Bacteria as Man's Invisible Foes 65 



disorder in the co-ordinating mechanism, the 

 failure in what we may term the rhythm 

 of the body's activities constitutes what we 

 call disease. 



The part which may be the seat of the dis- 

 ease is as varied as are the organs and tissues 

 of which the body is composed. 



The disturbances in the activities of the 

 body which result from these changes in the 

 structure and action of the various parts have 

 been so long studied that the educated 

 physician is usually able to tell from certain 

 irregularities of the body's activities what part 

 or parts it is which are affected. In many 

 cases the physician does, in some he does not, 

 know what is the exact cause of the disturb- 

 ance. In some cases, when the cause of the 

 disturbance is known, he can remove it either 

 by directing a change in the habits or by 

 the administration of drugs, and then the ten- 

 dency of the cell communities of the body to 

 get back into their proper condition of them- 

 selves alone will restore health. Sometimes 

 this inherent tendency is aided by the use of 

 medicines. Most of the body's disturbances 



