\ I TAL GROWTH AND CRYSTALLIZATION 25 



Figs. 9 to 12 are inserted here to show the type of changes 

 which may occur in diseased human conditions but as al- 

 ready stated the interpretation is not an easy matter. It 

 should be remembered that we are dealing here with delicate 

 forces which for countless unknown reasons can be diverted 

 in different channels so that the desired supposedly typical 

 pictures do not appear. 



In the case of plants and plant diseases, Pfeiffer's method 

 gives rather definite results. In this line it has acquired 

 practical importance in several countries in Europe where 

 the condition of health of plant seeds is commercially inves- 

 tigated by Pfeiffer's crystallization method as described 

 (see Fig. 7). Obviously such an investigation is of consid- 

 erable importance in agriculture and forestry. The human 

 or the animal organism, however, is a much more compli- 

 cated piece of machinery than a tree or a plant. Many 

 more highly involved forces of development act in it. All 

 these forces may also act in crystallization superimposing 

 one upon each other until there arises an almost inextricable 

 maze of lines. This is bound to occur particularly if the 

 body is diseased from any cause since foreign forces derived 

 from infection, "new growth" or other causes are then 

 active besides the normal causes of development. 



(Concerning the details of Figs. 9 to 12 the following 

 remarks may be added: The majority of the severely ill 

 patients whose blood Pfeiffer investigated had either cancer 

 or tuberculosis. In tuberculosis sturdy lines of crystals 

 appear which cross each other at right angles, thus pro- 

 ducing a pattern that looks like a Maltese cross (since the 

 crossing lines are contracted toward the center). A similar 

 picture is produced more distinctly if, instead of blood, 

 an extract of a tuberculous lung is added to the crystallizing 

 salt (Figs. 9 and 10). 



This "Maltese cross" which is hardly of great practical 

 importance has been a little too much emphasized in an 



