Pus can be distinguished from mucus, wrote Dr. Samuel Cooper in his 1823 Dictionary of Practical Surgery, by its "sweetish mawkish" taste and a "smell peculiar to itself." To the doctor who is still struggling with the distinction, perhaps because he has endeavored to learn surgery from a dictionary, Cooper offers this: "Pus sinks in water; mucus floats."
( Mary Roach )
[ Gulp: Adventures on the ]
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