CORRELATIONS OF PARTICULAR ORGANS 113 



off disharmonious material. The failure of this 

 organ is followed by that of a second, which was 

 accustomed to obtain secretions from the first, and 

 thus we are led to the discovery of wheels within 

 wheels. 



Or it may be that investigation of a large material 

 shows that certain dys-f unctions were attributed, on 

 the basis of our earlier experience, to disease of a 

 particular organ, when all the time it was functioning 

 quite .normally. For instance, the following case is 

 quite conceivable. Let us suppose that a very definite 

 function of organ B depends upon organ A. The 

 latter may work quite normally, although B is so 

 modified that it passes into the blood constituents of 

 its own cells. Let us suppose that it is these pro- 

 ducts against which the secretion, originating from 

 organ A, is directed ; then it finds the substances, 

 which it ought to affect within organ B, already 

 in the blood. It combines with these substances, 

 and in consequence never reaches organ B. 

 We then observe the same phenomena as would 

 result if organ A were diseased. The dialysation 

 process and the optical method would, in this case, 

 give the apparently astounding result, that defensive 

 ferments are present in the blood serum which are 

 directed against the components of organ B, whilst 

 those which correspond to the components of organ A 

 would, against all expectation, be entirely absent. 

 8 



