C 45 3 ] 
profeflion, to be attended with confiderable danger 
to the patient j and with the greateft reafon, fince 
they have been convinced from much experience, 
that thefe maladies are too often the confequences of 
depraved habits of body, arifing from fcrophulous, 
fcorbutic, or fome other general caufe. But tho’ 
we are fufficiently apprized of thefe faCts, and that 
they too often baffle the greateft fkill in phyfic and 
furgery, we are neverthelefs not to infer from hence, 
that every dilorder of this kind is attended with the 
like bad circurrfflances ; fince it is well enough 
known to the experienced, that difeafes of the joints, 
particularly thofe of the knee, are fometimes merely 
local complaints, which may not only be affifted by 
furgery, but perfectly cured. Thefe fpecies of tu- 
mors I now hint at, are thofe, which are diftin- 
guiffled by the name of hydrops articuli, or the 
dropfy of the joint ; of which there are, as I have 
often obferved, two different kinds. The one, wherein 
the difeafe is fituated in the membrana adipofa, and 
neighbouring parts on this fide the capfular liga- 
ment. The other is that fpecies of difeafe, wherein the 
fluid is contained within the capfular ligament, be- 
twixt the extremities of the thigh-bone, and the 
largeft bone of the leg. The firfl fpecies of tumor 
may be diftinguiffled from the fecond by the touch ; 
from the appearance of the tumor of the firfl: kind, 
which is pale and uniform ; from a want of fluctu- 
ation ; and from the little or no degree of pain at- 
tending it. The repeated ufe, for fome weeks, of 
emollient fomentations, mercurial frictions, and gen- 
tle purges', has been often known to remove this 
diforder. At other times it has been found, that 
Vol. 49. Nnn thefe 
