DR. PROUT ON ANIMAL CHEMISTRY. 
579 
fectly devoloped albuminous matters which had escaped the 
merorganizing process in a great degree, or otherwise had not 
been raised to the healthy standard fitting it for the purposes of 
the animal economy. If this ill-developed principle remained in 
solution, it woqld, no doubt, like the sugar in diabetes, be thrown 
off by the kidneys, or in some other way, and thus the constitu¬ 
tion would escape at least its secondary effects ; but unfortunately 
it retains so much of the properties of albuminous matter as to 
undergo a sort of coagulation, and thus assume more or less of a 
solid form, in which state it is much more difficult to be got rid 
of; and hence its proneness to appear in the form of morbid 
growths, or deposits, giving rise to unhealthy abscesses, &c. more 
especially in those parts where inflammation from any cause has 
been excited, and where consequently the motion of the blood in 
the capillaries has become impeded. From what has been said, 
it will of course be anticipated that I am disposed to agree gene¬ 
rally with those who think it probable that the origin of strumous 
tubercles in the lungs may be often ascribed to depositions of im¬ 
perfectly developed albuminous matters; as these organs ought, 
from the circumstances in which they are placed, to be peculiarly 
liable to such depositions, particularly at that period of life when 
the constitution is about to become stationary, and before other 
outlets to these unnatural matters have been established; for 
strumous habits, perhaps more than any others, afford the most 
striking illustrations of the powers of the animal economy to adapt 
themselves to circumstances; and we often see, sometimes early 
in life, and sometimes later, as about the time of puberty or soon 
after, the kidneys, or the bowels, or both, assume, as it were, an 
extraordinary action, and afford an immediate outlet to all the ill 
assimilated and other matters taken into the system: the only 
organs occasionally suffering, particularly in advanced life, being 
the kidneys, or other parts through which the drainage takes 
place. By individuals thus constituted, enormous quantities of 
food and drink of every description, but particularly of animal 
food, are usually taken, and indeed required; and which they 
gobble down with an impunity perfectly astonishing to the indi¬ 
vidual possessing organs of weak powers, and who is not provided 
with the necessary accommodation for getting rid of his crudities. 
Such people, if well fed, and if they take plenty of exercise, often 
live to old age; but if indolent, they are apt, in advanced life, to 
become subject to morbid deposits, or growths, constituting va¬ 
rious forms of organic disease. 
There is another set of substances to be mentioned, connected 
with the albuminous principle—namely, pus. That pus, in many 
of its forms, is chiefly of albuminous origin, cannot be doubted ; 
