On the relation of assimilation and secretion to the functions of organic life / by J. Gedge.

  • Gedge, Joseph.
Date:
[1869]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the relation of assimilation and secretion to the functions of organic life / by J. Gedge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    cell to go back into the blood, and another exudes from the other side to leave the gland, while at the same time plasm continues to be secreted, and the nucleus to grow. If my scheme of reconciliation be a natural one, it should be of the same value to the pathologist as to the physiolo- gist. But the morbid variations of physiological functions require for their explanation a far more extensive know- ledge of physiological chemistry than we at present possess. Still, in cases where we have only an exaggeration of healthy processes, we may, at least, expect to find fresh machinery. Prominent in this class are the abnormalities of assimilation manifested by nuclear growth. If any living tissue be torn, or otherwise injured, local congestion results. Assimilation, under these circumstances, goes on with unusual rapidity, in consequence of the increased supply of nutriment. The healthy nuclei surfeit themselves on the nearly stagnant blood, and suddenly grow and multiply. Soon we find a swarm of nuclei on the spot. These set to work like navvies after an accident to clear away obstacles, or fill up chasms, as the necessities of the case may require. These navvies, it is said, are brought by vessels, and disembarked on the spot, by orders emanating from a nerve-station; but with this view I am not disposed to agree. The nuclei are, however, there, and they may be seen working away at the removal of a piece of dead bone in necrosis, or excavating through elastic tissue in phthisis, or filling up a wound by granulation, reconstructing gradually a healthy tissue. When a large number are thus congregated together, the nutriment being handed on from the rear, we might expect, if the phalanx were thick, that those in the front would come badly off, and such actually seems to be the case, for we find the front rank of
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