ON SECRETION AND EXCRETION 195 



living textural endurance, skeletal resistance and tissue 

 disintegration. 



Secretion consists, essentially, of the endosmotic dis- 

 posal of certain elements of haemal and neural lymph, 

 or plasma, while, in like manner, excretion consists in the 

 exosmotic disposal of these elements, constituting the 

 living tissues of the body, the combined operations being 

 effected by one continuous process of osmosis, through 

 the cells and cell processes, or fibres each fibre being, 

 therefore, a nutritive plasma vessel and nutritive material 

 distributor. 



A full understanding of these phenomena, thus, involves 

 a complete appreciation of the whole process of nutrition, 

 or metabolism, in all its phases, material and dynamic, 

 integrative and disintegrative, synthetic and analytic. 

 Occurring simultaneously with the phenomena of meta- 

 bolic conveyance and disposal are the phenomena of 

 chemico-physiological arrangement of the atomic elements 

 of the tissue plasma, in accordance with the molecular 

 affinities, constitution and necessities of the various 

 tissues, or structural developments, of the body, and, 

 therefore, the rounding off and the inclusion of the 

 complete processes of nutrition and the chemico-physics 

 of life. 



The terms constituting the terminology and phrase- 

 ology of metabolism, introduced as its manner of working 

 has become understood, as the literature of the subject 

 has evolved itself, and its essence has become scientifically 

 embraced in the sum of knowledge, seem to us now to 

 offer the desired opportunity for re-moulding, in accordance 

 with the requirements of modern scientific progress, a 

 physiological terminology, which is in danger of becoming 

 obsolete, and no longer capable of exact disposal in the 

 structure of the language of research and accepted truth. 

 While we thus call attention to the growing want of 

 a scientific terminology, in proportion to, and in keeping 

 with, the advance made by truth, we would, at the same 

 time, sound a note of warning, that the old terms must 

 not be parted with, without the general assent of all those 

 engaged in the work of teaching the accepted truth, lest 

 the danger of losing a complete command of the old, 



