CONCLUSION. 287 
from them. New cells may be completely formed at 
the expense of this blastema, without having their 
source in one cell more than in another. According 
to Robin’s theory, the pus-corpuscles, which are a new 
creation, are produced in this way: they result from 
the exudation of a fluid which issues from all the 
organs, and are not produced by the enlargement, 
reproduction, and budding of pre-existent cells, as it 
is stated in other theories, and notably in those of 
Schiff and Cohnheim. 
When this is established, it follows that all diseases 
have their origin in a chemical or physiological 
change in the blastema, which at one time produces 
normal cells, adapted to replace those which die from 
natural decay, and at another. engenders diseased cells, 
which are dangerous, either owing to their too great 
number, as in septicemia, or from their peculiar nature, 
as in tubercle and cancer. Here we will quote Robin’s 
words: “The cause of morbid disturbance arises from 
the changes which take place in the quantity and 
nature of the immediate constituents of the actual 
substance of the tissues and secretions. These changes 
make the development of minute spores possible. The 
multiplication of microscopic plants is a secondary 
phenomenon; not the scientific cause which actually 
determines it. The presence of the vegetable parasite 
is a complication which has been mistaken for the 
cause” (Histoire naturelle des végétauc parasites de 
Phomme, 1853, p. 287). 
