When the exudation is abundant, as in the great lymph-sacs of the body--the several serous cavities--and especially when the openings in the walls of these sacs are obstructed or the currents within them are feeble, absorption takes place with great difficulty, and demands a long interval of time. The fibrinous and cellular portion of such an exudation frequently becomes converted into a caseous mass, from a partial fatty degeneration and inspissation. This mass becomes isolated from the cavity in which it lies, usually at the most dependent portion, by the formation of a capsule of connective tissue. It may subsequently become infiltrated with lime salts, calcified, and thus remain comparatively inert throughout the life of the individual. The productive termination of inflammation is manifested by the new formation of connective tissue. This tissue is variously designated, as the inflammatory process is limited to the surfaces of the body exposed to the air, or the surfaces of cavities and organs, or as it lies within organs or the deep-seated parts of the body. In numerous instances it becomes a permanent constituent of the body, and, as time is usually essential for its formation, its occurrence is indicative of a chronic, rather than an acute inflammation. Certain chronic inflammations are progressive in character, the production of connective tissue being continuous, with perhaps occasional intermissions, as in the chronic interstitial inflammations of organs and tissues. The new-formed tissue, which at the outset is rich in cells, becomes in time more fibrous, and associated with this change in structure is a physical modification, manifested by its shrinkage. This new formation may fill a gap resulting from the destruction of tissue in {55} the progress of an inflammation, when it is present as cicatricial tissue--the scar which is usually met with upon the surfaces of the body or of certain of its organs. When opposed surfaces are united by the new-formed tissue, the term adhesion is applied; the adhesions being present as fibrous bands, cords, or membranes. The pericardial milk-spots and thickenings, the tendinous or semi-cartilaginous, indurated patches of serous membranes and of the intima of arteries, are all regarded as manifestations of a chronic inflammation of these tissues. With the localization of the inflammation in the outer walls of the bronchi and blood-vessels a thickening of the external sheath results, called a peri-bronchitis, arteritis, or phlebitis, as the case may be.