METASTASIS 369 



duce choline, cadaverine, etc., for it is known 1 that to 

 produce these alkaloids it takes at least a fortnight.. 

 If, on the other hand, a portion of a living primary; 

 growth is transplanted, the living cells will continue 

 to multiply in response to the auxetics produced by the 

 cell-death which continues to occur among the malig- 

 nant cells which have been inoculated. In transplanting 

 a malignant growth, one must transplant some putrefac- 

 tive organisms along with the malignant cells, and in 

 the spaces between the cells the combination of auxetics 

 and alkaloids must be present from the outset and be 

 continuously produced without interruption, because a 

 living growth is transplanted. For a secondary growth 

 (or a metastatic one) to occur, it is necessary for living 

 cells to be transplanted; and we believe that it is also 

 necessary for organisms to be transplanted within it, so 

 that the causes of the augmented proliferation continue 

 to be supplied without interruption. 



There is another possible explanation of a metastatic 

 growth which should be mentioned. It has been sug- 

 gested by others, who, of course, were unaware that 

 cell-division in the body is caused by chemical agents, 

 that once a cell becomes a malignant one, its daughter 

 cells will also be malignant. This would mean that 

 a cell, in acquiring malignant characteristics, w T ould 

 transmit those characteristics to its progeny. This 

 would be a "mutation" an acquired characteristic 

 suddenly becoming hereditary for all succeeding genera- 

 tions; an event which we think is most unlikely to 



1 It must be remembered that these organisms may have nothing to do 

 with either sepsis or suppuration. 



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