Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/290

 278 INFLUENZA INFUSORIA neys a deep violet, and the lungs vary from a light rose to a deep purple. The alterations in color are owing in a great degree to the car- bonization of the blood which is caused by stagnation and want of aeration. The con- tinuance of inflammation in an organ prevents nourishment, and consequently after the swell- ing subsides it will be smaller. The wasting of the system during fever is an analogous ex- ample. Treatment. This is divided into local and general. The local treatment of an in- flamed wound consists in reducing the temper- ature by the application of cold or cool affu- sions, depending on the intensity of the action. Cold water may be allowed to drip from a ves- sel properly arranged and suspended above the wounded part, which is covered with a layer of linen ; or cloths may be moistened with cool water and laid upon the wound; care in either case being taken to preserve an even temperature, and not by an intermission of the application to allow reaction to take place. The general treatment consists in a plain diet, principally of liquid food, which however should contain enough nourishment to sup- port the strength of the patient; and he should be allowed to partake freely of water and cooling drinks, although at times warm drinks of weak tea may be allowed. To re- lieve constipation laxatives may be given. In inflammation of membranes and organs accom- panying diseases such as pneumonia and like various forms of fever, contagious or not, there is almost always a want of saline con- stituents of the blood, the result of waste, and this condition may often be remedied by the administration of saline medicines, such as the bicarbonates of soda and potash. In fevers generally the parched condition of the mouth and throat and dryness of the skin are caused by a want of secretion of the mucous follicles and sudoriparous glands of the skin ; and these alkaline salts in conjunction with the free ad- ministration of water are well calculated to re- store a healthy action. Local bleeding by cup- ping and leeching may often be resorted to with benefit; but general bleeding, which was for- merly practised to a great extent, is now almost wholly abandoned. INFLl'ENZA. See BRONCHITIS, vol. iii., p. 312. INFORMATION,, in law, a written charge or accusation made against an alleged offender, stating some violation of law, before a court of competent jurisdiction to try the same. This process has taken the place of the ancient writ of quo warranto, and it is common to speak of it as an "information in the nature of a quo warranto." It is in substance, and to some ex- tent in form, an indictment ; but an indictment can be found only by a grand jury, whereas an information is filed by an attorney of the state or United States, or other competent law officer, at his own discretion. Informations are sometimes filed for public purposes; but more often, in the United States, by some private prosecutor, who uses the name of the attorney general to ascertain his rights, or ob- ttiin redress for some wrong. Although crimi- nal in form, they are in their nature civil pro- ceedings. When moved by a private person for his own purposes, he is called "a relator," and the case is entitled "Information of A. 15., attorney general, ex relatione of C. D. against E. F." But no such use of an information was known to the common law, as it springs altogether from statute provision; first, from the statute 9 Anne, ch. 20, and afterward by various state statutes in this country, and by adjudication founded upon the statute of Anne, in states in which there is no statute provision respecting it. The general purpose of infor- mations is to inquire into alleged usurpations of, or intrusion into, or unlawful claim or ex- ercise of official or corporate powers or fran- chises. Thus, they are often brought against banks, alleging that they unlawfully exercise banking privileges, when the real question is not whether they possess these powers or priv- ileges, because they have been expressly con- ferred by the legislature, but whether they have not forfeited their charters by misconduct. So an information may issue against a medical school, to try its right of granting the degree of doctor of medicine with a corresponding diploma; or against the mayor of a city, to determine whether he has the right to admit freemen. The most important question is, how far informations will be granted to try questions which may be considered as of pri- vate right rather than public right. The court of king's bench refused to grant one against Sir William Lowther, to try the question whether he had the right to set up a warren, because it was of a private nature; and this principle has been applied with some severity in England. Here, however, informations are used very freely, to determine questions re- lating exclusively to private corporations, as banks, insurance companies, &c. ; but in such cases the leave of the court to file the same is usually required. In general the court will not grant this leave where an adequate remedy at law is open to the relator; as where one sought an information against a turnpike cor- poration for going unlawfully through his land. The court will sometimes hear and decide the whole case on motion and argument; but if there be any question of fact, they will usually send the case to a jury. In general they will refuse an information, or determine otherwise against the relator, where there has been long and negligent delay, or persons from whom title is derived are dead, or persons having ad- verse title or interest have long acquiesced in the alleged usurpation. By statute in many of the United States an information is now sub- stituted for an indictment ; and where it is made use of, the rules governing indictments are applicable. INFUSORIA, the name formerly given to num- berless kinds of microscopic animalcules, the most minute of created beings, so called from