A manual of the practice of surgery / by W. Fairlie Clarke.
- William Fairlie Clarke
- Date:
- 1880
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A manual of the practice of surgery / by W. Fairlie Clarke. Source: Wellcome Collection.
27/464 page 11
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A manual of the practice of surgery / by W. Fairlie Clarke. Source: Wellcome Collection.
![two kinds of lymph may be contrasted with one another in this way. But in practice they are found blended and intermingled in an endless variety of proportions. It is hardly too much to say that no two specimens are exactly alike. When lymph has been effused, it may undergo absorption, development, or degeneration. When lymph is absorbed it probably first breaks down, and is carried away as debris. The part is then restored to its natural state. Coagulable lymph is capable of being organized into a variety of forms; for it is, as we have said, the medium through which Nature effects all her reparative processes. It passes through the form either of nucleated blastema, or of a mass of nucleated cells, and becomes fibrous or fibro-cellular. It is then more fully developed, and gradually approaches the characters of the tissue which has to be repaired. It is only the simpler tissues which are perfectly reproduced; while the place of the more complex ones is supplied by an imperfect substitute. The way in which lymph becomes organized is an interesting question. It is now held by most observers that offsets from existing vessels enter it at its margins, and, by forming a series of loops or arches, ultimately pervade the whole mass. The degeneration to which lymph is liable is of two kinds. It may wither into a dry and horny substance, or it may become granuiar and fatty. SUPPURATIOW. Suppurative inflammation is that variety which leads to the formation of pus. Healthy or laudable pus is a thick, opaque fluid, of a yellowish- white colour, a faint odour, and generally of an alkaline reaction. Under the microscope it is found to consist of a thin fluid, the liquor puris, and corpuscles. The greater the number of cor- puscles, the better is the quality of the pus. Sometimes it is mixed with blood, and then it is said to be sanious; sometimes it is watery and acrid, when it is termed ichorous] sometimes it is curdy, and contains flakes of coagulated lymph. These are some of the chief varieties of pus that occur in practice but, whatever its particular characters, it is never met with except as the result of inflammation. The corpuscles may be regarded as exudation- cells, and the liquor puris as serum, modified by the progress of the inflammatory action. In most cases pus may be easily recognised by its appearance, or by its becoming viscid and ropy on the addition of liquor](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20419405_0027.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
