od and build up the strength.

LEUCOCYTHAEMIA.

This term is used to designate a condition in which there is an excess
of colorless blood-corpuscles. In health, the colorless corpuscles
should exist only in the proportion of one, to one or two hundred of the
red corpuscles. These colorless corpuscles increase when there is
disease of the lymphatic glands, but whether this is the cause of their
increase or perversion is not known.

They have been found abundant in the blood in diseases of the spleen and
of the liver. Diarrhea usually attends this complaint, together with
difficult breathing, loss of strength, gradual decline, fever,
diminution of vital forces, and finally death. The recovery of a
well-marked case of this disease is very doubtful. Its average duration
is about one year.

DROPSIES.

_Transudation_ is the passage of fluid through the tissue of any part of
the body without changing its liquid state, while _exudation_ means,
medically, the passage of matter which coagulates and gives rise to
solid deposits. When transudations are unhealthy, they may accumulate in
serous cavities or in cellular structures, and constitute _dropsy_.
Exudation is the result of inflammation, and the product effused
coagulates and becomes the seat of a new growth of tissue. Exosmosis
means the passage of fluid from within outward, and is a process
constantly taking place in health; while transudation takes place
because the blood is watery and the tissues are feeble and permeable,
permitting the serum and watery elements of the blood to pass into
certain cavities, where they accumulate.

The cause of dropsies may be low diet, insufficient exercise,
indigestion, hemorrhages, wasting diseases, in fact, any thing which
impoverishes the blood and increases the relative amount of serum. The
tardy circulation of blood in the veins, or its obstruction in any way,
is a condition highly favorable to the development of dropsy.

General dropsy is called _anasarca_, and is readily distinguished by
bloating or puffiness of the skin all over the body. This condition is
also called _oedema_. The skin is pale, yields under the finger without
pain, and preserves the impression for some time. The oedema usually
appears first in the lower extremities, next in the face, and from
thence extends over the body.

General dropsy is commonly due to an impoverished condition of the
blood, and this may be the result of _albuminuria_, a disea