e were careful not to check it
too soon, unless it was so violent as to be in Danger of sinking the
Patient.

When an Inflammation of the Side came to Suppuration, which happened
in one or two Cases at _Osnabruck_, in _May_ 1761; as soon as a
Fluctuation of Matter was to be felt, an Incision was was made in the
Part, and the Matter discharged; after which the Sore healed kindly,
and the Patients recovered[51]. I am persuaded, was this Operation
oftener performed, many would recover who die consumptive.

[51] Dr. _Mead_ advises, where the Lungs and Pleura grow
together, and an Abscess forms, to open it with Caustic; and
afterwards to keep the Ulcer open during the Patient's Life:
For he says, he has often seen, where such Sores were healed
up, that the Patient died soon after by an Efflux of Matter
upon the Breast. _Monita Medica_, Cap. i. Sect. 7.

OF THE PERIPNEUMONY.

The Soldiers were subject at all Times to the Peripneumony, or
Inflammation of the Lungs, from doing Duty in cold wet Weather, and
from their irregular Way of living; but more particularly towards the
End of the Campaigns, and in Winter.

This Disorder was much more dangerous and fatal than the Pleurisy,
especially when neglected in the Beginning; for then Bleeding had
seldom any Effect; the Difficulty of Breathing encreased, the Patient
was seized with an Orthopnea, and such an Anxiety and Sense of
Suffocation, that he could not sleep; and the Pulse sunk; and in these
Cases Death only afforded Relief. This we experienced in many Men who
had lain neglected in Quarters, for two, three, four, or five Days,
before they were brought to the Hospital.

In most of the Bodies of those who died of this Disorder, and were
opened after Death; we found the Lungs violently inflamed, with livid
or gangrenous Spots on their Surface; and more or less of a watery
Serum extravasated into the Cavity of the Chest.

Three had Suppurations in the Lungs. In one, who had lain sick in
Quarters for ten Days or upwards, before he was sent to the Hospital,
the right Cavity of the Thorax was found full of a watery Serum; and
the Lobes of the Lungs on the same Side almost entirely wasted; and
what remained seemed as it were composed of thickened Membranes,
resembling those formed by the coagulable Lymph, or what is called by
some (though improperly) the fibrous Part of the Blood. The Lobes in
the left Side seemed to be in a sound State, or at