284 CRILE— THE KINETIC SYSTEM. [April 22, 



energy conversion, excessive work done; but usually, under stress, 

 some one link in the chain is unable to take the strain and then the 

 evenly balanced work of the several organs of the kinetic system is 

 disturbed. If the brain cannot endure this strain, then neurasthenia, 

 nerve exhaustion, or even insanity follows. If the thyroid cannot 

 endure the strain it undergoes hyperplasia, which in turn may result 

 in a colloid goiter or in exophthalmic goiter. If the suprarenals can- 

 not endure the strain, cardiovascular disease may develop. If the 

 liver cannot take the strain then death from acute acidosis may fol- 

 low, or if the neutralizing effect of the liver is only partially lost, 

 then the acidity may cause Bright's disease. Over-activation of the 

 kinetic system may cause glycosuria and diabetes. 



Identical physical and functional changes in the organs of the 

 kinetic system may result from intense continued stimulation from 

 any of the following causes, excessive physical labor, athletic exer- 

 cise, worry or anxiety, intestinal auto-intoxication, chronic infections 

 such as oral sepsis, tonsillitis and adenoids ; chronic appendicitis, 

 chronic cholecystitis, colitis, and skin infections ; the excessive in- 

 take of protein food (foreign protein reaction); emotional strain, 

 pregnancy, stress of business of professional life — ah of which are 

 known to be activators of the kinetic system. 



From the foregoing statements we are able to understand the mus- 

 cular weakness following fever; we can understand why the senile 

 have neither muscular power nor strong febrile reaction ; why long- 

 continued infections produce pathologic changes in the organs con- 

 stituting the kinetic chain ; why the same pathologic changes result 

 from various forms of activation of the kinetic system. In this 

 hypothesis we find a reason why cardiovascular disease may be 

 caused by chronic infection, by auto-intoxication, by overwork, or by 

 emotional excitation. We now see that the reason why we find so 

 much difficulty in differentiating the numerous acute infections from 

 each other is because they play upon the same kinetic chain. Our 

 postulate harmonizes the pathological democracy of the kinetic 

 organs, for it explains not only why in many diseases the patholog- 

 ical changes in these organs are identical, but why the same changes 

 are seen as the result of emotional strain and overwork. We can 



