Note 5 — PART FIRST. OF INFLAMMATION.

[All practitioners are aware how much the formation of the buffy coat is influenced by extraneous circumstances. Of these the most important are the shape and capacity of the receiving vessel, the degree of motion to which the blood is subjected, and the size of the orifice in the vein. Dr. Belhomme, of Paris, who has minutely investigated this matter in a series of one hundred and fifty experiments, has come to the conclusion that a narrow basin, a large orifice, and a full, rapid stream, in the form of an arch, are the external conditions most favourable for producing the buffy coat. The results of these researches have since been verified by those of Gendrin and other observers, and they are well worthy of recollection, as they are calculated to exert an important bearing on the practice of our profession. See my Elements of Pathological Anatomy, Vol. I., p. 207. A cupped state of the blood most commonly occurs in association with inflammation of the serous membranes and parenchymatous organs, and may generally be regarded as evincive of a high degree of vascular excitement. Still, not too much stress should be placed upon this appearance, as it is sometimes present in states of the system the very reverse from that just mentioned, in persons, for example, who have been repeatedly bled or whose strength has been otherwise very much reduced.—ED.]