32 <;ii.?ERAL HISTOLOGY. 



body to another, and from one cell to another, as flame spreads 

 from one torch to another without loss, or magnetism from 

 one steel bar to another. 



1. Somatic, bodily, or systemic death is the removal of the 

 vitalizing cause, or spirit, and is usually indicated by excessive 

 syncope, coma, or dyspnoea. Thus we may have death be- 

 ginning at the heart, the brain, or the lungs. 



2. Molecular death is the cessation of vital power in the 

 organic molecules. It is a constant occurrence during life, 

 and without it there could be no renewal of living tissues by 

 nutrition and growth. It does not immediately cease with 

 somatic death, since hair will grow on a corpse, and the secre- 

 tion of poison continue some time in the fang of a dead rattle- 

 snake. 



8. THE PATHOLOGY OF BIOPLASM. 



/. General principles. 



Living matter, or bioplasm, is quite ephemeral. After 

 manifesting its functions in assimilation, formation, or secre- 

 tion, it disappears as bioplasm. It may remain as formed 

 material, or as a sort of skeleton of the tissues, or may be dis- 

 solved as effete. Sometimes it remains in a state of dormant 

 life, as the pigment cells of the uvea, or as embryonic cells in 

 connective tissue, which under stimuli act in processes of re- 

 pair, or originate new pathological growths. 



Disease may be defined as excess, defect, or alteration of 

 structure or function. Pathological changes in bioplasm usu- 

 ally depend upon excess or defect of pabulum. 



1. Excess of pabulum leads to multiplication and morbid 

 growth of bioplasts, as in inflammation, or as the cells in 

 tubercle and cancer. 



If an epithelial cell be ruptured mechanically, or softened 

 by fluid, so that excessive growth of bioplasts occurs, we 

 witness the formation of pus. In pneumonia, etc., the nutrient 

 pabulum is diverted to the lungs, as a focus, and bioplasts 

 rapidly multiply in the air cells. In new growths chere is 

 merely an abnormal development of tissue elements. 



2. Defect of pabulum leads to shrinking, hardening, and 



