The extent of the exudation varies greatly, both in the pelvis and in the limbs. In the pelvis it is sometimes only a little swelling on each side of the womb, and between the folds of the broad ligaments, small nodules the size of walnuts can only be felt, while in other cases the entire pelvic roof is covered and soaked with the inflammatory effusion. The consistence of these swellings or tissues feels at first doughy or soft, but after the absorption has been going on for a while, it becomes as hard as a board. If the exudation begins to suppurate and an abscess forms, then the surrounding tissue becomes soft again, so that the fluctuation of an elastic tumor becomes recognizable. In the majority of cases the inflammatory process becomes circumscribed in the pelvis, the fever subsides, and the pain and sensitiveness in the pelvis disappear. The exudation has also a circumscribed limit, becoming harder and smaller, until it finally has become entirely absorbed. In another class of cases, the swelling remains stationary for a long time and a solid tumor remains in the pelvic cavity, that may be mistaken for an ovarian or fibroid growth, but in the course of a long time, it may gradually become absorbed. In a certain proportion of cases the course of the disease becomes protracted or chronic, because the effusion is very slow to disappear. In these cases there is danger of general septic infection or septicæmia, and of a spreading of the cellular inflammation to the general peritoneal membrane, which would prove, quite likely, fatal. If the inflammation is violent and the infection intense, suppuration and abscesses will destroy the cellular tissue, and if the lower extremities become involved, the circulation in the affected limb may become permanently injured. The cellular tissue around the veins, or even the veins themselves, become more or less affected by the inflammatory process, so that the veins become compressed or constricted from the cicatrization around them, or their caliber may become obliterated from inflammation of the walls of the veins, thus offering a permanent impediment to the return of the blood to the heart; the affected limb now remains swollen, and the swelling may entirely subside in the recumbent posture at night, but during the day it returns again, to make the leg thick and clumsy. TREATMENT.