Copious sputum, settling into three layers

bronchiectasis, lung abscess (?), chronic bronchitis

• Bronchorrhea is defined as the production of more than 100 ml of sputum per day. (Persons with chronic bronchitis produce an average of 25 ml/day.) Bronchorrheic sputum separates into two layers. "These large amounts of secretion may be produced so quickly that polymerization is incomplete and proceeds even after the secretion has left the bronchial tree, which may also explain the separation into two layers: as the molecules become polymerized their buoyancy increases, causing them to float." [101]