30 COMPARATIVE ANATOMY BEFORE CUVIER 



tissues had a deeper significance than any separation into 

 organs, for to each tissue must be attributed a vie 

 propre, an individual and peculiar life. " When we study 

 a function we must consider the complicated organ which 

 performs it in a general way; but if we would be instructed 

 in the properties and life of that organ we must absolutely 

 resolve it into its constituent parts." l The tissues have, too, 

 a great importance for pathology, for diseases are often 

 diseases of tissues rather than of organs. 2 



1 Anatomic Generate, Eng. trans., i., p. Iviii. 



2 Loc at., i., sect. vii. 



