CHAPTER III.
THE GROWTH OF THE BODY .-- GROWTH MORE RAPID IN EMBRYONIC PERIOD .-- THE COOeRDINATION AND REGULATION OF GROWTH .-- TUMORS .-- THE GROWTH OF TUMORS COMPARED WITH NORMAL GROWTH .-- SIZE, SHAPE AND STRUCTURE OF TUMORS .-- THE GROWTH CAPACITY OF TUMORS AS SHOWN BY THE INOCULATION OF TUMORS OF MICE .-- BENIGN AND MALIGNANT TUMORS .-- EFFECT OF INHERITANCE .-- ARE TUMORS BECOMING MORE FREQUENT ?--THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY A TUMOR ON THE INDIVIDUAL WHO BEARS IT .-- RELATION OF TUMORS TO AGE AND SEX .-- THEORIES AS TO THE CAUSE OF TUMORS .-- THE PARASITIC THEORY .-- THE TRAUMATIC THEORY .-- THE EMBRYONIC THEORY .-- THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EARLY RECOGNITION AND REMOVAL OF TUMORS.
The power of growth is possessed by every living thing, but growth is not limited to the living.

Crystals also will grow, and the rapidity and character of growth and the maximum size of the crystal depends upon the character of the substance which forms the crystal.

From the single cell or ovum formed by the union of the male and female sexual cells, growth is continuous until a size corresponding to the type of the species is attained.

From this time onward growth is limited to the degree necessary to supply the constant loss of material which the body undergoes.

The rapidity of the growth of the body and of its component parts differs at different ages, and becomes progressively less active from its beginning in the ovum until the adult type of the species is attained.