INFLAMMATION

Abstract

Although most pathologists are agreed as to the general character of inflammation, various definitions of this fundamental pathologic process have been offered. Some define inflammation merely as the reaction of tissues to injury. Others, following the lead of Cohnheim, define it as the reaction affecting specifically the wall of blood vessels after injury, i. e., the increased permeability that allows the escape of plasma and blood corpuscles into the surrounding tissue. By some, notably Cohnheim¹and Adami,²inflammation is viewed as a process adapted to reduce the harmful consequences of an injury; Metchnikoff, Marchand, and Councilman regarded it solely as a reaction excited by the presence of something injurious to the tissue. Opie³defined it as a process by means of which cells and serum accumulate about an injurious substance and tend to remove or destroy it. In the course of this presentation, an attempt will be