But when the attack is of an especially physiological kind, these alterations may be scarcely perceptible; or, again, they may, like the spots on the skin in intestinal disorders, disappear with death; they may be, at least in extension and perceptual importance, out of all proportion to the disorder that they cause: the important thing, in fact, is not what can be seen of these alterations, but what, in them, is determined by the place in which they develop.