324 HISTOLOGY OF THE MORBID PROCESSES. 



selected from among the chronic interstitial inflammations that may 

 affect any of the organs of the body. In hepatic cirrhosis there is a 

 redundant production of fibrous tissue around the branches of the por- 

 tal vein, and, therefore, appearing between the " lobules " of the liver 

 (Fig. 286). This has the same tendency as other cicatricial tissue to 

 contract, and that contraction causes atrophy of the hepatic cells 

 through the pressure it exerts upon them. There may be another cause 

 for this atrophy of the liver-cells, which will be more comprehensible 

 after considering the probable etiology of the interstitial inflamma- 

 tion itself. This appears to be caused by the absorption of irritating 

 substances from the digestive tract, which are carried in most con- 

 centrated form by the portal vein to the liver. Here they stimulate 

 the cells of the connective tissue to produce fresh fibrous tissue 

 around the branches of that vessel. But it is quite possible that 

 those same substances may act injuriously upon the parenchymatous 

 cells of the liver, impairing their nutrition and rendering them 

 especially liable to atrophy under the increased pressure from the 

 fibrous tissue in their neighborhood. 



While the interstitial inflammation is in progress the connective 

 tissue of Glisson's capsule appears not only increased in amount, 

 but more highly cellular than normal. This is due in part to a 

 multiplication of the fixed cells of the fibrous tissue, in part to 

 a round-cell infiltration i. e., an immigration of leucocytes. This 

 immigration is more abundant in some cases than in others, as would 

 be expected, since the process must be subject to exacerbations, due 

 to fluctuations in the amount of the irritating substances brought to 

 the liver. In fact, we should hardly expect to find a sharp division 

 between the slowest chronic inflammation and such inflammations 

 as approach the character of a subacute manifestation of the same 

 process. 



A third example of the chronic inflammatory process may be 

 found in the reaction of the tissues around the necrotic mass result- 

 ing from bland embolism. Suppose one of the vessels of the kidney 

 to be plugged by an aseptic body. The tissues normally supplied with 

 blood through that vessel will die (Fig. 293). But the presence of 

 this dead tissue, although it contains no micro-organisms, acts as an 

 irritant upon the surrounding tissues, which respond by the produc- 

 tion of a capsule of fibrous tissue. The necrosed tissues may 

 remain within this capsule, or they may be absorbed, in which case 

 the capsule shrinks to a puckering mass of dense fibrous tissue. 



