166 



disembarked on the spot^ by orders emanating from a nerve - 

 station; but with this view I am not disposed to agree. The 

 nuclei are, however, there, and they may be seen working 

 away at the removal of a piece of dead bone in necrosis, or 

 excavating through elastic tissue in phthisis, or filling up a 

 wound by granulation, reconstructing gradually a healthy 

 tissue. When a large number are thus congregated together, 

 the nutriment being handed on from the rear, we might 

 expect, if the phalanx were thick, that those in front would 

 come badly off, and such actually seems to be the case, for 

 we find the front rank of ill-fed nuclei falling away as j)us- 

 corpuscles. During this rapid nuclear growth, we have, as 

 a correlate of assimilation, abundant heat, whence the name 

 inflammation. But under certain conditions this nuclear 

 growth is arrested. The material that would have continued 

 to form nuclei, and kept up the outward flow of pus, is now 

 formed, by the nuclei there assembled, into a poisonous secre- 

 tion, which passes into the blood. The presence of this 

 blood-poson is known to the surgeon by the effect it pro- 

 duces as it flows through the nervous centres, causing rigors 

 which remind us of malarious fever. The jioison passes on, 

 but not often without affecting the white blood-corpuscles — 

 the fibrin-secreting nuclei. It is not generally, however, 

 until it reaches the refining glands, that its efiects become 

 very serious. Then, if the dose be strong, the gland strikes 

 work. The nuclei cease to pour out their normal secretions, 

 and abnormal nuclear growth commences. At the same 

 time a change takes place in the plasm, ])roducing the appear- 

 ance known as " cloudy swelling." This is soon seen to be 

 due to the presence of fatty particles, and indicates an acute 

 form of fatty degeneration, which may be caused by the 

 nucleus playing upon the surrounding plasm, using a part 

 for assimilation, and secreting the remainder as a less 

 complex chemical compound. The degeneration, or meta- 

 morphosis proceeds, until at length the proliferating 

 nucleus is free, nothing being left of the plasm except a 

 little fatty detritus. This is the diffuse suppuration of 

 pyaemia. 



The physiological views that I have been advocating 

 appear to advantage when we consider the life-history of 

 cancer. These malignant growths I would arrange in three 

 divisions. First, the gelatinous form, consisting simply of 

 nucleated plasm, which may be an offshoot from any tissue, 

 since it represents the primal condition of all tissues. Next, 

 those groups composed of specialised elements, bearing no 

 definite relationship to any normal structure. Here we have 



