Now hear me describe the symptoms, which respectively mark an unsuppurated, suppurating or suppurated swelling. The unsuppurated or immature stage continues as long as the skin of the swelling retains its natural hue, marked by a little pain and heat in its inside, and coldness, hardness and a slight elevation of its surface.
The suppurating stage gives rise to a sensation of pricking pain in the affected locality. The swelling seems as if it is being pricked with needles, or bitten or wandered over by a host of ants, or cut with a knife, or pierced with a spear, or thrashed with a club, or pressed with the hand, or scraped round with fingers, or burnt with a fire or an alkali. The patient complains of a sort of sucking, burning pain in the swelling of a fixed or shifting character. The patient, as if stung by a scorpion, does not find comfort in any place or position. The hue of the local skin is changed and the swelling goes on increasing like an inflated leather bag; and fever, thirst, a burning sensation and aversion to food etc. gradually supervene.
The suppurated stage is marked by an amelioration of the local pain and a yellowishness of the skin over the swelling, which cracks and seems too big, thus giving pue to folds in the integument. The swelling exhibits the nation under pressure and shows perceptible signs large cainution. Moreover, it yields to pressure and
