Inflammation

(-flăm-ma's hun.) [From L. inflammatio, an abnormal heat.] (Med.) A state of any por tion of the body, resulting from altered nutrition of the part affected, occasioned by some agency;-owing to which the blood flows into the capillary ve els in greater abundance than is natural, and these ve els become over-dilated and enfeebled; whence result pain, redne , heat, tension, and swelling; symptoms which appear in greater or le severity, according to the structure, vital properties, and functions of the part affected, and its connection with other parts, as well as according to the constitution of the individual. I. may end by resolution, suppuration, gangrene, adhesion, effusion, or induration. Each of the inflammations of internal organs has received a name according to the organ affected; as, gastritis, cephalitis, enteritis, & c. [s. 483]