Still,  it  may  not  be  pretended  that  degeneration  and  death  are  sepa-
rated by  a  strong  border-line.  Rather,  many  of  the  instances  of  mor-
tification to  which  I  am  about  to  refer  may  be  read  as  histories  of  the
transitions  from  one  of  these  conditions  to  the  other.  It  will  appear
that  a  part  may  degenerate  even  to  death  while  the  rest  of  the  body
remiains  alive  ;  that,  as  a  certain  diminution  of  the  supply  of  arterial
blood  may  lead  to  degeneration,  so  a  greater  diminution  may  lead  to
death  ;  that,  as  a  certain  amount  of  inflammation  has  always  in  it  a  de-
fective nutrition  of  the  inflamed  part,  so,  in  a  greater  amount,  the
death  of  the  same  part  ensues  ;  and  that  the  same  agent  may  kill  one
portion  of  a  tissue  and  inflame  the  portions  around  it.  Of  all  such
cases  we  might  say  that  the  local  death  is  the  extreme  of  degeneration.
