ON PHLEBITIS. ----"Whose effect Holds such an enmity with blood of man, That, with a sudden vigour, it doth posset And curd, like eager droppings into milk, The thin and wholesome blood." HAMLET. PLATE SHEWING THE FIRST MORBID APPEARANCE PRODUCED BY THE STAGNATION OF VITIATED BLOOD IN THE CAPILLARIES OF THE LUNGS. [Illustration: Surface of Lung with Pleura Removed. Section of Lung.] ON THE ORIGIN OF INFLAMMATION OF THE VEINS, AND ON THE CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, AND TREATMENT OF PURULENT DEPOSITS. BY HENRY LEE, F.R.C.S. ASSISTANT SURGEON TO KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL, ETC. "There is more to be learnt of the use of the blood in the animal economy from its coagulation than from its fluidity."--HUNTER. [Illustration: Coat of arms] LONDON: HENRY RENSHAW, 356, STRAND. 1850. LONDON. RICHARDS, PRINTER, 100, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. PREFACE. Since the period when Humoral Pathology fell into merited disrepute, comparatively few attempts have been made, to define with any degree of accuracy, the conditions under which morbid secretions may find their way into the circulation. The diseases produced by the presence of vitiated fluids in the general system, and in parts of the body at a distance from their original source, have received more attention; but they are still far from occupying that position in our systems of medicine and surgery which their importance deserves. The difficulty of tracing diseased secretions after they have become mingled with the blood, or of recognising their presence in the vessels, has rendered the investigation of their actions often tedious and inconclusive; while, on the other hand, the changes of structure in solid parts, readily appreciated by the senses, have been more calculated to arrest the attention, and to afford that ready solution of the origin of the symptoms which, whether imaginary or real, has a tendency to relieve the mind from farther doubt and suspense. Hence it has happened, that the pathology of the solid parts of the body has received a very disproportionate share of attention. Most of the observations which have tended to advance our knowledge of the effects of the introduction of diseased fluids into the blood, have been recorded under the name of Phlebitis or Inflammation of the Veins; and I have retained this title, although it is obviously inadequate to express those constitutional affections which form the most important and characteristic features of these complaints.