GENERAL REVIEW OF THE NUTRITIVE PROCESSES. 673 



for Vegetable food ; since this tempts them to gratify their appetites, to the 

 complete prejudice of the remedial system, a very small amount of farina- 

 ceous matter being sufficient to cause the re-appearance of the Sugar, after it 

 had seemed to be entirely got rid of. It has been proposed, however, by M. 

 Bouchardat to gratify this longing to a certain degree, by allowing the use of 

 bread made of wheaten flower, from which nearly all the Fecula has been 

 separated, the Gluten only being left, with such a small amount of Fecula 

 as may serve to make it rise in fermentation ; so that it is as free from un- 

 azotized constituents, as the average of animal substances. This plan has 

 been very successfully practiced; having frequently kept the disease in com- 

 plete check, where, from the advanced period of life, the duration of the 

 morbid state, and other circumstances, a perfect cure could not be reasonably 

 expected. 



880. From what has been stated in Chap. xii. respecting the nature of the 

 Function of Circulation, it is evident that primary disorders of that function 

 are not nearly so frequent as they are ordinarily supposed to be ; and that 

 the proximate cause of morbid phenomena is seldom to be found in them. 

 By the action of the Heart and Blood-vessels, the nutrient fluid, which has 

 been prepared from the alimentary materials submitted to the digestive appara- 

 tus, is conveyed to the tissues which it is to nourish ; but the true process of 

 Nutrition is independent of this, and may take place after the motion of the 

 fluid has ceased, just as it commences before any movement shows itself. 

 For the tissue which exists in the Embryo during the early period of its de- 

 velopment, and also in any newly-forming part, is destitute of vessels, consist- 

 ing only of cells ; and these grow and reproduce themselves at the expense 

 of the nutritive materials supplied to them from without, just as does the 

 whole mass of a Cellular Plant. Moreover it has been shown ( 740), that 

 the activity of the nutrient processes has much to do with the movement of 

 the fluid through the smaller vessels, and is a cause rather than a consequence 

 of it. If the action of the Heart cease, the whole circulation must obviously 

 come to a stand ere long; but in many animals the Capillary movement may 

 continue for some time after the general circulation has been checked; and, 

 so long as blood is supplied to the parts, so long may their nutrition continue, 

 provided other circumstances be favourable. It is unquestionably true, that 

 the cessation of the Circulation is usually the immediate cause of Death; and 

 that, when the suspension is permanent, the loss of the vitality of the system, 

 considered both as a whole, and as made up of distinct parts, is a necessary 

 consequence. But still, we find that the cause of this cessation seldom origi- 

 nates in the Circulating apparatus itself; and in general, a disturbed state of 

 the Circulation is to be looked upon rather as a result, than as a cause, of 

 diseased action. An extreme case of such a disturbance, which, when suffi- 

 ciently prolonged, is attended with fatal results, is to be found in Asphyxia ; 

 in which the cessation of the action of the Lungs induces a stagnation of the 

 Blood in their capillaries ; and as, in warm-blooded animals, the whole cur- 

 rent of Blood has to pass through the Lungs, before proceeding again to the 

 system, a total suspension of the Circulation necessarily results from this inter- 

 ruption ( 738 and 779). Now if we take this (which it appears reasonable 

 to do) as a type of a great number of morbid conditions of different organs, 

 we are led to see why a serious disturbance of the movement in any one part 

 should affect the entire circulating apparatus, and should thus influence its 

 flow through almost every other organ. There are no other organs, however, 

 in which a stagnation can be so serious as in the Lungs; since there are none 

 through which the whole current flows. The Liver ranks next in importance, 

 since all the venous blood collected from the Chylopoietic viscera passes 

 through it ; and every practical man is aware how frequently derangement of 

 57 



