The subject of the conditions under which dropsical liquids are poured out opens up a very wide question, and one about which there is the greatest diversity of opinion.
Exudates are poured out under inflammatory conditions, while none of the truly dropsical effusions are of inflammatory origin; and hence the class of exudates, as above defined, may be rejected from the category of liquids we are at present considering.
Where the dropsical condition is more or less general the term " anasarca " is applied to it; if the tissues are infiltrated locally the term " oedema " is employed; and various names are applied, with a local significance, to dropsies of individual parts or cavities, such as " hydrothorax," " hydroperitoneum " or " ascites," " hydrocephalus," and so on.
Dropsical liquids are usually pale yellow or greenish, limpid, with a saltish taste and alkaline reaction, and a specific gravity ranging from 1005 to 1024.
The quantity of proteid matter in a purely dropsical effusion never amounts to that of an inflammatory exudation (Lassar).