Page:A Treatise upon the Small-Pox.pdf/44

16 encrease in Bulk, by the constant Accession of new Matter prepared by the Blood, and excluded thence to their new Settlement in the Glands of the Skin; so that by fresh Supplies, continually poured on and determined to the Places where the first Matter was lodg’d, the little red Spots swell to minute Boils, and like them are painful and inflammatory, and gradually proceed to a mature or ripe State. There is therefore no Reason that can support the Distinction, which Surgeons lay down between Swellings or Tumours by Congestion, and others to which they give different Names; for all are caus’d by Congestion, that is, the Accumulation or heaping on of fresh Matter, whether that Matter be deriv’d and communicated gradually from the Blood or from the Nerves, whether they arise to a Maturity in a shorter or longer space of Time, and whether accompanied with a Fever or not; for all acquire their Growth and Augmentation, whether by a swift or slow Progress, from the continual access and flowing of new Particles on the obstructed Places, where the Matter of the Swelling was at first laid down: Those indeed, that at first arise and are after fed from the Blood, arrive sooner at their Maturity, than those that receive their Supplies and Reinforcement from the Nerves, and which are very slowly, if at all, ripen’d; but in the manner of their Generation and Increase, there is no Difference, all