Treatise on inflammation as a process of anormal nutrition / by John Hughes Bennett.

Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Treatise on inflammation as a process of anormal nutrition / by John Hughes Bennett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    correct, can only affect the results of inflammation, and not in- flammation itself. But what is inflammation unconnected with exudation ? Dr Alison directly tells us that he can form no idea of inflammation unconnected with effusion. If we take away the results, we have only congestion or the early phenomena remain- ing, to which we can never apply the term. But it is evidently erroneous to split one process into two; and to call the first part the cause and the other the result. Besides, where shall the di- vision be made ? Who has ever thought in healthy nutrition of making such distinctions ? The whole is one process, consisting essentially in the exudation of blood-plasma, and of its subsequent transformations, and so it is maintained in anormal nutrition ; the exudation and subsequent changes are one process also. If, however, the word inflammation must be used, (and it may be questioned whether the time has yet arrived for removing it al- together from practical medicine,) it must be limited to that series of actions which terminates with the exudation of blood- plasma in unusual quantities.. In this sense it may always be employed with propriety, and we may always understand by it that a congestion has terminated in exudation, which may die, or become organised, be absorbed, or pass into permanent tissue, according to those vital laws which govern normal as well as anor- mal nutrition. Description of the Plate. Fig. 1. An exact copy of a portion of the web in the foot of a young frog, after a drop of strong alcohol had been placed upon it. The part was il- luminated by the reflected light of day, and considerable pains have been taken to imitate the colours, such as were then presented. The view ex- hibits a deep-seated artery and vein, somewhat out of focus ; the interme- diate or capillary plexus running over them, and pigment cells of various sizes scattered over the whole. On the left of the figure the circulation is still active and natural. About the middle it is more slow', the column of blood is oscillating, and the corpuscles crowded together. On the right congestion, followed by exudation, has taken place, constituting inflamma- tion of the part. a. A deep-seated artery, out of focus, the rapid current of blood allow- ing nothing to be perceived but a reddish, yellow broad streak, with lighter spaces at the sides, b. A deep-seated vein, partially out of focus. The current of blood is of a deeper colour, and not so rapid as that in the artery. It is running in the opposite direction. The lymph space on each side, filled with slightly yellowish blood plasma, is very apparent, containing a number of colourless corpuscles, clinging to or slowly moving along the sides of the vessel, c. In the portion of capillary plexus included within this bracket the circulation is still active and natural, The normal amount of yellow and colourless corpuscles are seen within them. d. In the por- tion of capillary plexus included within this bracket, the yellow corpuscles are crowded together, and the column of blood is oscillating. At e, this os- cillation is very slight. At f, the corpuscles are pushed forwards and back- wards to the extent of half an inch. At g, laceration of a capillary vessel has produced an extravasation of blood, resembling a brownish-red spot.