It is observable that the two morbid conditions now described, that of
excessive vascularity and that of increased secretion, are never
co-existent. If the vessels of the brain and its membranes are loaded
with blood, there is little or no fluid within the former or between the
latter: if, on the contrary, the effusion be great, there is little or
no appearance of vascularity. Effusion is the effect and the termination
of vascularity; it is the ultimate result of vascular action, and the
effect having ensued, the cause ceases to be apparent.
The substance of the spinal cord is seldom changed, either in
vascularity or in consistence: the morbid changes which this organ
undergoes have hitherto been observed only in the membrane that invests
it, which, as has been just stated, is not only highly vascular, but
likewise contains a much larger quantity of fluid than natural.
3. _Morbid Appearances in the Thorax._
Of all the thoracic viscera, that which is most frequently diseased is
the mucous membrane of the bronchi. The disease which takes place in
this organ is not only the most constant, whatever be the type or the
degree of fever, but it is also the most characteristic of the febrile
state. Its disease is specific and uniform. It consists of preternatural
redness. The character of this redness distinguishes it from that which
is observed in ordinary inflammation. It is uniformly and strikingly
darker, the difference in colour being precisely that which subsists
between venous and arterial blood. This darkness of colour apparent in
the bronchial lining, increases in degree as the tubes of the bronchi
diminish in size: while it may be only just discernible in the large
trunks, the colour may be nearly black in the minute branches. This
change in the natural colour of the membrane is indicative, not only of
an increase in its vascularity, but of alteration in its structure. It
is almost always attended with a preternatural thickening of its
substance, as is demonstrated by cutting through the tube and reflecting
the membrane. The tubes themselves contain more or less fluid, which
consists of mucus, mixed with pus. Analogous to what has been stated
with regard to the vascularity of the brain and to its secretions, when
the quantity of secretion contained in the bronchial tubes is great, the
degree of vascularity apparent in the membrane is lessened.
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