DROPSY (by apineresis, for the older form hydropsy. Lat. hyd•opisis. rk. bapcortaais, bydropiasis, hydrops, dropsy, front Mop, hydor, water). A symptom occurring in several diseases. It consists of the effusion of watery fluid from the blood into the skin and subjacent tissues, or into the cavities of the body. \\lien the effusion is chiefly in the superficial parts and over the whole body, the dropsy is called ana Sarni ; when it is in the peritoneal cavity of the abdomen, it is termed uscites; when in the chest, hyd•otho•ax. Dropsy most commonly depends on disease of the heart (q.v.) or kidneys I q.v.), or upon the condition of the blood. Asrites is often caused by pressure upon the portal veins caused by a contracting liver. in a case of cir rhosis of that organ. The treatment of dropsy is chiefly by diuretics, diaphoretic:, and cathar tics, which remove the fluid from the tissues by unloading the blood of serum. It is, however, a matter of some difficulty to find the proper remedy in every individual case. In all eases of dropsy. the internal organs should be submitted to a strict medical examination. and the treat ment regulated accordingly. The fluid which is poured into the cavity of the pleura in pleurisy is not dropsical, but an exudation of plastic mate rial from the blood which has the property of becoming organized and forming adhesions be tween the lungs and the sides of the chest. In
hydrothorax the fluid has no power of organiza tion, although it contains The presence of cysts in an ovary is called ovarian dropsy. Dropsy of the pericardium is called hydropericardium of the cavity of a joint. by drops articuli. hyd•arthrosis: of the cavity of the scrotum, hyd•ocele: of the skin and areolar tissue, adman. If the cerebro-spinai fluid be in creased. the condition is called hydrorerhalUS. When internal medicines fail to remove an ac eumulation of dropsical fluhl, or when it is due to pressure which cannot be relieved, it often be comes ry to evacuate the fluid by tapping —that is, by making an incision Lit° the cavity and draw otT the fluid through a tube. 'Phis operation, under antiseptic precauticuts, is prac free !non slangy', and may he repeated from time to Inure by the silrgeoll as the pressure or %%eight 111 the ace Inti011 hot ? important. Excessive dropsy of a limb is sometime. relieved by making sy‘eral 1)1111011re.; through the skin.