The nature of the effused fluid varies according to the degree of violence and advancement of the action, and is also modified by the texture in which that action occurs. It may consist of serum, lymph, blood, or pus. In inflammation, in short, exhalation, though at first diminished, is soon much increased, whilst the powers of the absorbent vessels are diminished, or at least do not maintain their usual relation to those of the exhalants. _Pain_ is the next symptom enumerated. Here the very common error of supposing that where there is pain there must always be inflammation may be noticed. Some diseases attended with the most acute pain, as Tic Douloureux and Cramp, are generally unattended with inflammation. Many chronic diseases, too, are accompanied with violent and long-continued paroxysms of pain, without excited circulation of the part. This erroneous opinion often gives rise to highly prejudicial proceedings, as—the exhausting, by copious depletions, the vital powers of patients, already enfeebled by continued disease or treatment—the consequent aggravation of the urgent symptoms—and, the then only termination of the disease and of the practice, death. Again, it is true that we must bleed, in some cases, with the view of preventing the occurrence of inflammation; yet the prophylactic treatment may be carried too far, as in cases of violent injuries, or after severe operations. In these instances, the immediate abstraction of blood, so far from being beneficial, expedites the dissolution of the patient, or at least greatly retards the cure. Pains arising from local irritations are often treated in a similar way, whilst the removal of the cause would be much more likely to restore the natural action of the parts. Though inflammation does not always accompany the sensation of pain, yet the latter, in a greater or less degree, attends inflammatory action; and, perhaps, it is fortunate that it does so. Because, were it not for the occurrence of pain, the patient’s attention would not be directed to the disease; he would continue to use the part as if in health, and the affection would thus be much aggravated. Whereas, according to the existing provision of nature, pain is felt at the commencement of the action, the presence of which the patient is thereby made aware of; and he is compelled to employ such measures for its removal as reason naturally dictates, of which none is more effectual than disusing the affected part. The nerves are thus the safeguards of the various parts of the body in health—their nurses in disease. A part deprived of sensation may be used, even to the destruction of its texture, without producing any impression on the sensorium, and consequently without the animal being conscious of it.