108 ON NORMAL AS A 



§ 85. Entering on the domain of 310RBID growth, we meet 

 first of all with a series of abnormal states, which may be de- 

 fined simplj as excesses of the normal growth of organs. These 

 are either uniform enlargements, or partial protrusions or out- 

 growths, identical in texture and composition with the organ 

 from which they spring ; accordingly they only give rise to quanti- 

 tative deviations from the normal standard of the affected parts. 

 "We indicate this fact in our nomenclature by the prepositions virip 

 and £K, which common use allows us either to prefix to the name 

 of the proliferating organ itself (Jajperostosis^ eccliondrosis) ^ or 

 to the word troplda ; the latter term denoting in addition that the 

 products in question are due to nutritive conditions of a pecu- 

 liarly favourable kind {Jiypertrophia). It is best however, not 

 to prejudge their mode of origin in this way ; it is enough to 

 express the simple fact by the words " hyperplasia^ hyperplastic^ 

 The hyperplastic states (conditions of overgrowth) of the various 

 organs will be described in the respective chapters of the special 

 division of this treatise. The position which they occupy in the 

 domain of morbid growth is broadly but sufficiently indicated by 

 what has just been said. 



§ 86. All new formations which are not of a hyperplastic 

 nature, involve a qualitative departure from the normal stan- 

 dard of development and growth. Hence it seems difficult at 

 first sight to class them under physiological types. Our way is 

 blocked, however, by obstacles of artificial origin, rather than by 

 any which are inherent in the facts themselves ; among the most 

 important being the traditional habit of regarding the morbid 

 deviation as something foreign (hepov) to the organism, some- 

 thing introduced into it from without, of ascribing to it a para- 

 sitic life — even a kind of personality. This view, from which 

 the term '^ heteroplasia " is derived, is justified in some measure 

 by the two following considerations : — 1. Those new growths 

 which are due to the introduction of a definite poison into the 

 body manifest themselves under similar forms in the most 

 diverse organs (e.g. syphilis, tuberculosis, enteric fever). 2. 

 The circumstance that each organ is the seat of election of 

 certain special kinds of morbid growth, which always occur 

 under the same form with but trifling modifications, so much 

 so that when they have reached a certain point in their 

 development, we are able to infer their character and future 



