202 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 



The mischief may arise in two fundamental 

 ways, (1) perversion of the functions of some 

 assemblage of cells from within so that 

 the chemical products yielded are different, 

 and so become poisonous to these or some 

 other set of cells ; or (2) invasion by disease 

 organisms or parasites which multiply and 

 produce foreign chemical substances. These 

 poisonous substances irritate and finally kill 

 the normal cells, either locally where they 

 are situated, or by discharge of soluble 

 chemical poisons into the blood stream, 

 which are then carried away all over the 

 body to other tissues, and incapacitate 

 or destroy their living cells. The organisms 

 of disease do not injure or kill simply by 

 their presence, they do so by chemical poisons 

 which play in upon the delicate balance of 

 the colloids of the living cells of the body. 

 The degenerations and obvious effects of 

 disease, such as are obvious to the unaided 

 eye or by the help of the microscope, are 

 practically all produced by such poisonous 

 chemical products. 



Both in their outward form as viewed under 

 the microscope, in size, and in grosser internal 

 structure, as well as in specific chemical 

 structure, living cells differ enormously. Thus, 

 amongst unicellular organisms, there are 



