General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 1 (of 3)Bichat, Xavier
Science
General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Bichat, Xavier
Human anatomy; Human physiology
In general, the vital forces of any organized part are particularly
altered, and consequently its injuries are produced in three ways;
1st. by a direct irritation, as when the conjunctiva is inflamed,
from fresh air, or that filled with irritating exhalations; 2d. by
sympathy, as when one eye being affected, the other becomes so without
any apparent cause; 3d. by cellular communication, as when a bone being
carious, the skin that covers it becomes discoloured, livid and swelled.
Why is the cellular texture, in some cases, the means that nature uses
to defend organs from the influence of that which is diseased, while in
others it serves to propagate morbid affections? Let us limit ourselves
upon this point to the exposition of facts; the research into the
cause, would only be conjecture.
The cellular atmosphere of each organ has relation not only to the
immediate phenomena of its vitality, but also to the different
movements that the organ executes; as this is more abundant, these
movements are more extended. This observation is made, in comparing
that which is in considerable quantities around the heart, the
great arterial trunks, the eye, the womb, the bladder, the great
articulations, as the axilla, the groin, &c. with that which is on the
outside of the tendons, the aponeuroses, the bones, &c. and of which
there is in general only a very small quantity. The extension and
contraction of which its cells are susceptible, make them very proper
to accommodate the great movements of the organs, those especially of
dilatation and contraction, which moreover are favoured by the fluids
that it contains. The organs, upon the external surface of which but
little cellular texture is found, and which, however, perform many
movements, as the stomach, the intestines, the brain, &c. have, to
supply its place, the serous membranes that cover them. These membranes
and the cellular texture are in fact the two great means, and the only
ones, by which nature has facilitated the movements of these organs.
There are many organized parts with obscure motions, but which are
however surrounded with a quantity of cellular texture; the kidnies are
a remarkable example of this. The testicle and its membranes are also
surrounded with a great quantity of this texture; so is the thyroid
gland; the pancreas and salivary glands find it a thick partition
which separates them from the neighbouring organs. In general, almost
all the immoveable parts, which are not of much importance, and which
are not separated from others by serous surfaces, as are almost all
the thoracic and abdominal viscera, are every where surrounded by an
abundant cellular texture.
II. _Of the internal cellular system of each organ._
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