Through  cases  of  hypertrophy  such  as  these,  the  transition  is  made
to  those  which,  though  they  appear  to  consist  in  simple  increase  of  the
natural  texture  of  parts,  we  yet  must  regard  as  morbid,  inasmuch  as
they  are  frequently  productive  of  inconvenience  to  the  individual,  and
we  do  not  know  that  they  are  adapted  to  any  exigency,  of  the  economy.
Such  are  the  simple  enlargements  of  the  thyroid,  thymus,  and  prostate
glands,  of  the  spleen,  and  tonsils  ;  such,  too,  are  some  examples  of
mucous  polypi,  and  of  cutaneous  outgrowths  and  warty  growths  of  the
skin.  These  all  present  an  increase  of  natural  textures  ;  and  they  may
be  instances  of  purposive  growth,  adapted  and  conservative  ; '  but  tUl
it  is  more  manifest  that  they  are  so,  we  must  be  content,  I  think,  to
regard  them  as  occupying  a  kind  of  middle  ground  between  the  gen-
Tiine  hypertrophies  of  which  I  have  been  speaking,  and  the  thoroughly
morbid  outgrowths  of  which  a  pai't  of  the  class  of  tumours  is  com-
posed.
On  another  side,  there  are  cases  intermediate  between  hypertrophies
and  the  results  of  inflammation,  and  no  line  of  distinction  can  be  drawn
among  them,  if  we  rely  on  their  anatomical  characters  alone  ;  for,  in
the  lowest  degrees  of  inflammation,  the  material  produced  may  be  or-
ganised into  a  very  near  likeness  to  the  natural  tissues,  and  may  thus
seem  to  increase  their  quantity.  If  these  inflammatory  hypertrophies,
or  hypertrophies  from  irritation,  as  they  have  been  called,  can  be  dis-
tinguished from  true  ones,  it  is  only  by  their  being  unattended  with
increase  of  functional  power  or  fitness  for  the  part's  relations.
