REMARKS. 79 



since all the nuclei of the primordial cells contain fat-granules. 

 Cell-growth, therefore, bears some proportion to the amount of fat 

 assimilated ; and even pathological formations of rapid growth 

 abound both in cells and in fat e. g. encephaloid. 



Remarks. 1. From the fact that so large an amount of fat one-/ 

 tenth part enters into the composition of the brain, the general 

 emaciation which ensues from long-continued intellectual effort may^ 

 be explained ; for fat is here so indispensable that the nervous 

 centre will draw upon the other tissues and organs when its own 

 supply is exhausted ; and in cases of fatal emaciation, death always 

 occurs before the fat is notably diminished in the brain and the 

 spinal cord. The fact that excessive activity of the brain also pro- 

 duces an abundant deposit of phosphates in the urine, is explained 

 by the c&s-assirnilation of the phosphorus which so abounds in that 

 organ (p. 36), and which thus passes into phosphoric acid, and then 

 unites with the alkaline and earthy bases. 



2. Cod-liver oil is a kind of fat which, first, aids in the digestion 

 of the albuminous elements of the food ; and, secondly, is also found 

 experimentally to be itself easily assimilated in parts requiring fat 

 for their nutrition. It is, therefore, of great value in cases of actual 

 or threatened emaciation, from any cause. Any effect of this sub- 

 stance, further than that of protecting the various organs from the 

 impending loss of their fat, and thus maintaining the strength (by 

 protecting the muscles, especially), is merely theoretical. In a 

 word, it contributes to a more perfect nutrition in the two ways 

 just explained, and thus, in case of prolonged disease, sustains the 

 strength until perhaps the morbid process exhausts itself. Thus it 

 acts in tuberculosis, it is believed, and thus alone. Being mere 

 food, therefore, and not medicine, it should be given with other 

 food, as a general rule, and not between the meals, as is often re- 

 commended. If it disagrees with the stomach, the addition of an 

 alkali may remove this objection, it probably aiding the pancreatic 

 fluid in converting the oil into an emulsion fit for absorption by 

 the lacteals. 



If it be inquired why other oils of similar composition are not 

 equally valuable in cases in which this succeeds, it can only be re- 

 plied that the fact has been demonstrated by direct experiment, and 

 experimentation settles everything in therapeutics. But there is no 

 better reason for adding the phosphate of lime to the cod-liver oil 

 (a fashionable combination of late), than there is for the carbonate 



