504: LECTURE XIX. 



come to any other conclusion in the matter, than that 

 the degeneration ot the neighbouring parts arises . in 

 precisely the same manner as that of the nearest lym- 

 phatic glands which lie in the course of the stream of 

 lymph which proceeds from the diseased part. The 

 more anastomoses the parts possess, the more readily do 

 they become diseased, and vice versa. In cartilage ma- 

 lignant affections are so rare, that it is usually assumed 

 to be altogether insusceptible of them. Thus in a joint 

 the cartilaginous investment alone is sometimes found 

 intact, whilst everything else has been destroyed. Thus 

 too we see that fibrous parts which are rich in elastic 

 elements, are very little disposed to become diseased by 

 contagion. On the other hand, the softer a basis-sub- 

 stance is and the better the conveyance can take place, 

 the more certainly we may expect, that, when occasion 

 offers, new foci of disease will arise in the part. I have 

 therefore come to the conclusion the only one I think 

 the facts warrant that the infection is directly trans- 

 ferred by the means of the morbid juices from the 

 original seat of the disease to the anastomosing ele- 

 ments in the neighbourhood, without the intervention of 

 vessels and nerves. The nerves are indeed often the 

 best conductors for the propagation of contagious new- 

 formations, only not as nerves, but as parts with soft in- 

 terstitial tissue. 



Here we have the importance of the anastomosing cel- 

 lular elements of tissues, and the value of the cellular 

 theory most clearly exhibited, and, when once we have 

 become acquainted with this mode of conduction, we are 

 afterwards able with a certain degree of probability to 

 foresee in what direction, in parts possessing this means 

 of conveyance, the disease will extend, and where finally 

 the greater or less danger lies. It has hitherto been im- 

 possible to prove whether the infection of remote parts 



