blood,
migrate from the vessels and, finding proper nutriment, proliferate or
multiply with greater or lesser rapidity. The cells which lie dormant in
the meshes of the surrounding fibers are awakened into activity by the
nutritious lymph which surrounds them, and they also multiply.

Whether the cell in an inflamed part is the white ameboid cell of the
blood or the fixed connective tissue embedded in the fibers, it
multiplies in the same way. The nucleus in the center is divided into
two, and then each again into two, ad infinitum. If the process is slow,
each new cell may assimilate nourishment and become, like its ancestor,
an aid in the formation of new tissues; if, however, the changing takes
place rapidly, the brood of young cells have not time to grow or use up
the surrounding nourishment, and, but half developed, they die, and we
then have destruction of tissue, and pus or matter is formed, a material
made up of the imperfect dead elements and the broken-down tissue.
Between the two there is an intermediate form, where we have imperfectly
formed tissues, as in "proud flesh," large, soft splints; fungous
growths, greasy heels, and thrush.

Whether the inflamed tissue is one like the skin, lungs, or intestines,
very loose in their texture, or a tendon or bone, dense in structure,
and comparatively poor in blood vessels, the principle of the process is
the same. The effects, however, and the appearance may be widely
different. After a cut on the face or an exudation into the lungs, the
loose tissues and multiple vessels allow the proliferating cells to
obtain rich nourishment; absorption can take place readily, and the part
regains its normal condition entirely, while a bruise at the heel or at
the withers finds a dense, inextensible tissue where the multiplying
elements and exuded fluids choke up all communication, and the parts die
(necrose) from want of blood and cause a serious quittor, or fistula.

This effect of structure of a part on the same process shows the
importance of a perfect knowledge in the study of a local trouble, and
the indispensable part which such knowledge plays in judging of the
gravity of an inflammatory disease, and in formulating a prognosis or
opinion of the final termination of it. It is this which allows the
veterinarian, through his knowledge of the intimate structure of a part
and the relations of its elements, to judge of the severity of a
disease, and to prescribe different mod