite degree of tendernefs and pain. The gums, in 

 the found ftate, are not very fenfibie ; they may be divided 

 with a lancet, without any great deal of pain being occa- 

 fioned : and the prefl'ure of hard fubftances againft them in 

 mallication is not prodndtive of injury. When inflamed, 

 however, in confequence of decayed teeth, a cold, or any 

 other caufe, they are aff'edted with extreme fenfibility, fwell 

 in a confiderable degree, and cannot be touched, or prefi'ed, 

 in the flighteft manner, without much fufferipg being ex- 

 cited. The ligaments are naturally almolt devoid of fenfa- 

 tion ; but, in feveral difeafes of the joints, they are even 

 much more painful, than fome other inflamed parts, which, 

 when foiuid, pofiefs a vail deal of feniibility. 



A preceding remark, therefore, that the pain is in pro- 

 portion to the natural fenfibility of the parts affcdted, is not 

 to be received without exceptions. With refpect to the im- 

 mediate way, in whic'a pain is excited in cafes of inflamma- 

 tion, it fce;iis moll rational to impute the degree of fuft'ering- 

 to the augmented fenfibility of the nerves, and the unnatural 

 condition in which tliey are placed. In chronic inflamma--. 

 tion, the changes which the parts uuJorgo arc flow, and the 

 nerves feem to have time to adapt themftlves to the altera- 

 tion i 



