THE CELL DOCTRINE. 95 



of cases of disease, the morbid state consists essen- 

 tially in- a modification of the healthy nutrition of 

 the cell, that is, the cell is made to grow more or 

 less rapidly, or is perverted in its mode of growth, 

 though it is likely that within certain limits, the 

 conditions under which cells ordinarily live may be 

 modified without deviation from health. But in in- 

 flammat'ory processes attended by local products, as 

 pus or lymph, and in the production of tubercle and 

 cancer we see the results of excessive multiplication 

 and perversion of germinal matter consequent upon 

 the appropriation of an excess of nutrient pabulum. 

 In other instances, as cirrhosis, where there is shrink- 

 ing, and hardening, and wasting, we see the effects 

 of a diminished supply of pabulum, either through 

 a diminution in the quantity supplied, or an imper- 

 meability in the septum through which it is com- 

 pelled to pass. 



An increased supply of pabulum may be admitted 

 to germinal matter, either in consequence of the 

 removal of barriers through which it is ordinarily 

 compelled to pass, or in consequence of the nature 

 of the fluids by which it is bathed. A simple illus- 

 tration is seen in suppuration in epithelium, or the 

 germinal matter of any tissue ; for, according to 

 Beale, suppuration and morbid processes generally, 

 are not restricted to any one kind of germinal 

 matter, as the connective tissue corpuscle, but may 

 occur in all germinal matter to which the conditions 

 are supplied. Using epithelium by way of illustra-tion-, 

 as the result of the increased supply of pabulum, the 

 germinal matter first grows, as seen in the frontispiece, 



