PATHOGENESIS 297 



the bio-economic efficiency of an organism on which, as we 

 have seen, so much depends as regards both health and pro- 

 gress. Were the body tolerant of any serious disarrangements 

 of its tissues, such tolerance would not only result in physio- 

 logical impoverishment, but would also entail serious 

 biological penalties new "enemies," new diseases. 



Prof. E. Abderhalden (Lancet, 13/9/13) has pointed out 

 the important protection given by the digestive mechanism. 

 All complex substances which gain entrance into the system 

 are broken down into simpler bodies, which again are subjected 

 to the activity of the liver cells before reaching the general 

 blood stream, with the result that normally the body cells 

 receive "a nutrient supply of constant character." This 

 constancy is disturbed w r hen the tissue cells or extraneous cells, 

 such as cancer cells or micro-organisms, yield to the blood 

 substances retaining some of the specific characteristics of 

 their source of origin; e.g., when they yield foreign substances 

 of a non-reciprocal origin which the blood cannot use, nor 

 break down, nor sufficiently discharge, and which must there- 

 fore remain and act as poison. 



Even then, says Abderhalden, there exists an important 

 means of protection in the lymphatic system, with all its exten- 

 sions, and the organs of excretion assist in the protective 

 processes by eliminating the poisons. 



We thus see that the reaction of a body to disturbing 

 influences is a very important matter, and is provided for by 

 Nature in various ways, which show that it has been a major 

 concern of evolution through the ages. 



Dr. E. F. Bashford rightly points out that the problem of 

 cancer should also be considered " from the point of view of 

 the absence or withdrawal of resistance to growth," and 

 further: " In the development of an invasive tumour we have 

 the subversion of the ordinary laws which we assume to govern 

 the proportions and proper relations of tissue growth." 



What, then, is the principal law of which we must assume 

 disease, to be a subversion? 



