72 The Microscope. 



THE PATHOLOGICAL CELL. 



GEO. DUFFIELD, M. D. 

 Professor of Physiology, Detroit College of Medicine. 



/^F all things mysterious in the animal economy none is so 

 ^-^ strange as the remarkable development and death of cells. 

 Each human body is but the aggregation of cells developed from a 

 single primary cell, the Ovum. The cells of the body have peculiar 

 functions, differing according to their position, but essentially 

 dependent upon the circulating fluid — the blood — which supplies 

 the peculiar force whereby osmosis and endosmosis, the true function 

 of cells, take place. 



In this short paper it will be my object to speak of the cell that 

 is undergoing some degeneration, some change from the normal, 

 and which is called the pathological cell. 



Certain wise men tell us "that every cell in the human body is 

 changed once during seven years." Be this as it may, though 

 unconscious of it, we are made aware of the truth of this statement. 

 The fact remains that cells do change and that parts most exposed 

 are constantly the seat of such changes. Epithelial cells are being 

 constantly thrown off from the body in the various secretions, their 

 places being tilled again by others. The question naturally arises, 

 if these cells are diseased, how are they changed ? 



In speaking of cells and their changes, we must consider each 

 cell as an independent organism, the seat of nutrition, containing the 

 active principle of life. Any variation from the normal will give us 

 a change differing from the normal, and hence a form of degener- 

 ation. 



The first change that is liable to occur in cells is fatty infiltra- 

 tion. This division will not include cells that have for their function 

 the secretion of fat, but cells that should perform other functions and 

 have become diseased ; this change proceeds from without inwards: 

 it does not originate in the cell itself. Take for example the epi- 

 thelial layer on the villi of the small intestines. The emulsions destined 

 to be absorbed by the blood and lacteal vessels must first pass 

 through the cells lining the villi. When the fat accumulates in the 

 cell, during the process of osmosis, taking the jilace of the proto- 

 plasm, the function of such cells is lost, and to all appearances the 

 cell is destroyed. Such changes occur in cells of the liver, spleen 

 and kidneys and will cause a softening and weakening of the tissues. 

 Yet, we are told that if the cell can be cleared of the fat it will go on 

 performing its normal functions. 



