374. LECTURE XV. 



be removed, that it is curable, without any particular 

 regenerative processes being required for the cure. The 

 only requisite is, that the causes of the retention be re- 

 moved, and the hepatic cells be freed from fat. It is true 

 we have no positive information respecting either the one 

 or the other of these points. We are not acquainted with 

 the states which lead to the retention of the fat, nor with 

 the conditions under which it can again be expelled. 

 However, now that we have got so far, it will probably 

 also be possible to make out the remaining facts. For it 

 is conceivable, for example, that simply the elasticity of 

 the histological elements is of importance ; that when the 

 cell walls become relaxed, they may readily admit a 

 quantity of matter, and tolerate its presence in them, 

 whilst, if they are very elastic, a removal, an expression 

 of their contents, may be more likely to ensue. The 

 state of the circulation also is certainly of importance, 

 and the frequent occurrence of fatty liver in chronic affec- 

 tions of the lungs and heart is certainly in no small de- 

 gree to be ascribed to the increased pressure to which 

 the venous blood is subjected. 



What I was particularly anxious, gentlemen, to render 

 evident to you, was the great difference which this kind 

 of fatty degeneration presents from that which we have 

 previously considered. Whilst there we saw arise be- 

 tween the proper specific constituents of the organ fat- 

 cells which belonged to the connective tissue, here it is 

 the specific gland cells themselves which are the seat of 

 the fat. On the other hand, you must take into consider- 

 ation the great difference from the necrobiotic processes 

 of fatty degeneration, in which the cells as such disap- 

 pear. 



We have now, gentlemen, to consider this third series 

 of fatty conditions a little more closely, those, I mean, 

 which are attended by a destruction of the elements, and 



