DISEASE NOT DUE TO DEFICIENT ACTION. 413 



layer of slightly permeable cuticular substance. The 

 restrictions under which the growth of the bioplasm 

 of the last is carried on are far greater than those 

 which limit the growth of the first. But anything 

 which renders the wall of a slow growing cell more 

 permeable will facilitate the access of pabulum, and 

 its bio'plasm will then increase more rapidly. Thus 

 rapidly-growing bioplasm may spring directly from 

 bioplasm which has been growing very slowly. Pus 

 may result from the rapid growth of the bioplasm of 

 epithelium, fibrous tissue, nerve, or other tissue which 

 has been growing very slowly (see page 114). Cancer 

 grows faster than healthy epithelium or other normal 

 tissue, but not so fast as pus. Epithelial cancer is less 

 permanent as a tissue, and grows more quickly than 

 the normal epithelium, but it is more lasting than 

 pus and less quickly produced. On the other hand 

 anything which tends to coagulate or harden bioplasm 

 on its surface will have the effect of retarding its growth. 

 Disease is not dtie to defective action. From the con- 

 siderations advanced in the last few paragraphs it 

 must be clear that the doctrine that disease is a 

 deficiency of action must be erroneous. The idea that 

 support is required to counteract this tendency to de- 

 pression of the vital powers is purely fanciful, as is also 

 the notion that something extra must be added in order 

 to make up for the- loss occasioned by the diseased 

 state. Although we see structures in disease growing 

 so fast that difference in bulk is perceptible from 



