OF LIVING MATTER IMPOSSIBLE, 2O9 



to say that the epithelial cell eliminated it from the 

 body, unless it had been shown that the epithelial cell 

 in some way attracted or drew towards itself the cor- 

 puscle. But we know that the pus corpuscle is itself 

 living ; it can destroy epithelium and normal textures, 

 and can make its own way through tissues out of the 

 body. It is opposed to all that we know of the changes 

 effected by epithelium to conclude that it is capable of 

 attracting or selecting particles of living matter from 

 the blood and eliminating them. 



Moreover, it has been established that living parti- 

 cles of the nature of pus may insinuate themselves into 

 the interstices between epithelial cells, invade these, 

 and ultimately destroy them. The epithelial cells of 

 the mouth are invaded by vegetable germs, but it would 

 surely be absurd to say that the latter organisms have 

 been " eliminated " by the cells, for they simply make 

 their way into the formed material, just as many of 

 the lower animals bore their way into the old tissues 

 formed by some of the higher animals and consume 

 them. It would be as unreasonable to attribute destruc- 

 tive operations depending upon the invasion of the 

 living particles to a tendency upon the part of the 

 cells invaded to eliminate the particles, as it would 

 be to argue that the invasion of the organism by the 

 germs of entozoa was due to a tendency on the part 

 of the body to attract these germs from other bodies, 

 or eliminate them from the surrounding medium. 



The term " elimination " has, then, been applied to 



