252 THE MICROSCOPIST. 







into amyloid and saccharine matters, which permeate the 

 walls of the vessels and enter the blood. To make up for 

 the disintegration of the outer part of the formed mate- 

 rial, new formed material is produced in the interior of 

 the cell from the germinal matter, and the germinal mat- 

 ter which undergoes this change is replaced by new germi- 

 nal matter produced from the pabulum that is absorbed. 

 If such cells and their descendants are bathed with im- 

 proper pabulum, and especially with substances which 

 render albuminous matters insoluble, or possess the prop- 

 erty of hardening them (as alcohol), they necessarily di- 

 minish in size, in consequence of the formed material be- 

 coming less permeable, less nutrient matter is taken up; 

 and, of course, as the formed material becomes hardened, 

 less disintegration takes place, the quantity of secretion, 

 which really consists of the products resulting from dis- 

 integration, is much diminished, and the amount of work 

 performed by the cell is reduced. Under the supposed 

 conditions the cells shrink in size and become more firm 

 in texture. Many gradually waste, and not a few die, 

 and at length disappear. These seem to be the essential 

 changes which slowly take place in the liver-cells in cir- 

 rhosis, and to these changes in the cells the striking 

 shrinking and condensation of the whole liver, so charac- 

 teristic of this disease, are due. 



" From these observations it follows that disease may 

 result in two w r ays either from the cells of an organ 

 growing and multiplying faster than in the normal state, 

 or more slowly. In the one case the normal restrictions 

 under which growth takes place are diminished ; in the 

 other the restrictions are greatly increased. Pneumonia, 

 or inflammation of the lung, may be adduced as a strik- 

 ing example of the first condition, for in this disease mil- 

 lions of cells are very rapidly produced in the air-cells of 

 the lung, and nutrient constituents are diverted from 

 other parts of the body to this focus of morbid activity. 



