572 GENERAL REVIEW OF THE NUTRITIVE PROCESSES. 



the blood moves faster or slower in an Inflamed part, whether the Capillaries 

 are contracted or dilated, are questions, therefore, of little moment, in com- 

 parison with those which affect the actions of Nutrition and Secretion, to which 

 the fluid, in its passage through the parts in question, ought to be subservient. 

 The same may be remarked of those productions which have been termed 

 Heterologous transformations of tissue ; but which are rather to be regarded 

 as new growths, that have appropriated the nutriment designed for the support 

 of the proper tissues, and have therefore become developed at the expense of 

 these. It is quite as absurd to attempt to account for the growth of Scirrhus, 

 Carcinoma, &c., by any peculiar action of the vessels of the part, as it would 

 be to attribute the secretion of fatty matter by the cells of one tissue, or of 

 phosphate of lime by those of another, to the peculiar distribution of their ves- 

 sels. The progress of research obviously leads to the conclusion, that in every 

 part of the living body there is an inherent and independent vitality, which 

 enables it to grow and maintain its normal structure and constitution, so long as 

 it is supplied with the requisite materials ; and that changes in the character of 

 the tissue can be referred to nothing else than to alterations in its properties, 

 resulting from external agencies, or to alterations in the materials supplied for 

 its renewal. Of these two morbific causes, the latter is undoubtedly the most 

 frequent ; and the tendency which is now gaining ground, to seek in the Blood 

 for indications of pathological changes, when there is no obvious general dis- 

 turbance of the system, will probably lead to a greatly increased knowledge 

 of the real nature of diseased states ; in spite of the opposition which any 

 return to the Humoral Pathology is sure to excite in the midst of those who 

 regard it as an exploded and pernicious system. 



717. The Sympathy between different parts of the system, which especially 

 manifests itself in the tendency to simultaneous affection with the same Dis- 

 ease, affords an excellent illustration of this principle. Of those Sympathetic 

 actions, which result from the Nervous connections of the various organs, this 

 is not the place to speak ; since we are at present concerned with those per- 

 versions of the Nutritive processes which give rise to Inflammatory and other 

 diseases. Where a certain tissue throughout the body is similarly affected, 

 there is strong reason to presume that the morbific cause is conveyed to it in 

 the Blood ; this is the case, for example, with regard to the Mucous membranes, 

 which all manifest a tendency to Inflammation, when Arsenic has been received 

 into the system : and certain forms of the disease commonly termed Influenza, 

 are marked by a similar disposition. The same may be said in regard to In- 

 flammation of the Fibrous membranes, Areolar tissue, Serous membranes, and 

 other structures. It has been considered a sufficient account of these consen- 

 taneous affections, to say that they result from Sympathy, a mere verbal 

 quibble, which explains nothing. If, on the other hand, we regard the disease 

 as a perversion of the ordinary processes of Nutrition, Secretion, &c., and as 

 dependent upon an abnormal condition of the Blood (such as is induced by 

 the introduction of a poison into it), the rationale of the sympathetic disturb- 

 ance becomes apparent ;< since all the tissues of the same kind will of neces- 

 sity be similarly affected, although some local cause may occasion one to suffer 

 more severely than another. In the ingenious paper by Dr. W. Budd already 

 referred to ( 590), the perfect correspondence which not unfrequently mani- 

 fests itself between the diseased actions on the two sides of the body, is adduced 

 in support of the same view, to which it is made to afford very striking con- 

 firmation. The fact that this kind of Sympathy not unfrequently manifests 

 itself between tissues having an analogous structure, but very different func- 

 tion, is another argument in favour of the same view ; of this fact, the sympathy 

 of which every practical man is aware, between the Skin and Mucous mem- 

 branes, is a very good example. The sympathy of the different tissues forming 



